Tell Me Your Story 3.7

Ellen Shapiro-Smith was born in a small town in upstate New York. Her parents are of Eastern European origin. Her father was an organic chemistry professor and her mom was a biology teacher for elementary schools and later became a special education administrator.

In this episode, Ellen tells us that she used to feel bored by  living in a small town and describes why she felt that way during her years living there. She talks about her brother, her experiences in school which were nice in the first elementary years and became difficult during high school. She felt she didn’t belong, regardless of trying to fit it in, wishing to be popular and being with the cool kids. She explains that the reason might have been that her brother and her were more interested in reading books and the academic part of it instead of all the silliness most kids were interested in.

Things changed in college. She moved to Boston and went to Brandeis University where she met a large Jewish community, felt appreciated and that she belonged. Living in Cambridge was a taste of freedom and she was able to express herself without judgement. She loved Harvard Sq. and talks about her memories living there during college years. She started her degree in Math but changed by the end to Art History.

She went to work in a corporate job during the day while still taking class at a museum school at night. She quit that job after six years and decided to pursue another degree, this time, towards graphic design career. She worked for Law School Coop in 2008 but later went to work for a publishing company where she had connections with law schools all over, including HLS. It was through some connections she made in that job that she got the chance to apply to a position as a Faculty Assistant at HLS. After that, she had the opportunity to work at the Climenko Fellowship where she is currently working.

Ellen talks with pride about the work she does in her department and how good it is to work with Susannah Barton Tobin.

We end our conversation talking about something that most people don’t know about Ellen, that she is a swing dancer and where she goes to dance.

Some fun facts about Ellen:

-Her favorite cookies are chocolate chip cookies.

-The books she recommends are “Harvard Square: An illustrated History Since 1950” and “The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom.”

-She likes to collect “old rusty things” which include antique hand tools, odd kitchen implements, bottle caps, machine parts etc.

-She grew up with lots of pets and shared that “My dad rescued from the local college biology department so we’ve had box turtles, aquatic frogs, and even had a pet king snake for about 10 years.”