I grew up in Cincinnati. After high school, I moved to New York City to study and pursue a career in design. In my time there, I learned how to communicate my design vision and manage details, teams, and production systems to create high-quality results. My community work included volunteering to help establish and run a Farmers’ Market CSA in Brooklyn, enabling farmers to pre-sell a share of their produce directly to city dwellers.
I moved here ten years ago to raise my daughter in a safe and peaceful environment. I initially commuted to work in the city, but my partner and I eventually decided to leave our careers there. We were so enamored of life in Cold Spring that we couldn’t bear to get on the commuter train anymore.
Pondering how to apply our talents to enrich the lives of our neighbors, we realized that Main Street could use a friendly, informative shop selling artisanal wines.
Running the shop successfully for over four years has taught me valuable lessons about public service, long-range planning, coping with surprises, and sound financial management.
In 2018 the board of the local Chamber of Commerce was seeking new members whose energy would restore the Chamber’s leadership in the community.
They asked me to take over communications and media relations. Before long, I was elected president.
In my first year in that office, the Chamber relaunched First Fridays (a festive monthly event in which merchants stay open late and offer special events); designed a new website, which lives on as a source of information and connectivity; promoted the village’s Independence Day parade; and, with the help of a small army of volunteers, initiated Cold Spring Aglow, a candle luminary walk during the holidays.
To inform residents about these events, I produced newsletters, designed signs and newspaper ads, and managed social media. In year 2, I worked with the Haldane Arts Alliance and the elementary school art department on an exhibit of student works in village businesses. The students and their families were thrilled to have the artwork exhibited, and the shopkeepers were proud to participate. I worked with Magazzino Italian Art and the Chamber Scholarship Committee to establish a scholarship for Philipstown high school students interested in pursuing studies in visual art and museum management.
I also oversaw two editions of the Chamber’s free folding map of area features and launched the Insider’s Guide, an in-depth online catalog of local resources. These two publications serve not only tourists but also new residents and locals who need to orient their guests.
During the pandemic, I worked with village trustees, the Putnam County Department of Tourism, and Chamber volunteers to place Covid-19 safety signage in store windows around Philipstown. When local organizations and shopkeepers were targeted by hate, I pushed the Chamber to take a stand and made official statements against hate and bias. We raised funds to repair damage to targeted businesses.
My roles as a business owner and the leader of the Chamber brought many community issues to my doorstep:
How can parking congestion be reduced? How can short-term rentals, like Airbnb, support residents’ financial needs without detracting from the community? Why were the village’s public bathrooms locked all the time? How come almost no one rides the trolley that circulates on weekends?
I turned my attention to finding logical, fair-minded solutions to these problems and advocating other improvements.
I provided reports and facilitated panel discussions and other meetings on short-term rentals, plastic-bag regulations, food-truck permits, community gardening, parking, public transportation, managing tourism, the importance of philanthropy, mental health and wellness, and the New York Health Act, as well as giving monthly reports to business owners throughout the pandemic on keeping themselves and the community safe.
