Molly Gasbarrini Burrets '96 ALUMNI PROFILE You attended Park for Grades 9-12. How and why did you choose Park for your high school experience? Many private schools in Buffalo, like Park, have excellent academic reputations. But what immediately drew me to Park was the way I felt about myself when I visited: that I belonged. I knew, based on my experience that day during the 8th grade, that Park was very different from other schools - that it was a place where being unique was an asset, not a liability. The students went out of their way to express genuine curiosity about me, and it was refreshing to see there were so many different types of students at Park. At the other schools I visited, the student population felt homogenous, and there was a pressure to fit into the mold. At Park, just being my authentic self was enough to feel welcomed immediately. If you had to describe Park in 3 words to someone, what would it be? My safe place. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think about Park? Drinking cocoa, sitting on the warm radiator in Hamlin Hall before homeroom, enjoying time with my classmates: Valerie, Mary, Dorothy, Kayte, Jeff, Alpheus, and Toussaint. I still keep in touch with every one of those people to this day, more than 25 years after graduation. Favorite Park memory? Memorable Park faculty? Favorite spot on campus? My favorite Park memories all took place in the theatre. My freshman year, I played Anne in the Diary of Anne Frank, and the theatre teacher, Sam Drago, looked at me very seriously and said, ‘Molly, if you wanted to do this professionally, you could.” It was the first time someone told me that, and I could tell he meant it. He changed my life. After college graduation, I had a career as a professional musical theatre performer for 8 years before going to grad school to become a clinical psychologist - and I will never regret that chapter of my life. Talk about your path after graduating high school: college, work, life, etc. After Park, I attended Boston College for two years. I returned to Buffalo for my junior year of college for family reasons and graduated magna cum laude from UB with a double major in Psychology and Music. A highlight of college for me was being chosen as the recipient for the President’s Award at UB, which was given to a graduating student who demonstrated outstanding performance in two disparate academic fields. In retrospect, this award means even more to me because I did, in fact, have two separate careers - one in music and one in psychology. After college graduation, I moved to Paris to begin my professional career in singing. During my twenties I lived in Paris, Chicago, and New York City - following my dream and being a working performer. At 29, I applied to graduate school and moved to Texas to work with a world renowned researcher in couples therapy at Texas A&M University, where I earned my PhD in Clinical Psychology. I completed my doctoral residency at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, and then received a postdoctoral fellowship in Palo Alto, CA. This chapter in my life was a dream come true for me because I had always wanted to live in California since I was a young girl, but had no idea how I’d ever get there. Directly out of my fellowship, I took a position as a professor in a PhD program at a university in Los Angeles. Four years later, I became the head of the department and then began my private practice, where I specialize in couples therapy and women’s health issues. Working in Los Angeles, many of my clients are high profile individuals who also have unique challenges related to fame or success. Another benefit of working in Los Angeles is that I have been able to expand my career to include media work and speaking engagements. My 23
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