PICKENS — The new Pickens Chamber of Commerce Director is a familiar face to Pickens residents

For the last several years, Rita-Sue Seaborn has been a mainstay at city meetings, local happenings and in the hallways of The Pickens Sentinel and The Easley Progress.

The former Sentinel and Progress reporter took up the reins on her new job Monday morning.

Seaborn was born in Pickens County, and was raised on a farm located between Easley and Liberty. The daughter of Juanita Finley Seaborn and the late Carl F. Seaborn, she attended local public schools and colleges, and begin her career in journalism at the one-time Liberty Monitor while furthering her education. After college, she worked as a reporter for The Myrtle Beach Sun News, which led into a second career in law enforcement.

After living along South Carolina’s coast for many years, Seaborn returned to her Pickens County home, working as a police officer and victim/witness coordinator for the Greenville Police Department.

The skills Seaborn brought to the newsroom made her stand out amongst other applicants for the job, said Chamber President Michael Tate.

“Her journalism skills, her background dealing with the public and her overall attitude about the Pickens community made her stand out,” he said.

As Chamber Director, Seaborn will undertake “a wide range of duties,” Tate said.

Seaborn will oversee event planning, community relations, fundraisers and other Chamber functions.

“Our priority is to give Chamber members all the services they pay for,” Tate said.

The Chamber’s biggest focus right now is the upcoming Azalea Festival, sponsored by the Chamber.

Seaborn has served on the Azalea Festival committee for the past several years.

An award-winning writer, Seaborn was recently named Best Columnist in the Weekly Division by the South Carolina Press Association.

Her winning entry, “The Lessons of Austin Green,” a column written about her feelings covering the death of Austin Green, a Liberty boy who died last year from injuries sustained in a bus accident.

“Excellent,” SC Press Association Judges said of the column. “A touching tribute for a tragic situation.”

Seaborn also won third place in the Spot News category for an article written about the bus accident, and third place in Best Series of Articles for her ongoing “Cold Case” feature, a look at unsolved murders in Pickens County, written in an effort to shed new light on the cases and to encourage those with information about the cases to come forward.

“I am excited about being back in Pickens, and am looking forward to working with the Greater Pickens Chamber of Commerce board and chamber members,” Seaborn said.

“There is no place lovelier, or an area with any greater or kinder people than Pickens.

“My father worked at Deil, Poinsett, Singer and finally Riobi, and he always returned to Pickens to purchase any items he needed, because he knew and trusted the people here,” she said. “He believed in supporting the local economy and his neighbors, and he passed that trait along to me.

“I am deeply honored to have been selected to serve this area as director of the Greater Pickens Chamber of Commerce, and I am privileged to have this incredible opportunity,” she said. “It’s great to be back home in Pickens.”