Lorna Reeves

Editor

Although Lorna Reeves grew up in South America, she never lost touch with her Alabama roots. "Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, and made-from-scratch biscuits appeared regularly on our family's dinner table," she recalls, instilling in her an early appreciation for home-cooked meals.

With a demanding job and two active children, Lorna is always on the go, yet she still forgoes fast food and convenience products in favor of the traditional dinners she and her husband, Brent, prepare. She is an avid canner and is known for the delicious grape jelly she makes (and shares with friends) from the muscadines her dad grows.

Fluent in both French and Spanish, Lorna graduated with honors from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. She began her career at Hoffman Media in 1991, where her needlework skills and love for the art served her well during her tenure as editor of both Just CrossStitch and Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly. Lorna added Taste of the South to her plate with the first issue in 2004. She only recently stepped down from editing the needlework magazines to devote her full attention to the fast-growing cooking magazine.

With her trademark cup of tea always at hand, Lorna continually strives to bring the best of the South to the pages of our magazine.

Betty Terry

Food Editor

Food editor Betty Terry turned a freelance writing assignment about cornbread into a fulltime career when she joined Taste of the South magazine in October 2004. She left a career in marketing and public relations to pursue her love of food and all things Southern. Along the way, Betty earned a degree in culinary arts from Culinard, the Culinary Institute of Virginia College, in Birmingham, Alabama (where she was a member of the school's first graduating class). She also holds a degree in art and history from Birmingham-Southern College.

Raised in a large family of five sisters and one brother by parents who grew up close to the land in rural Alabama, Betty remembers when vegetables were always fresh from the garden, cornbread was always homemade, and there was always a place at the table for anyone who dropped by around suppertime. She is a big fan of fried okra, slow-cooked pork barbecue, buttermilk biscuits with blackberry jam, and sweet tea. "Southern cooking doesn't need labels like 'Creole,' 'Low Country,' or 'Mountain Cooking,'" Betty says. "To me, it's all home cooking."

Malinda Nichols

Editorial Assistant

As the editorial assistant for two magazines, Taste of the South and Southern Lady, Malinda Nichols sets a hectic pace. But it's nothing that this University of Alabama graduate can't handle. While in college, she was the coxswain for the university's rowing team, and since graduating, she has joined the Birmingham Rowing Club.

Malinda loves to cook and bake; and with a new home with a gourmet kitchen and a newlywed husband, Zac, to serve as taste-tester, she's eager to hone her cooking skills. "While I enjoy cooking and eating extravagant meals," Malinda says, "there is nothing like a good grilled-cheese sandwich and a glass of sweet tea." She adds, "If one of my culinary ventures ends up not quite edible for dinner, our dog, Tallula, usually enjoys it."

Karen Callaway

Contributing Writer

After 20 years as a stay-at-home mom to three children, Karen Callaway found a new career as a writer at Hoffman Media. In addition to contributing to Taste of the South, she is the staff writer for our sister publication, Southern Lady. For Taste of the South, Karen especially enjoys writing stories about the farmers who grow the food Southerners eat. "I fall in love with all my farm families," Karen says. "I treasure the friends I have made along the way."

Karen resides in a cozy cottage with the youngest of her three children, her perfect-in-every-way son, Ry, two cuddly cats, and an old yellow dog that helps her garden by digging holes in the backyard. She has an affinity for cooking gadgets (the cool kind), vintage aprons, and authentic New Orleans bread pudding. Like many writers, she is working on a novel she hopes to actually finish one day.

Molly Smith

Photo Stylist

Photo stylist Molly Smith loves to work with her hands. The Birmingham, Alabama, native started taking art classes at an early age. "Looking back," she says, "I think about my poor mother, who had to find a place for the newest sculpture or painting that I brought home. They usually made their way straight to the basement."

After graduating from Lynchburg College in Virginia, Molly turned her creative talents to photo styling. "I love bringing all the elements of design together to create a beautiful composition that shows off the food," Molly notes. Working with the great-tasting Southern food in Taste of the South is the best part of her job, she says. "I have never tasted anything from our test kitchen that I did not love."

Although Molly adores chocolate, her all-time favorite recipe from Taste of the South is the Tropical Carrot Cake that appears on page 80 of our 2007 Christmas issue, Christmas Cooking Southern Style. "That's my favorite recipe—so far," she adds.

Jodi Daniels

Art Director

"I always knew exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up," says Taste of the South art director Jodi Rankin Daniels. "I wanted to design." Jodi's childhood love of coloring, drawing, and creating led her to the University of Alabama, where she graduated in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in advertising and communication with an emphasis in creative design. She joined Hoffman Media in August 2004 and later became art director for Taste of the South.

Growing up on a dairy farm in Faunsdale, Alabama, Jodi Lynn (as her family calls her) had an idyllic childhood. She recalls showing cows, churning butter, and picking sweet corn in the wee hours of the morning with her parents and three older sisters. She learned to cook at an early age, baking brownies and making spaghetti sauce for her family's dinner. "Homemade spaghetti sauce," Jodi insists, "not from a jar!"

These days it's her husband, Jason, who enjoys Jodi's cooking, and he doesn't seem to have many complaints. Jodi and Jason welcomed their first child, a son, into the world this past April; they live on the outskirts of Birmingham. "Even though my dreams took me to the big city," Jodi points out, "my heart remains in the Southern pastures that gave me that sweet corn and the tall glass of fresh milk I love so much."