Biography
I was born and raised in Massachusetts as the oldest of two daughters. My family were committed and faithful congregants at the First Parish of Concord, a large and thriving Unitarian Universalist congregation. I attended Religious Education, took OWL, sat on committees, did readings on Christmas Eve, performed in church plays, and sang in the choirs. I loved being a part of First Parish and credit much of my formation to the care, counsel, and encouragement I received in the bosom of that religious community.
I followed my mom’s midwestern roots to Ohio for college, attending Oberlin. It was there that I learned to share my pronouns, all about the prison industrial complex, and to question the veracity of “objectivity.” It was also where I met my future wife, Livia. My senior year I took a month long internship in Chicago at the People’s Law Office where I supported the breathtaking work of lawyers fighting on behalf of victims of police brutality and wrongful conviction. My time there radicalized me. I was sure that my passion for public speaking and justice were meant for law school.
Between graduating into the Great Recession and the LSAT, I was humbled by my early years out of college. I worked at a bakery, interned endlessly, and thought deeply about what it was that I wanted to do and how to decouple my self worth from my earning “potential.” I wound up landing a temp job at a venture philanthropy fund, New Profit Inc, as one of three assistants to the CEO. I parlayed that initial temporary position into nearly four years, the final two as an analyst for the Pathways Fund, a groundbreaking partnership between the government and the private sector to advance post-secondary career options for low income and first generation high school graduates. In my role, I evaluated potential new organizations to invest in, reviewed budgets and balance sheets, and led workshops to teach Boards best practices for mission, vision, and management.
Yet I longed to be in deeper relationship with people; to be in closer and more intimate proximity to the stories and chapters that illuminate the humanity in each of us. I felt my call to preach and lead community wasn’t being answered fully—and it was during a typical “Lunch and Learn” at the office that I heard a social entrepreneur talk about Beloved Community and transforming kids into peacemakers. The cadence and the conviction of his talk reminded me of a sermon and when I said as much, he answered that he was a UU minister, so that made sense. It was a lightbulb moment for me. This was how I could align my gifts with my values and be who I was created to be! I figured that as a minister, I could move through the world the way I wanted: firmly rooted in my values, a source of strength, compassion, and advocacy for others, engaged with the wide world of justice making, charged with helping families and individuals grow their souls, and running a non-profit.
I went about applying to and attending seminary—ending up at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. I am a proud graduate of Union, the birth place of Womanist Theology, the academic home of James Cone (who I got to learn from in his class on James Baldwin), and the institution of choice for so many inspiring religious leaders in today’s progressive faith movement. At Union, I explored my Unitarian Universalist identity, pressing it up against my love of Christian teachings and the stories of the Bible. I tried out God-talk and dedicated my field education to a radical Lutheran church on the Upper West Side, where I took communion, preached from the Gospels, and cooked meals for dinner church. I also devoted many hours my final year to teaching and tutoring in the College Program at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, the only maximum security prison for women in New York. Bearing witness to the life of incarcerated individuals remains a profound experience that I carry with me always. Upon graduation, I was honored to receive the Charles A. Briggs award “for the qualities of conscience, commitment, and courage.”
After graduation, I served as the ministerial intern at the Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing under the sage leadership of fellow Union-alum Rev. Kim Wildszewski. My year there was full of opportunities to blossom. I led classes on Liberation Theology and Grief & Grieving. I did child dedications and weddings. And I created a monthly community dinner and evening of programming called Welcome Table Wednesdays that helped the congregation deepen their spirituality and grow in membership. I saw the MFC in March of 2018, was granted preliminary fellowship and was invited back a year later as a candidate liaison.
In the fall of 2019, I joined the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia as the Minister for Faith Formation. I also got married, ordained, and bought our first home. In March of 2020, the world changed irrevocably and I learned how to be a minister across time and space with virtual services, virtual Board meetings, and virtual book clubs.
My years at First Unitarian have been rich and full. As part of the ministry team, I’ve been given the privilege of having an incredible team with whom to collaborate. From bringing in jazz to the worship space, staging a no-rehearsal pageant, and creating a faith formation curriculum, I have taken on the traditions of this place and brought some of my own. I’ve had the good fortune to operate with creativity and autonomy with regard to my portfolio, allowing my ministry here to deepen as I’ve accompanied our members through an extraordinary worldwide pandemic and the ordinariness of their everyday lives. I have grown their membership, developed a robust network of pastoral care systems, and expanded their RE program. In my years here I have found my voice as a minister in a dynamic and fluctuating time to be alive.
In August of 2021, I gave birth to our daughter Antonia Gallo Capaldi. Livia, Toni, and I live in West Philadelphia. I love to listen to records and dance, cook and grill, and swim in any and all bodies of water. I’m a lover of television and contemporary fiction and in my spiritual down time, I like to do sensory deprivation floats, work on farms, and host dinner parties.
