Saturday Spotlight
Name: Stephanie Becker Age: 48 (hard typing that; don’t feel it)
Current Town: Port Jefferson Station
Marital Status: Married to John (almost 18 years)
Kids: 3: Kaitlyn-16, Kylie-14 and Sean-12
Pets: Molly (the beagle) and Max (Aussie/border collie mix)
Education: BS in Sociology from LSU (Geaux Tigers!) and Masters in Business Administration from American Intercontinental University in London.
Occupation: StonyBrook Physicians in patient accounts.
Hobbies: Running, swimming and biking with friends!I grew up in a town called Slidell, Louisiana about 40 minutes from New Orleans. Growing up there was about as much fun as you can imagine…
I lived w my parents and my one older sister till my parents got divorced when I was 8. I grew up swimming and playing soccer and eventually started basketball and softball. Think it was assumed I’d play basketball as I was always the tallest kid. Which I hated so fiercely; being the tall kid, not basketball.
I always knew I wanted to go to LSU so that’s where I headed after graduation. It was a lot that first year so I transferred to a much smaller school in North Louisiana called Louisiana Tech. North and south Louisiana are about as different as New York and California… north was the Bible Belt, bars closed at 11pm. So, you started at 4… drinking age was 18 there (if there was one at all) Oh, and they only served beer and wine coolers. No idea what the thought behind keeping the hard liquor away from anyone.
After a year there I headed back to LSU for the final 2 years to graduate. Just like I knew I wanted to go to LSU I also knew I always wanted to go to law school. So, headed to Loyola University in New Orleans… But, alas, after one semester I was like Hell No! And left… it wasn’t for me, but was also in love with an Australian boy so headed over there. Moved to Tasmania to live there. After a few months I knew I needed to get my life back on track so headed home and decided to get my MBA because really what was I going to do with a sociology degree?!?! Decided to follow Australian to London and go to school.
Spent an awesome two years there in school and got to work at a typical London pub and traveling. Got to see some amazing places while living abroad: Greece, turkey, France, Scotland and Wales. Right before graduation I was talking to a friend who lived in NYC and was saying I didn’t want to go back to Louisiana so she offered for me to come live with her… I thought I’d be in NYC for 3 weeks and run home w my tail between my legs… Arrived in NY on October 11th, 1998. Found a job right away in Rockefeller Center (79th floor)… great location! An apartment of my own was a lot harder to find!
Found my little pod on the upper east side. A whooping 350 sq feet of paradise. At this point I was living so close to the park I started running… wish I had continued, but I was in my 20s, single and living in NYC so going out and life got in the way. Never got further than 3.5 miles. Met my current husband, John, in a tiny little bar (The Gaf) in December 2000 and moved to the island August 25,2001… He was NYPD at the time working in Central Harlem. We got married in May 2002 and he got a job on the island April 2002. Timing! Haha! Canceled honeymoon but I didn’t care bc he was finally out of there! Flash forward to 3 kids and living in PJS and started running (more to how that happened later in the week). Running completely changed my life: met some amazing people and the best of friends. And after running wasn’t enough moved on to triathlons. What an amazing sport… and expensive as hell!
Finally made it to the hills after waiting forever due to injuries… Kathleen Bates Sparacin finally got me there last April. And now, looking forward to meeting more amazing people I hope to call friends…