It's one of our FAVORITE days of the week! Every Friday, we have the honor of featuring a local mama and today we are featuring a very familiar face… Carrie Duncan! If you've been on the Coast for any amount of time, then you've seen her smiling face before! You all know her and love her as Carrie Duncan WLOX Meteorologist

Carrie grew up in Starkville, Mississippi and is the youngest of four girls.

"I was always a very talkative child. My mother said I didn’t talk much until I had my tonsils removed, and then, when I woke up, I never stopped talking! I went to Mississippi State University where I graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Geosciences with an emphasis in Broadcast Meteorology in December 1998. I got my first job in Erie, Pennsylvania when I was just 21 years old."

She moved away from everything and everyone she knew to seek out on this new career and life adventure. Within two weeks, she was moving to Greenville North Carolina where she worked with WITN in Greenville for three years and three months. She worked through several hurricanes and severe weather while she was there.

"It was during this time when I was also diagnosed with severe depression. I talked to my doctor, got on medicine, and began the healing process. Then I moved down to Biloxi and took a job after interviewing with Mike Reader, and the rest is history. I eventually moved up to chief meteorologist once Mike retired. I got married in December 2013, so my husband and I just celebrated our 10 year anniversary. Our sons just turned nine and seven at the end of the year.

As they are getting older, they have mentioned more frequently how much they do not want me to go back into work when it’s late at night. In television, we work on contracts. My contract is coming up, so this was the right time. A great opportunity came along for me at INGALLs shipbuilding in Pascagoula as the community relations and engagement specialist and I am excited about this pivot in my career, and it is going to allow me much more family time."

When we asked Carrie for a piece of advice to share with all the mamas here, she said, "If things are really tough and trying, just wait…it’ll get better. And also, when things are going great, enjoy it because they’ll get tough and change before too long. It is just the natural cycle of life and motherhood. Also, for everyone out there, I would really like to encourage more people to give the benefit of the doubt to everyone and almost every situation. "

Carrie, we are honored to feature you and we are excited for your new journey! Thank you for sharing your story with us!