Q: Tell us about yourself.
I saved this portion of the interview until last, because it was so hard to answer. I guess I would say that I am a mother, a philanthropist, and a horse trainer. Every day I wake up and try to be a better person than I was the day before. I still don’t really know what else to say…
Q: Please tell us a little bit about your family.
I have two fantastic daughters. One is in law school, and the other one is in her sophomore year of college. They live together and are going to school in San Diego, so I spend a lot of time flying back-and-forth between the coasts.
Q: Please tell us about your current, past, or future career. What do you love most about what you do?
After college, at the University of Scranton, I worked for a long time in advertising and direct mail. I worked for Tracy Locke Advertising on the Pepsi account and for American Family Publishers, writing all the letters that used to come from from Ed McMahon that said, “You may have already won $10 million”. I eventually found my way back to my first love, which has always been horses. I worked as a trainer of show horses for the last 16 years and was very successful. However, knowing how wonderful your life can be when you are involved in horses, I really wanted to do something more charitable than helping someone’s wealthy child, buy their 5th horse. I wanted to open up the world of horses and riding to people who did not have access to it, so I started Great Strides Equestrian Foundation this summer. I provide polo and horseback riding lessons to inner city teens who would not have the ability to ride otherwise. It’s a 501c3 charity, and while the fundraising part has been harder than I thought it would be, the rewards of working with the girls this summer have been even greater than I ever imagined!
Q: What are a couple of your favorite restaurants in our community?
My favorite restaurant in Saratoga Springs is Cantina, because I lived in Los Angeles for quite a while and became a taco addict. I also really like Solevo, their eggplant chips are amazing.
Q: How long have you lived or worked in our community?
I bought my house nine years ago after years of coming to Saratoga for horse shows. Every time I came here I absolutely loved it, so, when my house in Pennsylvania burned down, I decided to find farm close to Saratoga.
Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in our community?
I’d have to say the most interesting person I’ve met here in Saratoga is Mario Dino, who runs the Saratoga Polo School. He is one of the most kind and generous person I know. If you ask Mario for help with some thing he always says yes, even if it’s difficult for him. When I needed to borrow horses to help the Special Olympics, he said yes. When I asked him to help me with Great Strides Equestrian Foundation, he said yes. When I asked him if he could help out the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation with donations, he said yes. He never asks what’s in it for him, and there are not a lot of people like that in the world.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
I have been dying to go to Prague, but all of my vacation money is spent going to see my daughters in San Diego. Once they are done with school, I’m hoping to get to travel more and hopefully they can join me.
Q: What is one of your favorite movies? TV shows?
I love old movies, and my favorite movie is The Philadelphia Story. And as far as television shows there’s nothing I really am into right now, but I loved The West Wing and even after seeing every episode when it was originally broadcast, I have binge watched that twice.
Q: What advice would you give to people?
The advice I have for everyone is, if there’s some thing you want to do just go and do it, figure it out as you go along and say yes when opportunities present themselves. Don’t let fear hold you back from living the life you want to live.
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
This is a hard question for me to answer, because I feel like right now I am living my best life. I’d love to be able to do more and two bring more riders into my foundation, but as far as things for me, I am incredibly satisfied right now.
Q: What is your go to band when you can’t decide what to listen to?
I don’t really have a go to band, I have a very eclectic taste in music and I just go to that. For the last few days, I have been listening to the song Writer, by Paolo Nutini on repeat.
Q: What current or former local business makes you the most nostalgic about our community?
The Saratoga Race Track makes me most nostalgic. It is such a draw for all types of people. I love to get dressed up, put on a fascinator and enjoy the pageantry of it all.
Q: If you could choose anyone that is alive today and not a relative; with whom would you love to have lunch? Why? And where locally would y’all meet for this lunch?
I would like to have lunch with the US women’s soccer team. I know very little about soccer, but I find those women inspiring and so very interesting. I think it would be an absolute blast to have lunch with them and hear their stories and ask them about the intensity that has gotten them to the top level of their sport. We’d have to go to Cantina for tacos and margaritas, of course.
Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about our community?
The thing I love most about Saratoga Springs is how truly friendly people are. I’ve lived in New York City, Los Angeles, New Jersey and Florida, and I have made more friends in Saratoga than I have an all those places combined. I’m not sure why, but it is a magical place. Perhaps it’s the spring water. Lol!
Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years?
I hope that in five years I am running my foundation with chapters all over the United States. I hope that I can provide polo and riding lessons and any other type of horse sport to kids from inner cities everywhere. Right now I am partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of the Capital Area(based in Albany) They are bringing kids to ride at the Saratoga, Polo School, but I would love to expand the reach, and be able to partner with other organizations and other barns. I believe in Winston Churchill’s adage, “There is a reason that equine therapy is on the rise. “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” I think that is especially true for teens in our cyber age.
Q: (Even for friends or family), what is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
My family knows this, but most of my friends probably would not, but I am and extroverted introvert. That means after spending a lot of time with other people, being my loud, boisterous self, I need to go home and take a day away from everyone to recharge. That day is usually spent on my porch, swing drinking coffee and enjoying the quiet of my farm.
Q: What is the most beautiful place you have ever been?
Driving across Southern California and through Arizona and into the mountains there. The train changes in the most wild and extreme ways. You go through sections with huge boulders, then into farmland, then into desert, then into Sandune‘s with nothing whatsoever growing on them, then back to desert with huge saguaro cactuses, it’s like nothing you could experience anywhere else.
Q: Favorite month? favorite holiday? and best single day on the calendar?
My favorite month is October, because I love the weather and the changing leaves. My favorite holiday is hands-down Thanksgiving. I love having everyone over for a big meal and the turkey dinner is my favorite type of dinner. And as far as the best single day on the calendar, it can be any day as long as I am spending it with people I love doing something enjoyable.
Q: What would you rate a 10 out of 10?
I’d say a 10 out of 10 is a day spent riding horses with my friends, or relaxing on the porch at my farm with my family.
Q: Who inspires you to be better?
My boyfriend, Matt Ryan inspires me to be better. He is hands-down, one of the most upstanding and moral people I’ve ever met. He doesn’t see right and wrong as a gray area and I love that.
Q: What is one or two of your favorite smells?
I love the smell of freshly cut grass, and I love the smell of a horse. If you give them a little kiss right on the side of their muzzle and take a little sniff, it’s the most unadulterated perfect horse scent.
Q: Finally, what 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?
Family, Farm and Horses
