The walls in Judi Clifford’s home are tastefully decorated with scores of family pictures—weddings, vacations, kids and grandkids. These pictures not only include Judi’s biological family, but also her extended family. The photos are a montage of multi-generational friends that have walked through life together: the Cliffords, Richesons, the Ellis family, the Galanti family and the Mears family.

Judi grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her father was one of 10 children, and Judi grew up surrounded by family, especially her tribe of cousins. When she married Ron 60 years ago, his job caused them to relocate 13 times, including to two foreign countries. “With all this constant uprooting, we moved around without relatives, and I wanted the kind of relationships I grew up with for my own children. So, I guess I created cousins by absorbing my friends’ children into our family,” Judy said.

When you’ve been best friends with someone since age 3, you expect to go through some changes. But you never expect this.

On July 15, 2017, Mary Catherine Rawlinson was returning to Florence, SC after a trip to the beach with her family. They were ten minutes from home when another driver hit them head on, injuring the entire family. Mary Catherine was the worst off—she had a broken neck at C6 and a fractured lower spine at L4, which initially left her quadriplegic. Doctors were vague with her, saving the details for her parents, so she didn’t really grasp her situation at first.

“I thought I was going to go to therapy for a while, and I would be back to normal,” recalls Mary Catherine, who had neck surgery before being sent to Shepherd Center in Atlanta for rehabilitation. “I just kind of assumed and hoped for the best. I think when I realized it wasn’t going to be an immediate fix was when they kept extending my time at Shepherd.”

Call it serendipity, kismet, destiny, or a God wink. Two young college graduates each relocate to Hilton Head to start their careers and their lives—alone with no family. A chance meeting at the Black Marlin restaurant resulted in a nine-year friendship (that both women believe will last a lifetime), as well as a marriage.

Dollar Daiquiri Day brought them to the Black Marlin and crazy balloon hats brought them together. After four years, Caitlin Lee had settled in to her new life and made some friends. So on a beautiful autumn afternoon, she and three of her guy friends went to the restaurant to watch college football. There was a man making balloon hats for customers, and Caitlin said she and her friends didn’t have any cash to pay him, so they exchanged shots of Fireball for balloon hats. “We were hootin’ and hollerin’ and the hats got crazier and crazier and more intricate. I kept seeing this girl watching us,” Caitlin said.

Christina Boughton looks like she could beat frat boys in an arm-wrestling competition, and she’s currently training for the Chicago Marathon. But the journey that brought her to this point started with fast food, partying and a family history of cardiovascular disease.

“Growing up we had a very general knowledge of what healthy eating was,” she says, “but once I turned 18 and moved out, I started following what other teenagers were eating. I definitely did not love the way I looked.”

While she was pregnant with her daughter, Christina gained almost 70 pounds. Then she had a son and her pre-baby weight receded even further. But when her husband, a photographer, had to take pictures at the finish line of the Chilly Bean Race on Lady’s Island, Christina put the babies in a double stroller and ran/walked the 5K. She was crossing the finish line when a thought occurred to her: what if she committed to a 5K every month of 2018? By the end of that year she’d done 14.

Christie Cregg is quick to laugh, despite the immense burden of sorrow she carries. But behind the brave smile lie tears which, these days, are always close to the surface.

“When I look at old pictures of myself,” she says, “I see that a part of my smile is gone. I don’t think it will ever come back.”

Christie is from Cobbtown, Georgia, where she grew up in a little wooden shack with six brothers and no running water. She started working the tobacco fields at age 6, and by 12 she became an instant mother of six when her mom took on her brother’s children. A life of hardship had left Christie’s parents emotionally shut down, and she was headed the same way. Yet she can recall sitting on the back porch, swinging her legs and talking candidly to a very special “friend”—it wasn’t until the first time she attended church at age 10 that she realized her friend was God. “It was like a lightbulb went off that this person I’d been talking to was real,” she says.

You were an OR nurse when you were diagnosed with breast cancer. How did you detect your cancer? Did being a nurse help?
My breast cancer was detected by what is called my baseline screening mammogram, or otherwise known as my first ever mammogram. After my biopsy results came back, I approached Dr. Shelly Ringer in the OR and told her I’d be coming to see her next week as a patient. She gave me a hug and a look that said “I got you.” This second devastating diagnosis of cancer—the first being melanoma—within a year of each other came at what I considered the peak of my career as a nurse. With close to 20 years, I felt I had all the skills, knowledge and confidence to deliver at my very best the nursing care needed by my patients. The experience of role reversal in becoming the recipient of care was a disconcerting and frustrating experience. It is being in a world that is both familiar and foreign; as a nurse I gave up the authority and control in caring for others, while submitting myself as the patient. A form of distress called “insider vulnerability” was experienced due to my understanding of the illness and treatment as compared to that of most patients.

Lori and Scott Martin are still married after 37 years. They’ve always gotten along and have never even thought of divorce. However, it was that “’til death do you part” thing that almost got them…twice.

“I love Scott so much,” Lori said through tears, though she also said laughing, “but sometimes I want to kill him. He says ‘right back at ya!’”

This longtime couple have been through thick and thin. They have raised three wonderful children to adulthood, with the oldest two now married and settled. The youngest, Anni, at age 23, is back living at home studying to be a nurse. She will graduate after next year’s spring semester, and it is by the grace of God that she had moved back home last year when this family’s world was turned upside down.

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face….You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

Susan Bailey simply exudes a joie de vivre with her positive attitude, zeal for life and confidence. Her blue eyes shimmer over an engaging smile, and she has a genuine interest in learning about the people with whom she interacts. Susan has been a realtor for over 35 years and clearly loves helping clients find their dream homes.

She was an Army brat who was accidentally born in Texas and grew up in North Carolina, where she went to both high school and college. She earned a Master’s degree in behavioral modification but only worked in the field of psychology for a brief period, However, it has served her well, especially over the last 23 years.

There are many healthy choices that can make your life better, however, when you turn even one healthy choice into a habit, your wellness can begin to soar. Most people have no idea how much better they could feel—mind, body and spirit—if they only incorporated a few, small, healthy changes into their daily routine. Hands down, health is the greatest wealth there is, and everyone has the ability to make good choices for their best—or at least better—health.

Honestly, we’re being a bit bullish about this. We want to push you, albeit gently, toward living your best life through developing healthy habits that make your well-being a priority. From the list we brainstormed of possible healthy habits, we narrowed our focus to what we consider the top six that will make a profound difference in well-being. They are eating, exercising, life-balance, positive thinking, meditation and journaling.

What motivated you to become a healthy eater? 
After having my first child, I was eating healthy in search of weight loss. After years of trying different fad diets, and fluctuating back and forth with an “all or nothing” mentality between my idea of healthy and unhealthy eating, I finally found balance in my life when I learned how to balance the three basic macronutrients—carbs, fats, and protein. In learning this, food no longer needs to be labeled as “bad” or “good.” I now enjoy all the foods I love, in moderation, and have sustained a healthy weight, balanced hormones, increased energy and increased mental clarity. 

What does being a healthy eater look like? Do you ever have french fries or dessert?
For anyone who knows me, dessert is a non-negotiable! I eat dessert every single day. Eating healthy is all about eating to fuel your body. YOUR BODY DESERVES IT! French fries or dessert are not bad, they are predominately carbs and fats. So balanced with adequate protein throughout the day, carbs and fats fuel our energy, hormones and much more!

Having Balance is one of the hardest things to achieve. How do you define a “balanced life”?
Keeping a balanced life sometimes is very challenging. It takes practice to learn how to find some middle ground and get better at it, making time for things you have to do, as well as things you want to. Finding that medium ground, where we learn enjoyment and happiness, helps create a more balanced life.

Tell us how you have found balance in your daily life:
I have found balance in my life by creating priorities, getting involved in what makes me happy, making good friends who count, working with changes that affect me, and always building my self-esteem and confidence to create a strong mind. Spirituality—spending time alone is very important because it gives me time to reflect on my daily activities, meditate, read, or just be in the present moment where nothing else matters.

What motivated you to start exercising regularly?
Honestly, I really think it was just meeting up with friends and talking. Some days we would run 2 miles, and others we could run up to 6 and just hash out life.

Tell us about your exercise regime:
I do really love to exercise! So Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, my good friend, Stephanie Cahill, and I run 2-3 miles at 5 a.m. before the kids wake up and before getting ready for work. Then, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I meet up with another good friend, Michal Anderson, and we run/walk 2 miles, then meet a bunch of other women (including Meg James) and workout at FIA (Females In Action, a peer-lead workout group) from 5:15 to 6:00. I also try to throw in a Peloton workout 2-3 times a week because the music is fantastic. Oh, and I also help out with the running club at school on Wednesday afternoons, which allows us to teach the importance of stretching and to keep moving.

When we asked around the Lowcountry, your name came up over and over on being super positive. What a compliment! How does that make you feel?
Surprised, to be completely honest! Being more positive is a recent goal of mine, and although I like to believe that I am positive, I am honored that I am perceived as positive by others. It is a very sweet and emotional confirmation. Positivity is something that I have to be mindful of because although it can be natural at times, it’s not always easy.

We all have a choice to either think positive or think negative, what have you done to skew your mindset to positive thinking?
Remembering that it is a choice, and every choice counts. This is something that my Grammy taught me at a very young age.

What motivated you to start a practice of meditation?
In 1994 I started practicing permanent cosmetics, and I did a body scan meditation with my patients. The benefits were exactly what we both needed. The patients usually came in with a lot of fear, as you can imagine; meditation shifted their fear into a pleasing relaxing state. It was great to be connected at that level. I benefited because it helped them trust me more, which allowed me to focus on creating beautiful work for them.

What motivated you to start a practice of journaling?
I’ve always journaled. Chronicling my life in various forms was a compulsion for me as soon as I learned to write. I was the kid who counted my diary with a little lock on it as my prized possession, the kid who could be found in the office supply aisle instead of the toy aisle. I got more intentional and devoted to the practice when I discovered Bullet Journaling, which was a way to both organize my life and preserve memories along the way.

How has this practice enhanced your life?
It’s made me live life more aware, both in terms of keeping track of tasks and deadlines, but also logging the little things that happen in a day. Annie Dillard said, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” In that sense, my bullet journal is a tangible record of my life.

When board-certified and fellowship-trained breast surgeon Dr. Tara Grahovac was recruited to the Lowcountry to lead Beaufort Memorial’s new Breast Care & Surgery Program in Okatie, she jumped at the chance to relocate to the area where she and her family had spent years vacationing.

“It was very serendipitous,” she said. “We’ve always loved spending time here so when the opportunity presented itself, we decided to take the leap.”

For Tara and her husband, Erik, it was about building a new life in the Lowcountry with their two daughters, Sophia and Annie. Professionally, it was about something else.

JoAnna McKnight has always loved children. When she was little she wanted to be a teacher and have 12 kids. By the time she got to high school and learned that teachers don’t make any money, she decided to let that dream go. But years later, after her fourth unsuccessful pregnancy—the last being a tragic late-term loss—she circled back to the idea of teaching.

“I enrolled in Technical College of the Lowcountry so I could become a teacher and have children that way,” said JoAnna. “That was my solution. I literally stopped at TCL on my way home from the hospital.”

What is something you have done that you never thought you would do?
I never thought I’d be spending Wednesdays in prison mentoring and teaching convicted male felons, that’s for sure!

What were the biggest lessons you took from your experiences?
Offering personal development training to an inmate is like handing them a steak dinner. Just because a lesson is being taught, doesn’t mean it’s being caught. However, when a lesson comes straight from the Holy Spirit, it’s almost impossible to ignore. It’s those transformational moments I live for. Showing up and giving consistent, compassionate attention to individuals who are starving for some positive discrimination has the potential to change a person’s mental, emotional, and spiritual world. It has mine.

“When parents, administrators and teachers partner with students, magic happens,” said Sue Groesbeck, who enjoyed a 48-year stellar career in education. “Once I got in the classroom, I found my home…a calling, a career. It’s amazing when I look back on my life. I’m still in touch with many of my students and colleagues.”

Sue has 20 years of experience as a classroom teacher of German and French, and 28 years as an administrator. She has held three long-term head of school positions, and six interim head of school roles. She also has deep experience in girls’ schools. She was named the Whitty Ransome Educator of the Year at the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools conference at Wellesley College. This award is presented to a woman who has uniquely committed herself to the lives of other girls and women, who reflects a pure devotion to a higher cause, has the willingness to serve others and the grace and readiness to honor others.

We’ve all heard people who are wildly successful in their careers say, “I always knew I wanted to be (fill in the blank with whatever they’re wildly successful doing).”

And although she is wildly successful, Melissa Pender — by her own admission — is not one of those people. Truth be told, Melissa didn’t plan to work in education or administration. In fact, she wanted to be an accountant—drawn to play with numbers rather than energetic, curious children. Only when she worked part-time at a daycare to offset tuition costs, did she recognize her passion for kids. Honoring her calling, she switched majors and earned a BA in Early Childhood Education from the University of South Carolina, Aiken.

Anna and Chas Brown are fraternal twins, recent graduates of Beaufort High School, grandchildren of a dear friend and a delight to talk with. They are on their way to big things in life; Anna will be entering Duke University and Chas will be entering Princeton University this month. We met at Herban Market, on the Bay in Beaufort, and Chas remarked, “I’m going to miss this beautiful view.”

The twins have racked up an impressive list of awards, achievements, accolades, and of course, scholarships. They come from a family rich in the tradition of educational excellence, and a love of learning, and it shows. Two grandmothers were teachers, a grandfather a college professor at University of South Carolina. Their mother Susan is a teacher at Beaufort Elementary, and is the founder of “The Little Brown School,” which is an innovative preschool in Port Royal she started several years ago. Anna and Chas laughed that they were too old to attend, as they were already at Riverview Charter School, but their little sisters did.

Cool art vibes saturate the air in every form and medium in the Lowcountry, one of the most beautiful natural canvases on earth. With all the surrounding beauty, it’s no wonder the Lowcountry is teeming with creative, talented artists. Some do it for fun. Some do it for a living. All do it to nourish their organic need to create.

Welcome to our third edition of Lowcountry Originals, where you will meet eight dynamic artisans, all filled with creative energy and verve for their work. They have allowed us a peek into their creative worlds, revealed their fears and doubts, told us what inspires them and given us insight into their processes.

Turn the page to take a creative stroll and step into the Lowcountry art scene >>

When and how did you discover your talent?
I’m pretty sure I began acting as soon as I could talk! I did my first play at 8 years old and started writing my own scripts around the same time. I began serious acting classes when I was 12 and did all of the film, theatre and musical theatre I could get my hands on after that. I have been training and performing ever since! I adore stories. They are the fabric of human life in all its many colors, and it is my mission to cultivate a more beautiful world through the stories I tell.

What makes you a Lowcountry Original?
My husband and I moved to Hilton Head Island three years ago after living in Los Angeles for seven years. It was a huge leap of faith and a dramatic change of pace, but I have fallen in love with the Lowcountry. It’s languid beauty inspired me to pick up my oil pastels again, and writing while the whippoorwills coo outside my window is now one of my absolute favorite things! I’m currently writing the screenplay for Natasha Boyd’s book The Indigo Girl, about South Carolina’s own Eliza Lucas Pinckney, and I can just picture Eliza looking up at the same kind of gorgeous Carolina forest I admire from my bedroom window. The natural, casual elegance of the Lowcountry is truly magical.

How did you discover your art and talent:
My mom has always said that from the moment I could pick up a pencil I was drawing. She took me in for my 5-year-old check up, and when the doctor asked me to draw a person, it came out with more details than most stick people. He looked at my mom and said, “I think you have an artist.” I took after-school art with Hilton Head Prep’s Freddie Carson to hone my skills through high school and went on to study fine arts at the College of Charleston.

Acrylic is my go to medium.
I love the range of texture and flexibility it offers, as well as the faster drying time. And over the course of the past two years, I’ve learned to work digitally in order to create patterns and prints for my Lowcountry lifestyle brand, River+Wilds.

How did you discover your talent?
I discovered my talent when Covid started. I have epilepsy and already suffer with stress and anxiety, but it became overwhelming to look at the news. I started taking on the problems and complete disfunction of what was happening in the world. The many deaths over and over, doctors and patients dying, it was a lot for me. I lived my life in a box that year. I didn’t hug my family; I didn’t participate in any functions, which hurt the most. I created my own prison. Thank God the people who love me were understanding and compassionate and encouraged the need for me to get some help. 

The idea for my therapy sock bears came to me in a dream. In all my restless sleep, I was designing in my mind until it became a reality. I know with all my heart these bears are supposed to be used for healing. Each one is special to me and gives me great joy. 

How did you discover your talent?
I stumbled on woodworking back in 2011 while looking for new things to furnish my first home. The Pinterest craze was booming with all kinds of people posting all kinds of projects, and I joined in figuring I could do it too! So I put myself to the test, bought a few tools, got comfortable using said tools, and feverishly tackled bigger and better things. By the time my dad’s birthday rolled around, I challenged myself to make a Big Green Egg table for him. The table was a huge hit for him, his friends and a few others who added a few custom features to my masterpiece. From this simple start, my long shot hobby turned into my passion. I turned a pile of wood into a beautiful, sentimental, lasting piece. I was wholly gratified.

What makes you a Lowcountry Original?
I love working with my hands. Hand work is a huge part of Lowcountry culture and tradition. From farming fields, to weaving baskets, preparing food, stitching clothes, casting nets, fishing the waters, milling lumber and building communities, our very rich history is derived from our hands. When I, for example, build beds, or planters, joggling boards, lanterns, chairs, or swings, I feel that I pay forward a small piece of the history of the Lowcountry.

How did you discover your talent? How does it speak to you?
I have always loved yarn and creating things with yarn. I started weaving, spinning, dyeing and collecting yarn many years ago as a hobby and a relaxation from my career as an aerospace engineer. When I retired and moved to Beaufort in 2014, I began weaving tapestry.

Tapestry is a form of textile art woven by hand on a loom. It is “weft faced” weaving, meaning that only the weft, or horizontal yarn, should show. The tapestry design, known as a cartoon, is held behind the tapestry to guide the weaver as she weaves. In tapestry, the artist interlaces each colored weft yarn back and forth in its own small pattern area following the cartoon.

My tapestries are expressions of my thoughts and feelings about inequalities in society. I am highly motivated by socio-political issues, and these are the inspiration for most of my cartoons. I have an exhibit in July of eight of my tapestries pertaining to Women’s Equality. My portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is one from this series.

When and how did you discover your talent?
From my first box of crayons! I always wanted the box with 64 colors, to buying a 25-pound block of clay, I have always had a burning desire to create! Raised in the Pacific Northwest, my earliest influences into the magical world of art were my very gifted family, especially my sister. A third grade substitute teacher and a very flamboyant high school art teacher, who encouraged me to try new forms of art. I am surrounded by some amazing artist friends who keep me inspired everyday.

My love of Christmases past and present was a contributing factor to the creation of our Hawley Collection Heirloom Santas, elves and other creatures. It was actually here on Hilton Head that I first decided that creating and marketing our Santas would be a rewarding business venture. The “Festival of Trees” committee asked for a donation in 1995, and I created a one-of-a-kind 3-foot tall “Timberline Santa.” The response was amazing. The next year we opened a showroom in Atlanta, and now we ship to fine gift stores and Christmas shops all over the world. I think my love of everything Christmas gave me the inspiration to create our Santa Clauses.

When and how did you discover your talent?
I fell in love with pastry when I worked at a Hilton Head Island restaurant 30 years ago as a server. Every evening I would come in for my shift and see all the amazing desserts and pastries that the pastry chef had prepared that morning. That’s when I decided I wanted to be a pastry chef. I went to the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago (CHIC) for a one-year program, studying pastry for six-month and savory for six-months, all while working for a few great restaurants.

What makes you a Lowcountry Original?
I moved to the Lowcountry before Highway 278 went all the way out to I-95, and I have spent all of those years in the food and beverage industry. Lots of people come and go, but it is my calling. The food and beverage industry is the backbone of the Lowcountry. We are all about food and I love being a part of it.

How did you discover your artistic ability?
I began my journey as a Gullah/Geechee self-taught outsider folk artist following a traumatic period in my life—the deaths of four close family members six months apart over two years. After burying my mother on Christmas Eve of 2007, I found myself in a very dark place, but learned from that womb of darkness and through great pain that great joy can be born. The artist inside of me drew her first breath when I merged canvas with paint for the first time. My art helped me paint my way out of the darkness, as I taught myself to paint away the pain.

What makes you a Lowcountry Original?
I was born in the house I was raised in on St. Helena Island. I was delivered by one of the last remaining mid-wives on the island—Miss Missy. Conceived and delivered in the Gullah/Geechee culture as a descendant of the Guale Native Americans and African slaves. I guess you can’t get more original than that.