Our staff and bios - Wordwright Web

Michael Byrd

President

Bio:

Michael Byrd brings years of experience and a few odd twists to the WordwrightWeb team. Having begun his productive life at age 20, after a frat party cost him a weekend in jail, he returned to his high-school ways of good scholarship and actually declared a major. Journalism proved useful, taking the notorious Mr. Byrd from being a headline in The West Georgian to becoming its award-winning editor in just two short years.

After college, a run through several newspapers brought Michael to the Charlotte Observer, the bastion of southeastern U.S. reporting in its day. It also brought some revelations and an end to his daily newspaper career. With the beach beckoning, Michael and his fiancee landed on the shores of Wilmington. He became editor of Encore Magazine before getting himself fired just a year later. She became his wife and then, some years later, his "former wife." It's a term they came up with because it's "kinder and gentler" than "ex-wife." Remember the first George Bush?

It was at Encore that the desktop publishing revolution began, with Michael blazing his own trail for the good of free journalism. His tools were two Mac Pluses, an Apple Laserwriter, a waxer and the same layout tables and Xacto knives used since hot type went cold. Out of this came a business idea: Create resumes using a Macintosh. Michael's firing jump-started the launch of Wordwright Publishing. First resumes. Then typesetting. Then The Beat Magazine. Then Wordwright Communications and brochures for everyone. Then WordwrightWeb.

When he isn't going on and on incessantly about the good old days, and what he used to do, and how he once pitched 5 innings of two-hit baseball in Little League, our fearless president stays fit by running, swimming and sometimes biking. The running is sporadic also at present, because elite-level performances can take their toll on even the finest physical specimens. Mid-pack athletes with average abilities also become injured, as Michael has learned. Three years of trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon can wear out more than just a dozen pairs of running shoes.

When not scurrying about vainly seeking glory, Michael fashions himself an amateur theologian and philosopher. He has written several books of his own, though not actually bothering with the trifles of typing the words out. Favorite thinkers include Stephen Covey, John Templeton, Emmet Fox and Darin Huford. Michael's current fascination is maximizing his single-disc Netflix subscription. Sending the current DVD out on a Thursday, hoping for a new movie back by Saturday should work, but sometimes doesn't. ....

Brian Chandler

Web Services Director

Interesting Facts:

Has been skydiving. Twice!
Is pretty good at juggling. Like... around the back good.
Drove an Ice Cream Truck as a summer job, but realized it was more fun eating the ice cream than selling.

Bio:

Brian is a transplant from New England.  Raised in New Hampshire, he taught himself web coding as a teenager. He was the proud creator of the third highest ranking Simpsons fan site on the internet in 1998, until Fox unleashed their Cease and Desist lawyers after their intellectual property ("Release the Hounds!"). Undeterred, Brian honed his design and programming skills on other projects and freelance work. He earned his Associate's Degree in Graphic Design at Hesser College where he met his future wife, Jessica.

The pair decided shoveling snow was overrated, so they packed what they could fit into two compact cars and made the trek to Wilmington. Brian attended UNCW where he earned his Bachelor's by painting pretty pictures. Realizing that painting happy little trees wasn't going to pay the bills, he set out to find a career in his other lifelong interest, web design. In 2008, he climbed aboard the Wordwright ship. He has a smorgasbord of responsibilities at Wordwright, from design to programming, but his main task is to make sure nothing explodes. So far so good.

When he's not in front of a computer screen, Brian likes to throw Frisbees at trees (some call it disc golf), or bring down the living room playing Rock Band with his wife.

Hillary Edgin

Graphic Designer/Project Manager

Bio:

Hillary is often thought of as a rare bird, not just for her ability to love The Three Stooges while being female, but because she is a Wilmington native, born and bred right here. She has also spent time in Austin, TX, chasing an elusive master’s degree and in Orlando, FL, where she landed her husband Rob.

Hillary has always been involved in some design capacity, even from her very first job as a lighting designer/house manager during her undergrad days. Never content to use the same Crayola twice, she has done time in print shops large and small, worked as a designer for a company which made metal trading cards and collectible steins, served as a graphic artist/account executive in a small advertising agency, and has spent the past decade or so being a thorn in Michael Byrd’s side. Even though her media may change, she never seems to lose her taste for projects which let her use both sides of her brain simultaneously.

In keeping with straddling the line between analytical and creative, she spends her spare time cooking, solving crossword puzzles, watching (and dissecting) movies, reading, supporting the Wilmington Hammerheads and Liverpool FC, and hiking the Blue Ridge Mountains with Rob and their furry kid, Lucy. She believes that dog is love, that music is a necessity to breathing, that you should always do your best, and that sticking your tongue out one side of your mouth while working can indeed help you concentrate. She is also of the opinion that Captain Picard makes Captain Kirk (both old and new versions) look like a frat boy, and that Captain Janeway could kick both their behinds.

Steve Mitchell

Copywriter

Favorite Black and White Movie:

Touch of Evil

Favorite Non-WW website:

http://imdb.com

Favorite TV Show:

Seinfeld

Who would play you in a movie?:

Bogart. He's been dead for over 50 years, but I think he could still pull it off.

First thing you do when the work ends:

Cook dinner

Bio:

Steve graduated from Virginia Tech in 1997 with a B.S. in Marketing. He then spent many unfruitful, but enjoyable, years pursuing studies in English, Philosophy, Astronomy and Film before realizing that delivering pizza and taking random classes was not a career. Steve was born and raised in Hillsville, VA and moved to Wilmington in 2006 to finally become the beach bum he always knew he had in him. He loves old movies, the Virginia Tech Hokies and lying on the beach with his wife and son. Steve's favorite hobby is writing fiction and hopes to be the next Hemingway without the shotgun ending. Until that bestseller is finally written, Steve will be happily working on the words that shine the spotlight on your business or organization.