How old are your kids and how long have you lived in Westport? Jax is 9 & Hugo is 8. We’ve lived in Westport for 5.5 years.
How did you end up where you are now in terms of your job, or whatever passion project it is you might be doing? When I graduated from college, I got my start in television, working for Peter Jennings at ABC News. After two years, I realized that TV wasn’t for me and that what I really wanted to do with work at a magazine. So, I left ABC and was hired as the Editor-in-Chief of The WAG, a luxury lifestyle magazine covering Westchester (where I’d just moved) and lower Fairfield County. I spent five years at The WAG and wrote hundreds of articles, including celebrity profiles, travel, fashion, beauty, food. Eventually, I decided I wanted to sink my teeth into bigger projects. I was reading a lot of Women’s Fiction at the time and wanted to try my hand at writing a novel. I ended up editing Kerry Kennedy’s New York Times bestseller Being Catholic Now first and then, with that experience under my belt, I started working on my own book. I was fortunate to get a two-book deal from Penguin Random House, then another two-book deal after that. For my new novel Pretty Revenge, I switched genres to psychological suspense and publishers to Simon & Schuster, which has been fantastic. I credit any success I’ve had to hard work and determination! You have to hustle to sell books. And I’m definitely a hustler.
What is your favorite family activity to do in Westport or the surrounding towns? Boating. You’ll find my husband on our boat every nice day of the year. Every. Single. One. The kids and I opt-in for about half of that, which is still a lot.
What’s your favorite app right now- for you- and for your kids? Gotta go with Instagram for me. For my kids, Amazon, where you can order everything you’ve ever needed or wanted (pretty much).
What’s your can’t live without beauty product? Tan Towel. If you don’t know this about me, then you don’t really know me.
If you could pick one restaurant or store to come to Westport that isn’t here now, what would it be, and why? I’d like another Kawa Ni on my side of town, but I’d be very happy with any 4th restaurant of Bill Taibe’s.
What are you most excited about in life right now? My kids going to sleep away camp for seven weeks. Kidding! (not kidding). Honestly, I’d say the launch of my sixth book, Pretty Revenge, on July 2nd.
What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? My husband proposed to me on a motorcycle trip. I thought he was giving me a cookie. (I felt better about not getting the cookie, when I got the ring!)
If you weren’t doing what you are today, what do you think your career path might have been? In my dreams, a chef. In reality, a therapist.
If you had 24 hours to do whatever you wanted – what would you do? Wake up around 9:30am. Have bagels with my family. Either work out with my trainer, Andrew Kindt, at Achieve Fitness or take a class at Pure Barre Westport. Meet a girlfriend for a facial at New Beauty Wellness, have lunch at Kawa Ni. Shop around town. Read at home for a couple of hours (while my husband takes the kids somewhere, anywhere!). Family dinner with good friends, ideally at a friend’s house who cooks very well. Asleep by 11pm.
What is your most marked characteristic? Type-A all the way. Oh, and I’m funny.
What was your most memorable family vacation and why? You must mean, family trip. Honestly, it’s impossible to pinpoint one. We go to Miami often, which is always fun and easy.
What is the best white lie you have told your kids? You lie to your kids!?
What is your proudest mommy moment? When my boys excel at something they’re passionate about. For Jax, that’s watching him play the keyboard on stage with School of Rock. For Hugo that’s basketball and baseball.
What do you most value in your friends? Wealth. Kidding! I’d say a sense of humor…
What is your greatest regret? Apologizing for no reason in a professional capacity. I find that so many women say “sorry” when they’re asking for something in their career. I used to be guilty of that. But, no longer.
