One of my favorite gifts I ever received was an old, beaten up typewriter.

I must have been eight or nine when my mom found the mint green Royal typing machine at a garage sale. It was full of dents and scratches and the paper got stuck if you didn’t set it just right, but nothing sounded better than the ding that came when it was time to shift the carriage and start a new line.

Jasmine and I spent hours pounding on the keys (likely driving everyone crazy), taking turns interviewing each other and writing “the news.” We’d write up our copy, doodle some artwork and sell it for a quarter to anyone willing to read it. We got the greatest kick out of sharing something we created with our family and friends.

It didn’t take long before we ran the ribbon completely out of ink, and even in the ‘90s, finding typewriter ribbon for a machine built in the 1950s was no easy feat.

Always the shyer, quieter twin, I thought that dried up ink ribbon marked the end of my newspaper career.

Apparently I was wrong.

Earlier this week, I was talking with someone I’d just met about his passion for journalism when he turned the table and asked me why I do what I do.

I didn’t even think before I blurted out, “because I love it. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”

That shy 8-year-old still comes out from time to time, and many people who know me would likely classify me as quiet (especially compared to my sister), but get me talking about newspapers and journalism, and I can pretty much promise you’ll have a more difficult time ending the conversation.

My love for the printed word is almost equally matched by my love for my roots. Niles has been my home the majority of my life. I mean it when I say I could not imagine a place I’d rather do what I love. How lucky am I to be able to pursue my passion providing a service for the friends and neighbors I’ve known my whole life?

In the past three years, I’ve learned more than I could ever quantify.

Sure, much of that knowledge has been specifically about newspapers — proper editing, good page layout, fair and balanced reporting, distribution models and advertising strategies — but perhaps more importantly, I’ve gained invaluable life lessons thanks to a number of wonderful people.

I’m lucky enough to have had mentors, colleagues and friends who have shown me that hard work truly does pay off, that there is nothing more powerful than a team dedicated to the same goal and that it’s worth all the blood, sweat and tears in the world to have a product in your hands that shows off that hard work.

I could not be more honored and humbled to take the lead at the publishing company in my hometown. I’m honored to work alongside the talented team of individuals that has become a second family to me these last three years, all of whom are dedicated to the same goals as me.

I may no longer be clacking away at a typewriter or interviewing my twin, but in a lot of ways, I’m still that 8-year-old girl, excited to share information with the people she loves.

Ambrosia Neldon is the general manager at Leader Publications. She can be reached by phone at (269) 687-7713, or by email at ambrosia.neldon@leaderpub.com.