I’m Erin!

I first started RDUGems, a food and fun blog, when I moved to Raleigh from Chapel-Hill and I felt like I didn’t belong. I keep a Eats 101 culinary journal and my sister had told me it was time to let people into what I was writing down – so I took it to the gram and loved the excuse to get exploring. The more gems I found, the more I found my place in my city. The more I shared on RDUGems, the more you guys did, too!

The Journey

I love white and pastel flowers and Italy and people. lots of people. People have always just said I’m crazy but really I get my energy from people and a packed, thought-out schedule and I live by bouncing around to the next stop and bringing my friends along.

I’m currently holding it down in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. I’m embracing the perspective that with a little grit and grind, a gem can be shined. So I’m sharing my favorite things and the vision and hope for the things unseen and all around.  

I love traveling, so I wanted a way to help organize all the gems of the cities I go to.
My path and my passions are seemingly disjointed, but the common denominator is my faith, which is most important, and my utmost joy around the people I love and the people who have made me who I am. You can’t find gems without digging down deep.

I’m a North Carolina native and an alumna of both UNC Chapel Hill and NC State University (but my veins bleed blue). I studied English and Italian, and got my Masters in Teaching ESL. After 2 years, I left full time teaching in Wake County Public Schools, where I was honored as Beginning Teacher of the year, to pursue an incredible opportunity that was presented to me. A non-profit recruited me with their vision to impact even more people and asked me to be their Executive Director & build the nonprofit from the ground up. A year in, God clearly closed that door and set me up for a bigger role researching non-profits across the state and supporting programs related to underserved youth and healthy lifestyles in Eastern NC and beyond.

XOXO,

Erin