Bellagurl

We’re bold. We’re beautiful. And yes, we’re a bunch of gurls. Brainy gurls….
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Cheryl Pigott
Founder and CEO
Cheryl’s background in Marketing and Advertising unfolded after graduating cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Professional Writing from Old Dominion University. She grew up in eastern North Carolina, the daughter of a teacher and a preacher. Her first employment opportunities during and after college were in the Public Relations and Marketing field for a Fortune 500 Company and a nationally known non-profit, both in Virginia.
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As the mother of four kids, Cheryl quickly realized that she wanted a more flexible career to allow her to see them grow. She entered into the sales force as a consultant for a nationwide retailer allowing her more flexibility for her family. She fell in love with sales, customer service and team building. On the national level, she trained other sales consultants and spoke before groups of over 300 women on the behalf of the corporation. When her family relocated back to eastern North Carolina, Cheryl recognized the need for a local advertising agency and publishing company that assisted businesses in niche marketing. With her background in writing, marketing and sales, she was able to start Crystal Coast Parent magazine and soon thereafter, Eastern Carolina Parent magazine. Cheryl also serves on the Board of Directors for the Carteret County Partnership for Children, combining her passion for marketing and her desire to help children and their families locally. Her guilty pleasure is Facebook. While some people find their passions in exercise and art, Cheryl loves work and finding creative avenues to help small businesses meet their marketing goals.

Cressa Megown
Co-founder and CFO
Cressa uses her business management background to guide Bellagurl through sound financial waters. Born in eastern North Carolina to a loving Marine family, she returned to Jacksonville to graduate from White Oak High school and then attend Catawba College. Cressa graduated summa cum laude and was awarded an International Rotary Scholarship to attend the University of Southampton in southern England. While studying a graduate course in business management, she tested her management skills on an obstacle course designed to encourage teamwork. This course was on an abandoned Army base, with a complete town, including sewer systems. Cressa “graduated” by helping her teammate navigate the sewer system, collecting markers and finishing the course before the other teams.
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With newfound confidence and grace, Cressa returned to our area to marry a marine, Charles Megown, and raise her three children and two horses. Cressa contributed her vast knowledge of accounting and business management to help start Bellagurl. She has lived in North Carolina and Virginia for the past 12 years, never too far from a Marine Base, and enjoys reading great literature as a way to escape the daily stresses of life.
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Tricia Morris
Managing Editor, Magazines Division
Tricia Morris is the editor of Crystal Coast Parent and Eastern Carolina Parent magazines and their accompanying websites, EasternCarolinaParent.com and CrystalCoastParent.com. Holding a Bachelor of Science degree in News-Editorial Journalism from West Virginia University, Tricia is an accomplished feature writer and editor who started her career in the newspaper industry, but later made the move to magazines and the web. Prior to joining Bellagurl, Tricia served six years as the managing editor, writer and photographer for nine regional North Carolina publications and seven accompanying websites.
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Tricia also brings to Bellagurl a strong background in marketing, having served as the marketing director for a major Florida architectural and engineering firm, as well as a major Florida internet consulting firm and its successful start-up, Efileshare, a web-based healthcare technology solution which facilitates the secure online transmission of patient information between healthcare facilities and healthcare providers. Tricia is an accomplished web content writer, is experienced in web design and search engine optimization (SEO), and holds extensive knowledge in internet marketing, social media and industry-related trends. Tricia unites her passion for the written word and the web with professionalism, attention to detail, and commitment to quality.
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Tricia’s versatile professional experience comes from adapting her career to match her personal obligations as a military spouse and mom of two. Tricia enjoys cheering on the WVU Mountaineers in college football and basketball, playing piano, reading classic literature, and being a Cub Scout leader and devoted mom.
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Susan Yates
Art Director
Susan Yates unites her creative vision with strong client service skills and noted reliability on every project, whether large or small. Susan serves as the art director and ad designer for both Crystal Coast Parent magazine and Eastern Carolina Parent magazine, and also designs advertising and marketing collaterals for Bellagurl and its clients, including the North Carolina Seafood Festival, Simply Bedrooms, Teresa Conley Family Dentistry, Atlantic Breeze Storm Shutters and The Tiller School, among others.
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Susan brings to Bellagurl almost ten years of experience in the printing and publishing industry. Prior to joining Bellagurl, Susan worked for seven years as a graphic designer for a large Eastern North Carolina publishing company, designing magazines, advertising and marketing collaterals for clients whose businesses ranged from retail to real estate. Susan is the proud mom of a handsome three-year-old and enjoys the beach, decorating, sewing and scrapbooking.
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Tammy Whitten
Community Director and District Editor, Magazines Division
Tammy Whitten, is the Community Director of Eastern Carolina Parent magazine and Crystal Coast Parent magazine. With Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Child Development and Family Relations from East Carolina University, Tammy brings professional expertise on parenting and family matters to the magazine division of Bellagurl as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified Family Life Educator. She has worked in hospitals with parents who experienced the loss of a child or whose children were medically fragile. She was the Program Manager for a newly opened office of a well established nationwide nonprofit. With support from prestigious grants, her office helped children with special needs to play sports on local teams and to participate in other recreational and typical childhood activities. After leading her office through a perfect national accreditation review and guiding them through the largest non-profit merger in the state, Tammy returned to graduate school and continued her work with medically fragile children. Following graduate school, Tammy was a full-time instructor in the Department of Child Development and Family Relations at ECU.

Along with her duties at Eastern Carolina Parent and Crystal Coast Parent magazine, Tammy is also in private practice as a therapist, specializing in the loss of a child, women’s health issues, and working with families of children with special needs and developmental disabilities. She is a member of several professional family organizations, including the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists and the National Council on Family Relations. She is the National Chair of the Family Life Education Awareness Committee with the National Council on Family Relations. Tammy continues to further her community involvement by serving on the board of the Holistic Health Practitioners of Eastern North Carolina. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, baking, gardening, and sewing. Tammy is the proud mother of a nine-year-old Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Toby.
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Holly Hollingsworth
Marketing Associate and Project Manager, Magazines Division and Agency
Holly recently graduated from Ohio University with a Bachelor of Science in Communications Studies. Having interned with the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and the Ohio University Office of Events, Holly quickly fit into the team as someone who could work on multiple projects easily. She helps keep our teams on track with production and graphic management, as well as editing our family events calendars for the magazines and websites. We couldn’t manage without her! Holly is a newlywed, loves Elvis and Nicholas Sparks, and is the proud owner of a great dog, Laney.
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Pege Yates         
Account Executive, Magazines Division
Pege Yates brings experience in business management, creative marketing and large event planning to the Crystal Coast. She has a gift of identifying marketing needs and helping businesses create a strategy to reach more families. Pege also has a great love of teaching others, as she was a Breastfeeding Counselor for the Virginia Beach Health Department for nearly three years. Holding clinic hours, educational workshops, counseling new and veteran moms from pregnancy and beyond, Pege has special insight on mothers from all walks of life. A huge portion of her time in Virginia was also spent managing and marketing for a large architectural firm in Norfolk. Her husband, being in the United States Coast Guard, brought them to Cape Carteret with their three elementary aged children. This relocation brought her to Bellagurl, where she loves helping businesses market to women and families. In addition to her role at Crystal Coast Parent magazine, Pege assists the Seaside Arts Council with marketing and family event planning. When not working, Pege is planning vacations, creating digital art, decorating cakes or spending time with her family and friends.
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Amy Ellis
Marketing Associate, Magazines Division
Amy Adams Ellis is a Marketing Associate for Eastern Carolina Parent magazine. Amy is originally from Greenville and has lived in Eastern North Carolina all her life, with the exception of the time she spent “out west” earning her Writing and Editing degree at N.C. State University. Amy thrives on meeting new people, learning their stories, and building relationships with them and between them. What she enjoys most about her position is helping local businesses define, capture and communicate their messages to families who can benefit from their services.
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Amy has held a variety of marketing and public relations positions over the years, including some voluntary ones. She currently manages the public relations for Riley’s Army, an organization that helps pediatric cancer patients and their families in Eastern North Carolina. She has been blessed with three wonderful sons and a princess; when she is not attending one of their activities, she likes to read, shop or have long conversations with friends. She and her husband, a family physician, share a passion for mentoring teenagers and leading short-term mission trips to Nicaragua.
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Terri Van Sickle
Account Executive, Magazines Division
Terri, a native of New Bern and an alumni of East Carolina University, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a concentration in writing, a minor in Women’s Studies and a Certificate in Business and Technical Writing. After thirteen years of living in Atlanta, during which time she met her husband (also named Terry), earned a Masters degree in Secondary Language Education, and had two daughters, she moved “home” to New Bern. Terri touts eleven years as a high school English teacher, four years as a yearbook advisor, and three years as a graphic artist and proofreader for an international real estate publisher. One of her favorite past endeavors is when she and her husband created their own Atlanta-based, live-hosted trivia game company. Together, they wrote trivia questions for six shows per week and hosted guests in restaurants for two hours of interactive and competitive trivia. Today, Terri serves as an Account Executive for Eastern Carolina Parent and Crystal Coast Parent. Her community involvement allows her to serve as Associate Director of the Tar River Writing Project at ECU. She spends much of her down-time writing about eastern North Carolina. When not writing, Terri tends a small garden, enjoys the beach, and relishes in the opportunity to watch her children grow up “right across the road” from their grandparents, on the same land where she was raised.
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Alison Parker
Account Executive, Bellagurl Agency
Alison, a native of New Bern and recent alumnus of Appalachian State University, earned a Bachelor of Science in communication with a focus in journalism and a minor in political science.  Desiring a “shakeup” in routine and lifestyle, she studied abroad at The American University of Rome, Italy, where she learned to speak Italian, navigated back roads into Tuscany, revived an appreciation of modern design and honed her writing skills. 
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Alison is passionate about serving as an Account Executive and marketing consultant for Bellagurl’s growing line of agency work, including but not limited to, advertising agency representation, commercial printing for businesses and organizations, social media coordination and website design and development.  In her spare time she enjoys cooking international food, scouting for new jewelry making materials, reading home design blogs and tackling DIY projects.
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