Bio: Keli Sipperley was born at Macdill Air Force Base in 1977, and grew up in the Northdale area, attending middle school at Seminole Presbyterian and high school at Gaither. Never content to just do things the normal way (just ask her mother), Keli applied for early admission to Florida State University and completed both her senior year of high school and freshman year of college simultaneously, returning to to graduate with her Gaither classmates in 1995. She finished her bachelor's degree in English in 1997, and moved back to Tampa to start a family. Four fabulous children later, she returned to academia in 2008 to pursue a master's degree in mass communication/ multimedia journalism at the University of South Florida. During that time, she worked with the multi-platform Tampa Tribune news center as an editor and page designer, as well as a features writer.

The personal stuff:

I am the mother of four maniacs, er, I mean delightful children, a keeper of chaos and a burner of dinner. When I'm not digging through the laundry for matching socks, I am driving someone to somewhere to do something.

I have wanted to be a writer since I penned my first book in second grade ("Stacey and The Cool Girls").  I love writing about everyday heroes, cool things to do and little-known places. When I'm not writing news stories, I am daydreaming plot lines for children's books.

I tend to get very excited about things like strange-looking bugs and funny word combinations. My kids are always telling me to grow up, but they're not the boss of me.

My Beliefs
At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs.

My politics: Center of the aisle. Be reasonable, spend less, help those who help themselves, and I don't care who you marry. I am a registered Republican.

Religion: Casual, with regard to organized religion. Spiritual in that I find God in many places, and prefer a beautiful hike in the sun to sitting still during a Sunday service.

Issues: I tend to be an observer, and like to gather as much information as possible from any many sources as possible before I draw conclusions. This stems from the opposite approach I took as a young adult, when I formed opinions based on emotion — and often figured out I was wrong later. Now I am pretty open-minded, and can see things from both sides, which makes me a good moderator but not a good tie-breaker.