Jan Risher took the long way to get from Mississippi to Louisiana with stops in between in Slovakia, Mexico, China, Burkina Faso and more than 40 other countries. Since moving to Lafayette in 2001, she has been a Sunday columnist for The Daily Advertiser and has written a column every single week since March 2002. She is an award-winning journalist and investigative reporter and was managing editor of The Times of Acadiana.
Before and after her time as a full-time journalist, she was a teacher of English as a Foreign Language at the University of Louisiana Lafayette and also taught in the Lafayette Parish Public Schools. She now owns Shift Key, a content marketing and public relations firm and continues a freelance writing career. She is a graduate of Mississippi State University. She and her husband have made their home on the banks of the Vermilion, with their two daughters. Risher is a skateboarding champion.