Who Am I?
First and foremost, I am a mother, wife, and daughter. My parents adopted me from Catholic Charities when I was one month old. Raised in Williamstown, New Jersey, I lived in a family of small business owners. My great grandfather and great grandmother ran the first bakery in my hometown, and also the one and only movie theater, The Grand, built in 1924. My grandparents and my parents ran an auto parts franchise store and repair shop next door to the theater. It really was Main Street, and I loved being able to see my father’s cousins working the ticket window in the theater, and helping to clean and stock shelves at my family’s store. In 1990, after The Grand was purchased by a local family and turned into a performing arts venue, I had the privilege of playing Thomas Jefferson’s wife, Martha, in the very first stage production there, the musical “1776,” and wore my great grandmother’s wedding ring for it.
After graduating from my local public high school, I attended the University of Pennsylvania, where I received my B.A. in English, with a minor in Theatre Arts in 1996. As a first generation college student, I was keenly aware of the opportunities afforded to me. I decided to give back to Penn through service in multiple alumni leadership roles, including serving as the President of my class, tenure on the Alumni Class Leadership Council, the Board of the Glee Club Graduate Club, and spending over two decades as an Alumni Interviewing Program interviewer and committee chair throughout Central Maryland.
In 1997, I arrived in Maryland to attend law school at the University of Maryland School of Law, where I received my degree with a concentration in Health Law in 2000. Once again, I took advantage of all of the opportunities afforded to me and landed spots on the University of Maryland Law Review, the Moot Court Board and the Mock Trial Team. I had the honor and privilege of serving as the first law clerk to the Hon. Lynne A. Battaglia on the Court of Appeals of Maryland, and enjoying a career as a trial lawyer in private practice. The last eight years of my legal career have been devoted to public service where I have been able to immerse and invest myself in work that benefits all of Maryland’s residents. My current work includes education law and policy, school safety, public safety and emergency response and preparedness, open governance, hate bias and hate crimes, cybersecurity, and mental and behavioral health. I am a certified instructor with the Maryland Police & Correctional Training Commissions and the National Association of Attorneys General’s Training & Research Institute.
My family means the world to me. As a mother, I have thoroughly enjoyed serving in various roles from “room mom” to “party planner” and the always popular “soccer team mom” and even “little league coach.” I’m proud to say that in the over 40 musicals, operettas, ballets and plays I’ve performed in my lifetime, I’ve been able to share the stage with my children on multiple occasions. As they move into adolescence, I love assisting with Scouts BSA, school sports and club lacrosse, and learning about the hopes and dreams of our next generation through my children and their friends. And the most important part of it all, is that I am fully supported by my husband and partner, Eric, my amazing parents, my children who are enthusiastic about my work, and our collective group of outstanding friends.