Author - Journalist - Mom - Nana - Irish Gal With An Attitude

On any given day Christina can be found enjoying life as a mom, nana, community volunteer, political consultant, media strategist, theater performer, public speaker, journalist and/or an author. However, the essential element that threads through all of Christina’s world is her passion for storytelling.

She began sharing stories as a child, often to the chagrin of those whose tales she revealed! Eventually her storytelling evolved into grade school essays and high school newspaper assignments that encouraged her writer’s soul to bloom. Eventually, Christina honed her career writing skills as a newspaper feature writer and editor for New Jersey’s Ridgewood News. There she was mentored by the renown sports columnist and author, Joe King, who taught her the essential value of getting to the true heart of the stories she told.

While raising her family of two children, Christina became a feature writer for a series of national equine publications and launched her 15-year career as The Sun Newspaper’s “Heart and Soul” Op-Ed Columnist. In short order her opinion pieces became featured in national book anthologies and on the Buffalo, NY NPR Station, WBFO. Eventually Christina became a regular commentator and special reporter for WBFO and advanced to hosting her own talk radio show on Buffalo AM radio. During this time, she wrote her first book, “Chicken Wing Wisdom, Western New York Stories of Family, Life and Food Shared Around the Table,” which became a regional best-seller in its first year.

In 1995, Christina moved into a hilltop farmhouse named, Crown Hill. Immediately she began transforming the 150-year old house into a home— a 20-year renovation project highlighted by a series of intriguing Crown Hill tales rhat were shared with Christina in unique and haunting ways.

Ultimately, the inspired storyteller wove those tales into her inaugural book of historical fiction, “Crown Hill, A Novel of Love, Life and The Afterlife.” Upon publication in 2014, Christina and the characters she created traveled across the United States, sharing the Crown Hill journey with book lovers of all ages.

Energized by Crown Hill’s popularity, Christina decided to blend a collection of her Heart and Soul op-ed columns and radio commentaries into a book of the same name. Published in 2015, the essays cover the tried-and-true topics of family, parenting, love, home and holidays, along with the more broad-based life spectrums of sports, careers, community, politics and women’s issues. Christina selected each article with the hope that, as always, her words will reach directly into each reader’s heart and soul.

It was at this point that Christina pursued her life dream of traveling across the United States and interviewing people along the way. What resulted was a project of 52- interviews, which she filmed, edited and produced on her Youtube channel, in the 52 weeks between her 64th and 65th birthdays. Christina titled the series, “64 and More.”

Her interview subjects ran the gamut from the famous (Broadway Legend, Tommy Tune, International Businessman Herbert V. Kohler, World Renown Conductor, JoAnn Falletta and Food Network Star Reva Alexander Hawk) to men and women less recognizable but equally inspirational in their lives well lived.

In the midst of 64 and More, Christina met a fellow WNY author by the name of Mary Jo Hodge. Mary Jo shared with Christina stories from her earlier career as a nurse. She particularly detailed Irish women who immigrated to America in the early 20th Century and were institutionalized upon arrival,simply because they were unmarried and without a man meeting them—in effect, financial liabilities. These women became invisible, unknown and eventually forgotten, some institutionalized for 50 years and longer.

The details of Mary Jo’s story haunted Christina and led to months of online research, reading and visits to American institutions/asylums. Ultimately she began a two-year writing odyssey that resulted in her second historical fiction novel titled, “Beauty & Grace.” Published in May of 2018, this book of fifteen memorable characters and their stories of institutionalization detail a time of immigration injustices and heinous mental health treatments, remarkably reflective of today’s same issues.

Heralded as a the perfect read for fans of Maeve Binchy and Penny Vincenzi, Christina was invited to perform a reading from “Beauty & Grace” at Charles R. Hale’s, Artists Without Walls at The Cell Theatre in Manhattan and present the story behind the story of the research and writing of her novel at The South Dakota Festival of Books. “Beauty & Grace” was also selected as a read for the landmark South Dakota Women’s Prison Book Club, where Christina appeared and lectured.

Christina will launch her newest book, “Money or Love,” on October 14, 2021. This novel weaves a tale of internet dating from the far side of 40 and showcases Christina’s heartfelt style of storytelling that is sure to engage and delight readers.

Whether in her books, her writer’s workshops or her speeches to groups and organizations, Christina’s purpose always remains the same. To touch the hearts and souls of those reading and hearing her words and create a legacy of storytelling that makes a difference.