Staff Spotlight

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Kiara Badalamente’s family had planned a trip to the Native American Museum in Lower Manhattan. Despite the beautiful weather, her mother woke up and decided the family should stay home so the kids could play outside. Call it luck, call it a sixth sense, call it a mother’s […]

“I see my father in the people I speak with every day. He was sick for most of my childhood. Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at just six years old, his health declined over time. I watched him deteriorate—mentally and physically—and felt the constant turmoil it placed on our family. Growing up, I always wanted […]

“When my mother started snoring loudly at night, we laughed it off. We joked that my father would need to invest in good earplugs. Never once did we think it could be anything serious. My mother never smoked a day in her life, and aside from an occasional cough, there wasn’t anything that seemed alarming. […]