The Basics
How long have you been at City Light? One year
Division: Safety, Health and Wellness (SHaW)
Tell us about your role. What does your job entail? I’m a personnel specialist/assistant for Safety, Health and Wellness Director Charlotte Dorrity. Perhaps the most important aspect of my job is to take the administrative burdens off my boss while also keeping her up to speed on the division financials. I help give her a little breathing room! Like everyone at City Light, I wear many hats. I represent our division in assorted finance and budget meetings, process personnel documents and sit in on resume reviews, and support our safety team with various administrative tasks. I process the accounts payable invoices for our division, manage our purchasing and contracts, perform budget monitoring and forecasting in partnership with our budget team and our division administrator, and act as a partner to other divisions who need support from SHaW.
Background
Hometown: I’m from Brockton, Mass., originally, but spent half of my elementary years in Brussels, Belgium and landed in Edmonds, Wash., in time for high school. It feels like my “hometown” is a mix of all three!
Alma Mater: Peninsula College
Discipline/Trade of study: I’m a business major with a bachelor of applied science in applied management
Tell us about your family: I’m a single mother to twin girls who are now grown and graduated this year from the University of Washington with STEM degrees. We are a tightknit little clan of three! We have a Lakeland Terrier named Lily, who is sweet and sassy (as most terriers are). My family lived for generations in New York. My generation is the first to leave and my children are the first to be born on the West Coast. We love it here!
Just for Fun
What’s the best piece of advice you have received? I read it somewhere, but it’s the piece of advice I try to adhere to in my daily life: “Listen twice as much as you speak.”
What do you like most about your role? My co-workers! I work with some of the best people I’ve ever worked with. The bar is high here at City Light. I’m so impressed with the professionalism and kindness that I’ve experienced in my short time here. I also love that the work I do intersects with the work of others on so many levels that my contributions have impact.
What’s your favorite movie genre and/or all-time favorite movie? I’m a sucker for movies! I love so many. I watch a lot of foreign film. And I love a great script. As for my favorite of all time…let’s make it a tie between ”Life is Beautiful” by Roberto Benigni and “Big Night” by Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? I would live in Ireland. The climate is very similar to the Pacific Northwest. The land is rich with history and the people are warm and generous. My best friend from high school lives there and we’re great company. It’s also perfectly suited to traveling to elsewhere in Europe. Weekends climbing Munros in Scotland? A show in London? Dinner in Paris? A week on the beach in Portugal? Not a problem if you live in Ireland!
What is something most people don’t know about you? Most people don’t know that I sometimes dream in French. French was a second language as a child and I wake up sometimes after having very involved conversations in French. In real life, there aren’t many opportunities to speak and so I’ve long lost fluency. No one would ever guess!