by Corey Oliver
Staff Writer
In the summer of her freshmen year in college, Georgia Winegeart had a conversation with her father that changed her life.
“He had read an article about court reporting and told me that I should become a court reporter, and I did,” said Winegeart. “There were two schools at the time, one in Washington, D.C. and one in Jacksonville. My father insisted on the one in Jacksonville in order to protect me from the wolves in D.C. That is how I decided on my career. I packed all of my belongings into to my VW rabbit and headed for Jacksonville. It was very exciting coming to Jacksonville from Florence [a town of 40,000 in Alabama]. It was the first time for me being in a large city and I couldn’t wait.”
Winegeart’s first job was at the Public Defender’s Office, where she worked for 13 years.
In 1997 she bought a court reporting firm, D.A. Wood & Associates, which she renamed Georgia Winegeart & Associates in 1999. In the five years since, business has tripled, which she attributes to personalized service.
“All the attorneys and public defenders have built up their practices and several have become judges. Those contacts I made have paid off tenfold,” said Winegeart. “We are service-oriented. I try to make each of our clients feel as if they are our sole reason for being. “
For Winegeart, owning a business is a dream come true.
“ I always knew that I didn’t want to work for someone else,” said Winegeart, noting she was “scared to death” when she started out. “It allows me to utilize my creative talents and to grow as an individual in ways that I couldn’t when I working for someone else. It is all good.”
According to Winegeart, her business career started during her childhood in Florence.
“My first job was when I was in fifth grade, working in my mother’s bookstore making a $1 an hour,” said Winegeart. “ I had the same job in 12th grade still making a $1 an hour.”
Though her pay remained low, her experience increased as her mother expanded the business, opening a chain of bookstores in Florence and the neighboring communities. And her father was a chiropractor who had his own practice in Florence.
While she’s had many interesting experiences during her career, her most memorable moment came during an assignment in Copenhagen, Denmark. The court system in Denmark doesn’t use court reporters and her work drew quite a crowd. As word spread through the legal community, attorneys and their staffs packed the courtroom to investigate what she was doing and how she was doing it.
As for the future, Winegeart is considering establishing satellite offices in the surrounding counties. And she’s looking forward to having her daughter Courtney, who is currently in court reporting school, join the business.
When she is not at work Winegeart, who participated in the 1978 Miss Jacksonville pageant and recalls the experience fondly, can be found power walking or taking a Yoga class, which she loves but admits is a tough workout. She’s an avid reader, which she attributes to time she spent working in her mother’s bookstore. Winegeart is also quite fond of shopping and is looking forward to the day when she can have a little more time to dedicate to her hobbies.