Let the Squantum Association Host Your Next Event
�e most important thing you can do while you ’ re here is to ensure the world will be better when you ’ re not .
One of life ’ s great achievements is the ability to leave a lasting legacy . We can help .
rifoundation . org / legacy or call ( 401 ) 274-4564
Let the Squantum Association Host Your Next Event
Share our traditions and historic location for your business gatherings . We have three buildings with large and small meeting spaces .
Our handsome rooms easily adapt to meet your needs , whether it be a small board meeting or a general session for up to 180 attendees .
Located only a 10-minute drive from downtown Providence , with ample free parking .
All your meetings , meals , pastries and refreshments are prepared and served by our expert staff .
947 Veterans Memorial Parkway East Providence , RI 02915 401-434-8377 www . squantumassociation . com
CityState : Q & A
industry that involves performance , there ’ s going to be ego , but this weather team was exceptional . Mike Haddad , who is the chief there now — I learned most from him . I was there for four years .
What was the environment like at WJAR when you started back in 2004 ? When I was brought on , we were NBC O & O , and we had a female hierarchy for management . Female news director , female general manager — extraordinarily rare . Even now , it ’ s extraordinarily rare . It was different from any place I ’ d ever worked . It set the footprints for me to follow in how I behave when I ’ m at work now . It was nice to finally have a woman who I could emulate — who I could aspire to — and that was [ former news director ] Betty-Jo Cugini , who ’ s now Betty- Jo Greene , and she just won Citizen of the Year in Westerly .
You said when you left in 2021 that you didn ’ t expect to get another job in television . What was going through your head at the time ? I had a convergence of things [ that year ] that each required 100 percent of my time and attention . My daughter came out as trans in August . The month before , my dad was put in home hospice care , and I was his primary caregiver . He had end-stage liver disease . And then the end of August was when my contract was up , and we tried to put something agreeable together and it just didn ’ t happen . It all fell apart the first week of September .
I was still part time . I never got the promotion [ back to full time ], and it became very clear that I wasn ’ t going to be promoted . It just wasn ’ t going to happen . As a part-time employee , a large portion of my income was made up of filling in when people were on vacation or sick , and a lot of that time was being offered to full-time employees , so it got to the point that I couldn ’ t support my family anymore .
I had to take some power back because I felt so utterly defeated . So I took the initiative to control my own narrative . That ’ s my fancy way of saying I made a TikTok video . I thought , ‘ OK , I ’ m going to say goodbye as me to the 200 people who are following me .’ And it was real . It was authentic . It was everything I was
32 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l SEPTEMBER 2023