By Victoria Bourne
Magazine editor Angela Blue ’09 has built a career from finding stories worth sharing. She credits her mom’s inspiration.
"She was a great writer and very thoughtful about her words," said Blue, who was named editor of En Forme magazine in October 2023. The statewide lifestyle publication is produced by Lee Enterprises, owner of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Blue grew up in Chase City, a small town in Mecklenburg County in southern Virginia. Her mom, Debbie Blue Winn, did public relations for Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative, which included writing for its members’ magazine called Rural Living (now Cooperative Living).
"She would interview different members and write articles,” said Blue. “So obviously that's where I got it from."
Blue was drawn to Old Dominion University for its proximity to water, she said, and for the opportunities "the big city" of Norfolk offered. Having met her general studies requirements through Southside Virginia Community College (SVCC) in Keysville, she focused on writing when she started at ODU in 2007. Affirmation of her pursuit of feature writing came from professors such as Joyce Hoffmann and Joe Cosco, Blue said, and she learned the intricacies of journalism.
After her 2009 graduation, Blue's mother accompanied her on her very first freelance assignment — a feature for Cooperative Living about a little post office in Valentines, Virginia, that fields thousands of Valentine's Day cards every year. "It was my first story, and I think she just wanted to come along for the journey,” Blue said. “She watched me interview people and asked some of her own questions as well."
More recently, Blue helped copy edit a book her mother was ghostwriting. “It was a really cool moment in my adult life to be able to geek out on editing stuff (with her). Unfortunately, she passed away before the book was published."
To work through the loss of her mother to ovarian cancer in October 2020, Blue took up running. She’s completed a 5K in 45 states as part of a personal project she calls “the state of running.” She also started the Crush Cancer 5K & Costume Contest fundraiser in honor of her mom; it’s held annually in Boydton, Virginia, and has raised $33,000 for the Mecklenburg County Cancer Association since 2021.
Blue’s husband, Patrick Garrison ’10 (M.A. ’11), has been with her every step of the way, she said; the couple have been together since high school. “Moving to Norfolk and attending ODU really shaped us,” Blue said. “We love raising our kids in a diverse, cultural region where we can soak in music and performing arts as a family or just spend a quiet Sunday watching fish splashing in the Lafayette River. It’s the best of both worlds.”