Bolta joins the Havre Daily News

Kimberly Bolta, a Havre native, recently joined the Havre Daily News staff as a reporter and photographer, hitting the ground running with her first stories this week.

Bolta was born in Havre before living in Canada during her early childhood, eventually moving back before her teenage years.

She joined the military when she was 17 before she left Havre in 2008 and has since worked as a certified nurse's assistant as well as a private business owner.

She said she's been back in Havre since September and has spent the time since then readjusting and settling back in with her children.

"It's exciting to be back in Havre and see how much has changed, but also how much has stayed the same," she said.

Bolta said this is her first time in journalism, but not photography having run various iterations of a personal photography business in Virginia, Texas and Illinois.

She said, due to moves, she has had to rebuild the business multiple time, and while it has always been successful it is an exhausting undertaking.

"I'd already rebuilt it like three times," she said. " ... Building it from the ground up is exhausting."

While this may be her first foray into journalism, it also is not her first time writing, which she has done in her spare time for years, and she is in the process of self-publishing novels, something of a grueling process, she said.

Bolta said she originally applied to be on the advertising side of the Havre Daily's staff, but then when Publisher Stacy Mantle brought up one of the open positions on the editorial side Bolta thought it would be a better fit for her.

Despite her experience with both writing and photography she said she originally went to school for forensic psychology with the intention to join the Federal Bureau of Investigation. She eventually decided against that after having children who she said have become an incredible part of her life.

"I have two kids, they are amazing," she said. " ... We do a lot of board games and building robots and science kits. We love reading, we do reading every night as a family, it's a big event in our house."

She said her children share with her a love of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, especially which they often spend weekends watching the film adaptations of.

Bolta also spends time with her boyfriend's children, and often spends time looking after her friend's children since she has to work long hours, making it rare that there are not kids in the house.

She does have her own hobbies in the free time she does have.

"I like to write and read, and when it's not snowing I like to go out to the mountains," she said. " ... I like hiking, fishing, and I love hunting."

Bolta said the thing she is most eager to cover is community events in Havre, something she said it's good to experience again after so long away from the area.

"People coming together to help each other out," she said " ... I'm very excited to be a part of that again."