by Mary Jo David

Melissa McPherson has proven her writing chops in two very different genres—as a fiction novelist and as a local journalist. Now she’s bringing those skills to the Stockbridge Community News Board of Directors

On Sept. 2, the SCN board voted unanimously to extend an invitation to McPherson to join its board of directors. At the same meeting, she accepted the invitation.

“I was honored to be invited to join the board and look forward to helping SCN continue to serve the Stockbridge community,” McPherson said.

Readers may remember her from the June 2025 edition of SCN, where she was the feature along with her novel, “The Lesser Remain”—a zombie apocalypse survival story. Shortly after that feature ran, McPherson, who lives with her husband and two sons in Gregory, has been a regular writer for the newspaper. She is always ready to take on new writing assignments for the newspaper, and she also contributes great ideas behind the scenes.

In the year-and-a-half that she has been writing for the Stockbridge Community News, her writing has gained national attention. McPherson has already won a first-place award in the At-Large competition hosted by the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW). Eighteen states comprised the At-Large group in the 2025 competition, and McPherson took a first place for In-Depth Reporting for her article about recent changes to the Stockbridge area transportation services. It was the first time her work had been entered in the annual contest.

“Welcome aboard, Melissa,” says Joan Tucker, president of the SCN Board of Directors. Tucker added, “What I appreciate about Melissa is the care she applies to investigative articles that require in-depth research, time, and skill. Our readers get the benefit of her experience as a professional writer, and I think she’ll bring the same careful creativity to our board business.”