Raised in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, Gigi Zamora’s path has taken her across the Commonwealth—from attending Old Dominion University in the ‘757’ to building her career in the Tysons Corner area of McLean—before ultimately returning home to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Having experienced both the rapid expansion of Northern Virginia, home to some of the nation’s fastest-growing communities, and the calm of Virginia’s mountain regions, Gigi brin...