Forty Under 40: Misty Murphy
by January 1, 2014 12:00 am 245 views
Misty Murphy’s longtime passions for public service and biking came together last September when she started her work at the Northwest Arkansas Council.
And the crowning achievement of her career to date will happen this fall, she said, when the Razorback Greenway — a paved trail that extends more than 36 miles, from Lake Bella Vista to Walker Park in south Fayetteville — officially opens.
She takes pride in her role in the project because of its potential to boost the local economy and improve people’s lives, and that drives her to “make it be the best it can be,” Murphy said.
In addition to promotional work for the Greenway, Murphy manages programs for more than 250 miles of natural-surfaced trails in Benton and Washington counties. Her accomplishments include the creation of the website NWATrails.org.
A former journalist for the Benton County Daily Record, Murphy said she has always been interested in public service and graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2007 with a degree in political science.
In her free time, Murphy organizes and leads several trail-based community activities, including popular monthly Greenway tours and trail rides for women twice a month. And when she’s not doing that, the self-proclaimed nerd is playing with tech gadgets or mapping cemetery locations on Google Maps with her 8-year-old son.