Amanda Prouty is launching a new weekly feature, Stories of Anson, in which she tells us about some of the interesting people who live here and “make this small town better and a wonderful place to live.” Her debut subject? A very logical choice: herself!
I’m Amanda. I’m really kind of out there. I’ve never really been sure of what I wanted to do in my life and that has led me to all sorts of jobs. If you asked me like six years ago, I would have told you I wanted to be a doctor. Three years ago? Graphic designer. Last year? Apparel designer.
My family moved down here from Ohio 20-something years ago. All the time I would ask my mom and dad, “Why here? Of all places we could have gone, we came to this small place?” I spent most of my life trying to figure a way out of Anson County but I never did. I would take jobs out of the county, trying to start my life there. They never panned out. Finally, I made my way back in 2019 where I managed a coffee shop, The Speckled Paw. I loved being in the middle of everything and talking to EVERYONE.
I still didn’t really know what I wanted to do so I found something else to do in Charlotte. I still felt really empty in Charlotte, though. I was close to figuring out what I wanted to do but I for sure knew I didn’t want to leave Anson anymore. It was my home. Anson County made me who I am today.
I finally just quit my job in Charlotte. I didn’t have a plan, money saved or any idea what I was going to do. But I knew I was going to come back to Anson and start a business.
People ask me why I identify with Anson County so much. The more I thought about it, the more I knew: I just love where I’m from. I’m proud of all the people in the town, I love the people who are my friends and the people I know. People have a way of making a difference.
I do several things now but my favorite thing is to tell stories. I hope with Stories of Anson, I can not only tell my story but the story of the wonderful people who make this small town better and a wonderful place to live.
In life some always search for what they want to do. Some find out what they wanted to do was not what they wanted to do. For many of us we end up doing what we never imagined we would do. I never knew what I wanted to do, I just did. I knew I needed to work, and once working I stayed with it. I worked 4 jobs from high school graduation until retirement. I never entertained the idea of working for the North Carolina prison system, but I did for the last 20 years of my working life, and retired from it.
For those that never find what they wanted to do, at the end of the road they look back over life and discover they had found what they wanted to do, just at different stages in life.