‘My artwork is about human nature, judgments and the ability to see past the facade to what lies deeper beneath the surface.’

Dix Hills

“My artwork is about human nature, judgments and the ability to see past the facade to what lies deeper beneath the surface. I’ve been making art since I was a child and discovered natural clay at Garvies Point. I studied the arts in high school and college. I began as a painter, but I gravitated toward sculpture because I see the world more three-dimensionally.

“In order to support myself, I worked as a set designer and producer for theater, television, exhibitions and film as a member of the United Scenic Artists union. I created scenery for films such as ‘Noah’ and ‘Men in Black III.’ I also designed and sculpted animated displays for Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor, FAO Schwarz and Gucci. In 2016, I opened a not-for-profit art space to share and expand the appreciation of the Arts on Long Island.

“Currently, I am concentrating on my own artwork and my exploration of materials. I use photography to capture images as elements that inform my work. I have always been interested in societal issues and focus on people who are either attention seekers or who keep to the shadows, the extreme sides of the seen and unseen of society.

My ultimate goal is to get my work seen by a larger audience so I can raise awareness and share its message of compassion.

“One of my muses was a tattoo artist named Diablo who I met in Long Island City. He has horn implants and is covered with tattoos. He looks threatening, but he’s a lovely man. Another sculpture created with papier-mâché titled ‘Love Birds’ reflects a man bonded to the pigeons of Washington Square Park. ‘For Sale, Baby Shoes Never Worn’ depicts a heavily pregnant woman hungrily eating soup while wearing baby shoes around her neck. She was photographed in Los Angeles on Skid Row.

“These are the people who most need society’s attention and help. I also created a series of artwork focusing on Kings Park’s defunct psychiatric center, which led to strong responses from the community it affected. My latest series, ‘Rooted in Humanity,’ was inspired by a trip to Bayard Arboretum and root formations. My ultimate goal is to get my work seen by a larger audience so I can raise awareness and share its message of compassion.”

Interviewed by Meagan Meehan

‘I’ve had so many unusual experiences and unique experiences — all because he and I somehow connected at the shelter.’

Calverton

“I have always been a pet person. For the longest time, I was into big dogs only. A couple of years ago, we had an elderly dog and a younger dog and we were looking for a friend for the younger dog. We went to nearby shelters looking to adopt, and my husband fell in love with a puppy of a purebred French mastiff.

“I was eyeing a dog that looked like the size of a rat. So I said to my husband, any food that falls out of the big dog’s mouth could be a full meal for the little guy, so it wouldn’t be any extra investment in money.

“And so home we went with two dogs. As the little dog, Andre, was growing, I realized he was so much more high energy than every other dog that I’ve ever had. We started running, but I soon realized he needed a little more of a challenge, so we switched to agility. Then I noticed flyers around for a ‘barking beauty pageant.’ It was a fundraiser to raise money for a local shelter and for an organization for the arts. And I thought, ‘Oh, that’s so fun.’

I’ve had so many unusual experiences and unique experiences — all because he and I somehow connected at the shelter.

“I started getting into these Facebook groups, and I’m like, what did I get myself into? The contest has three parts: formal wear, activewear and talent. For the formal wear, we got him a custom-made raw silk tuxedo. I’m thinking to myself, I don’t even have anything that’s raw silk.

“For the activewear, we went with a beach theme because it was in the Hamptons. For the talent portion, at the last minute, we got PVC piping and made our own very basic obstacle course. When we got there, we realized we didn’t have enough room for half of what I brought for the agility course and had to have him do it in a straight line, which is actually easy for a dog who is versed in it.

“We nailed it, and we won the talent portion and got second place overall. I couldn’t believe it. Since then, Disney chose him to model some of their officially licensed pet costumes, and he walked in the Anthony Rubio New York Fashion Week show.

“He has just turned my world upside down. I’ve had so many unusual experiences and unique experiences — all because he and I somehow connected at the shelter. Now he goes out, and we’ve got people who meet him and say, I was never a little dog person, but this dog makes me want to consider them.”

Interviewed by Hannah Fusaro

‘Writing scripts was always in my heart. My brother’s words were a wake-up for me to go ahead and pursue this.’

Centereach

“I would write plays and movies in elementary school. I wrote an alternate ending to ‘The Godfather.’ At the end of the year, the teacher allowed me to direct it, write it, the whole nine yards. Afterwards, she said, ‘In the future, less ‘Godfather,’ more writing!’

“Writing scripts was always in my heart. Before I lost my brother to cancer, he had a heart-to-heart with me in hospice. He told me, ‘If there’s anything deep inside you that you want to chase, go do it.’ During COVID, my businesses were shut down. I was bored at my home in Florida, and a couple of production companies moved to the area because New York was shut down and they couldn’t film. It gave me the opportunity to start acting and to chase my dreams.

“My brother’s words were a wake-up for me to go ahead and pursue this. I was discovered by one of the co-producers of an Amazon series called ‘Capo: Rise to Power.’ He wanted me to star in it. As I dove into acting, they started giving me writing opportunities, and I wound up getting executive-producer credit, too. We’ve almost wrapped season one, which will be released this summer. We’ll be filming season two at the end of the year on Long Island. The beauty of this show is that the Mafia is just the color of the show. The premise of it is stregheria, Italian witchcraft. It’s about a generational curse that happens to a Mafia family. It’s ‘The Sopranos’ meets ‘Dexter’ and ‘Stranger Things,’ all wrapped into one.

“A lot of the show takes place in Centereach, where I grew up. I’m a diehard Islanders fan as well, so when you see flashback scenes from the ’80s with the Islanders, they’re from my memories. Working in film has been challenging, especially with writing and being creative, because everything has to do with childhood memories. I’ve been taught the magnificent transition of putting them on paper and then on film. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that if you’re going to go in, you’ve got to go all in. You’re going to fall on your face, and that’s OK because life is truly a journey, and you have to live it day by day. If I didn’t experience falls and mishaps along the way, it wouldn’t have built the character of the person I am today.”

Interviewed by Iris Wiener

‘I have been an avid gardener for over 40 years and have loved educating my grandkids on the benefits of growing vegetables for ourselves and for those around us.’

Port Washington

“It’s funny how I got interested in gardening. My mother had a garden in the back of the house, but as a kid I was more interested in sports. It’s when I married and moved into my first house in Plainview and realized I didn’t want to take care of a lawn. I would come home from vacation and it was all brown. Then I thought, maybe I’ll have a garden. Started on the side of the house, grew tomatoes and cucumbers. Easy!

“I moved to Sands Point, where I started another garden and joined the Port Washington Jewish Center and later became its president. We had a lot of people involved in community service — none more so than our rabbi, Donna Berman. She would announce to me, ‘Hey, on Tuesday, we’re going to Central Park to give out clothes and sandwiches to the homeless!’ It was the dead of winter! But I found myself organizing 15 to 18 cars. We’d make hundreds of sandwiches in two days, and off we’d go!

“It was my first time involved in social action. I liked it and wanted to do more. I learned that Long Island has a very large working population that lives in poverty, making it very difficult to afford fresh produce. These families mostly receive nonperishable donations, which have very little nutritional value.

Since its inception, we’ve delivered more than 57,000 pounds of food.

“To address this problem, in 2010 I created a program called Plant a Row for the Hungry in Port Washington, designed to mobilize residents to grow vegetables at home and donate a portion of the produce to families with food insecurities.

“Since its inception, we’ve delivered more than 57,000 pounds of food. I met Horace and Amy Hagedorn — their company invented Miracle-Gro — and they donated fertilizer and other valuable stuff. Our program has not only helped feed the poor but has helped volunteers as well.

“My friend Anna was in a funk after losing her husband. She joined our 5 to 6 p.m. Club — from May to October, we maintain and harvest our two main gardens during that hour — and the involvement completely revitalized her!

“It’s been so satisfying to me, too. I have been an avid gardener for over 40 years and have loved educating my grandkids on the benefits of growing vegetables for ourselves and for those around us. Our efforts should never end but grow!”

Interviewed by Saul Schachter

‘I was so terrified of public speaking. I was freaked out all the time.’

Patchogue

“I was terrified of public speaking. I was freaked out all the time. I would get onstage, and my voice would be quivering. I couldn’t breathe; my heart was pounding out of my chest. As a singer, you have to find your strength. I have certain music I’m great at. I can sing Broadway, I can sing church music, I can sing some opera. I don’t sing hard rock. The number one problem, especially with women, is they talk too low. They’ve been told if they want to sound authoritative, they should speak at a lower pitch. Or they’ve read some book that advises speaking from your chest. You’re doing a lot of damage to yourself.

“Everybody talks, but everybody can’t do it right. We all learn by mimicking, so your voice is the product of habit, a habit you’ve had all your life. It makes a huge difference in how you’re perceived. People have this idea that singing is magical, but anybody can talk. They don’t think of speaking as something you need to learn. But everyone, from attorneys and ministers to teachers to someone who wants to give a TED talk, needs this kind of training.

You want your voice to have a measure of power, but you want to be approachable and authoritative at the same time.

“Voice alchemy is a holistic approach to improving your voice. It’s a little bit of classical voice training, speech therapy, postural alignment, some of it is emotional connection. All put together, it helps people communicate clearly. The voice is the voice. It is the first impression people get of you.

“What you need to do is find your optimal pitch, a range of your favorite notes; your voice’s home base. This is where your voice is going to sound the most animated, the clearest, and will last you all day — and even sound the sexiest, which is what most women are going for. You want your voice to have a measure of power, but you want to be approachable and authoritative at the same time. It requires rehearsal, whether you’re singing or speaking. It starts with how you breathe. You can do exercises. We usually start with embryonic sounds; the sounds that babies make. That’s how we learn to speak — a sigh, a yawn, anything that relaxes and opens up the throat. Everyone has a starting point, a different instrument, a different natural tone. But I’ve met very few people who are unable to make improvements.”

Interviewed by Barbara Schuler

‘As a child, I dreamed I was destined to be with Carol Burnett, but I got Barbara Eden instead. I wouldn’t change it for the world!’

Glen Head

“I think I was always destined to end up in Hollywood. My childhood dream was to become an actress and/or comedian. In 1959, ‘The Garry Moore Show’ featured a newcomer, Carol Burnett, whom I adored. I wrote to her weekly and received back signed photos that I taped to my bedroom wall along with numerous articles about her.

“I began attending Broadway shows once a year beginning at age 9. On August 19th, 1964, a date I’ll never forget, after Carol Burnett’s performance in ‘Fade Out – Fade In,’ I was able to meet her backstage at the Mark Hellinger Theatre. That meeting was a thrill and beyond a dream come true!

“I finally went to California, but after retiring from 33 years as a Long Island teacher! In 1998, I was introduced by a mutual friend to Barbara Eden, star of TV’s ‘I Dream of Jeannie,’ at her Beverly Hills home. In 2000, my friend was cast with Barbara in a theatrical production of ‘The Odd Couple’ in Chicago. I joined them for two weeks. It was there in Chicago that my friendship with Barbara blossomed. I relocated to Bel Air [California] and was never happier! My new home was amazing and magical, with views from the Pacific Ocean to the San Fernando Valley. And Barbara lived only four miles down the road!

One of the most beautiful experiences I will forever treasure occurred when Barbara invited me to join her at the Hollywood Bowl…

“My first paid job was in 2007 as a laugher on ‘The George Lopez Show,’ in an episode Barbara appeared in. Was paid $79 a day, plus overtime! I was one of 70 laughers hired. They even had a laughing coach to monitor us: ‘Hey, you! If ya don’t laugh, ya don’t get paid!’

“One of the most beautiful experiences I will forever treasure occurred when Barbara invited me to join her at the Hollywood Bowl for the summer solstice celebration, where she would be a presenter. What an opportunity! ‘I have an ulterior motive,’ she said slyly. ‘Carol Burnett is the other presenter!’ I was ecstatic!

“I have worked with Barbara as her personal assistant, photographer and public relations manager. I’ve traveled all over the country with her. My birthday was celebrated by Phish at The Kia Forum. Most recently, we were at Graceland with Priscilla Presley.

“As a child, I dreamed I was destined to be with Carol Burnett, but I got Barbara Eden instead. I wouldn’t change it for the world!”

Interviewed by Saul Schachter

‘Rather than being bitter about all the ways I’ve felt I was wronged throughout the years, I choose to be grateful.’

Long Island

“I was born in the Republic of Georgia and shuffled between orphanages until I was 4 and was adopted with my sister by our new family in Baltimore. I spent a long time feeling unable to fit in with my environment.

“When I was 12, my adoptive parents got divorced, and my great grandma, with whom I felt a strong spiritual connection, passed.

“I didn’t make the greatest choices. When I was 19, conflicted on the inside and out, I moved in with a boyfriend on Long Island, which didn’t turn out to be the best choice. If I could go back in time, I might tell myself this is not a way to go. But that step was a catalyst for developing into who I am today.

“I didn’t realize that it wasn’t people I was searching to belong with, but a purpose to pursue. Since my son was born 5 years ago, I earned three graduate degrees and teach in a local middle school. He has been my drive and been by my side for every graduation.

I formed a new organization because I’ve always wanted to make sure that people feel a sense of belonging.

“When I got my first teaching job, I said there has to be a way students can be set up so adults can give them people in their corner so they’re not falling to the wayside — that they feel like people care about them and they have avenues for success.

“So I founded Fiercely Leading Youth Inc. It’s meant to be a system of social-emotional interventions for students. I was lucky to find a really good team. Due to many challenges I began experiencing in my home life, the team took over and the organization is growing. They bring my dreams to life. I’ve learned the most important thing is the work getting done, not who is doing it.

“Recently I formed a new organization because I’ve always wanted to make sure that people feel a sense of belonging. As someone who didn’t feel that in many ways and in many places, I think it’s important to take those feelings and address the need that you can identify in people.

“I want an organization whose only goal is to give people that sense of belonging during the holidays. So Meals of Meaning Inc. is what I’m working on now.

“Rather than being bitter about all the ways I’ve felt I was wronged throughout the years, I choose to be grateful for the experiences I’ve been able to turn into wisdom and carry with me in my understanding of others.”

Interviewed by Liza Burby

‘I love all of this work, but I really love connecting people.’

Moriches

“I’ve always been interested in history. When I was a teenager, I found myself really attracted to cemeteries. In my 20s, I started getting interested in my own family history. I found out from my uncle that I was a direct descendant of somebody who fought in the Revolutionary War, so I decided that I wanted to join the Daughters of the American Revolution, also known as the DAR.

“I went through the research process of doing that because you have to prove your lineage in order to join. After spending so much time tracking my family back to the Revolutionary War, I ended up learning so much. I caught with most genealogists call the bug. At that time, I was actually working for Lehman Brothers and, in 2008, I ended up losing my position during the recession. I was finding it difficult to find work even having had an MBA by that point.

Doing that work for the DAR, I got the confidence to start my own business.

“With no job, I moved to Arizona and transferred to another DAR chapter. With the new chapter, I became a registrar – somebody who works on other people’s applications. I was doing volunteer research and doing the application process for other prospective members. Doing that work for the DAR, I got the confidence to start my own business. Soon after, I switched gears completely and decided to just try and do genealogy professionally.

“My business didn’t get big until 2011, when I moved back to Long Island. Initially, I was just helping people discover family history. Seven years ago, though, I took my first probate case and became qualified in New York State for probate search. That work involves finding heirs that may be inheriting something like property. I also do work for real estate investors who are looking to buy homes that never went through probate, making sure a house is legally able to be sold.

“I love all of this work, but I really love connecting people. I have found birth parents for adoptees and connected clients with other biological family, which has been pretty amazing. Connecting people to their past or living relatives is really just so moving.”

Interviewed by KJ Bannan

‘I know I can’t change the world doing this, but if everyone does their small part, it makes figuring it out easier.’

East Meadow

“I always loved the idea of the fading art on clothing, like the paint cracking after 20 years of it being washed. I remember seeing Justin Bieber wearing this shirt, and it was all bleached and had this oversized look to it. I would see some people wearing pieces that were ripped up or sewn together. I wanted to experiment like that. I wanted to customize my own clothing.

“Finally, I was like, ‘All right, I’m going to go to the thrift store, and I’m going to find something and bring it back home and throw some bleach on it,’ but not randomly. I wanted to really figure out the kind of a design I wanted. And then people were like, ‘Oh my God, that’s so cool. I want one.’ My friend mentioned selling my pieces in Love and Honey [Boutique] in East Meadow. It snowballed from there.

I just love seeing my friends in the shirts. I know it means they’re supporting me, and it feels really good.

“My mom’s my bookkeeper. Both of my parents help me for pop-up shops. My dad’s handy, so he’s helped me a lot with the warehouse, too. My sister is in advertising, and my other sister’s a buyer for a fashion company, so I’ve been able to ask them things. My girlfriend and her sister are social media influencers, and they’ve always worn my clothing and modeled my stuff. They got a lot of their followers interested in my pieces, so it’s all really worked out, and I’m rolling with it!

“One of the biggest parts about the work that I love is that we’re trying to help the environment in our own small way. I know I can’t change the world doing this, but if everyone does their small part, it makes figuring it out easier. Our brand is based in recycling because all the items are already made. Might as well make use of them and give them a new life, you know?

“When I first started Korrupted Closet, my goal was to have an artist wear one of my pieces onstage. And in September of 2021, I had the great pleasure of meeting this TikTok star-turned-punk rock artist, Jxdn. He came to the Paramount in Huntington, and I was able to meet him before the show and gift him a bunch of clothes that I made for him. When he came out onstage wearing one of them, it was crazy. I think that’s the best moment I’ve had. I also just love seeing my friends in the shirts. I know it means they’re supporting me, and it feels really good.”

Interviewed by Maggie Melito

‘Instead of focusing on what the girls can bring to the table, we focus on what we are bringing to the girls.’

Mastic Beach

“Growing up, we had our challenges in a very impoverished area in Riverhead. There were a lot of core values that we didn’t have time to learn, and I didn’t realize how much that played a part in my decision-making process as an adult. When I was 10, I joined Girl Scouts. I didn’t have any transportation or a fair opportunity to earn badges or go on trips because I couldn’t afford to, and because of this, I was a target for bullying. The leaders didn’t understand that I was having a really hard time at home. They didn’t believe I didn’t have a dollar for dues. I had to walk to the meetings, and by the time I got there, I was late and sweaty, and that wasn’t well received by the leaders or the girls. It made me feel inferior growing up. Then life happens and you assume you forgot these things.

“I put my daughter in Girl Scouts. I made sure she did everything they offered. She was earning badges, but then she didn’t do the work, and the leader said she could have them anyway because I paid for them. It really broke something in me and ripped off a Band-Aid because all that time, I had thought I wasn’t good enough to earn badges as a child, but it was just that I couldn’t afford them. It healed that old hurt inside of me. Then I noticed three Hispanic girls sitting alone, and my daughter mentioned they were always late and that no one talked to them. It was the defining moment — that my little angel was being raised with the very thing that ruined my childhood.

“I decided to start my own group. In 2014, I had my first meeting of the Butterfly Effect Project with eight girls at the very library I used to go to for Girl Scouts. The name has a dual meaning for me. I love butterflies. I have never seen two butterflies that look identical. But for me, it’s also reflecting my life that there was a time I thought I was this really ugly caterpillar, and then I had this awakening that started happening in my mind first that evolved to the outside. I felt like I was telling my girls that we are all perfectly imperfect creatures. The butterfly represents the constant changing of you and the appreciation of what that change looked like and that hard caterpillar stage that we go through.”

If I could talk to my 11-year-old self, I would tell her, don’t be afraid to open new doors and walk through them, that help is always on the way.

“We went from eight girls to now about 600-plus, and one chapter to about 20 across the East End, and we have a pilot boys chapter this year. Participants have the option of attending chapter meetings in Riverhead, Bellport, Northville, Flanders and Aquebogue every other week throughout the school year. We are focused on four key areas: healthy relationship development, self-care, confidence building and critical thinking. We have parents in each community who know that community running that chapter. They know what the needs are for the girls, and that’s really important. Instead of focusing on what the girls can bring to the table, we focus on what we are bringing to the girls. What opportunities can we give them to broaden their horizons? And what they need in each chapter may be different.

“We do a lot of community service. They learn life skills like how to sew, how to be respectful, how to set a table, how to agree to disagree. They learn about politics and the power of their voice. We don’’t have badges; we have shirt colors. There are no dues. We’’ll have a room of maybe 30 girls ranging from 6 to 18. When people say to me, what do you think [is] the best thing that you’re doing for the girls and for the people in the program, I say I’m allowing them to be on the same playing field with everyone else. I’m allowing them the opportunity to see themselves bigger and better than their environment they’re in. I’m allowing them to understand, accept, respect where they come from, understanding that that’s really just your launchpad. I’m creating synergy in our community.

“In 2017, I quit my job and decided to do this full time, and it was hard, but a lot of people in the community stepped up in ways I would never have envisioned to make this a reality. There were times where I sat at home in tears trying to figure out how we’re going to get to the next month. And even now we still struggle. If I could talk to my 11-year-old self, I would tell her, don’t be afraid to open new doors and walk through them, that help is always on the way, and that mankind, regardless of what we see in our direct situations, there’s always someone who has one purpose and that is to help you out.”

Interviewed by Liza Burby