Writing
It’s no secret that the tech industry is male dominated, but people like Carolyn Finch are working tirelessly to expand the field and fill its talent gap.
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After moving downtown three years ago, Carolyn was introduced to the Digital Corridor group and accepted a job as program manager. “Their mission is to attract, nurture, and support Charleston’s knowledge economy,” in part, by creating programs like CODE Camp that help fill the nationwide skills gap in the software development industry.
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Carolyn says that she and her team designed CODE Camp to take people with little to no experience and give them the skills to acquire an entry-level coding job. This might not sound like much, but entry-level coders can make anywhere from $50-$70,000 annually and for people who work two jobs to make ends meet, this program gives them an incredible opportunity. “It really shows between CODE Camp and Women in Tech [that] the community has a need for resources like that, and I wouldn’t be as headstrong or as focused on it if it wasn’t for the attention of the community wanting it and needing it.”
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Carolyn is also deeply involved in Women in Tech. Like many fields, women in tech often face adversity, and this program creates a nonthreatening space for asking questions and gaining support.
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Now expanding to attract young girls, both programs encourage women to embrace mathematical skills and chase big dreams by introducing others holding their own in the workplace.
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“This wouldn’t happen in any other environment. Because we are so warm and friendly…the ability for them to come together, assist and help” gives this city major promise.
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Charleston “is on the crest of an interesting growth spurt” in entrepreneurship, and Carolyn Finch is at the forefront of making that happen.
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Words by: Charlotte Stack written for CHARLIE Magazine
Photographer: Landon Neil Phillips
Stylist: Dalia Dalili
Hair/Make-Up: Bailey Bial
Photo Assistants: Jenny Kleiman, Kayla Morrisey, Kyle Victory, Gordon Keiter, and Erica Griffiths
Imagine a priest, who is also a DJ for American Apparel radio station, and has played gigs in London, France and New York City. This is not the latest box office rom-com; this is Episcopal priest, John Zahl. You can find him preaching at Grace Church on Sunday mornings, or playing at the Faculty Lounge two nights earlier. Think it’s a strange combination? John doesn’t; he sees Charleston as the perfect meeting point for his love of the Church and of music.
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Having spent formative years in New York City, Charleston and Europe, John is a microcosmic version of the eclectic mix he sees in Charleston, his church, and the music he likes. He says that while Charleston has a bewitching history, it’s becoming a contemporary American center “that is influenced by its past but is also now embracing positive worldly influence.”
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His church is a reflection of this as well. With members from all over the area, Grace unites people coming from a variety of backgrounds and influences into a cohesive community. John focuses on the universal truths of Christianity in which old messages find contemporary relevancy, bridging the gap between past and present without straying from centric Gospel messages. “I view my role here as just helping to bring a lot of disparate elements together, much in the way that the Church has made all of the disparate elements of my own life find cohesive fullness.”
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“Just like in the life of the church where everything comes together…I’m interested in the place in music where a bunch of different genres converge.” John says that magical point in music is between 1979-1984, when about 19 genres all collided. Through his radio station and monthly gig at the Faculty Lounge, John is bringing something new to the table by introducing this music to Charleston’s young people in fresh ways.
He sees Charleston shifting in an exciting direction toward urbanization, not confined by its history, but inspired by it. He hopes that Christianity can come alongside that growth as a way to “provide people [with] the freedom to really be themselves.” Keep an eye out for John Zahl as a living example of how both the Church and city of Charleston are progressing.
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Words by: Charlotte Stack written for CHARLIE Magazine
Photographer: Mark Stetler
Hunter Park: if you don’t know her, you might be the only one. The singer-songwriter and frontwoman for the band She Returns From War is one of the most social people around. Constantly turning out to show support for her fellow musicians, Hunter says she’d much rather “be able to give people the support that they deserve,” than be known for one of her songs.
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That said, her band is gaining major traction in the Southeast and just finished recording their first full-length album with record label 10 Foot Woody. Made up entirely of singer-songwriters, the group collaborates to create innovative folk music (all the while combatting the stereotype of the lonely singer-songwriter whose only friend is a guitar).
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Hunter’s avant-garde, western style is just one type of music she creates. Taking something that’s defined, she makes it her own whether it be a bright blue jacket with a full saloon skirt or a folk song that digs into a completely different genre. “I love to incorporate things that I hear in other genres into folk music because I don’t think it all has to be about whiskey and trains…it gives people a fresh look on folk music.”
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Hunter has high hopes for Charleston’s music scene, recognizing that the city’s diversity of talent has the capability to put it on the map musically.
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She explains, “Charleston’s become a place where you can say ‘I want to start this project and I want people to be able to dream beside me.’”  Camaraderie is a unique feature of Charleston’s music scene, giving every musician the support they need to succeed.
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The band’s latest album, Volume 2 of Coyote Soda, represents this idea with a variety of local artists sharing their talent.
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This is what music is all about for Hunter Park and, to her, there’s nothing sweeter.
Click here and here to check out some of Hunter’s music.
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Words by: Charlotte Stack written for CHARLIE Magazine
Photographer: Sully Sullivan
Normally, when you ask people what they do, you get job titles. But for Sara Peck, the passions that drive and consume her life stretch far beyond a 9-5 job.
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After experiencing Chicago’s endless winter during graduate school, she realized how much she missed the heart (and heat) of Charleston. Upon her return, Sara joined Blue Bicycle Books’team, helping owner Jonathan Sanchez manage the shop, run the summer writing camp and organize nationally recognized young adult literature festival, YALLFest. If that’s not enough, Sara also teaches 6th-10th grade English at the University School of the Lowcountry. Did we mention she’s also working on her second published book of poetry in her spare time?
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“If I wanted to, I could probably fill every minute of every single day with something…that’s maybe not normal,” she admits.
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Regardless, the work that she’s doing is actively challenging the way young Charlestonians view writing. In her AP class, she’s built an entirely new curriculum that broadens her students’ literary scope by incorporating one dead author, one living author and one marginalized author into every unit they cover.  Across all her classes, Sara’s enthusiasm is contagious and she jokes that her students are often stunned to see someone get genuinely excited about writing poems.
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Sara is also working on a series tentatively titled Summer’s Too Hot To Share A Bed. “Every single poem is called ‘Charleston’ and it’s kind of about how we’ve developed this relationship with the weather here…how one moves through the weather of the city, what we pull through with us and what attaches to us as we’re moving through.” Through her poems, Sara’s breaking away from southern writing stereotypes and reclaiming what it means to be a southern female writer.
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Sara Peck is the quintessential librarian, but don’t let that fool you, she’s pushing educational boundaries and introducing Charleston to a new kind of beach poem.
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Words by: Charlotte Stack written for CHARLIE Magazine
Photographer: Olivia Rae James
