Meet The Fort Hunt Patch Moms Council

Welcome to Moms Talk, a new feature on Fort Hunt Patch designed to serve local parents. Each week in Moms Talk, our local Moms Council of experts and been-there-done-that moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions to common parenting problems.

Moms, dads, grandparents and the diverse families who make up our community will have a new resource for questions about local neighborhood schools, the best pediatricians, 24-hour pharmacies and the thousands of other issues that arise while raising children.

Moms Talk Q&A will also be the place to drop in for a talk about the latest parenting hot topic. Do you know of local moms raising their children in the Tiger Mother's way and is it the best way? Where can we get information on local flu shot clinics for children? How do we talk to our children about the Tucson shootings? How can we help our children's schools weather their budget cutbacks?

Leigh Mang is a former Navy wife who considers herself a “new resident expert,” having moved three times in the past eight years, since her husband retired. She is currently raising two girls and a golden retriever in the Stratford Landing area.  Before moving to Alexandria, Leigh was the Public Relations Manager for the Virginia Arts Festival in Hampton Roads.  After many years in the public relations world, she is now a PTA board member at Fort Hunt Elementary in charge of all social events and cultural assemblies.  Her children, 11 and almost 9, are active in soccer, swimming and basketball as well as dance and Girl Scouts.  The Mang family attends Aldersgate United Methodist church. Though Leigh has only lived here in the Fort Hunt area for 2 ½ years, it has quickly become home and she hopes to be here for quite some time.

Stephanie Fultz was born and raised in Kentucky, and come from a long line of independent and loving women that have found success at both the office and at home. She spent over seven years in the Air Force before transitioning to the private sector, and is now a Program Manager working for the federal government. Her goal is to keep the balance between having a successful career and being a devoted mother to her daughter Jessica and a loving wife to her husband Jay, a retired Air Force officer. She is an expert on being a working mom, keeping life in balance, raising girls with confidence, community involvement and giving back

Mary Porter is a nutrition educator and counselor who has lived in Alexandria long enough to see it change from a small town to an intensely developed and diverse community where strong neighborhoods still thrive. She is the mother of twins (one boy, one girl) adopted from China who are students at Hollin Meadows Science and Math Focus School where she serves on the PTA. Mary loves to feed people, a passion which inspired her reinvention from marketing/communications professional to her current field. After earning certification from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York and the American Association of Drugless Practitioners, she opened her practice, A Better Plate, which offers counseling, cooking classes, corporate wellness programs and other educational events. Mary writes the weekly WELL FED column for Fort Hunt Patch.

Amy Coffin and her husband Chris are the proud parents of two.  Since choosing the title “stay at home mom” her role in her family’s business decreased but she still finds 8-10 hours a week to return to her office at ServiceMaster of Alexandria, where she works on specific projects.  The family business has been in operation for 25 years.  Prior to joining her parents business in 2000, she worked in commercial real estate.   Amy was the Varsity Lacrosse Head Coach at Bishop Ireton High School  from 2001-2007.  She is a graduate of Virginia Tech, where she was a four year starter on the Division 1 Lacrosse Team.  

Have a question you want the Fort Hunt Patch Moms Council to tackle? Email them at forthuntpatchmoms@gmail.com.