Occupation: I’m a telecommunicator — a dispatcher for Newtown police, fire, and ambulance. I worked for five years in Fairfield as a dispatcher, and was an armed guard at Fairfield University, and I worked for the Milford Police Department in the dark room and doing some crime scene photography for four years. I just started in Newtown this past August.

Family: My parents live in Oxford. I don’t have any brothers or sisters. My boyfriend is Jon Kokinchak.

Pets: We have two dogs, Lexi and Zeus. Lexi is a bull mastiff and German shepherd cross, who is 13 months old. Zeus is a rescue pup. He’s 8 months old and a purebred German shepherd. We have a year-old rescue cat, Calvin, who has double paws, and two horses. Gilly is a purebred Arabian, 9 years old. Chance is an Arabian NSH and is 5 years old. I’m big into animals. I’d rescue them all, if I could.

How long have you lived in Newtown? Jon and I have been here for almost a year. We bought a house and we’re going to build a barn now, so that we can bring the horses from my parents’.

What do you like to do in your free time? We both ride motorcycles, so we go out on them a lot. I like to ride dirt bikes and quads, too. I spend a lot of time with my animals. We’re pretty outdoorsy. I’m an avid reader, too, and lately I’ve been getting back into photography.

Do you have a favorite author? Kathy Reichs. She wrote the series that the Bones TV show is based on. I like all of that kind of forensic and crime books. I just finished one of the Body Farm novels by Jefferson Bass, and I’m in the middle of the newest Reichs book.

Do you have a favorite vacation destination? I don’t get away much. I like Georgia, though, the Atlanta area and Tybee Island. I like the moss on the trees down there, the old-style buildings, and the friendliness of the people.

What is the best thing about Newtown? I like that it’s quaint. I like the Main Street and center of town, with all of the shops there. Everyone waves and you feel like you know everyone. And I like Sandy Hook Center, and all of the open space we have in Newtown. It’s nice to not have to travel to get somewhere like that.

If you could travel to the past or future, which would you choose? I’d like to go back to the era where you go everywhere by horse, and have the fancy ball gowns, and the saloons. I’d like the old West, I think, with the shootouts and all.

Do you have a personal philosophy? I like a lot of what Maya Angelou has written. Three of my favorites are “We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated,” “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again,” and “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates wails to arrive at its destination full of hope.”

What makes you laugh? My animals. I spend so much time with them and they are so silly. My cat even plays fetch with bottle caps. The simple things bring a smile to my face.