As a child raised in a home of health care workers, my mom instilled a sense of empathy for the less fortunate. I naturally gravitated to a career in human services, working and assisting individuals maintain and enhance their lives. After receiving my B.S in Gerontology from the University at Albany SUNY, I returned to work for 12 years at the Alzhiemers Resource Center. There I gained valuable skills as a therapuetic recreation director assisting elder adult who suffer from alzheimer and dementia. After years of working with the senior citizen population i wanted to explore assisting young people in making smart choices academically and personally as they navigate their way through life. I began working for Covenant to Care for Children, which runs a mentoring program for children of incarcerated parents. It was there where my passion for working with young people grew. After 5 years working for Covenant to care, The United Way of Coastal Fairfield County had just developed its own mentoring program assisting at risk high school students and they had asked me to come and work in building their new program. It has been tremendous experience, in which i'm truly grateful to have. I come to work each day with a sole mission of making the lives of young people meaningful, while supporting them in achieving their goals for the future.