First job? I was a hostess at a golf course restaurant all during high school. I learned customer service, and how to work with people – good skills that still serve me well.

Free time? I love gardening; flowers, vegetables, all of it. I like getting my hands dirty and making things look beautiful. My husband and I like to go camping; the North Shore is one of our favorite spots. Our dog Esther sometimes goes camping with us.

Best part of your work? Working with children; that’s the reason I chose this field. When I was on rotation in a pediatrics clinic during medical school, the atmosphere was very different from other departments – it was cheerful, and high energy, and families are so engaged. Kids are interested in everything, they ask a lot of questions, and they make me laugh.

Best advice you ever got? My mom always said that things happened for a reason. Medical school and residency has been a long road, and I’m happy to be starting my practice here. My mom was a teacher and a daycare provider in our home, so I grew up around children. She instilled that love of kids in me.

Why healthcare? Growing up, I was drawn to science; in high school and early college, I looked at the scope of what science is, and chose healthcare because it’s about working with people, and also has a strong science aspect to it. In college, I went to Peru for five weeks and worked with pediatricians and dentists going from orphanage to orphanage, providing care for the kids there. Now, being a pediatrician lets me to work with kids and families, and learn something new every day.

If not healthcare, what would you be doing? Probably teaching. Growing up with my mom as a teacher, I thought I’d want to do something different, but as an adult, now I think that teaching would be really rewarding. Or gardening. I want to be a Master Gardener. Right now, I have a lot to do in my own backyard.