Making an Impact: Ellen Bernard Smith

by Chuck Cascio, Author and Former South Lakes Teacher

Ellen Bernard Smith

Ellen Bernard Smith admits that her path to being an author and supporter of the arts has been atypical. As the title of her book, “Memoirs of a Suburban Troublemaker” confirms, Ellen often took a different approach to life's decisions. For example, when asked when she graduated from South Lakes High School, her response is, "Well, that depends on how you define 'graduated'."

In fact, Ellen says, "SLHS and I had a messy breakup four months before graduation, so I graduated from Chantilly High School in 1993." However, as a "troublemaker," she says various lessons “taught me that I needed to find a way to get along with teachers and everyone else in order to succeed." She acknowledges “bright spots" in her years at South Lakes, including having teachers such as "my choir teacher Mrs. Stammer, history teacher Mr. Ruffin, biology teacher Mr. Baird..." and others. “They were among the ones who threw me crumbs of belief and oxygen." And there were positive experiences that continue to influence her: "I sang in every choir South Lakes offered: Concert, A Cappella, Madrigal, Jazz–making music with students from every race, religion, identity, and income level. That is what I love most about Reston--its beautifully diverse community didn’t just exist, it thrived, and we proved it when we lifted our voices together."

Ellen admits that her self-described "troublemaker" status was due to her "questionable judgment.” Still, she remembers the pride of going to Terraset Elementary School, “the first underground elementary school with solar panel electricity and heating," and then to intermediate school at Langston Hughes: "I have always been proud to have gone to a school named for a Black poet who fought for civil rights. Plenty of schools teach his works, but very few are actually named for him."

Pulling her early life experiences into focus, Ellen graduated from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 1998. "I majored in psychology because I was really just trying to figure out my own issues," she says. "I certainly learned a lot; however, years later, writing my book was probably the most therapeutic and cathartic experience of my adult life."

“Memoirs of a Suburban Troublemaker,” published in the summer of 2024, was Ellen's first attempt at a major piece of writing. Consistent with her life's experiences, the road to publication was by no means direct: "In the summer of 1998 after my college graduation, I was faxing résumés from ads in the classifieds page.” Reston’s proximity to D.C. and my complete lack of imagination, pigeonholed me into fields like human resources, tech, and defense contracting."

Ellen says she hated her first job out of college as a human resources generalist, so she "did what any confused twenty-something would do. I moved to New York to chase my dream of becoming a famous singer and to work in what I thought was the fun side of HR, recruiting. The job was fast-paced, misogynistic, and relentless...but I thrived, tripling my income, and becoming a top recruiter."

However, when her ongoing pursuit of a singing career in New York "fizzled," she returned to Virginia, took a job in defense contracting, and eventually wound up at Amazon Web Services. There she took a "professional writing course that changed everything–with active voice, data, and clarity, I became the go-to editor for any document headed to leadership.” In 2023, Amazon was offering buyouts, which Ellen took "and decided to write something fun. I’d been journaling since childhood. ‘Memoirs of a Suburban Troublemaker’ is in many ways the grown-up version of that first journal."

Writing, singing, and the arts were consistently engrained in Ellen's life: "I stayed drawn to creative spaces even when I couldn’t live in them." In January 2025, Ellen decided to fulfill her pursuit of the arts by becoming the art liaison at the Workhouse Arts Center, which was once the historic Lorton, Virginia, prison and is now dedicated to displaying and pursuing art in a variety of ways. "The Workhouse connects history and humanity through world-class arts education, galleries of professional artists, and the powerful Lucy Burns Museum, which tells the story of the suffragists who fought for women's right to vote,” Ellen says. “The Workhouse is a creative playground for all ages with art-inspired mini golf, live theatre, and the region’s best seasonal events. It’s a place to learn, connect, and be inspired--a masterpiece built from its past, thriving in its present, and open to everyone with free admission.”

Ellen sees irony in the fact that she has engaged with the Workhouse Arts Center: "I spent much of high school convinced I was headed for jail, which now feels poetically appropriate given that I work at a former prison." She pauses and adds, "For the first time in my life, I feel like I have permission to live a creative life," a life the mostly reformed troublemaker shares with her husband, Dan, and their two daughters, ages 10 and 11.