Mike Paterniti and Sara Corbett:
Writers and Founders, The Telling Room

Mike Paterniti and Sara Corbett have lived all over the place: Chicago, Kentucky, Santa Fe, Madison, Cincinnati, and Ann Arbor, to name a few places. They have that freedom and flexibility as freelance writers—Sara is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine, and writes freelance for Elle, National Geographic, Outside, and other magazines; Mike also writes for the Times Magazine, for GQ Magazine, and writes books. Sara says, “I kind of always thought we’d just keep moving, then we got to Portland and we haven’t moved, we’re still here.” That was thirteen years ago. Now they own a three-story Victorian near Portland’s Back Cove, have three kids—ages five, seven, and ten—and helped found a thriving Portland nonprofit, The Telling Room. Sara says, “Now I look at our friends and say, ‘These are the people we’re going to know the rest of our lives.’”

What’s kept them here? Mike says, “ I think the thing that I love about Portland is that we’re constantly surprised. We may go to a restaurant that just opened—a few years ago we went to Bresca and had an incredible meal that we just weren’t prepared for—or take a hike on Mackworth Island at sunset and it’s this beautiful oceanscape and you can’t believe you live five or ten minutes away. It’s this ability of this town to surprise me that keeps completely connected to it.”

Read Sara’s writing in the New York Times Magazine, Elle, National Geographic, and Outside, or follow Sara on Twitter.

Read Mike’s writing in the New York Times Magazine and GQ Magazine, or check out his most recent book, Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein’s Brain.