Melanie – Owner + Editor-in-Chief + Chief Experience Officer + Senior Content Creator
Melanie Lentz-Janney joined Authentic Florida Media in September 2017 as the website’s Managing Partner.
On January 1, 2018, Melanie took over full ownership of Authentic Florida Media, LLC., overseeing all of Authentic Florida’s operations, including content creation, website promotion, social media marketing, partner/media relations, and advertising.
Melanie has lived in Florida for over 50 years. She grew up in Maitland, spent her first two years of college in Miami, and returned to Orlando in 1990.
After graduating from Pepperdine University with a B.A. in Marketing/Advertising (Go Waves!), she moved back to Florida and has never left (she has lived in: College Park, Fern Park, and currently resides in Winter Park).
She fondly remembers riding in the back of her family’s station wagon and going on various adventures throughout the state.
Her family owned a condo at New Smyrna Beach during her teen years, so many weekends and summers were spent clamming, crabbing, fishing, and sunbathing. She also enjoyed playing tennis and waterskiing.
As a teen, she landed a job in the entertainment division of Disney and has great memories of performing in shows, parades and signing autographs.
She has over 30 years of experience as a Public Relations and marketing professional. In 2012, she became an award-winning documentary filmmaker and, for the past 15 years, as a social media marketing strategist and digital content creator.
She has always loved writing and photography, so blogging was a natural fit. In fact, she was one of the pioneers of monetizing her blogging efforts when she needed to fund her documentary project. People paid a fee, and she took them on a VIP behind-the-scenes journey of the documentary filmmaking process.
Melanie founded her own agency, Doverwood Communications, Inc., in 2014, which she still runs. She has worked with a wide range of clients, including several top entertainment empires, a few Florida and New York film festivals, many tropical resorts & hotels, an environmentally intelligent town in Central Florida, and a series of new product launches for a local transportation agency.
Melanie followed a lifelong dream when she served as the Visionary/Executive Producer/Producer of An Affair of the Heart, a feature documentary film about the healing power of music as seen through the lives of pop icon Rick Springfield and his most devoted fans (she has been a “Rick Chick” since 1981).
Additionally, Melanie was the first Executive Director of Women in Film & TV – Florida (WIFT-FL) and later joined the Board of Directors in 2005. She was appointed President of WIFT-FL in 2015, where she spearheaded the opening of four new Florida branches (Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville & Daytona Beach) and oversaw the headquarters in Orlando.
She is a Lifetime member of WIFT and holds a dual membership with the New York branch. She is also a member of the Society of American Travel Writers, Leu Gardens, Bok Tower Gardens, the Orange County Historical Society, Friends of Blue Spring State Park and Friends of Weeki Wachee Springs.
She adopted a Florida manatee named MooShu via Save the Manatee Club.
In addition to her broad business experience, Melanie has a passion for Florida kitsch. Melanie’s eye for spotting Florida’s unique treasures, from alligator farms to unique roadside attractions, is second nature. Melanie’s mom Audrey owned a shop on Park Avenue in Winter Park throughout the 1980s dedicated to kitsch. It was called the Gallery of Folk, Food and Fun Art.
In 2022, Melanie won two writing awards from the Florida Outdoor Writers Association.
Melanie works diligently to find a healthy balance in her life. In addition to work, she enjoys yoga, walking her golden retriever (Bob Barker — RIP Mad Max), traveling with her husband Randy around Florida (and beyond), cheering on the Tampa Bay Bucs with her son Drake, and all things 1980s.
You can find Melanie on LinkedIn!
Breanna – Content Creator
Breanna Ramos joined Authentic Florida in April of 2022 as a Content Creator.
She is an Orlando native, born and raised. Breanna spent her summers with her family at Cocoa Beach and afternoons at the public library near her house after school.
Her love of books led her to work at the library and inspired her to get her BA in English (Literature.) She attended Valencia College and then transferred and graduated from the University of Central Florida. Go Knights!
After graduating, Breanna continued working for libraries. Along the way, she discovered her passion for writing. Making her way into the content writing industry, Breanna focuses on travel writing and is ecstatic about having the opportunity to write about her home state.
Breanna adores traveling, having visited many cities and national parks in the States and abroad. She relishes the challenge of finding off-the-beaten-path places, enjoying many events and experiences in the Sunshine State and beyond.
When she is not writing or traveling, Breanna can probably be found at home reading with her cat, exploring and photographing different places in Central Florida, or continuing her search for the best coffee and tea shops in the Orlando area.
You can find Breanna on LinkedIn!
Meagan – Virtual Assistant + Jill of All Trades
(Coming Soon)
Taylor – Fact Checker + Content Coordinator
(Coming Soon)
Kimberlee – Social Media Coordinator + Content Creator
Kimberlee Charlton-Moore joined Authentic Florida in June of 2020 as a Social Media Coordinator and Content Creator. Melanie discovered her through a viral social media post recommending locally owned Authentic Florida restaurants.
While Kimberlee was born in Florida on the Space Coast, she grew up in the Midwest. After her high school graduation, however, Kimberlee returned to her native Sunshine State.
Kimberlee attended the University of Central Florida’s Honors College majoring in Business Administration (Management & Marketing), and continued her time there, earning a Master’s of Business Administration.
UCF is an extra special place to her because that is where she met her wife, Calli.
After graduate school, Kimberlee worked at multiple advertising agencies throughout Orlando before landing at Doverwood Communications, Inc. and AuthenticFlorida.com.
Through rediscovering her home state, Kimberlee has developed a love for exploring Florida and especially loves discovering unique hidden gems and local shops.
In addition to exploring the more “Authentic” side of Florida, Kimberlee also loves visiting Walt Disney World and Universal Studios.
It is safe to say that Kimberlee has caught the travel bug and loves traversing across the world. She has visited England, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, The Netherlands, Japan, Denmark, and more! She can’t wait to see even more of this fantastic world and all of the wonders it has to offer.
If she’s not exploring Florida or traveling, Kimberlee can be found seeing all of the musicals and plays the Central Florida area has to offer, visiting her parents on the Space Coast, or discovering the next best-iced coffee.
You can find Kimberlee on LinkedIn!
Robin – The Original Authentic Florida Blogger
Robin Draper is a Florida native. She grew up on a barrier island off of Florida’s West Coast – playing in the Gulf of Mexico and building sandcastles in the powdery white sand. Mangroves became her playground, pine trees and sea grapes were her shady getaway. She fell in love with nature and relished starry nights and afternoon hikes.
Family trips took her all over her home state – to Central Florida’s crystal clear springs, to the hills and rivers of the Panhandle, to wide endless ribbons of Atlantic beaches, to coral reefs in the Florida Keys, through the saw grass and cypress of the Everglades, and to mom-and-pop motels in small towns near the many roadside tourist attractions.
These places and experiences made an indelible mark on her soul, creating a passion and love for Florida. After college, she spent two years in the Peace Corps on a remote island in Micronesia. Then she married, moved to California, and pursued a professional career as a fundraising executive. She was away for twenty years. But something deeply rooted in her soul longed for the magical moments of her youth. Visions of Florida crept into her dreams.
She visited “home” when she could and knew that someday she would return forever to the people and places she loved and would recapture the absolute bliss of her Florida life. Robin finally returned to Florida.
In 2011, she created Authentic Florida as an avenue to her past and a path to discovering new treasures. Authentic Florida was her heartfelt creation and homage to the land she loves. She described Authentic Florida as “simple and delightful pleasures for Florida living.”
Robin has been recognized with awards from the statewide Florida Bloggers Conference for “Best Travel Blog” and “Best Food Blog” plus the overall “Blog of the Year” presented during the forum’s Sunshine Awards. Robin also received the Best of Conference Award from the Florida Outdoor Writers Association for outstanding work.
At the end of 2017, Robin stepped away from Authentic Florida to enjoy a much-deserved retirement with her husband, Mike. She is currently spending a year traveling the world with Mike.
Our door will always be open to Robin if she decides she wants to return. We will forever be grateful to her and promise to keep the integrity, commitment, and undying thirst for seeking out the best of the state at the forefront of everything we do.