Tag Archive for: Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Melanie Priddy: Chief Talent Officer, Katten

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Melanie Priddy

Photo provided by Gittings Photography

“At the end of day, relationships are the key to everything, regardless of what industry you’re in, or what your profession is,” says Melanie Priddy.

Katten’s Chief Talent Officer speaks about the value of connections, the need to merge professional development with diversity and the importance of self-advocacy.

Becoming a Business Professional in Law

“I wish I could tell you this was the plan all along, but sometimes the careers we find are ones we fall into,” says Priddy, about being a people-oriented business professional within the legal industry.

Upon graduating from the University of Virginia School of Law, she started her legal career as a practicing lawyer at an Am Law 50 firm.

After a few years as a transactional attorney, Priddy gravitated toward recruiting attorneys for law firms and counseling law students on their career options. She went to work for a staffing firm and then a university and found that she loved advising others on making choices to navigate their career in line with their ambitions.

Priddy joined Katten in 2008 as an attorney recruiting and development manager in the firm’s Los Angeles office, where she managed professional development programs for associates for a few years. She worked at a couple other law firms before she returned to Katten in 2018 as Chief Talent Officer based in the Washington, DC office where she oversees administrative areas including human resources, attorney recruitment, professional development, and diversity and inclusion with an eye on hiring, career growth opportunities, diversity and inclusion efforts, and retention of both attorneys and business professionals.

Diversity and Development Are Inseparable

“To me, diversity and professional development are closely tied,” says Priddy.

At a previous firm, she led recruiting strategies and managed training programs. She took the initiative to expand her role by launching a diverse lawyer mentoring program. She became the Development & Diversity Manager and implemented programs to advance diversity and inclusion within the firm. At a subsequent firm, Priddy was able to incorporate her work in professional development programming with her interest in making workplaces more diverse and inclusive.

“I honestly pressed for it, rather than sitting back and waiting for someone to tap me on the shoulder,” says Priddy. “I had to say, ‘I think I would be really good at this combination of roles, and let me explain how and why they should be combined for me to be successful, and what I could do.’ That set the stage for me to be in the role I have now at Katten.”

She’s committed to offering diversity and development support at every level, and integrating it into the decision-making process at law firms.

“My approach has been that diversity is part of every discussion—when you are talking about recruitment, about development, about choices people are making with regards to business or client development or opportunities around training,” states Priddy.

From the top down in law firm hierarchy, diversity should be top of mind.

“One of the things we always talk about is that everyone is responsible for improving diversity in the legal field,” she says. “The diversity professional brings the opportunities and the resources to others in the law firm or legal industry, but everyone is responsible for ensuring a diverse workforce. When you look at it that way, then you’re really going to make progress.”

Priddy emphasizes Katten’s successful participation in the Mansfield Rule, which sets benchmarks for women, attorneys of color, LGBTQ+ attorneys, and attorneys with disabilities to account for at least 30 percent of the candidate pool considered for leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions, formal client pitch opportunities, and senior lateral positions. This initiative, coupled with the firm’s newly launched Kattalyst Sponsorship program aimed at retaining and advancing diverse associates and income partners, works toward the goal of increasing representation of historically underrepresented attorneys in law firm leadership.

Invest in Relationships and Self-Advocacy

Priddy stresses how important it is to nurture relationships and curate a support network for career guidance.

“When I started in my career, as many people do, I thought if you just keep your head down and work hard, everything will be okay. You’ll advance and be rewarded,” she reflects. “What I’ve come to realize over time is the importance of developing relationships—obviously with the people you’re working with and for, but also outside of your immediate circle and within the industry itself.”

She advises others to network within various organizations that align with their interests at all stages of their careers. For example, she has been involved with the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), previously serving on the board of directors and most recently as chair of the nominating committee, which solicits nominations for elected positions, slates members for officer and director positions and administers the election process.

She also stresses the importance of advocating for yourself to achieve your goals.

“As women, often there’s a tendency to downplay your success, your role or leadership skills, whether with a boss or with a group,” she says. “But someone else can’t speak up for you on your behalf, if you don’t do it for yourself first.”

Bring Your Whole Self

“A lot of times as women of color, we bring just a part of ourselves to work and we leave a broader sense of who we are back at home,” she says.

Priddy feels that this year’s remote work environment is helping to break down some barriers with her colleagues.

“Our personal and professional lives are so blended because we’re at home, and you hear my dog barking and you see my kids going through the background—and I’m getting my job done,” says Priddy. “I would say in some respects, because of tearing down these walls, I’m more connected to people now than I was in person.”

She adds, “I see how important it is to bring some vulnerability into the workplace so people feel like they can connect and share and get to know you.”

Supporting Personal and Professional Integration

Priddy has been instrumental in Katten’s efforts to destigmatize mental health issues and to draw attention to substance use disorders within the legal profession by joining the American Bar Association’s well-being pledge and launching a firm-wide wellness program, Katten Well-Being 360: Live Well, Work Well, Be Well to support attorneys and employees with information, training, and helpful resources.

She’s proud of being a mother of two sons, ages 10 and 13, modeling for them a world where they grow up with a mother who has a seat at the table where high-level decisions are made.

Under Priddy’s leadership, Katten created a Parents Affinity Group as a resource and support network for working parents at the firm to connect and discuss approaches to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. She also worked with firm leaders to get the  parental leave policy expanded to a 12-week, gender-neutral paid leave, with an extension of 8 more weeks for a total of up to 20 weeks for birth mothers and those who have exceptional circumstances, such as adoptive and surrogate parents.

In this virtual environment, her team is also tasked with seamlessly bringing on new attorneys and employees without daily in-person interactions with co-workers and supervisors. “How do you onboard and integrate new people, or create relationships when you’re never in the same room physically together?” Priddy said. Her answer: offer productive programs that build relationships.

For example, she helped roll out a more elaborate mentoring program involving mentoring circles to foster a sense of connection at the firm, as well as a coaching program covering career development topics, goal setting and development of an action plan for summer associates and first-year associates who joined Katten during the pandemic.

These creative solutions appear to be cultivating connections—whether virtual water cooler moments or shared creative nights from home. With less travel, she finds her colleagues are more available than ever to get on the phone.

Outside of work, she’s enjoying more time at home with her family, cycling on her Peloton bike, and perfecting her green thumb, checking on her tomatoes in the garden. A proponent of integration where it serves better results, Priddy is embracing the experience of blending her home and professional life.

By Aimee Hansen

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Voice of Experience: Constance A. Fratianni, Special Counsel, Katten

Constance FratianniAs a practicing lawyer since 1985, Connie Fratianni has seen a wide variety of cycles and changes.

But one thing that has not changed is the need for women to do more to mentor the women who are coming up. “We can’t forget where we came from; there are still too many women who are of the view that ‘no one helped me so I’m not going to help them,’ but that is the wrong attitude for all of us.”

As a member of Katten’s Women’s Leadership Forum (WLF), Fratianni herself tries to inspire young women attorneys. She believes that part of what has made her career so fulfilling is the bond she has developed with others in her firm, whether they worked together on the same deal or if they practiced in an area of law other than commercial finance. “That’s one of the great things about WLF; the opportunity to socialize with women outside of your own practice area. I encourage young women to take part in it.”

Juggling Responsibilities and Achieving Success

After graduating from University of Michigan School of Law, Fratianni had planned to work at a law firm in its real estate group for a couple years and then figured she would move on to a real estate company. But life didn’t quite go according to plan. She joined a law firm and found that she was doing interesting work with people whom she enjoyed. She was given the opportunity to use her broad legal knowledge to handle various transactions from bankruptcy and restructurings, to investment grade credit agreements to film financings among other interesting pursuits.

Along the way Fratianni had four children and subsequently became one of the first part-time partners at a previous firm, which is an achievement she is particularly proud of.

“I learned that it was about managing expectations; you can control the hours to a degree, but the only way you will develop your practice is by being there to serve. In that way, practicing law prepared me for motherhood, and motherhood helped me practice law better,” Fratianni says.

“The combination was both professionally and personally fulfilling. One of the things I find most gratifying was a former colleague who came up to me at an event and mentioned what an impact I had on her career many years ago. There’s nothing like seeing people I’ve mentored succeed.” Fratianni pivoted to various roles, including the global compliance attorney of a law firm, before deciding to join Katten in 2018 in its New York office.

Forging Your Own Path

Fratianni notes that success can be defined in many ways, and everyone needs to determine what that means for him or herself. “If you define success as making partner after eight years, well then, by that definition, I am a failure. In part because of my four maternity leaves, it took me longer to make partner but I eventually made it. I have four amazing kids and work I am proud of and have fun doing. To me, that is the definition of success.”

Even so, she adds that law school teaches the fundamentals but real world experience is invaluable. “It’s a harder road than it looks, and there’s always so much to learn,” she says.

Success comes from remaining true to yourself and not being afraid to speak up if your instincts tell you something is right or wrong, she says.

A Philanthropic Heart

In addition to her professional success, Fratianni finds fulfillment with philanthropic endeavors. In fact, one of her proudest achievements was working on a pro bono project to incorporate Operation Dreamseed as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization with a mission to provide school supplies to children in Afghanistan. Operation Dreamseed, founded by an Army captain, also rebuilt a school there in partnership with another philanthropic organization.

That heart for others extends to her children — two sons and two daughters who are in various life stages. Her oldest son is in his second year of a medical residency; a daughter is a special effects editor; her youngest son is a management consultant; and her youngest daughter is pursuing a nursing degree.

Deeply involved in her children’s education and activities, Fratianni helped organize hands on activities at her firm’s “take your child to work day.” She also created the role of “Working Parent Liaison” in her local PTA. In that role, she encouraged more parent friendly events at the school that were convenient for all parents working outside the home. As a Girl Scout leader, she was instrumental in starting “Operation Cookie” in her local Girl Scout council, which annually ships tens of thousands of boxes of Girl Scout cookies to service men and women overseas. “I was lucky to have healthy, self-starting kids and a supportive staff and family,” she says. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help and realize that both personal and professional fulfillment is possible.”

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Voice of Experience: Karen Nelson, Partner, Katten

Karen NelsonPerspective is a wonderful thing, finds Katten’s Karen Nelson.

“It’s natural to get wrapped up in stressful aspects of deals, and as young lawyers, it’s easy to become overwrought when things aren’t going perfectly,” she said. “However an accumulation of experience helps you see that everything is resolvable, and we can work through it. It allows you to maintain that sense of calm and confidence that clients need.”

Relationships as the Core

Nelson has achieved this perspective throughout her career, which began in Chicago after she graduated from Northwestern University School of Law, relocating to Charlotte in 2006. A commercial real estate finance attorney, Nelson has been at Katten’s Charlotte office since 2012, where she has advised some of the largest commercial and investment banks, insurance companies and real estate investment trusts (REITs) across the country, leading large and complicated finance transactions on behalf of her clients. Nelson’s success stems from not only her diligence and business-savviness as an attorney and skillful practitioner in the real estate industry, but also her belief in the value of fostering relationships with her clients and getting to know their business as if they were her own.

In fact, those long and deep relationships represent the professional achievement she is most proud of. “The best part of my job is being fully integrated with these clients, in relationships I developed professionally and that have become personal as well, as we have worked together for more than a decade,” Nelson said. Her case load has continued to expand, and that is a continuing inspiration as she strives to further grow her practice.

Expanding Roles for Women

Both the firm as a whole and the Charlotte office of Katten are highly female-friendly, Nelson says, which has been helpful for her career. But what she’s found interesting and gratifying over the past decade is the increase in females throughout the industry—as clients and attorneys on the other side of deals. “It’s been noticeable, and now many deals might be driven completely by women, from in-house counsel to the attorneys on both sides. It’s been exciting to see that trend as more women populate the industry,” she said.

At Katten, Nelson has been active in the Women’s Leadership Forum where she leads a team in developing programs to assist female attorneys with defining, achieving and managing their career goals. She particularly enjoys participating in the annual events where members of the firm convene both for industry trainings and to build their exposure within the firm.

As part of the forum’s national mentoring panel, Nelson advises women attorneys on how to develop good business relationships, including connecting with others who are at their same level at client organizations, and shares her advice and experience regarding managing a family and a practice.

Nelson sees unending opportunity for young women attorneys, and advises them to trust their knowledge and capabilities, and not be hesitant to leave their comfort zone. “If you have ambition to grow your career, don’t be afraid to take a leap and see how it can bolster your trajectory,” she says.

As women progress, she says there is a natural pressure point once you’ve achieved the level you’ve strived for. “It can become even more important to search for that balance, as more is demanded of you as you move up the ladder,” she says. She recommends that women focus on even just taking a short break to walk outside and feel the sunshine and get re-energized before returning to a project. “Sometimes those five minutes can make all the difference,” she notes.

Nelson offers that advice from a place of experience. As a mother of two kids, ages six and eight, she devotes the majority of her time outside of work to them, while finding time to release stress through activities like climbing.

“It’s been very important for me to be at a place where I could have a meaningful, successful career and not miss out on life’s events. I strive to lead by example in my commitment to work-life balance and career development. Simply put, managing and expanding my practice while making sure that I have time for my growing family is my number one priority,” Nelson said.

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Voice of Experience: Diane Bell, Partner, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Diane BellEqual treatment as an LGBTQ professional has always been important to Diane Bell—and she has found that at Katten.

For example, she initially hesitated to bring her partner to firm events as she got to know the culture, but after several months, a more senior manager inquired as to why she didn’t bring her. “It was eye-opening to see that it was far more than acceptance that they were offering, in that they were almost offended I wasn’t bringing my partner, as though I wasn’t proud of the firm,” Bell said. And she has seen that culture embrace diversity throughout her tenure there.

Relationship Building Drives Career Satisfaction

Although Bell has been with Katten for 13 years, she originally joined a smaller firm right out of law school, selecting it due to its culture and people. However, after the tech bubble burst, she realized that the corporate group she had joined was going to be slow to recover, so she decided to look into another firm that would allow her to develop her skill set. She found a great opportunity in Katten’s Corporate practice, where she has honed her skills doing the challenging work of private company mergers and acquisitions, while delighting in the wonderful people she’s met along the way. “I’m really happy with the kind of lawyer I’ve turned out to be,” she says.

Bell values the firm’s emphasis on building relationships with their clients noting two transactions that have been particularly meaningful. In one, near the beginning of her time at Katten, she helped a small business owner, who immigrated with the proverbial “$20 in his pocket,” sell the wildly successful business he eventually built and receive the most appealing terms possible. “As a more junior member of the team, I got to know him and his wife well, and it was incredibly rewarding to act as a counselor for them,” Bell says. “When we got confirmation that the payment hit their account, they hugged each other, then bear-hugged me.”

Her second memorable moment involved another family-owned business that had gotten a valuation for estate planning purposes and were blown away by its size, leading them to consider an exit strategy much earlier than they expected. They initially decided to use a broker who didn’t seem up to the job. Bell felt that they could do better, and get a better price, with another broker, and the broker that Katten introduced the family to ultimately put together a package that led the business to realize almost twice what they had initially hoped for. “It was very rewarding to help guide this wonderful family through what to them was a very confusing process,” Bell says.

Being Open Pays Dividends

Bell always recommends that younger associates find senior attorneys willing to act as sponsors. She, for example, feels fortunate that the former managing partner of the firm’s Los Angeles office, who now serves as a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, took it upon himself to actively look out for newer professionals during the lean years of the recession—and in fact, she says it’s due to him she is still there. “You need those people up the food chain looking out for you,” she notes.

From the beginning of her career journey, Bell has made a conscious effort to be transparent about her orientation. “I thought that if potential employers weren’t accepting, then I didn’t even want to start down the road with them,” she said. For example, she noted on her resume that she interned at Lambda Legal, an organization that focuses civil rights impact litigation to benefit the LGBT community and individuals living with HIV impact while in law school.

In fact, Bell says that trying to conform in any way that’s against your authentic personality can be a hindrance to your career. She has found that as she let her true self shine through to her coworkers, she got along far better and gained more respect. Even more importantly, she says, she no longer had to expend the emotional energy on trying to be someone she wasn’t. “It frees up so much bandwidth to not try to assimilate into what I thought that the associate mold was supposed to be, which was against my character in a number of ways,” she said.

As co-founder of Katten’s LGBT Coalition, Bell says its purpose has morphed over time; it first was formed to ensure LGBT attorneys were on an equal playing field with respect to employee benefits and insurance coverage—that her wife, for example, would be recognized as family and receive the same benefits offered to spouses. When grappling with issues like this, she has found that at Katten typically it only requires explaining the concern before the issue is addressed. “If people don’t understand that there is a problem, they won’t know it needs to be fixed,” she said.

Over the years as marriage equality resolved many of those types of issues, the coalition now focuses on other aspects such as recruiting and retention of LGBT attorneys and organizing the firm’s biennial LGBT Attorney Retreats, which takes place in Philadelphia this coming year.

Away from the office, Bell enjoys spending time with her family; she has been with her wife almost 20 years, and they have two children, ages 9 and 1-1/2.

And she continues her work with civil rights organization Lambda Legal as a member of the board of directors. “Katten has played an important role in helping support this work financially and also allowing me time to travel for my duties,” she says.

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Voice Of Experience: Amanda Segal, Partner, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Amanda Segal
There’s no set path to success, says Amanda Segal, head of Katten’s Distressed Debt and Claims Trading practice.

“Everyone’s professional journey is different, and for a planner—as many attorneys are—it can feel unsettling when the road starts to twist and turn. But one of the best things you can do is be flexible, patient, and let your trajectory develop organically.”

When Segal started her career, she thought she would progress up the ladder as a bankruptcy litigator, but her career path took a different course as dynamics in the financial market helped steer her towards attractive new opportunities. “You will be better equipped as a professional if you are open-minded and able to adapt to the evolving needs and priorities of your clients and employers.”

Building a Career Unique to Her

For Segal, that approach has led her to a successful career. After law school, she joined Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP as a bankruptcy associate. Three years later, with the financial crisis looming, she saw an opportunity to parlay her experience into a more transactional practice in the area of distressed debt at Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP. She spent ten years at the firm, where she secured the requisite expertise and experience to make the move a little over a year ago to head Katten’s Distressed Debt and Claims Trading practice.

At Katten, she leads a team of attorneys advising clients through the acquisition and sale of distressed assets, including trade claims against bankruptcy estates, litigation claims, bank loans, and a variety of other investments. Her team—well versed and deeply immersed in financial services—works with related practice areas, including bankruptcy, commercial finance, tax, private equity and more, to provide the firm’s clients with tailored legal advice and transactional support in a wide range of circumstances. Segal believes this will be increasingly important as volatility in the financial market continues to rise.

“Because our practice integrates the talents of so many dedicated attorneys and professionals across the firm, we have the unique ability to look at large bankruptcy cases across multiple sectors. This will enable us to offer ‘big picture’ guidance as our clients navigate the next distressed cycle.”

For attorneys just starting their career, Segal highlights the importance of being empathetic to clients and colleagues. “When you are able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and view an issue from multiple perspectives, it helps make you a more relatable professional and leader and, ultimately, a more effective advocate.”

She also advises young attorneys to “play the long game.” “Surround yourself with trusted advisors and mentors; use every occasion to network, and work hard to maintain and build upon relationships. Over time, those relationships will provide the backbone for a more productive and fulfilling career.”

Finding Balance in the Workplace

Segal points out that even though law firms have become far more open and accepting of work/life balance, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. “Every woman’s professional and personal needs are different, so there’s no formula. Each woman must determine what works best for her and her family—sometimes simply through trial and error. The end result won’t look the same for everyone.”

Katten hosts a Women’s Leadership Forum that she has found valuable for building relationships across the firm, and also provides skill building, internal and external networking, mentorship and professional development. “Katten has consistently been recognized as a top firm for women, which I have been fortunate to experience first-hand,” she says.

With five-year-old twin daughters, Segal prioritizes a balance between work and family time, running marathons and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and cheering on the basketball team of her alma mater, Duke University.

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Voice of Experience: Wendy Cohen, Partner; Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Wendy CohenAdvocate for yourself and know your value; don’t sell yourself short, Wendy Cohen advises associates.

Cohen states, “You have to ask for what you want and recognize what your contribution is; then refuse to feel diminished, intimidated or not as worthy as your male counterparts just because you may have different demands on your time and elements of your life to balance.”

Cohen never conceded her talents and thus was able to parlay a temporary downshift with a part-time schedule into becoming a partner.

A Mutually Beneficial Arrangement Leads to Career and Firm Success

Directly from law school Cohen started at her current firm’s predecessor, Rosenman & Colin LLP, which merged with Katten in 2002. She joined the firm’s then-corporate department, and during her second year began working with Fred Santo, a partner who specialized in financial services. In addition to public commodity deals, she earned a lot of experience with private funds, now commonly known as hedge funds.

But even though she was a well-regarded associate on an upward trajectory, she removed herself from the partner track to focus on building a family, paring back to four days a week.

After having her twins in 1995, Cohen came back to work three days a week when they were six months old. While she enjoyed her client work, the lack of technology at the time made it too challenging to effectively juggle home and work, and when she became pregnant with her third child, she left the firm again at the end of 1996.

In 2001, Cohen reached back out to her former partner to see if she could work on a project basis; he welcomed her back and she worked as a consultant, billing time directly to the client. After ramping up to working in the office three days a week, it wasn’t long before the firm realized that they wanted to formalize the arrangement, and they offered her a partnership.

As her kids grew and her available time expanded, Cohen gradually extended her days in the office. In 2011 she was named a partner, and two years later she became a capital partner. “I was so proud to become a partner while balancing time in the office and at home,” she says, adding that the arrangement has been mutually beneficial. “Fred is retiring at the end of this year, but I will be able to take over those clients with whom I have worked for 25 years. The firm maintained their investment in me, and now they have the benefit of retaining clients with a seamless transition.”

And as she says, she now is able to devote all her time to the firm. “I provide a tremendous value-add that they would have missed out on had they not allowed me to come back part-time; and at the same time I appreciate the value they saw in me. We all would have lost if they hadn’t been committed to this non-traditional arrangement.”

As current co-chair of the financial services department, Cohen continues to work with clients, including advising her first private investment fund that’s investing in cryptocurrency, and also is focused on business development and lateral hiring.

Perspective That Comes With Experience

Looking back on her career, Cohen appreciates how things change when you don’t even notice. “At some point you realize life is finite, and not to sweat the small stuff—and as they say, most of it is. I am glad I spent time with my kids when they were growing up…I certainly didn’t rush life away during that chapter, but I also didn’t necessarily appreciate that it would change the way it has.”

That wise perspective is one she is able to share with younger professionals as they decide how to forge their paths. While she feels fortunate that firm management allowed her the bandwidth and flexibility she enjoyed, she realizes that although it’s better than it used to be and more common for attorneys to experience balance, it’s not yet where it should be.

“My path should not be anomalous; it should be available to all women who choose to downshift, without being viewed as less successful, committed or capable,” Cohen says.

While other women partners she works with might have taken different paths, she thinks it’s important for all associates to see that there’s not one standard for reaching the goal of partner. “Katten management has been making great strides, but as an industry, we still have work to do for women to realize there is value to their contribution not only for themselves individually, but also for the whole firm.”

And she advises women who are her peers to realize that although they might have had to make sacrifices to achieve their success, they shouldn’t hold that against the new generation. “We can nurture our younger women attorneys in different ways and allow them to decide for themselves the best way to provide value, even if it’s different from what you did.”

But she realizes that there are other ways that being a women can be tenuous. For example one of her clients is a seed investor in Glam Squad so at a recent meeting of 100 Women in Finance, where she co-chairs the Legal Peer Advisory committee, two of the founders talked to the group, then stylists came and “glammed” them.

Although Cohen grappled briefly with whether that would undercut the group, she realized second guessing the event was unreasonable. After all, they have a business model that is fascinating and substantive, and there’s nothing wrong with looking your best and feeling more confident. “We can do things our own way. It doesn’t diminish us; it’s just a different way of networking and bonding.”

She also is working on hosting a panel in January sponsored by 100 Women in Finance with the former managing director of a large private equity firm speaking about women on boards and how to advocate for board seats.

Cohen is active in Katten’s “Women Leadership Forum,” recently attending a women’s networking event at the Knicks game. “The firm is very committed to diversity, and expends a great deal of energy and time nurturing women,” she says adding that the firm is “Mansfield Certified” for excellence in diversity.

In her spare time, Cohen also volunteers closer to home, as the past president of the Jewish Federation in Westport. And she loves to spend time with her husband and now- adult kids—travelling and eating and ideally combining the two, she laughs.

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