Today we’d like to introduce you to Valerie Sweeten.
Valerie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve been so blessed to be able to pursue my lifelong love of writing throughout college and while raising my family. As a native Houstonian and University of Houston graduate, I’m still fascinated by the incredible evolution of my career from doing my internship at Ultra Magazine to publishing stories and taking photos as the Associate Editor of Houston Scene Magazine for several years.
After graduation, I worked for the regional bureau of PEOPLE MAGAZINE at a time that was beyond memorable with stories such as the Selena shooting, Julia Roberts marrying Lyle Lovett, the Oklahoma bombing, the Branch Davidian Compound incident in Waco and the Cheerleader Murder for Hire story in Channelview. During my time here, I began freelancing with the Houston Chronicle covering community events throughout different regional sections.
Over the years with the Chronicle, I’ve encountered some amazing, inspiring stories of healing, devotion, compassion and dedication of the community to their businesses, dreams and each other. Picking up random freelance and contract jobs along the way with the Houston Business Journal, Buzz Magazines, several other non-profit entities, Fulshear Living Magazine and corporate work keeps my mind fresh. I also had picked up a gig with Examiner.com as the Houston City Buzz reporter covering all types of events and happenings to try my hand at something new.
In the meantime, I had always wanted to write a children’s book and had several stories in mind. I submitted the first story I had in mind to publishers around 2008 and had good feedback, but no contract. With my second story, I decided to just take the jump and self-published. Shh, Listen, In the Rainforest, which was released in 2014. The response from readings with teachers and librarians was so positive, I wrote the next in my series, Shh, Listen: On a Safari and began marketing it like I did with my first. I was literally over the moon when the Houston Museum of Natural Science decided to sell this in their gift shop!
When Examiner.com decided to take a more national focus, I went ahead and developed a domain I had purchased years ago and launched my blog, HOT in HOUSTON NOW. With the blog, I cover as many events as I can making time to share the wealth of diversity, entrepreneurship, talent, and passion from people who love this city as much as I do.
I love that I have a full life being able to do a little bit of everything in the writing/publishing industry with so much support from my family and friends.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Nope, no smooth road. That’s for sure. As a freelance writer, jobs come and go, so being versatile is a must! Finding new avenues to use my talents haven’t been easy as well. With networking, referrals, and persistence, I’ve been extremely fortunate to find jobs that have allowed me to prove myself.
With my books, that was an entirely new learning curve understanding the process of how I could get these books in the hands of children, which was my ultimate goal. This is continual work on the outreach end, but completely worth it when I see how happy kids (and their parents) are when they get to read my books.
The blog has truly been a labor of love. I’m not the most technical person AT ALL so creating this from WordPress took me awhile because I taught myself with tutorials and support calls from my web hosting company. There was A LOT of trial and error! I finally hired someone to help me do the Google AdSense because I just couldn’t get it right. Ultimately, I’m very pleased with it and working to develop even more content and coverage.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Hot in Houston Now story. Tell us more about the business.
Hot in Houston Now has a little bit of everything in it with community announcements, events, food and restaurant info, theatre/fine arts, and fashion/beauty news. As founder and editor, I really work to highlight some of Houston’s incredible people and the great things they’re doing here.
I’m most proud of the fact that I get to tell the stories of so many talented, passionate people who love what they do whether it’s designing accessories, winning cookoffs, raising money for charity, showcasing history or presenting unique fine art programs.
I think what sets me apart is that you’ll never know what you’ll find on my site. I get news literally from all over the city, Texas and the U.S. and try to incorporate the best of the best in my content.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I don’t know if it’s good or bad luck, but I know for sure, I have a guiding hand from God getting me to where I need to be whether it’s driving the kids to their events, making a story on deadline, and having the energy to finish everything I want to do, hopefully with great results.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hotinhoustonnow.com
- Instagram: Hot in Houston Now
- Facebook: Hot in Houston Now
- Twitter: Hot in Houston Now
- Other: www.valeriesweeten.com
Image Credit:
Valerie Sweeten
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
