About Me
I was born in Brooklyn, New York. My parents, Lee and Peter Vullo were also born in Brooklyn; their parents immigrated from Abruzzo and Sicily. Three of my four grandparents only spoke Italian, and despite that, I did not learn to speak fluent Italian growing up. We were a family of five children and as the middle child I became independent and had a love for travel, relationships and sharing meals and experiences.
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I was educated in the public school system until high school, when I attended an all girls Catholic high school. I then went on to St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights and graduated with a Business Management degree. In June of 1978, I travelled to Europe with 2 girlfriends for the entire Summer. We visited 8 countries in that time frame including 4 weeks traveling throughout Italy. I quickly fell in love with Europe and felt most connected while in Italy.
My business life began part-time in 1974 after
graduating high school and continued thru my college years working at Bloomingdales in NYC. Upon my college graduation, and after my European travel, I accepted a computer programming executive training position at Bloomingdales. I moved on to a radio advertising company in sales and worked on various research and development projects.
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Vince and I married in 1985; we then relocated to London for his career with MetLife. I too worked for Albany Life in the Marketing Division. We travelled throughout England and to other countries in Europe whenever possible. Returning to New York after one year abroad, we continued to travel to many exciting places for business and pleasure. I joined MetLife in 1987 after returning from London and was a part of the start-up brokerage division, and afterwards as an HR Management Training executive for MetLife. In 1991, I received an MBA in Marketing from the Lubin School of Business at Pace University in NYC.
Vince and I have been married for 38 years. Our two sons, Matthew (33) and JonPeter (29) have both graduated from the University of Miami in Florida, and now live in Jersey City and NYC. Our homes are in Huntington Bay on Long Island, Naples FL. and Manhattan, NY.
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In my spare time, I enjoy tennis, pickleball, golf, bocce and boating. I love cooking and entertaining, playing games such as canasta, mahjong and scrabble, reading, learning, traveling and spending time with friends and family.
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Origin of Simpatica
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I’ve always been interested in entertaining. I believe that cooking and spending time with people over a good meal “warms people’s hearts.” Simpatica! As I entered my 60's, after hearing for many years that I should do something with my love for entertaining, travel and people, I decided to start a blog. The purpose is to have a place where my life is “kind-of” documented and shared, with emphasis on food, travel and relationships and how they are entwined. Cibo, viaggi e relazioni si intrecciano!
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Contact Me:
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