Guest blogger introduction: Ryan Jones

Ryan Jones — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:37:33 +0000

My name is Ryan Jones

Guest Blogger for Knoxify.com

Thanks to Brandon and Casey for the opportunity.

I little insight about me.

What is your name and age?

Ryan Jones with 28 years of age.

Years in Knoxville? What part of town do you live in?

28 years surviving Knoxville. I currently have just moved from the Rocky Hill area to Bluegrass.

Where do you work?

I am a boat sales manager/wakeboard proshop owner/ business planner/marketing manager/ event manager/ and a couple other things at American Boat Center in west Knoxville. Family owned and operated Since 1987.

What will you be blogging about?

My blogs will cover the areas of action sports (wakeboarding, skate, snowboarding, etc) and the business that surrounds it. I will also have several blogs about being a young business operator in town, as well as the unique people and events in Knoxville.

Tell us more about your background…

Well, I was born and raised here in Knoxville. I attended Farragut high school in west Knoxville. I went on to receive a degree in business and psychology from the University of Tennessee.

I currently am married to my wife Ashley (hailing from Memphis) and we have a 4 month old son Jack Malone.

I am passionate about Knoxville. I chose to continue my life here after college and am very pleased with my decision. I was excited to have an outlet to write about the things that Knoxville does not get to hear about on a daily basis, but many of us in the community are involved in.

What other interests do you have?

Wakeboarding has always been apart of my life since the early 90′s. Besides wakeboarding, music is a giant part of my life as a “wanna – be” drummer and general music fan. Local business also interest me to what makes people come to Knoxville for business and how small business is such a huge part of our local economy. On the whole, unity of the younger generation to make a difference for the future.

How can you be reached?

Email is the easiest, abcryan@tds.net
or just drive around shouting out your window until you find me.

Guest blogger introduction: Patrick Beeson

Patrick Beeson — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:00:13 +0000

Hi. I’m Patrick Beeson.

And I’m a new guest blogger for Knoxify.

(Thanks for the invitation Casey!)

It’s always difficult writing about yourself, especially as an introduction on a blog, so I’m going to switch to question and answer mode:

What is your name and age?

Patrick Beeson. And I’m 27 years old.

How long have you been in Knoxville? What part of town do you live in?

My fiance, Lindsay Durango, and I moved to Knoxville in late February of 2007. We currently reside in the Cedar Bluff area.

Though I’ve never lived in Knoxville before now, I did grow up in Bristol, which is about a two-hour drive to the north east corner of the state.

Y’all might have heard about the Bristol Motor Speedway…

Where do you work?

I am a project manager at E. W. Scripps Interactive Newspaper Group. For reference, Scripps owns the Knoxville News-Sentinel, Blount Today, Halls Shopper-News and Metro Pulse.

What will you be blogging about?

I plan to write about my experiences in Knoxville as a 20-something professional. But I’ll also meander to topics of personal interest including: cycling, media and interesting consumables.

Tell me more about your background…

Like many kids that grew up in a small town, I fled after graduating high school.

Only I went a bit further than most, landing in Durango, Colo. at Fort Lewis College.

I transferred back east after my freshman year because the school was a little too small. The last three years of college were spent at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. where I graduated with a major in public relations.

I did a few PR internships in non-profit and agency settings before deciding to head back to school to focus on writing and the media.

And then I was delivered to Tuscaloosa, Ala. and the University of Alabama (Roll-Tide). Please don’t hate me UT fans!

I chose to ditch the normal course of study for journalism grad students, and purse a self-rolled path of online media. My Master’s project even dealt with blogging!

Two years after arriving in the Deep South, I left with degree in hand to Roanoke, Va. and The Roanoke Times/roanoke.com. I began as an intern and left as Web Standards Developer, and experience in one of the most innovative newsrooms in the country for online media.

What other interests do you have?

I am a cycling fanatic — I have been since my first mountain bike experience when I was 15. I currently have three bikes, not including Lindsay’s bike, which share space with my camping equipment and a snowboard. Oh, and two cats: Simian and Tita.

I’m also very skilled in designing and developing Web sites.

These two topics in addition to my passion for the media are all fodder for blogging on my Web site: patrickbeeson.com.

How can you be reached?

I can be contacted in a variety of ways:

Knoxify » Guest Blogger

Guest blogger introduction: Ryan Jones

Guest blogger introduction: Patrick Beeson