Marian Amo grew up in Brookyn, having been born in Ghana. When the pandemic hit and New York City was locked down in spring of 2020, Marian hit the road, heading south from her apartment in New Jersey to visit her sister and brother-in-law in the West Virginia panhandle, not that far from Maryland and Washington, D.C. That summer, she moved permanently to West Virginia, bought a house and has no regrets for her "pandemic move."