For the first five years of Floyd Virginia, Luis Garcia was its Graphic Designer. Luis then became Publisher in 2013, at which time he brought on John Brill as Graphic Designer. It’s been five more years, and history is repeating itself as John Brill makes the transition from Graphic Designer to Publisher of Floyd Virginia Magazine.
John earned an Associate Degree in Communication Design from Virginia Western Community College in 2003 and has been a Freelance Graphic Designer since 2009. The list of regional publications he’s been the designer for include American Classifieds, Motorcade Magazine, Dealer’s Lot, Virginia Auto Guide, the Salem Times Register, Newcastle Record, The Vinton Messenger, Radford News Journal, The News Messenger, Virginia Brew Hub, and Floyd Magazine since 2013. Outside of the job, John is an avid history buff.
As he steps to the helm of Floyd Virginia Magazine, John’s goal will be to provide the same quality magazine that the people of Floyd have come to know and love. He also looks forward to building it to greater heights; being a louder trumpet in the celebration of the people and businesses of Floyd.
Partnering with John will be Vickie Holt. Vickie’s main duties with the magazine will be as writer, editor, proof-reader, and photographer. Vickie has been an internationally published writer since 1993. The highlights of her career include being writer for WaRP Graphics for their popular comic series, ElfQuest. From 2012 – 2014, she had a television show concept under consideration with a major network. She’s caught the attention of a group who converted her media-based novel to radio-play format, and most recently, she was sought out and invited by UCNews of India to be a contributing entertainment news writer. In addition to Floyd Virginia Magazine, Vickie has also been an occasional contributor to Colors VA Magazine. She’s the main writer for Brew Hub Magazine (formerly Virginia Brew Hub), and is founder and sole content creator for Vickie’s Bollywood Beat: A website dedicated to introducing Americans to Indian cinema.
As a photographer, Vickie’s work has won international awards. From 2008 – 2011, she spearheaded a movement to provide better photography for animal shelters, resulting in more animals being adopted. Her techniques were emulated by many area shelters and were also celebrated by a special event at the Roanoke Library. She was called upon by the Roanoke and Salem Big Book Yellow Pages for five years running to provide their cover images.
It will be Vickie’s mission to work with Floyd contributors to provide quality, dynamic articles for the publication. John and Vickie have worked as a team on many projects over the years and are looking forward to working together in making Floyd Virginia Magazine the best it’s ever been!