Toni (or Annette) describes herself as a ―hyper Italian (100 % Sicilian, on both sides of the family) and excels at multi-tasking. She lives up to that description with her busy life of working, volunteering, and taking care of her husband, Michael, as he recovers from an illness. But busy is the way her life has always been and the way she prefers it.

She is a past president of the Heathrow Women‘s Club (2007-2008) and has served as First Vice President of Programs for two years. She also serves on several Heathrow community management committees (community relations, finance) and is a member of the Board of the Heathrow Town Advisory Council and the Heathrow Lakes Maintenance Association. She also serves as chairman of the Heathrow Lakeside committee. And in her spare time she works as a mortgage broker for Mortgage Security Network, Inc.

Toni got her start by winning the election for president of her 6th grade class in Brooklyn. She gave up politics for marketing, which she studied at Otterbein College in Columbus, Ohio. She then went on to a varied career, first owning and managing a construction company which built apartments in Ft. Lauderdale. She also co-owned and operated a Snap-On franchise. She then took up marketing with positions ranging from the sale of million dollar motor coaches to high end furniture. She then applied her talents to the nonprofit sector with positions with the National Council for the Self- Employed and the American Small Business Association. As the last position moved to Texas, she reinvented herself as a mortgage broker in Florida.

Throughout all this there is one common theme and that is a focus on women helping women. One of her most rewarding positions was as a volunteer with a women‘s help group in Jacksonville Beach, helping distressed women of all ages. She still volunteers today as a member of the Board and marketing co-chair of The Mended Hearts, an affiliate of The American Heart Association. She also counsels post-op heart patients at Florida Hospital.

Another abiding theme in her life is love of music in almost all forms, and travel. She has sung with Sweet Adelines and church choirs, and she would travel more if she had the time and if the birth of grandchildren didn‘t seem to come along at critical moments. She and her husband have three married sons and eight grandchildren, so far.

By: Stephanie Strass