Why did you choose to attend Fairfield University/ play your sport at Fairfield University?
I was a basketball player at Mount Vernon High School. We had won the Section One and New York State (NYS) championships. Dianne Nolan, former women's basketball head coach, recruited me to come to Fairfield. Prior to that, I had heard of Fairfield due to alumnae Johnna Warner `82 and Cedrick Warner `80 (both from Mount Vernon NY). I was also recruited by Yale, Brown, Northwestern, and Columbia Universities. I chose Fairfield because Coach Nolan was relentless and offered me a scholarship, which was awesome.
What is your favorite Fairfield memory or some of your favorite memories as a student/student-athlete?
I was a member of UMOJA—a cultural student organization that brings together students of African, African-American, and Caribbean descent and informs the entire student community about issues that impact these groups—and remember the times we would share. Once we were all with Larry Mouzon and he would bring us together to talk about our experiences to make sure we were ok.
I remember Dianne taking our team to play in Miami during the Orange Bowl and being able to go to the parade. Everywhere Dianne took us was an adventure. Today, I understand she didn't just teach us about basketball, she taught us about life. She was hard on us, we needed that.
While an undergraduate, I stayed at Loyola, Canisius, the Claver, and then the Townhouses. I had the same roommate for four years and she was awesome. We were high school teammates and are still friends today. Finally, I got married at the end of my sophomore year in college and lived on campus through my senior year as my husband played professional basketball.
Lastly, I remember Father Maurice Wong, S.J., a calculus professor. Fr. Wong was difficult to understand and the fact that I didn't take math my senior year in high school left me rusty. I didn't understand anything he was talking about the first two weeks. I went home and the chair of the Math department chided me for not taking math my senior year and said she wasn't surprised I was struggling; but, I am/was an athlete. I invited some smart people to my room to hang out, eat, and study together. Fr. Wong would put problems on the board and every class he would have a bonus question. People would often leave the room because we couldn't figure out the problem. However, the competitor in me made me stay up until I figured it out. It wasn't long that I was answering all the bonus questions. I ended up with an A+ because I got perfect scores and extra points for bonuses on tests and homework. Today, although I am a social worker, math continues to intrigue me. My ability to problem solve is based on this experience.
In what way are you still connected to Fairfield University, Fairfield Athletics, and/or your sport?
When my youngest daughter turned 12 she started playing basketball. I would bring her to the Fairfield alumni games and she was getting tall. Coach Nolan would jokingly say "one day, I am going to recruit her early." She did just that and my daughter became a legacy student when she received a scholarship to play basketball at Fairfield. She had a good career and played two years for current Head Women's Basketball Coach
Joe Frager. She is now an assistant coach with the Fairfield Stags Women's Basketball team. I attended many home games (pre-pandemic) and currently watch all of them on television. I recently joined the Athletics Advisory Board and am looking forward to more Fairfield activities.
What inspires your support for Fairfield University/Athletics?
I am excited about where Fairfield is headed. The fact that my daughter is now coaching has helped reconnect me to Fairfield. My husband and I are very supportive of our children and all that they do, so when she decided to come back home and work at our alma mater, I was thrilled. It afforded me the opportunity to reconnect with the team. I have had an opportunity to meet with and even mentor some of the girls and I love that more than anything.
How did your time at Fairfield help prepare you for life after graduation? Please tell us a little bit about your personal and professional life.
Fairfield prepared me for life in many ways. As a young African American woman in a school that was predominantly white, I always felt I had to work harder than everyone else to fit in. I know that was my perception and my experience but it made me work harder. Often I was the only person of color in my classes. Larry told us to never sit in the back. He told us that in most cases because we would be the only person of color that we should sit in the front anyway. Thus, in most classes that is where I would sit. I paid attention because of that advice and it helped me to focus. I was a good student and loved my psychology classes, especially physiological psychology. I wanted to be a neurosurgeon because of that class; though, I did not go in that direction. Years later, I went to social work school at SUNY Albany and I received my Master's in 1990.
I need to digress here for a moment. I married former NBA Player Lowes Moore, Jr. in 1983. Nine months after graduating (May 1985) my husband and I had our first child Michelle (Feb 1986). Today she is married, an Elementary School Principal, and a mother of our grandson Dakotah (June 2020). In 1987, we had Shireyll, and in 1992 we had Lowes III. In 1995, we finished with Isaiah (our miracle baby). We also helped in raising Omar Ford and our Godson/son Jamayal Johnson. We have spent many of our years raising children into successful adults. We will be married 38 years in August of this year, and he remains my best friend and biggest supporter, and I his.
After receiving my Master's, I got a job at a program called Hope House, Inc. in Albany NY— a long-term residential program focused on adolescents who were struggling with addiction. I was there for a year when someone connected me to Conifer Park, which was also a substance abuse treatment program in Schenectady County, NY. Conifer was part of a larger system of treatment programs that included The Holliswood Hospital (Queens, NY) and Arms Acres, Inc. (Carmel, NY). My husband and I moved back to our hometown Mount Vernon, NY in 1993. I needed a job and my mother encouraged me to call The Holliswood Hospital. The Clinical Director called me to say that he wouldn't be able to hire me until I officially moved from Albany to downstate. That was until he saw my resume. It was then he noticed I had graduated from Fairfield. As luck would have it, his wife graduated from Fairfield, the same year I did, and in the same major. The Clinical Director and I also attended the same graduate program. He hired me on the spot and held the job from March until July when I moved. We became so close that years later when he became the CEO of Arms Acres, he convinced me to come work for him as his Clinical Director. Two years later, he moved on and I became the CEO. I have been in that role since 2000. Today, I am Vice President of Substance Abuse Services (which also includes Conifer Park) and I am CEO of Arms Acres. Fairfield University not only taught me how to be tough and hang in there, it also provided a connection for me with Dr. Anne Farrell `85.
In 2013, I was selected by the NYS Senate and Governor Cuomo as a member of the first NYS Behavioral Health Services Advisory Council, which provides recommendations to the Commissioners of the Office of Mental Health (OMH) and the Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS). I was elected as the co-chair of this committee and chair of the Regulations Committee that governs all regulations for both agencies. I was also part of the Governor's Heroin Task Force that led to groundbreaking legislation on Opioid Addiction in the State of NY, and have been selected on multiple occasions to provide support, assistance, and guidance to struggling addiction programs in the state of NY.
In 2002, I became the Head Girls Basketball Coach at Mount Vernon HS and coached my daughter Shireyll (junior and senior year) when she was recruited by Dianne Nolan. Shireyll was the first player in several years who went to an NCAA Division I school with a full scholarship. As a coach, I amassed a record of 175 and 51 and went to five consecutive County Championships, winning two in a row (2009 and 2010). During my tenure, over 24 girls went on to play college basketball (nine on Division I college teams). Today, I am part owner of a Women's American Basketball Association (WABA) professional team called the Mount Vernon Shamrocks. The team is named after 13-year-old slain former Mount Vernon High School basketball player Shamoya McKenzie.
I am an ordained Elder and I love all that I do in ministry and although what I have done seems great, what I do in ministry makes me happy. I am a minister of the Emmanuel Pentecostal Faith Temple and my Pastor is Elder Derrick Adams.
