Renee DeGross Valdes, Patch Staff

For most of my career, I worked in newspapers,  including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution where I covered Home Depot, retail business news and for several years, the Retailing column in the business section.

I also covered real estate and penned a retail column while at the News & Observer in Raleigh. I also worked at the Washington Business Journal and the Triangle Business Journal. I got my  start in journalism editing wedding/engagement announcements for The Washington Post. My work has also taken me overseas. I spent a year as a producer with TF-1 French Television in the Washington Bureau and also lived three months in Paris while I helped with coverage of the 1996 Summer Olympics and TWA Flight 800 crash.