Coming Full Circle: An NYPD Daughter’s Mission to Protect Those Who Protected Us

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 intuition.

While four-year-old Kiara watched a Disney movie, her father, Joe—an NYPD officer who had taken the day off for the family outing—learned of the attacks and immediately drove to his precinct. Had he not been off duty that morning, Kiara knows he likely would have been at the World Trade Center when the towers collapsed.

Joe survived the day but spent the following months working on “the pile.” In the years since, he has lost dozens of friends and colleagues to 9/11-related cancers and mental health struggles.

Today, Kiara’s life has come full circle. As an Assistant Manager at Barasch & McGarry, she works just blocks from Ground Zero, managing a team that helps 9/11 survivors and responders navigate the Victim Compensation Fund. The work is deeply personal. She has guided her own father’s friends through the claims process and spoken with over a thousand clients whose lives were altered that morning.

Hearing these stories daily has shaped Kiara into who she is today. Working with the 9/11 community has helped her grow into a more compassionate and understanding person, because you truly never know what someone else is going through behind closed doors.