​For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a worrier.  As the oldest of six in a loud, loving Irish-Italian family I was the resident baby sitter, always watching, helping, troubleshooting. My father was a New York City firefighter, and I learned early what it meant to live with uncertainty, responsibility, and service.

 

That sense of duty carried me into nursing. Over the decades, I worked in open-heart recovery, the ER, and as a nurse practitioner in underserved communities across New York City. I loved the pace, the service, the adrenaline — but over time, I began to see that treating symptoms wasn’t enough. True healing required something deeper.

 

When my daughter was diagnosed with a form of autism, I stepped away from clinical work to explore Functional Medicine. I immersed myself in root-cause healing, nutrition, and therapeutic homeschooling — and witnessed my daughter thrive beyond all expectations.

 

Years later, as a Democratic Party Chair in the turbulence that followed the 2016 election, I found myself in a new kind of burnout. No amount of green juice or deep breathing could calm my nervous system. I wasn't sleeping. My body and my immune system were inflamed. I was headed toward disaster and I knew it.

 

Then, I discovered Vedic Meditation. After one class, I felt a peace I hadn’t known in decades.

That simple daily practice changed everything — and eventually led me to study with my teacher, Thom Knoles, the world’s foremost Vedic scholar and the only Westerner to be honored as a Mahamandaleshwar. After over 3,000 hours of intensive training, including a final residency in the Himalayas, I became a teacher of Vedic Meditation.

 

Today, I offer a new kind of care through Kitchen Table Wellness — a blend of ancient wisdom and modern science .

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