A friend once laughed at my enthusiasm for hands-on problem-solving and getting elbow-deep in initiatives that can benefit others. “You build playgrounds, don’t you?” he inquired, half serious.

After the dust of career launching and baby-making has settled, I have finally come into my own as a community leader.

While I am often raising my hand “yes,” for the odd job of business advising, grant paneling, or stepping in at the kids’ school, I am also quite strategic in my energy expenditure. I have a three-year executive board commitment (’25-28), serving as the 2026 President of Westport Wadhams Community Alliance, and launched the Safe Roads-Walkable Westport Taskforce (’23-’25, co-chair,) crowd-funding, organizing, and debuting the Westport Chair Trail in 2024, also the Westport History Trail, and in some Town infrastructure, greenscaping, and public arts in 2025, thanks to my winning grant submission that allocated our mighty-but-tiny organization with a $25K Livable Communities grant from AARP.

I sit still, too, sometimes. As a member of the Town’s planning advisory committee (PAC) for 2025-26 Westport Comprehensive Plan development, I’ve dedicated dozens of hours to in-person PAC meetings, community forums, and providing our planners with research and insights as requested.

Trail maker, poster designer, web editor, gardens waterer, Food Shelf promoter, PR cheerleader, cardboard boat float judge, and perennial events pizazzzer…. I’m here for the helping… so that we may all thrive in community, together.