Mary Fortune covers business news for the Chattanooga Times Free Press and is editor of Edge magazine. She began her career at the newspaper in 1997, covering topics including immigration, health care, the military, courts, and public housing. She also worked as a personal columnist and news editor. In 2008, Fortune left the newspaper for a role in corporate communications, working in media relations, internal communications, and social media for more than 11 years. She returned to the Times Free Press newsroom in 2019. She is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and has taught media writing as an adjunct at the university.
Editor's note: This interview was edited for length and clarity.
by Mary FortuneThe WiFi was a spotty at the Project Voice conference this week — a painful irony for an event focused on emerging technology and drawn here by the city's high-speed internet — but the conference will make Chattanooga its permanent home, said conference organizer Bradley Metrock.
by Mary FortuneWith the opening of its new location on the Southside on Thursday, Heaven & Ale will have locations in three bustling boroughs of the Chattanooga drinking and dining scene — and that's going to be enough for now, said owner Joe Winland.
by Mary FortuneFrom his office overlooking the parking lot of Hamilton Place mall, Stephen Lebovitz sees the empty shell of a former Sears store, acres of striped asphalt parking lots and the early signs of what comes next.
by Mary FortuneThere will be plenty to say about the rampant growth and immense potential of voice technology during Project Voice, an international conference that lands in Chattanooga this week.
by Mary FortuneYou could be forgiven for feeling a little nervous when you meet Donna Van Natten. After all, she is 'the body language doctor,' and she can read the signals you're inadvertently sending through your stance, your gestures, even your eye movements.
by Mary FortuneBy the time she closed Naked Foods, Alison Oakes had worked through violent morning sickness, challenges hanging onto staff and persistent funding troubles.
by Mary FortuneEPB and the FOX network have reached a deal that ensures EPB subscribers will still get their FOX News and Sports channels.
by Mary FortuneEvery January at the gym, fitness pros balance a warm welcome for a fresh crop of New Year's resolvers with meeting the expectations of long-term clientele.
by Mary FortuneIf you've been around for a while, you may recall how we worried our computers would crash at the stroke of midnight on the last day of 1999, wiping out our bank accounts and shutting down the infrastructure as every digit of that year vanished into the weirdly futuristic-sounding 2000.
by Mary FortuneThe hemp industry took root in a big way in 2019, sprouting businesses across Tennessee, and many people are betting on that trend to accelerate in 2020 despite some growing pains.
by Mary FortuneAshley Farrar knows it sometimes takes a little dirty work to run a business that cleans up. The owner of the Molly Maid cleaning service in Chattanooga, Farrar grew up working alongside her mother, who launched a Molly Maid franchise in Franklin, Tennessee, a generation ago.
by Mary FortuneSybil Topel, marketing communications vice president for the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, has contributed to an international career blog, earned a Master of Fine Arts in writing, and led a Chattanooga Chamber team that garnered national and local awards with its tongue-in-cheek "Literally Perfect" video as the centerpiece of a recruitment campaign. She serves on a number of boards including ArtsBuild, Girls Scouts of Southern Appalachians and the Pop-Up-Project, a start-up arts organization.
by Mary FortuneThe members of Sankofa, a local giving circle, pool their own money and decide collectively how to best direct those dollars to strengthen communities of color. But there's more than money at work when it comes to the power of this giving group, says Lakweshia Ewing, a member of the fund from its beginnings in 2015.
by Mary FortuneAsk any couple running a business together the secret to their success, and they might tell you they create time and space for themselves apart from the job. Ask Brian and Jamey Elrod, though, and you'll get this answer:
by Mary FortuneMemories captured on old technology are gathering dust in attics, closets and garages across the country. In the season of New Year's resolutions, organizing and digitizing is on lots of to-do lists, says Nick Macco, co-founder of media conversion company Southtree.
by Mary FortuneMidtown Ridge Apartments at 312 McBrien Road
by Mary FortuneThere's very little danger of EPB subscribers losing FOX News and FOX Sports channels next week, despite a public relations push by the network to alarm viewers, said J.Ed. Marston, the vice president of marketing for the public utility.
by Mary FortuneOn the day after Christmas, the season of giving performs a quick flip into the season of returning, exchanging and bargain hunting.
by Mary FortuneTennessee consumers have an increasingly positive view of the U.S. economy, the state's economy, and their own financial futures, according to a recent consumer confidence survey from the Office of Consumer Research at Middle Tennessee State University.
by Mary Fortune