Starr Nolan was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina. She attended Wade Hampton High School and received her Bachelor of Arts undergraduate degree from the University of South Carolina. She received her Master of Arts graduate degree in English Literature from Louisiana State University and her MSW Clinical Social Work degree from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.
Starr is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, North Carolina (L.C.S.W.) and has been in private psychotherapy practice for close to 20 years, specializing in working with trauma survivors. Starr focuses on teaching mindfulness skills in her work with therapy clients. Understanding the importance of mindfulness practice led to the development of Casting Carolinas’ unique F.L.O.W. model for retreats. Starr has been with her spouse, Trish Dumaine, for 20 years and has an adopted extended family of many kids, grandkids, and great-grandchildren.
Starr plays fiddle and sings in a band, “All Strings Re-Considered” – Traditional Mountain Music. “All Strings” has been performing in Asheville mostly at charity gigs but also at weddings and parties for 20 years. Starr has been interested in music since she was a child, playing the piano since age 6. She is trained in classical piano and majored in music when she first entered undergraduate school. Starr caught her first fish at the age of 5 and has been fishing ever since. Her biggest early fishing inspiration came from her Aunt Evelyn who was an avid fisher woman and taught her how to “hold her mouth right” to catch fish. She has since fished in many spectacular places– catching tarpon in the Florida Keys, bonefish in the Bahamas, Atlantic salmon in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, Pacific salmon and trout in Alaska, redfish off the SC Coast. In 1999, Starr worked for Mainstream Adventures, Guided Trips for Women and in 2000 established Brookside Fly Fishing Guides as the owner. Starr coordinated the first Casting for Recovery (CFR) retreat in Southeast in 2002, coordinated CFR Carolinas from 2002 until 2015 and served as the Regional Program Director for CFR National from 2013-2015.
In 2015, Starr teamed with others to establish Casting Carolinas and serves as the Executive Director. Starr is a past president and board director for the Land O’Sky Chapter of Trout Unlimited. She also teaches fly fishing at the John C. Campbell Folk School and is a fly fishing instructor the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission’s Becoming an Outdoor Woman program. Starr was a featured guide on ESPN2’s “Rod and Wheels” in 2004. Starr was the inspiration for the guide, Belle, in Mary Alice Monroe’s novel Time Is a River and she edited the fly fishing content. Starr wrote “Western NC Women” magazine “Girls Gone Wild” for the July 2007 issue of Western NC Women magazine and has been featured in a number of articles including C. Wilson’s “Time is a River: Casts for Deeper Meaning” in USA Today, “Reel Women Catch the Big Ones” in Verve magazine, “WNC Group Offers Resources” and “Casting Carolinas Wades into New Waters” (2015) in the Asheville Citizen-Times, and “In Motion: Casting Carolinas Fly Fishing Retreats” in The Laurel of Asheville.
You can visit All Strings Reconsidered Facebook page for a sample of her music, visit her guide service website www.brooksideguides.com and to learn more about Casting Carolinas visit their website www.castingcarolinas.com. Starr Nolan – Inducted in 2017 in the Humanity category for her contributions to fly fishing as a volunteer in many angling organizations, instructor, educator, clinical coach and for her regional and national leadership in the use of fly fishing as a part of the therapy for recovering cancer patients.
