Occupation: I’m the Chief Preservation Officer of Wonderland Jam, a micro-batch jammery producing handmade preserves, jams, and jellies like my ancestors did in the 1800s.

Family: I have one! They are all located out west, though, making us the lone east coasters.

Pets: I am a huge advocate against breed discrimination and am head over heels for my three pitties (pitbull dogs). All were adopted out of shelters after being rescued from horrific situations.

How long have you lived in Newtown? Seven years.

What do you like to do in your free time? Travel the world, read, fly fish, paddleboard, and research food history.

What is your favorite book? A dangerous question to ask an avid reader. My top three books are Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson, and Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.

What is your favorite travel destination? Like my love for books, my love for travel cannot be narrowed down to a favorite. My style of travel is to pick a single country and spend roughly a month there. It gives me more time to make local friends, explore the culture, and eat almost anything in sight. I’d move to Morocco or Vietnam in a heartbeat, and I dream frequently about being back in Zimbabwe. Cambodia also holds a very special place in my heart.

What is the best part about Newtown? Our move from Salt Lake City, Utah, to small-town Connecticut was unexpected and rushed. My husband had been contacted about an opportunity with GE Capital. The process was very fast. We had less than a month to put our home on the market and find a new home in Connecticut. It was eight months after the 2012 tragedy; the way that the community pulled together put Newtown on our radar and breakfast at King’s sealed our resolve to live here. While GE Capital went kaput shortly thereafter and a commute to New York City became necessary, we decided to stay in Newtown. The continued sense of community and the quaintness of town made commuting worth it.

What organizations are you part of in Newtown? I am a Market Master for the Newtown Farmer’s Market. We are a four-person team consisting of two farmers and two food producers. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes to ensure that the farmer’s market runs smoothly each year: fundraising, vendor applications, town meetings, health department approvals.

Who or what has been the greatest influence in your life? A cow standing inside a one-bedroom home in Guatemala. It was their most prized possession and they wanted to keep it safe from the torrential rains. It made me look at my prized possessions and reassess consumerism.

If you could spend the day with one person, who would you choose and why? I could go the lofty route and say someone like the Dalai Lama or Jim Morrison but there is not a single person I’d rather spend the day with than my husband. I married my best friend.

Who is your favorite musical artist? Love and Rockets.

What is your proudest accomplishment? Definitely Wonderland Jam. I was in a high-stress job in tech and often spent nights and weekends working executive escalations for global network outages. I was miserable, making jam between status updates, and dreamt of one day running a jam stand.