AGE 49. Just saying that makes me crazy!! Isn’t my mother 49?
OCCUPATION School psychologist with Stonington Public Schools and adjunct professor at the University of Rhode Island’s School Psychology Graduate Program.
RESIDENCE Westerly.
BORN, RAISED GREW UP IN Born in Warwick, raised in Cranston. My husband says I “grew up” in Westerly!
FAVORITE WAY TO SPEND MY TIME With my family and friends, and reading.
PROUDEST ACCOMPLISHMENT Raising our delightful daughter, Samantha; earning my doctorate; presenting at an international conference on “Social Thinking” in San Francisco last summer.
WHAT I HOPE TO BE REMEMBERED FOR Making a positive difference in the lives of children and families.
TOP ITEM ON MY BUCKET LIST Traveling to Italy.
ALWAYS IN MY POCKET A magic mint and a warm, fuzzy . . . ask my students!
WHAT I WANTED TO BE WHEN I GREW UP A stewardess when I was 10, a cruise director when I was 13 and a dance therapist when I was 16.
PERSON OR EXPERIENCE THAT HAS INFLUENCED ME THE MOST My parents, Bob and Jean, and my students on the autism spectrum.
FAVORITE BOOK/AUTHOR I am an avid reader of obscure biographies. Professionally, anything by Temple Grandin and Michelle Garcia Winner; fiction by Wally Lamb and Jodi Picault; with my students, “Out of My Mind,” by Sharon Draper.
LAST BOOK READ FOR PLEASURE “Weekends at Bellevue: Nine Years on the Night Shift at the Psych ER,” by Julie Holland; professionally, “I Get It! Building Social Thinking and Reading Comprehension Through Book Chats,” by Audra Jensen; and with my students, “Granny Torrelli Makes Soup,” by Sharon Creech.
FAVORITE SONG I love Broadway musical soundtracks!
FAVORITE MOVIE “The Martian Child.”
FAVORITE TV SHOW “The Big Bang Theory.” I live and work with some of the characters.
FAVORITE PET Cape Cod Bay (Chip), our thoroughbred horse. We lost him a couple of years ago.
FAVORITE FOOD Steak a la mama.
AMOUNT OF TIME I SPEND A DAY ON FACEBOOK According to my husband, entirely way too much time!
TRAIT I MOST ADMIRE Optimism and compassion.
PET PEEVE Pessimism and complainers.
FAVORITE QUOTATION “Always remember you’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think,” — Christopher Robin to Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne.
MY FAVORITE THING ABOUT OUR LITTLE CORNER OF THE WORLD The beaches, living in a small, friendly community and soupy of course!
CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT My family and a good glass of Pinot Noir.
LITTLE KNOWN FACT ABOUT ME I played the accordion and twirled a baton in parades in Cranston.
BEST ADVICE I’VE EVER RECEIVED “I expect great things from you,” -— from my high school English teacher, Irvina Beiser.
ADVICE I BEST LIKE TO GIVE “Have a magic mint — it will make everything all better!” And, “How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? Just one, but the light bulb has to WANT to change.”
IF I RULED THE WORLD I WOULD I would make sure all children were happy, loved and wanted.
IF I WON THE LOTTERY, THE FIRST THING I WOULD DO IS Buy my husband a new truck, take a vacation to Italy and save the rest.
I DRIVE A 2006 Silver Chevy Trailblazer.
I WISH I DROVE A 2013 red Mercedes sports convertible.
ALWAYS IN MY FRIDGE A block of Pecorino Romano cheese that my mother-in-law, Stella, buys on the “Hill.”
IF I COULD HAVE DINNER AND A CONVERSATION WITH ANYONE IN THE WORLD I WOULD CHOOSE My father-in-law, Jim Liguori Sr., because he left us much too early. I would tell him everything that has happened over the past 10 years and how proud he would be of his wife, son and granddaughter.
— Interview conducted and edited by Nancy Burns-Fusaro