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01/24/2018 07:30 AMGrowing up, Amanda Gabriele’s parents stressed to her that civic involvement isn’t optional, it’s necessary. One can see that she’s applied that in her life now, as she was recently elected to the Board of Education (BOE) in November and even brought a former White House deputy chief of staff to town.
“The idea is to be involved in your community, to take pride and ownership in your community, and to try to help your community in any way that you can,” Amanda says.
With that in mind, she thought that being on the BOE would be a great opportunity to help. In her short time on the board, she says it’s been a learning experience, and there’s a lot that goes into it that people might not see—in particular, being on the BOE during budget season has been “illuminating.”
She says she’s happy to take on the challenge.
“I love the opportunity to learn and grow,” says Amanda.
She has two children, Alice and Oliver, with her husband Tim. She also serves on the PTA for Clintonville Elementary School, and with the kids in the school system, Amanda says the experiences so far have been very positive.
She’s been impressed with the organization and kindness at Clintonville—for example, when her daughter had surgery while in kindergarten, Amanda was worried that kids might poke fun at her daughter’s scar. It was just the opposite, Amanda recalls, with the principal giving her daughter a pillow and friends writing her notes to make sure she was OK.
“It’s really a great community, and we’re really very happy to be a part of it,” Amanda says.
The BOE and PTA isn’t the only way she aims to help students. Amanda also sits on the board of a nonprofit organization called People Investing in People, which brings educational technology to Africa. She’s been doing it for a little over a year, and says “it’s a ton of fun.”
“We’re working very diligently to try to provide opportunities for students who might not otherwise have those opportunities because they don’t have the technology available,” says Amanda.
Also the secretary of the Democratic Town Committee (DTC), she did the work to bring Alyssa Mastromonaco, who served as deputy chief of staff for operations in the White House during the Obama administration, to North Haven for a discussion and book signing. Amanda found out Mastromonaco was releasing a book, and was a fan of hers for being “an organizational powerhouse” who doesn’t get much attention, so she obliged when the DTC chairman asked her to try to get Mastromonaco to town.
Amanda reached out to Mastromonaco’s publicist and a local bookseller to organize everything, and says all the chips fell into place. Moderating the discussion, Amanda says it was a huge moment and a “life achievement unlocked” for her as Mastromonaco is personal hero of hers.
“I still email her all the time. She’s very, very cool. She still responds, too; I can’t believe it,” Amanda says with a laugh.
Another person she’s looking to bring to town for a talk is retired tennis player James Blake, who also recently released a book.
Working at The Hartford insurance company, Amanda calls her role there a “professional nerd,” as she’s subject matter expert on digital analytics implementations. Her daughter is a brownie in Girl Scouts, and Amanda is excited to be delivering the troop a talk about robotics in February.
“I’m hoping that we can get a FIRST Robotics team here in North Haven one of these days,” she says, “I know we do have a robotics team, but the FIRST Robotics program is really, really awesome.”
It might be hard for some to juggle all those things, but Amanda says she has a great support system with her husband not only helping out, but also believing strongly in division of labor. She and Tim are happy to live in town and that they chose to move to the community.
“Ultimately, we’re just having fun trying to do fun and exciting things for the community,” Amanda says.