Meet the ladies from Sophie magazine. Their hard work and dedication make the magazine the most stylish and informative women's magazine in WNC.
Jennifer Leiter
I was born in Monterey, California to a Naval officer and his Danish wife. After living in California, Japan and Denmark for the first 5 years of my life, we moved to a Virginia suburb outside of Washington, DC.
I have a Bachelor’s degree in Art and Advertising from Virginia Commonwealth University in the great city of Richmond, Virginia. After graduating from college, I moved to Greeley, Colorado where I worked for a small newspaper in their graphics department for about a year. After moving back to Virginia, I worked for several small companies in various capacities as a graphic designer and from creating weekly publications to designing direct mail pieces.
When my husband, Marty, and I (mostly I) got pregnant, we decided to find a place to call home with a slower pace. My parents had retired to Asheville, and Marty and I had visited several times. We felt that it would be a good place to raise our family. After taking a year off to spend time with my new daughter, I got a job as a graphic designer with IWANNA. A few years later, I was lucky enough to start designing for Sophie magazine. After a few months, the editor approached me about writing a short article, or two. I was nervous, as I’ve never considered myself a writer. My career as a writer took off from there and I have certainly been bitten by that bug. I now regularly write "The Perfect Kitchen", "Jen's Kitchen", "Sophie Cooks!", and various other special interest pieces.
Besides writing and designing, I enjoy spending time with my husband, my children Emily and Nicholas, and our dog, cat and two fire-belly toads. I am an avid reader and crossword puzzle solver (some of the time). I love cooking and am intimidated by no recipe and I’ll try anything once.
Biljana Kroll
I've always been fascinated with fashion and drawing. Since I was a little girl growing up in Macedonia, a small country on the Balkan Peninsula, I loved spending time with my grandmother, who was a seamstress. I have wonderful memories of her teaching me how to sew, knit, crochet and embroider during the long summer breaks. We would sit on her porch eating hand-picked cherries from her garden, chatting and knitting. I got my love for drawing from my mother. She is a very creative woman, who always encouraged my love for arts and crafts. She and my dad have been very supportive and sacrificed a lot for me to achieve my dream.
Carried by the desire to learn more about my interests, I came to the U.S. when I was 17 years old. It took all of my courage and sacrifice to do it at that age, but I feel like I made the right decision at the right time. I graduated high school from Interlochen Arts Academy where I majored in Visual Arts. I received a Bachelor's degree, majoring in Fashion and Interior Merchandising from Mars Hill College. Currently I am pursuing Masters in Graphic Design online at the Savannah College of Art and Design. I am also the lead graphic designer at
Sophie responsible for page layout, fashion illustration and ad design.
What I love:
My husband Chad, my family, my black kitty Shadow, rollerblading, Martial Arts, painting, Star Trek, collecting bijoux jewelry, listening to world music, and chatting with my family and friends across the world on Skype.
Paula Goodblatt
I’ve come a long way since my small town upbringing in Elkhart, Indiana. I remember riding my bike along tree-lined streets to the pharmacy for candy, playing with my sister on the swing set out back, and my dad grilling burgers for us on a weekend afternoon while my mom poured us lemonades.
Whenever anyone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, it was always “an author” or “writer.” I started on that path at an early age, getting my first taste of journalism on my junior high newspaper. My first big front-page feature was the “Someone Special Award,” of which I eventually became a recipient myself.
I’ve stuck with newspapers and the communications field ever since. After college, I took my first job at the Rio Grande Sun newspaper in another small town this one in Espanola, New Mexico. I toughened up while writing about criminal cases in state district court and covering controversial school board meetings. I also became a bit of a world traveler, taking a Caribbean cruise and traveling to Athens and Rome.
Hoping for warmer weather and further adventure, I moved to Tampa, Florida. I tried my hand at corporate communications for an insurance company and health benefits writing. I met my husband (a native New Yorker), and we decided to move further north č ending up here in beautiful, friendly Asheville, NC. That’s about as far north as I prefer to move!
I became a contributor to
Sophie magazine and Assistant Production Manager at the
IWANNA newspaper.
When I’m not glued to the computer screen or hurriedly meeting deadlines, my husband and I venture out around WNC and the Charlotte/Lake Norman area.
Jessica Jones
Some of my first memories include books. I remember being read to as a child, and I can still recall my eagerness to reach the first grade where I would
finally get the chance to learn to read on my own. Who would have thought that eighteen years later, I would still be eagerly looking for the chance to learn more about reading and writing.
I was born in Northwestern Pennsylvania in the small town of Punxsutawney (Groundhog's Day, I know). I stayed there for the first 22 years of my life, graduating at the top of my class from Penn State while serving as the editor of the campus newspaper and working with many women-centered groups. Thanks to Margaret Mitchell's
Gone With the Wind, I had always dreamt of moving South, so I jumped at the opportunity to pursue my graduate degree at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. After getting my Master's in English, I decided to follow my heart to Asheville to be with my boyfriend since we'd been living on different sides of the state for over a year. As fate would have it, I found a job working with
Sophie that allows me to continue to read and write, while also providing the added benefit of publishing my work to thousands of women in WNC. My work for
Sophie includes writing a book column, writing filler articles, and proofing the magazine from start to finish.
My future plans include earning my Ph.D. from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and finding a job teaching Composition and Women's Studies at a local college. Some of my loves (other than the written word) are my boyfriend Ryan, my best friend Kristine, and my kitty Panya (who appears in my photograph with me, in case you were wondering). I enjoy walking or driving around WNC, playing disc golf, fly fishing, modeling and photography, and weaving.