By Brian Larsen from The Cook County News Herald - January 20, 2018

Traci Crotteau, the new director of development at Boreal.org, has an interesting past.

“My family and I moved to Grand Marais in early October from the high desert town of Lakeview, Oregon. But I was born and raised in Thief River Falls, Minnesota,” said Crotteau, adding, however, “I never made it to Cook County! Moved to Grand Marais, sight unseen.”

So far the move has been a pleasant experience. Her husband, Michael Crotteau is the new District Ranger of the Gunflint Ranger District.

“We moved here because he received the District Ranger position. We have two children, Hattie, a girl, in 5th grade and Aricin, a boy, who is in first grade, both at Sawtooth Elementary School in Grand Marais. I also did a bit of subbing at the school district here, but now am mostly working with Boreal.”

When asked about her educational background, she responded, “I have a mass communications degree, with a concentration in broadcast journalism, from the University of Minnesota Moorhead.”

Her previous work experience should prove very useful to Traci in her present job.

“I was a radio and television news reporter and anchor for a dozen years then switched my skills to public relations. I was a television news reporter in Grand Forks, North Dakota WDAZ Ch. 8 (during the 1997 flood, which occurred during my first month on the job). I was a news reporter and anchor in Anchorage for Alaska’s Superstation KIMO Ch. 13 (where I covered the Last Great Race - The Iditarod).

“I eventually became the press secretary for Alaska’s Senate majority leaders and then was a communications aide to former Alaska Lieutenant Governor Loren Leman. I currently run my own voice over business from my home. I record commercials, narrations, audio books, characters, you name it, at a studio in my home.”

When she isn’t working Traci likes spending time with her family and enjoys outdoor activities which include hiking, cross country skiing, pack rafting rivers, snowshoeing, fishing, and beachcombing.

As far as her new position at Boreal, Crotteau said, “I hope to see Cook County businesses utilize Boreal’s great visual coverage! It has so many potential customers to communicate with! The website has 123,000 users and has had 1.7-plus million page views. I don’t think businesses realize their potential to be seen on boreal.org.

“A Boreal sponsor business will be seen by a lot of people. This website is a great one-stop-shop for business owners, customers and community members of all kinds to communicate with one another; it is a great way to get your information to the largest amount of people.”