Alyssa Smith was born and raised in Maryland, earning her degree in Media Studies from the University of North Carolina Greensboro after a period of traveling out West. She spent her high school and early college years focusing on music journalism, interviewing, photographing and touring with bands and musicians. Her passion is analog photography and she loves photographing the scenes of Jerome, where she resides. Her love of the Southwest brought her to the reporter position at Larson Newspapers, and as a staff writer with the Verde Valley Archaeology Center and Museum. Alyssa enjoys hiking with her dog along the Verde River and through the desert’s red rocks.