Tracy Pollock Maps It Out

Leslie Karnowski

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Tracy didn’t always have her life mapped out, but she says, “As a kid I used to break out the atlas and just start drawing.” Thumbing through National Geographic one day, Tracy saw a map and realized “someone” had to create it. Inspired, she earned a Masters in Geography and landed an internship with “Nati G.” Now a freelance cartographer she admits, “National Geographic has come full circle. That’s where it all started, and now I’m that ‘someone’ creating maps for them.” She’s also designed Great Smoky Mountains trail maps, bike maps, a Montreal city map, and hopes to one day create her own city map brand. A Lord of the Rings-style map is currently in the works for the upcoming novel, The Waters Rising, as well as a pop-up map of Knoxville. “I love to travel and through map-making I’m always ‘on the road’ and constantly transported to different places. I get lost in it.” But, without question, Tracy will always be able to find her way back.