Welcome to my home on the internet. I’ve been blogging hither and yon at various places as a guest blogger or as part of a team of bloggers, but I need to have a central place to gather my thoughts.
Here are some notes that provide a glimpse into who I am and what I do. Some of this material will be fleshed out over time through the course of blogging, but it’s a good start.
- In my day-to-day professional life, I am the digital strategies manager at Ackermann PR. That means I help businesses and organizations figure out social media and digital media can help them achieve their goals. You can keep up with my professionally via our company blog, The Ackermann Experience, and through my LinkedIn network.
- I also work sometimes as a freelance writer and I have done so since I was attending high school. Over the course of 20+ years, I have written articles on a variety of topics. Lately, I’ve been writing about the growth of social media in various professions and markets. Here’s a recent article published in the Knoxville News Sentinel about Twitter and NASCAR.
- I am an invited co-blogger at No Silence Here, hosted by Michael Silence at knoxnews.com. (He runs a great blog over there– despite allowing me access to the door keys. Check him out and subscribe to his RSS feed already.)
- I have worked in the past as the public relations and marketing director for a regional non-profit organization, as a radio news anchor/reporter, radio station manager, and disc jockey. I also have served in the past as a volunteer dj/announcer at two community radio stations in East Tennessee (WUTK-FM and WDVX-FM).
- I loved each of these jobs for different reasons, but also for the same reason; they each brought me in touch with my surrounding community and gave me a deeper appreciation for the history and culture of my home here in the Appalachian foothills.
- I love music, though I am not musically talented myself. I played in the high school marching and concert bands (saxophone and percussion), but knew my musical career (such as it was) would not progress further since all levels beyond that rank required actual talent to match the desire. It did give me a healthy education in music appreciation and I find that I am quite fond of most kinds of music. So, it would be wise to assume I’ll be writing about music (or music history) from time to time.
- Speaking of music and history, I am quite proud of my role in creating and advocating for the Cradle of Country Music Walking Tour in downtown Knoxville. I have been known, if asked nicely and bribed appropriately, to lead guided versions of that tour, as well as tours on other topics.
- Yes, I wear hats quite frequently. Not baseball caps. Hats. I always welcome leads on good hat stores to visit when I travel.
- I am happily married to my beautiful bride Ruth. We live in a neighborhood in West Knoxville with our rescued animals: a goofy golden retriever, an energetic lab/hound mix and two cats of varying psychological quirkiness. I like to garden, take pictures (sometimes of the garden), and spend more time on the computer and my Droid than the aforementioned beautiful bride usually appreciates.
- I’m overdue for a camping trip and/or music festival and Ruth needs some time at the beach. In the meantime, we usually amuse ourselves with random road trips just to see where roads lead.
- You may keep up with my writing and work by following me on Twitter and Facebook or follow along with my life visually at Flickr. There are other social networking sites I visit from time to time, but these are the ones you’ll most likely find me on any given day. If you need to contact me, you can also send me a note at blog@shanerhyne.com.
- I welcome conversation, so comments are encouraged. I do reserve the right to not post your comments if you find yourself unable to participate in a civil manner. I’m not necessarily talking about profanity as much as I am about attitude. As my grandmother taught me, “We can disagree without being disagreeable.” I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Thanks again for visiting ShaneRhyne.com. I hope you enjoy the time you spend here.
