Lisa Davis became The Anniston Star's new features editor Monday. She oversees the paper's weekly Life, Food and Faith sections.

Davis is returning to the professional world after deciding to become a full-time mom in 1998. She got her start in journalism when in 1985 she became an editorial assistant at DFW Home and Garden magazine in her hometown of Fort Worth, Texas.

"I was always interested in magazines because they allow longer-form storytelling and more time to work on stories, so there's time to do more than with the daily news schedule," she said.

Davis later moved on to work for features sections at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and eventually became the features editor for the then-150,000-plua daily circulation paper. While there, she met and worked with her husband — The Star's current editor, Bob Davis.

After moving to Anniston in 2003, Davis continued to focus heavily on her family but has recorded family-life commentaries for Alabama Public Radio and written articles for The Star and Longleaf Style magazine, published by Consolidated Publishing, which owns The Star.

Writing about day-to-day life is something Davis feels is important for newspapers.

"If the news sections tell what's going on, the features section tells you about living your life — who you live with here. These are the people you share this space with," she said.

Managing Editor Anthony Cook said Davis' experience is a welcome addition to the paper and will complement its mission.

"Lisa Davis is a seasoned veteran who's certainly capable of continuing the tradition of award-winning community journalism in the features sections for The Anniston Star," he said. "We're looking forward to seeing the combination of her talent, ideas and energy reflected on those special pages of the paper."

For the food section, Davis wants to focus more on eating healthily, but still enjoying food.

"I'd like to emphasize healthful cooking, since Alabama was recently declared the second-most obese state in the country, but still celebrate Southern cooking, which is an art all its own," she said.

Davis also hopes her section will reflect the area's religious diversity.

"For the past six years, I've been living, shopping and running my kids to school here in this community," she said. "I've met wonderful, amazing people and seen so many beautiful things. I want to share these things in the paper."