Editor’s
I love West Virginia. I love the mountains that display the
colors of the seasons. I love the geography—there’s nothing
like seeing the shock on an outsider’s face when you hold up
your third finger to show them where the Northern Panhandle
is. I love its underdog story of starting a new state when it
was tired of being held down. I love its beauty, its charm and
its tranquil spaces. I even love its stereotypes because nothing
makes me feel more loyal than when someone attacks my home,
and loyalty is a powerful thing. I also love that by being in
West Virginia, I never feel like a small fish in a big pond. The
Mountain State, with its small population and friendly people,
quite literally turns that idiom on its head.
There’s this idea that state and business leaders are un-
touchable, but that’s not true here. For this issue, I interviewed
Senate President Mitch Carmichael. Before I had the chance to
call him for an interview, I ran into him in downtown Ripley.
He was having breakfast with friends at a little mom and pop
diner called The Downtowner. He and I had never met before,
but when I walked up to him and said hello, he smiled and
greeted me like we were old friends. Some would say running
into the Senate president like that would be pure luck—but
not in West Virginia.
If you want access to these movers and shakers, take a stroll
through your local downtown scene during lunch. Attend a
business after hours event. Volunteer for the board of a local
organization. One sure-fire way to meet them is to participate
in Leadership West Virginia (LWV). Our publisher, Kensie
Hamilton Fauber, was a member of the LWV Class of 2015
and graduated the program with Major General Jim Hoyer,
West Virginia’s adjutant general and one of the Sharp Shooter
honorees featured in this issue. Having been in the program
together, the two struck up a friendship, and now when they
cross paths, they stop to chat about what’s important to them
both: West Virginia and where we go from here. He is one
of many influential leaders she has met as an alumnus of the
program, and the time she invested as a class member has been
paid back tenfold with connections like these.
It has been said before—and I know I will continue to repeat
it until all West Virginians believe it: the Mountain State is rich
with potential and ripe with opportunity. We are innovative,
we are driven, we are proud, and we are ready for the future.
I encourage you to get out and make connections with our
state’s leaders. Have important conversations and play a direct
role in paving the road to West Virginia’s prosperity. They
want to hear from you, and the results of these connections and
conversations could be a game changer for every person who
calls West Virginia home.
Editor in Chief
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