From 1980 until 1994, when she joined the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution", she was a reporter and columnist for "The Commercial Appeal" in Memphis, Tennessee, and Scripps Howard News Service. She worked for the "AJC" for seven years. She has earned numerous awards for her writing, including the National Headliner Award for commentary in 1985 and Scripps Howard's Ernie Pyle Memorial Award for outstanding human interest reporting in 1984. In 2010 she received the Clarence Cason Award in Nonfiction Writing from the University of Alabama's journalism department.