What do you like most about your job?
I trained as a social worker but have shifted more towards a clinical research role. I enjoy connecting with people especially interviewing them, hearing their stories, and learning about their lives. My job also allows me to work on DEI issues and be the staff resources person, which I really enjoy.
If you could invite three people to dinner, who would they be?
They say you should never meet your heroes, and I understand this more from when I worked on political campaigns. I realized that the people I idolize appear presentable because it’s someone’s job to make them look good.
But if I had to invite three people, one would be an ancestor I recently learned about: Thomas Stanton who was the colonial founder of Hartford and Stonington, CT, and has a whole society devoted to the people who are related to him (the Thomas Stanton Society). I would also invite Lizzo, although I don’t know if she and Thomas would get along, and my best friend because she would be a good buffer.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
During the pandemic, my fiancé and I bought a mini-farm, although neither one of us has any business owning one. He’s a law school grad who does land use for a billboard company, and I have an MSW.
We found land about 15 min from Durham zoned for agriculture, and during our first year, we raised turkeys. Leaving them alone for 10 minutes to watch a YouTube video on clipping their wings, we came back out, to find one on the roof of our house and one in a tree! Owning the farm has been an exercise in thinking creatively—in how we can automate taking care of our animals and being more sustainable in our food choices.
What does your perfect day look like?
We are so lucky to live on our mini-farm, so my perfect day is walking our dog, Daphne, in the morning while watching the sunrise and her finding turtles in our pond. Next, my fiancée and I would kayak on Falls Lake, then we’d have a nice dinner at Mateo.
If you could describe yourself in one word, what would it be?
Caring