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Founded in 2008 by Nikki Bowman, New South Media, Inc. is a multimedia company that publishes regional lifestyle and travel magazines for a national audience. New South Media, Inc. publishes WV LIVING, MORGANTOWN, WV WEDDINGS, WV LIVING Outdoors, EXPLORE, and The Ultimate Sports & Travel Guide to the Big 12. These publications are also available as digital applications on Apple, Kindle, and Google platforms.
WV LIVING is the state’s leading regional publication and is sold on newsstands nationally and internationally. WV LIVING is the premier lifestyle and travel magazine that celebrates contemporary life in West Virginia. The award-winning publication showcases uplifting stories, travel destinations, beautiful photography, unique shops and restaurants, and much more.
WV WEDDINGS is the bridal “Bible” for the state. It is an indispensable resource guide with an unparalleled readership that covers everything from real West Virginia weddings and beautiful venues to creative cakes and fabulous florals. WV WEDDINGS is sold on newsstands nationally. To learn more, visit mywvwedding.com.
MORGANTOWN is the premier city magazine and lifestyle authority that celebrates West Virginia’s fastest growing city, as well as vastly growing arts and culinary scenes. MORGANTOWN is the go-to resource for lifelong residents, for students and their parents, and people relocating to Morgantown. Visit morgantownmag.com for more.
WV LIVING OUTDOORS is an annual special edition issue that focuses on West Virginia’s outdoors and fall sports—football, fishing, hunting, and more. Get in on the action at wvliving.com/outdoorsmag.
The Ultimate Sports & Travel Guide to the Big 12 is an informative lifestyle publication that showcases each university and town in the Big 12 Conference to a national audience. This resource guide aims to accommodate travelers by providing an insider’s guide on where to stay, shop, and eat.
In anticipation of the National Scout Jamboree, the publisher of WV LIVING Magazine has created a new multi-media publication—Explore: Reaching The Summit. This magazine will do what WV LIVING does best—tell West Virginia’s story. From Harpers Ferry and Huntington to Morgantown and Matewan, it serves as a comprehensive resource to aid and accommodate travelers by providing an insider’s guide on where to stay, eat, shop, and play. It highlights hidden gems and attractions along every main interstate and highway into the state. It also serves as a souvenir publication that will be kept and referred to for years to come, encouraging return visits by providing travel itineraries that highlight our major attractions.
WHO WE ARE
Nikki Bowman
Founder, Publisher, and Editor
Nikki Bowman, of New South Media, Inc., is the publisher and editor of WV LIVING and WV WEDDINGS Magazines and co-owner of WV LIVING Marketplace. She graduated from West Virginia University magna cum laude in 1992 and received her master’s degree in writing with honors from DePaul University in Chicago in 1998. Nikki grew up in Clay and Kanawha counties, and currently resides in Morgantown with her husband, Greg, a law professor at West Virginia University College of Law, and their two children.
Nikki has nearly 15 years of experience editing magazines in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Mississippi, and has won several industry awards. Since moving back to West Virginia in 2008 to launch WV LIVING and WV WEDDINGS magazines, she has logged thousands of miles in her car driving from one corner of the state to the other. She frequently speaks about the need for West Virginians to become invested in their communities and to take pride in their heritage, and she has seen firsthand the important role that tourism has in keeping our state’s small towns and businesses viable. Through her magazines, she is a passionate advocate for encouraging West Virginians to discover the hidden gems in their own backyard.
She is a member of several organizations including the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, West Virginia Hospitality and Tourism Association, Main Street Morgantown, Morgantown Chamber of Commerce, Pocahontas County Chamber of Commerce, and Generation West Virginia. She was recently selected as one of Generation Next’s 40 Under 40 and was honored as the 2011 Pocahontas County Woman Business Leader.
Kelley Galbreath
Art Director
There was a time when Kelley Galbreath swore she’d be a writer. She also thought she’d live in London with a massive sheepdog and drive a very tiny three-wheeled car, but none of those things came true. Instead, Kelley became a graphic designer. To some this would be a waste of a good English degree, but not so. For Kelley, design is as much a language as the written word, and her process is quite similar to that of a writer, in that she’s constantly exploring new ways to tell stories, express thoughts, and provoke new ideas.
Before moving to West Virginia, Kelley was a senior designer for the internationally-renowned studio Design Army, in Washington, D.C., where her clients included Washingtonian Bride & Groom magazine, Chronicle Books, The Ritz-Carlton, UVA, and NPR. In addition to a BA in English from the College of William & Mary, Kelley holds an MFA in Graphic Design from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and thanks to her seven years tenure as a designer for Viking Children’s Books, she has more than 100 books to her name (sort of). Her work has been recognized by the Society of Publication Designers, AIGA, HOW International, Print Magazine, and Communication Arts, among others. She currently resides in Morgantown.
Carla Witt Ford
Graphic Designer
A native West Virginian, Carla has been adding her touch to photography, print, and other areas of design for more than half of her life. Before joining WV LIVING she was a photographer for the government and an adjunct photography professor at Fairmont State University (BS Graphic Design alumna). As a BFA graduate from the West Virginia University School of Design, she seeks to share the beauty of her beloved state through her work. Whether it is with wit or wisdom, as an artist, she is always looking for new ways to make her audience sit up and take notice.
She currently lives on her family farm in Marion County with her daughter, Olivia, her high school sweetheart, and four cats.
Laura Wilcox Rote
Managing Editor
Laura is a Clarksburg native with a half-Morgantown, half-Huntington heart who has been telling stories since before she could write. As an adult, she has loved traveling across the Mountain State and the region. Some of her favorite stories have taken her to the fall-tastically awesome Pumpkin House in Kenova, the bright and exuberant Fiesta tent sale in Newell, the Obama presidential campaign in Charleston, and to alcohol and drug rehabilitation centers in Huntington, West Virginia, and Louisville, Kentucky.
Laura graduated from West Virginia University in 2006 with a BS in news-editorial journalism and a minor in English. She has written for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, the Clarksburg Exponent Telegram, and the Times West Virginian, in addition to working in communications and project management in West Virginia, Illinois, and Puerto Rico. She has received multiple awards from the West Virginia Press Association and has covered everything from health to politics to arts and entertainment. She currently lives in Morgantown.
Rachel Henderson
Associate Editor
Rachel has bounced around quite a bit—she was born in Dallas, grew up in northwestern Montana, earned her bachelor of arts degree in English writing at St. Lawrence University in upstate New York, and lived in Oklahoma City before finally landing in Morgantown. From her first day in the Mountain State, Rachel has thoroughly enjoyed immersing herself in the culture and the magnificent landscape. She completed her master’s degree in professional writing and editing at West Virginia University and is passionate about sharing all that this wild and wonderful state has to offer. With years of experience in public relations, at an NPR affiliate station in New York, working for a nonprofit, and her experiences in higher education, Rachel’s true loves are writing and editing—two things she has had the great fortune of pursuing at New South Media, Inc. with WV LIVING, WV WEDDINGS, and MORGANTOWN magazines, as well as the new WVLIVING.com and revamped MYWVWEDDING.com.
Brittany Wilmoth
Office Manager and Circulation Manager
Born and raised in the small town of Clarksburg, Brittany has always had aspirations bigger than her hometown. Her love of photography, traveling, coffee, good music, and all things fashion has led her to her career at New South Media, Inc. She has previously worked at a small coffee shop in Bridgeport and aspires to have a shop of her own one day.
Brittany's creativity and fashion sense inspire those around her, as well as the readers of the WV Living in Style blog on wvliving.com. She is actively involved in her church, Lifepointe Church in Clarksburg, and currently resides in Bridgeport with her husband, Mitchell, and terrior mix puppy, Mia.
Laura Treacy Bentley
Book Editor
Laura is a poet, fiction writer, and writer-in-residence for the Marshall University Writing Project. She has been WV LIVING’s book editor since the inception of the magazine. Her first book of poetry, Lake Effect, was published in 2006. Laura’s poetry has been featured on the websites of A Prairie Home Companion and Poetry Daily, and in 2003, she read her poetry with Ray Bradbury. Recently, her poem, “Keepsake,” was chosen by O Magazine and featured on Oprah’s website. She resides in Huntington.
Mikenna Pierotti
Staff
Mikenna moved to West Virginia from upstate New York to attend graduate school, live in the mountains, and write. She loves digging into the history and culture of West Virginia, looking for those shiny gems that become great stories. Her biggest aspirations are to travel the continental United States (emphasis on back roads, national parks, and giant balls of twine) in a retro camper and write about the experience. She lives in Morgantown with her husband Adam and wiener dog Tally.
Elizabeth Roth
Staff
Elizabeth discovered her creative spark at a young age and has been making art, writing, and playing music ever since. Her passion for photography has led her to New South Media, Inc. where she captures the stories of the people, places, and food from the state she loves. She finds inspiration in her love for the outdoors, good food, and the simple beauty of the everyday. When she’s not looking through the lens, she’s probably in class at WVU. In May 2013, she will graduate with a BFA in Visual Art and a minor in Arts Administration.
Sandy Burky
Integrated Marketing and Advertising Specialist
Central, Southern, Potomac Highlands, and Eastern Panhandle
Sandy brings more than 25 years of sales, marketing, and community and business development experience to WV LIVING. She started her career in Washington, D.C., and made her way around the country working in the national capital markets industry. Sandy has traveled and lived around the world, meeting fascinating people and experiencing far away places like Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Guatemala, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Israel, and Lebanon. But no other place stayed constant in her heart like her home state of West Virginia.
In 2001, Sandy decided to bring her experiences back to the Mountain State, and she settled down in Helvetia and Pickens where her Swiss ancestors purchased land and settled in 1869. Sandy volunteers in her community to preserve the land, heritage, and culture of the area, particularly the Burky Farm on Turkey Bone Road. Her hope is that her efforts will help others enjoy the diversity of this wonderful state and, more specifically, West Virginia’s Swiss American heritage.
Christina Lankford
Integrated Marketing and Advertising Specialist
North Central
Christina has traveled to every nook and cranny of West Virginia during her years as a past Miss West Virginia Teen All American and Miss West Virginia Association of Fairs & Festivals queen. She was born and raised in Morgantown and was always proud to tell people she was a “townie” when asked where she was from during her college days at West Virginia University. Christina is beginning her magazine career after working in medical sales for the past four years and is very excited for the change in scenery. She is obsessed with Audrey Hepburn, working out, Pinterest, and baking. Christina currently resides in Morgantown with her fiancé, Michael, and is mentally preparing herself to maybe start planning her wedding sometime in the next year or so.
Carrie Stanley
Integrated Marketing and Advertising Specialist
Metro Valley and Tri-State area
Carrie’s favorite quote, by Samuel Johnson, is: “Our aspirations are our possibilities.” She is enthusiastic about helping her clients grow their businesses and serves as their biggest champion. She has had a long career in the media business—in television, publications, and magazines—and has won several recognitions and achievement awards. She volunteers in her community and helped put together a book on Huntington’s history and photos called “The City of Huntington: A Pictorial History.” Carrie resides in Hurricane.
