An Opening Statement:
After graduating from Johns Hopkins with a BA in 1973, I headed north to New York, where I received my MA in Slavic Linguistics from NYU.
Professionally, I spent 20+ years in the private sector, including five years as an international and corporate banker for Chase (including two in Sao Paulo), eight years in advertising, and nine years as Director of Corporate Communications for a professional services firm, all in New York.
In 2003, I entered Yale Divinity School, and I graduated from YDS with an MDiv in 2006. I was ordained an Episcopal priest (canonical residence: Diocese of New York). I was called to St. James'--Leesburg two years ago; the parish has 1,500+ meembers and has three full-time priests (including me). I am Assistant to the Rector for Adult Ministries, which means I am involved in adult formation, mission, and pastoral care in addition to having liturgical responsibilities. I first felt a call to ministry when I was 13 (my family was a member of All Saints'--Chevy Chase), but women were not ordained to the priesthood back then. It's been a long road.
On a personal note, I was married for 17 years, but have been divorced since 1996. While married, I went through lots of fertility work (including five IVF attempts), only to have it all end in two ruptured ectopic pregnancies. My then-husband and I then tried to adopt twins from Louisiaina; on the day the birth mother was to sign surrender papers, she reneged.
So I have no biological or adopted children, but 1,500 "children" in my parish.
My work is very hard but very fulfilling. I have a wonderful Portuguese Water Dog, Maggie, who helps me a great deal.
My two brothers remain in the DC area (one in Damascus, the other near Frederick), so I have family nearby.
I can't believe it's been 40 years!
