I grew up in Fall River, Massachusetts and got my undergraduate degree at Wellesley College. For my graduate studies, I moved down south to the Washington D.C. area and pursued my doctorate in Counseling Psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park. My husband Tim and I now live in Bangor, ME. In my spare time, I love camping and hiking, music and theater, and traveling near and far.

If you could take a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Machu Picchu in Peru and the Azores of Portugal are at the top of my long list.

What has been your most embarrassing moment?

There have been many, but here's a recent one: At a family wedding, I decided to impress my 5 year old nephew by wolfing down what I thought was an edible flower served on top of a fancy slice of chocolate cake. As he stared at me, wide-eyed (and totally impressed by my knowledge of flora!), I realized that what I had just started chewing was disgusting and NOT edible and practically threw it back up on my plate. The whole table witnessed this and laughed hysterically- for the rest of the wedding, various family members would point out flower displays to me "in case I got hungry again."