Susan Hegarty cut her teeth doing community journalism as a cub reporter at daily and weekly suburban newspapers in New Jersey and Minnesota. She worked her way to a community editor position before moving into the public/media relations field, followed by a stint as senior editor for a group of trade publications. In April 2007, Hegarty founded Pencil Thin Communications, Inc., a freelance writing, editing and marketing firm, based in Apple Valley. Her client list includes the State of Minnesota, publishers of local and national magazines and several non-profit groups. She is pleased to come full circle and once again contribute to community journalism for Patch cities. Her other passion is travel, which fuels a travel blog at http://pencilthincommunications.blogspot.com/