How would you describe your occupation? I assist with different aspects of Parks and Recreation: registering adults and children for different programs, helping people rent pavilions and other spaces, working a little bit on flyers, and answering questions.

Who’s in your family? My daughter lives in Newtown. She’s the reason I’m here now; I just moved a year ago from New York. My son, who lived in Jersey, decided to move to Danbury after I decided to move to Connecticut — he felt left out. Now we’re all here.

Do you have any pets? I have five parrots. The biggest one is Kai, he’s a macaw; Flapjack, a little cockatoo; Griffin, an African Gray; and two lorikeets, Black and Blue.

What is your favorite book? I read a lot of weird mysteries with archeology and science fiction all mixed up in them. That’s my favorite type of book, but I’ll just as happily read Harry Potter or a romance novel.

Who/what has been the greatest influence on your life? For personal influence, it would be my husband. We met when I was 16, and were together for 47 years before he passed. We complemented each other well. In my career, it was a principal I had working for the New York City public schools. She treated us well and cared about what we were doing. It was something I took forward into my own career when I had people answer to me.

Who’s your favorite musical artist? I listen to everything. I’ll listen to pop rock and hard rock. Sometimes, I’ll listen to classical music. I don’t play favorites.

What’s the greatest piece of advice you’ve ever been given? My mom always told me “not everybody has to like you.” You think you know that, but you don’t actually learn it until you’re like 50 or 60. From my husband, I’ve learned patience. He was a very logical person. I wanted to fix things right away, but I learned to take a breath, take it slow, figure out what I’m trying to work through and what the possible outcomes are, then implement.

What is something you can’t live without? Video games. Right now I’m really into the new Zelda game, Tears of the Kingdom. That’s my relaxation after work. I go home, hang out with my birds for a little bit, and play video games for an hour or so.

What is your proudest accomplishment? Besides my family, I was a speech and language therapist for 18 years, and decided to leave that job and open a web design agency back before Google. I morphed it into a marketing agency that is still very successful. Now, I let other people do that hard work while I work at the Community Center doing something I enjoy. I’m very proud I was able to build that at a time when it was only men in technology. I hired a lot of young women right out of school, and helped them become professionals in the discipline they were interested in. Some of them still work there today. I feel a sense of accomplishment that I could help them grow.

What is your favorite travel destination? My favorite trip over the last couple years was to Arizona with my daughter. We just had the best time, and it was gorgeous.

What is the best part of Newtown? Everybody seems to have a real strong sense of community. That was something that made me think I would like this job here at the community center. Here, I meet a lot of families and that impression is absolutely true. Everybody is so nice and friendly, and I really love that.