Hello, We Are My Rooftop Stories
My Rooftop Stories is a travel and lifestyle blog dedicated to telling stories.
We love traveling and the many life experiences it has given us. On My Rooftop Stories, we share interesting travel encounters, tips, and anecdotes about the destinations we visit. We are performing artists, history teachers, activists, television, music, and art aficionados.
We are storytellers capturing culture and hoping our passions inspire you.
Senior Contributor
Meet Our Founder & Editor
Gina Duncan
Sitting on her rooftop as a child in New York City watching the airplanes take off from LaGuardia Airport, Gina would dream and write about all the journeys she wanted to go on.
She started traveling in college. Since then, she has been sharing her passion for travel by planning and leading teen trips through Europe and the United States. Two years ago she created My Rooftop Stories, a community of writers dedicated to telling their travel stories. Gina has been featured by various media outlets including Global Girl Life and Voyage Atlanta.
Still wanting to inspire young people, she invites teen writers to share their perspective on travel, their other passions, and the television shows they are watching.
This year My Rooftop Stories is launching writing training for ages 13-19.
What We Do
My Rooftop Stories is a community of travel and lifestyle writers.
We share travel stories, passion for life, and our perspective on the television shows we are watching online and on Instagram @myrooftopstories.
Travel Advice: We provide travel advice and tips on destinations around the world.
Storytellers: We share our stories, both written and visual on the things we are passionate about. Look for us on Instagram and Facebook @myrooftopstories.
We are writers, photographers, and video editors. Let us write your content, manage your social media, and edit your videos. Look for more details here.
Student Writers: We mentor high school and college-age students giving them support and feedback on the story writing process. Students visit our Young Writers page to discover how to join us.
Promotional Brands & Product Reviews: We introduce our followers to our favorite brands and products. We tell stories to stimulate brand growth. We are authentic in our desire to share brands that have value to our readers.
Meet TheTeam
Gina Duncan
Founder and Editor
A Trip Nickname I Received: GP
First Travel Memory: Trip to Jamaica as a child.
Favorite Destinations: Barcelona, Tokyo, and anywhere in Ireland
Worst Travel Experience: Falling in a bog and breaking two fingers on my first day of a week-long backpacking trip.
Favorite Television Shows: Grey's Anatomy, This Is Us, Chicago Fire, Bridgerton, Fixer Upper, The Crown
Other Passions: yoga, flamenco, tap, ballet, journaling, video editing, and watching television
Bucket List Destinations: Rome, the Isle of Skye, Mumbai, Cantabria, Bali, Lourdes, and Reykjavik
Katy Matello
Senior Contributor
Katy teaches high school students history with research interests in Holocaust and Genocide studies. Her training has taken her to Poland as one of ten Auschwitz Jewish Center Fellows.
News: Katy and her husband Ryan welcomed a baby girl in 2019 and are expecting another girl in 2021.
First Travel Memory: Going to St. George Island Florida with my family.
Favorite Destinations: Either Montepulciano, Italy or Krakow, Poland
Worst Travel Experience: Driving across the Sinai Peninsula (long story...unexpectedly long, security checks, a moment when I thought we were going to be kidnapped).
Favorite Television Show: Game of Thrones, Grey's Anatomy, Emily in Paris
Other Passions: Holocaust Education, Photography
Bucket List Destinations: Machu Picchu, Peru, Great Britain, Greece
Stokes OShields
Senior Contributor
Stokes is a graduate of Agnes Scott College in Atlanta. She is the director of The Loft, an art gallery on the Historic Marietta Square.
News: Stokes was featured in Cobb Life Magazine as one of Cobb Life’s 20 Under 40 Young Professionals for 2020.
First Travel Memory: Going to the beach with my family and being terrified of the water. I was so scared; I spent one vacation in the car while everyone else enjoyed the sun and surf. Once I finally was brave enough to get in the water, I have loved it ever since.
Favorite Destinations: the Cliffs of Moher, Ireland
Worst Travel Experience: Getting sick while traveling to London for my study abroad. I took melatonin and woke up to turbulence that made me very nauseous. Thankfully the entire rest of the trip was amazing!
Favorite Television Shows: The Crown, The Mandalorian, The Great British Baking Show
Other Passions: art, photography, and macrame
Bucket List Destinations: Scotland, New Orleans, the Grand Tetons, Japan, the Grand Canyon
Martha Sanderson
Senior Contributor
Martha is a science nerd who teaches high school science! She loves to travel and finds pleasure in exploring new places!
First Travel Memory: St. George Island, FL family vacation
Favorite Destinations: Alaska, The PNW, and Maine
Worst Travel Experience: Flying from Portland, Maine to Atlanta, GA with flight delays, thunderstorms, and a broken plane. What should have taken me 6 hours to do turned into 36 hours.
Favorite Television Show: The West Wing
Other Passions: dogs, outdoor adventures, learning
Bucket List Destinations: The Canadian Rockies, other parts of Alaska, and Iceland
Elon Graves
Senior Contributor
Elon is a journalist with dreams of making an impact. She is a recent graduate of Arizona State University where she received a Journalism degree with a focus in Public Relations. She enjoys writing about the injustices of society, influences in music, and how culture shapes people.
A Fun Fact: Elon is a Hip Hop dancer and is signed with a talent agency.
Other Passions: ASU Hip Hop Coalition dance member, Next Generation Service Corps
Chelsea Craig
Senior Contributor
Chelsea is a self-proclaimed book nerd living in Marietta, Georgia. She has an extensive koozie collection and is always down to visit a local brewery for some live music and a tasty drink. She will always ask to pet your dog and hopes to one day perform her Adele interpretation on SNL.
Favorite Books You've Read: This is like trying to pick a favorite child! Some of my all-time faves are “It’s Kind of a Funny Story”, “Anxious People”, “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” and, of course, the Harry Potter Series.
A Fun Fact: Check out Chelsea's koozie collection
First Travel Memory: Exploring the museums of London alone while my friend was taking summer classes during her study abroad trip.
Favorite Destinations: Barcelona, Spain or Sedona, Arizona
Worst Travel Experience: Finding out the second leg of my flight to New Haven, Connecticut was canceled as my first flight was boarding, and having to buy a $400 train ticket in the five minutes before takeoff (and losing Wi-Fi!) to make the trip happen.
Favorite Television Shows: Below Deck, Top Chef, Parks & Rec, and Big Brother
Other Passions: Brewery hopping, serving my community, used book sales, and working in Higher Education.
Bucket List Destinations: Split, Croatia, Napa Valley, California, & Santorini, Greece.
Julia Duncan
Senior Contributor
Julia is a recent graduate from the University of Georgia with a double major in sports management and advertising. She was the marketing manager for the UGA Hockey team. Julia’s already been to three continents, North America, Europe, and Africa.
A.K.A.: JuJu
First Travel Memory: Family beach vacations.
Favorite Destinations: Uganda, London, and Denver
Favorite Television Shows: Gilmore Girls, Bridgerton, Game of Thrones, New Girl
Other Passions: photography
Bucket List Destinations: Italy and Greece
Lili Kinsey
Senior Contributor
Lili Kinsey is a recent graduate from the University of Georgia. She's been traveling with her family all her life and discovered it's one of her greatest passions. She also enjoys baking, reading, and trying new restaurants all over the world.
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First Travel Memory: Annual beach vacations with her nine cousins and grandparents
Favorite Destinations: Madrid, Spain
Favorite Television Shows: Fleabag, The Boys, Wandavision
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Favorite Books: Crescent City, All About Love, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
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Worst Travel Experience: Being severely sunburned in Turks and Caicos
Other Passions: baking and reading
Bucket List Destinations: Anywhere in Italy
Senior Contributor
Abbi Stickles
Student Contributor
Abbi is a junior at the University of Wisconsin, where she is a dance major. She loves traveling to experience different cultures, new cuisines, and meeting interesting people.
A Fun Fact: Abbi is an avid activist, she champions the underdog and is not afraid of speaking up on her social media.
First Travel Memory: Studying geology and environmental science in the national parks for two weeks.
Favorite Destination: San Francisco
Worst Travel Experience: I actually haven't had many bad travel experiences.
Favorite Television Shows: The Fosters, Good Trouble
Other Passions: dancing, social justice
Bucket List Destinations: Bora Bora and China
Morgan Moore
Student Contributor
Morgan is a second-year at Rhodes College pursuing a major in psychology. She hopes to use her Spanish literacy skills to translate and give back to her local community. She’s an ardent poet and reads in her free time.
Favorite Destinations: Philadelphia because of its vibrant street art
Other Passions: photography, fashion, and exercise
Bucket List Destinations: Italy
Michael Duncan
Student Contributor
Michael is a professional trainee for Cincinnati Ballet in Ohio. He is also a sophomore at Kennesaw State University where he majors in business through their online degree program.
He is a Renaissance man, not only does he dance, he has performed in several plays, been an extra in the “Hunger Games” movies, and won awards in culinary competitions. Michael is also an avid runner and sports aficiando, he ran his first road race of 6.2 miles at nine years old.
Traveling to Alaska was the highlight of his 9th grade summer. He hopes to hike all the national parks and to visit all 50 U.S. states, but first on his list are California, Seattle, the Grand Canyon, Denver, and Niagara Falls.