Occupation: I do two things. I’m a team leader for Tastefully Simple. I offer quick, easy, and delicious specialty foods.  The products require no more than two ingredients to be added to them to prepare them. I’m also an office manager for a garage organization in Bethel. We install high-end tech panels in garages.

Family: My husband is Mark. We have two children. Ali is 17 and Andy is 15.

Pets: We have two Labradors. Abby is a yellow Lab, and is 13 years old. Logan is 6 years old, and a fox red Labrador, which I had never heard of until Logan.

How long have you been in Newtown? We’ve been here for 23 years as a couple, but Mark was born and raised here.

What do you like to do in your free time? I like to read, and I love to garden and do photography, which is what I went to college for, actually. I like landscape and architecture photography best, but if you ask my children, they’ll say it’s portraits. I must have a million pictures of them! And silly as it sounds, I like playing with my children, even though they are in high school. We play pick-up softball in the yard.

Do you have a favorite author? I like Stephanie Meyer, the author of the Twilight series. I love Jodi Picoult, Kristin Hannah, and Nicholas Sparks. I could go on and on! Currently I’m reading Harbour Falls by S.R. Grey.

Do you have a favorite travel destination? I have to say that Disney is my favorite destination. We do go to Misquamicut, R.I., several times a summer. I look forward to one day traveling across the country, when my children are self-sufficient.

What is the best thing about Newtown? It’s hard to put it in a nutshell. A lot of people say it has that small town feel to it, but I feel like you have to know where to look for that now. It’s the people and how we embrace each other here. Everyone is here for each other.

Who has been the greatest influence in your life? A family friend, Bill Jamison. He was the type who would give anyone the shirt off his back or the shoes off his feet, even if he needed them. He taught me to always live kindly and he introduced me to my husband. He had a heart of gold and was an amazing person.

Do you have a personal philosophy? Be nice to everyone, because until you walk a day in their shoes, you don’t know what they are going through. As a team leader, my thing is “Think big, dream big.” Until you do, you don’t know all the places you can go.

Do you have a guilty pleasure? I have two guilty pleasures. My first is the Route 302 Chocolate Moo from the Creamery at Ferris Farm. My second is the flourless chocolate cake at Figs Restaurant. It’s amazing.