When Christina Entenmann-Edwards moved to southern West Virginia in 2008, she had no idea what to expect.
At the time, she was going through a few life changes and felt trapped and like she had nothing to offer the state she now calls home.
“It was really tough to live here at first,” said Edwards, 39 and a native of Connecticut. “I felt like I didn’t have a real skill to offer. I wasn’t a nurse or a doctor or an engineer.”
However, what Edwards did have was a love for the arts, specifically photography.
Using this love, Edwards started to get to know her new home in Greenbrier County, an exploration that would eventually lead her to create an entertainment newspaper known as Hashtag West Virginia, a free monthly paper distributed in 13 counties in southern West Virginia.
“Living here, after a couple of years I realized there was no entertainment paper here,” she said. “I saw a lot of flyers on the doors all over for open mic and other events and thought a free city entertainment paper would be really good.”
Initially Edwards called her creation Hashtag Lewisburg which came to life through a Facebook page in 2012 where she would post info from the flyers she would see in downtown Lewisburg.
Edwards said she ran this page for about a year before deciding to transform her online creation into a printed edition.
“I did a lot of promotional stuff for almost a year before I started the paper,” she said. “I would go to restaurants and bars and take pictures and put them online and got a lot of good grace and built some pretty solid relationships through doing that. And people, even though they hadn’t known me my whole life, they knew I had good intentions.”
For her first published edition, Edwards said she prepaid for it all herself and then went to businesses asking for support through advertisements for future editions.
Edwards credits her parents for giving her the inspiration to start her own newspaper.
Her parents, both from Hungary, came to the United States in the 1970s with nothing, Edwards said.
“They fled a communist country where you’re not allowed to have anything and we talked about that a lot at the dinner table growing up,” she said. “Just the hardships they went through, and I really respected that they were able to come here, learn a new language and start a new business.”
Growing up, Edwards said her dad owned a repair shop in Norwalk, Connecticut.
“I just saw them do it, so I guess growing up I thought that you could do anything,” she said.
For most of her life, Edwards has lived by this “I can do anything” motto.
As a child she had to learn English, her second language to Hungarian. Then after some family health issues, Edwards dropped out of high school and sold artwork out of her car to financially assist her family.
After a few odd jobs which included delivering papers in the morning, Edwards decided that if she wanted anything out of life, she’d need to go to college.
So she earned her GED at 17 and after a brief stint at a community college, Edwards went on to attend Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, where she earned a bachelors in history.
While living in West Virginia, Edwards as earned a Masters in Business from Liberty Univeristy by taking classes online.
While she never took a journalism class, Edwards said she learned from the universities how to write and how to do research which were extremely helpful in getting Hashtag West Virginia off the ground.
“There was also a lot of trial and error,” she said. “If I interviewed someone and missed something, people were so nice and would allow me to follow up with them and ask a few more questions.”
When it came to designing the paper, Edwards said she sought out online recourses to teach her everything she needed to know.
“A lot of it was just self-discipline,” she said. “I was really interested in it and took the time to do it right.”
Edwards said she can’t believe she’ll be celebrating 10 years with Hashtag West Virginia in February.
“I never thought I would be doing it this long,” she said. “I can’t go on doing this forever but the happiness and joy that this brings people makes all the time I’ve put in worth it.”
Edwards has also pursued other passions since starting Hashtag West Virginia including an apprentice program which she launched around 2016 and connected hundreds of young people from around West Virginia to businesses that offer career paths they might want to pursue.
She said starting that program felt like a turning point, as if she was hitting her stride on what she was meant to do in life.
Up until COVID put the program on hold, Edwards said the mentorship program was flourishing and had even expanded to Virginia.
“I think it’s so important to be a leader towards children and just expose them to the workforce and what’s available for them,” she said. “I think the hardest thing as a kid is not knowing what’s out there and being overwhelmed. A lot of kids, they just default into nursing school of jobs like that but there are so many different fields out there they might not know about.”
Edwards said she also offers internships at her paper where she can help teach students about journalism as well as graphic design, web design and all things newspaper related.
Even though she enjoys mentoring the younger generation, Edwards said she enjoys being the mentee just as much as being the mentor. This year, she is part of Leadership West Virginia’s class of 2021. She said the purpose of the class is to connect leaders from across the state.
Edwards said the program, now in its 30th year, has been a way for her to get to know West Virginia even better.
“With the paper and now with (Leadership West Virginia), I am always learning new things about the state,” she said.
Edwards said in her mind that is the key to being successful – having on open mind, being willing to learn new things or skills and not being afraid to pursue a wide range of resources.
“I really think it’s a mindset,” she said. “If you really believe that you can be something or be somebody just go for it. I think a lot of it is about self-confidence, so if you’re passionate about something you should pursue that passion.”
For a look at the latest issue of Hashtag West Virginia go to hashtagwv.com. Print copies can also be found at select visitor centers, gas stations and businesses throughout southern West Virginia.
