Chat Room: Nina Gregg

Nina Gregg
Age: 51
Married to Doug Gamble
Occupation: Organizational consultant - Communication Resources.

What was your most embarrassing moment?
"When my husband and I eloped, the judge who married us asked me if my mother knew what I was doing."

Why did you pursue the career you chose?
"My work now is a culmination of all of my work experiences. I became a college professor because I wanted to encourage students to develop the ability to think for themselves and be active in their communities. Now I work with social justice organizations helping them plan and achieve their goals."

What is one word others often use to describe you and why?
"My friends say I am compassionate and caring. I am concerned about people’s well-being even when I disagree with them."

When you were 5 years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?
"A dancer or an astronomer. I was fascinated with the stars and planets in the night sky and wanted a telescope more than anything else in the world."

What was your first paying job?
"I kept customer records on index cards for my dad’s first business. I was 8 years old."

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
"I’d like to have more stillness in my life or better eyesight."

What is your passion?
"Justice for all human beings."

With whom, living or dead, would you most like to have a long lunch?
"My mother’s mother. She died when my mother was a child."

What do you hate?
"I try not to hate because it doesn’t accomplish anything constructive. I dislike prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness."

What’s your favorite quote?
"I have two: ‘No is what you have. Yes is what you might be able to get,’ which is a Dutch saying used before taking a leap into the unknown. My second one is, ‘Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.’ -- Martin Luther King, Jr."

What is your dream vacation?
"A small cabin on a coast with hiking trails nearby."
Rebels, Tornadoes, Mountaineers or Governors?
"I live near Heritage High School, so I’d have to say Mountaineers."

What is the best book you’ve ever read?
"I read all the time and cannot choose just one! Recently I read ‘O Pure and Radiant Heart,’ by Lydia Millet, and ‘Half a Yellow Sun,’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, both of which I recommend."

Would you travel in space?
"Yes, if I could choose my travel companions."

What are you guilty of?
"Over committing."

If you could go back in time for a week, what time period or year would you visit?
"I can’t imagine a time when a woman would have more opportunities than now, but it would be fun to experience the height of the jazz age in New York."

What is the best present you ever received?
"My dog."

What is the best advice your mother ever gave you?
"To be sure I could support myself financially."

If you were stranded on an island, what one thing would you take?
"My husband because we’re in life together."

If you could do one impulsive thing, unrestricted by cost, what would it be?
"I’d wave a magic wand and make sure no one was hungry."

What task or activity have you not gotten around to doing?
"Filing in my office."

What’s your favorite television or movie quote?
"There’s no place like home."

What is one thing you have always wanted to do but haven’t?
"Learn to play jazz piano."

What is your favorite material possession?
"The farm I live on. It’s not really a ‘material’ possession, but it has been in my husband’s family for over 100 years, and I value it above most material things."