Sherri Gardner Howell
A journalist and small business owner who was once the publisher of Blount Today will be the featured speaker at a Jan. 9 meeting of Altrusa International of Oak Ridge.
The speaker, Sherri Gardner Howell, has also been assistant publisher for Knoxville Magazine and a lifestyle writer for the Knoxville News Sentinel and Blount County News.
Her talk is titled “Divine Intervention: Why I am not Living in New York City” (Becoming a Mom in Spite of My Grand Plans).
The Jan. 9 Altrusa meeting starts with a $13 buffet lunch at 11:30 a.m. at the DoubleTree Hotel in Oak Ridge, and the programs starts at noon.
The public is invited to attend, but reservations should be made by Monday, Jan. 7, by sending an e-mail to the Altrusa reservations center at altrusareservations@gmail.com, a press release said.
Altrusa International of Oak Ridge is a women’s service organization comprised of community members focusing on leadership, partnership, and service. Their emphasis is on literacy, education, and providing scholarships for education.
Here is more information from the press release:
Sherri Gardner Howell has been in journalism since she graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1976, most of that time with the News Sentinel.
Her career at the News Sentinel began in what was then called the “Society and Women’s News” section and progressed primarily through the features and entertainment departments, although she has been known to cover the metro and news desk when needed and during major news events like 9-11, elections and other breaking news stories. Sherri was the school page editor, assistant features editor, entertainment editor, features editor, assistant managing editor, publisher of Blount Today community newspaper, and assistant publisher of Knoxville Magazine.
In August of 2004, Sherri took a “short” leave-of-absence from the News Sentinel to help E.W. Scripps Publishing begin a new weekly community newspaper in Blount County. In November of 2004, she decided to stay as publisher of Blount Today. While she loved her “first” 30 years in journalism at the News Sentinel, Blount Today and its commitment to community and community news became a passion for her, and she truly loves the whole concept of true community journalism.
In October of 2011, changes on the corporate level at Scripps and a continuing sluggish economy for newspapers forced the company to close both Blount Today and Knoxville Magazine. Rather than “retire,” Sherri jumped into the world of small business and sole proprietorship less than a month later and began SGH Enterprises. Her company offers writing services, public relations, marketing, press-related crisis management, and image building, concentrating primarily on small businesses that need an extra push to improve their visibility and image. She is also community news editor for the Farragut Shopper-News and a columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Her column, Rhymes and Reasons, appears every other Saturday in the Sentinel, where she writes about family and friends and navigating today’s world as a woman.
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