What did you do right after we graduated?

Attended Cornell University in Ithaca, NY for four years -- even colder

and snowier than Ann Arbor -- then headed to University of Chicago for

my first stint in graduate school, getting an MA in General Studies in

the Humanities. I thought I was headed toward getting a PhD in

literature and a career in college teaching when, by chance, I got a job

going research in urban development and in planning a new high

school "without walls" for Chicago. After a year, I left to travel around

the world, with a year-long stop-over in Israel where I worked for an

urban planning and architecture firm in Jerusalem. That cemented my

interest in community development which has remained at the core of

my work ever since.

What has been your occupation(s) over the past 50 years? Tell us

about any highlights or cool things that you’ve been a part of.

For forty-five years I've worked as a consultant to a wide variety of

community-based local organizations, helping them develop affordable

housing and implement wide-ranging community improvement plans

which might include anything from creating new schools or health

centers to improving public security and public health. While the

majority of the projects have been in New England, I've also worked in

Pennsylvania, other mid-Atantic states, and Chicago. For 21 years I did

this as Director of Development for a large non-profit headquartered in

Boston, The Community Builders, while for the past decade I've been

part of a small women-owned consulting firm, VIVA Consulting, also

based in the Boston area. We work nationwide, also consulting on

organizational and strategic planning with both nonprofits and for-

profits in the field of community development. I also regularly teach

professional workshops and seminars on real estate development and

finance.

Where have you lived, and where do you live now?

I've lived in Cambridge, MA since 1971.

Are you retired? If so, what are you doing in retirement?

Not retired, although my husband is.

Please tell us about your family, spouse/s, children,

grandchildren, etc.

Within weeks of moving to Cambridge in 1971, I met Steve Carr, an

architect and urban designer, and we got married a few years later.

Steve brought two wonderful step-children into my life, James and

Julie, who were only 4 and 6 years old when we got together but are

now themselves grown up, married, with careers (architect in the

Boston area and professor of creative writing at University of Colorado

in Boulder, respectively). We now have five grand-children, ranging in

age from 5 to 15, two living nearby and three in Denver, CO.

What interests/activities do you find most satisfying?

Work and family are the biggest interests in my life. Work involves me

in local politics and a host of public issues, from real estate markets to

financial structuring to controversies about gentrification or decline in

urban neighborhoods.

My husband and I have also, to our surprise, become big fans of hiking

in the Himalayas and we've done ten day to two weeks treks annually

for the past decade in India and Bhutan. This has also gotten us

involved in development issues in India, an endlessly fascinating and

challenging country.