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KRISTIN HARRISON: Managing editor, Her Sports + Fitness, St. Petersburg

By FRED W. WRIGHT JR.
Published July 17, 2006

PREVIOUS POSITION: Editor, Where Seattle, Seattle

For Kristin Harrison, keeping on the move is a job as well as a lifestyle.

Since graduating from Eckerd College in 2001, Harrison has risen quickly in the magazine editing industry, moving to positions with magazines in Austin, Texas, Seattle and Washington, D.C., before returning to St. Petersburg to become managing editor of the bimonthly Her Sports + Fitness.

And she has run marathons, including the U.S. Marine Corps marathon in Washington, D.C., where Marines in dress uniform cheer runners on and greet each finisher with a smile and a medal.

In her spare time, she swims, skis and scuba dives.

As managing editor, Harrison will be responsible for overseeing the editing and production of many of the articles in the 80-plus-page magazine, which focuses on women's sports and fitness topics.

"You can have many different jobs, depending on the day," she said.

One section of the magazine Harrison will oversee is "Training." Coincidentally, she is training for her first triathlon.

Harrison comes to the magazine from the very different climate of Seattle.

"I wanted to return to the sunshine," she said.

Harrison said she likes the high-pressure pace of producing a magazine, particularly designing the page layout, marrying words with images.

"I thrive off deadline pressure," she said. "I love to learn. There's always something new to be learned, new people to meet.

"I'm fascinated by the world around me, and I love sharing that knowledge through words and text," she continued. "I really love the really creative part of combining text and images on a page."

Harrison said she likes the opportunities being an editor gives her to work with words and images.

"As an editor, you have a lot more flex to work with both sides," she said, "whereas as a writer, it's a very different job description. You're just writing."

Born in San Antonio, Texas, Harrison was living in Fairfax, Va., when she began attending Eckerd College. She received her bachelor's degree in 2001. She then earned a master's degree in photojournalism at the University of Texas in Austin in 2004.

She began her career while earning her master's degree, starting on the staff of Texas Family Physicians in San Antonio, then quickly moved onto National Geographic Traveler in Washington, D.C., and then to Where Seattle. While editor of Where Seattle, Harrison was editor of Where Northern Virginia, which she redesigned.

Harrison has long enjoyed the outdoors and the water - more reasons to return to St. Petersburg, she said. While at Eckerd, she was a member of the college's search and rescue team.

"I've always, in my spare time, run or swam," she said. "That's my stress relief. I've always been active. I love being outdoors. This is a magazine that suits all of my personal interests."

Harrison, 27, is single and lives in St. Petersburg.

[Last modified July 17, 2006, 06:10:54]