1. Where was your first Not-for- Profit/Museum job? Position? What did it teach you?
My first experience in the nonprofit world was at the Boston Museum of Science, and it had nothing to do with retail. When I was 16, I joined a volunteer program called Eye Opener, and from that moment, I was hooked on museums. My curiosity went wild. I loved being part of changing exhibits, getting a behind-the-scenes look at such a massive collection, and feeling like I belonged to this vibrant, curious community.
When I went off to university, I found my way back to the museum, this time working part-time in the shop. What started as a student job grew into a career that spanned a decade, and ten years later, I left as the head of the buying department. From there, I continued to follow my passion for museums, working at the ICA Boston, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and now at the Peabody Essex Museum. Each experience deepened my appreciation for how museums connect people, spark curiosity, and keep culture alive in new and surprising ways.
What I’ve learned over the years is that I love the creativity of interpreting a museum’s collection or exhibition into products that people want to take home. What we do as museum merchants may seem insignificant at first glance, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how deeply connected it is to the history of collecting itself. After all, most objects in museum collections began as everyday items, things bought, sold, or traded. Even keepsakes and souvenirs from ancient times, like tokens from pilgrimage routes or oil lamps sold outside the Roman Colosseum with gladiators’ names etched on them, were once simple retail transactions. Today, those same items are carefully preserved in museums because they tell us something about the people and culture of their time.
That realization changed how I think about the custom products I create for exhibitions. They’re not just mementos, they’re part of a long continuum of storytelling through objects. And after doing this work for so many years, it’s both humbling and thrilling to know that some of those pieces have even been accessioned into museum collections themselves.
2. Name a mentor that most influenced you: How did they help you?
So many people have influenced me, mentors, colleagues, and artists who have inspired me along the way. But if I had to name just one, it would be a woman named Maureen Ruscetti. She taught me to be a little irreverent and have fun with the work we do, while also nurturing a deep love for collections and art. She shared so much of her knowledge about museum collections and gave me a true appreciation for the source material behind everything we worked on together.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the many sales representatives I encountered early in my career. In some cases, they could have taken advantage of my inexperience, but instead, they guided me, supported me, and helped me navigate the first few years of being a buyer. I really owe a lot to them for helping me grow and find my footing in the field.
3. What was your educational background? Was it useful?
I went to school as a business major, but I’ve found that my formal education hasn’t always been directly useful to me as a museum buyer. Working in a museum sometimes defies traditional business acumen. After all, these institutions aren’t here primarily to make money, they’re here to educate, inspire, and engage.
That means there have been times when I’ve made choices that might not have been the strongest from a purely business standpoint, but that were absolutely right for our visitors. For example, perhaps there’s a book that was used in the research for an exhibition. It might have a very small discount, or even be a losing-money proposition. From a business perspective, it’s not ideal to carry it in the shop. But from the perspective of the museum’s mission, making that book available is the right decision. It helps visitors connect more deeply with the exhibition, and it furthers the educational purpose of the institution.
Offering a service and defying the profit model is not something they teach in business school.
4. How did you get into retail?
It was a total accident that I ended up at the Science Museum — it wasn’t a career choice so much as the strangest calling one could imagine. I feel incredibly lucky to be in a role that allows for creativity, requires research, and demands collaboration, all while constantly shifting to new projects.
In this work, you get to see works of art in ways that only a very privileged few ever do. You have the chance to speak one-on-one with artists, celebrities, and thinkers, and collaborate with them on bringing ideas to life. It’s a role that’s never static, always challenging, and endlessly inspiring.
5. What tips would you like to pass on to a future colleague:
Not to be maudlin, but I truly believe that you have to love something to be good at it. At the core, I believe in museums as one of the last places of integrity and creativity. If you want to work in one, know that you are a steward of a collection, for a moment in time, and your job is to help preserve it for the future and hand it off to others.
Yes, you will often find yourself looking at others who get paid more, and there will be challenges, frustrations, and moments that defy all business logic. But if you are a curious person, you will have access to collections and people that many can only envy. Things will be constantly shifting and sometimes chaotic, but you will receive a master class in whatever your institution specializes in, and you will grow in ways you could never anticipate.
Most importantly, it can be endlessly fun . . .if you choose to make it so.