Presenting

42 | GRAVITAS MAGAZINE GravitasMag.com She Said ideas for couples to profile in the column, Meredyth and her husband, Paul, came to mind. The reporter and banker married just a year after a whirlwind romance. They met each other through mutual friends during a game night with friends. After some casual conversation, they hit it off. She Said "I had a boyfriend when we met and Paul was divorced," she said. "There's always one single guy who shows up at these events." He Said "That's me!" Paul laughs and then changes his tone seriously. "The first time I saw her I said 'who is this person?'" Meredyth chuckles, adding, "I don't think he had ever seen me on television." And it's hard not to take notice of Meredyth, whose extraversion and sociability is matched only by her stunning good looks. The outgoing brunette was up before dawn for eight years, covering traffic tie-ups and fender benders on the morning news for Tampa television stations. She made a name for herself on air and social media, creating a Twitter account that focused on Tampa Bay traffic which acquired over 21,000 followers. Today, the multiple Emmy- Award winning reporter makes frequent guest appearances on HLN's Nancy Grace and covers crime stories throughout the state. As if that weren't enough, she is also CEO of her own social media company, named SMEEP (which stands for Social Media Engagement, Events, Promotion). In stark contrast to his wife, Paul is a details-oriented guy, a commercial and business lender with PNC Bank. "I'm very analytical, logical, it has to make sense, black and white guy," he jokes. Yet, logic has nothing to do with how the couple fell in love. The courtship began soon after their first date, and Meredyth confidently declared to her father that she knew Paul was the man she would marry after little more than a week. The couple admits to sharing the same quirky, off-beat sense of humor and laughing over jokes that others may not find so funny. But at least they're laughing together. After an inseparable year together, Paul proposed. The couple married in a Winter Park courtyard. It was an intimate ceremony, with only 24 friends and family present. After a picturesque honeymoon spent roaming the eastern Mediterranean, with stops in Rome, Sicily, Naples, Mykonos, Santorini and Turkey, Meredyth and Paul returned to the Tampa Bay area and merged their two families into one. It was a motley mixture of Meredyth's two cats, Paul's daughter from his previous marriage and a dog, Maddie. Naturally, adjusting to this new life — including Meredyth's early morning schedule was not easy. But the couple found a happy medium. She Said "I would get up at 2:30 a.m. and go to bed at 7:30 p.m. I would get a few hours to myself in the afternoon and then we'd see each other for a few hours before I went to bed," she Meredyth and Paul Frameli Social Media Maven, TV/radio reporter and banker with PNC Tampa Full disclosure and unbridled confessions: I've had a WCW (that's Woman Crush Wednesday for social media peeps) on Meredyth Frameli (known as Meredyth Censullo professionally) after following her Twitter posts for years. Her tweets are a happy-making blend of breaking news exclusives (for the newsie in me), coffee and wine inspirational quotes, and cute cat photographs — pick-me- ups after a long day. So, it seems only inevitable that while brainstorming HE SAID By Katherine Ferrara Johnson

• Cover