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The NCMF community is such an interesting blend of people and backgrounds. I thought I’d do some profiles of some of you from time to time. We’ll begin with regular concert-goer, Mary Gentile.

‍David Yang Artistic Director

DY: Where did you grow up? Tell me about your own background, who you are, etc.

MG: I grew up in Wisconsin. My father was a veterinarian and I used to work for him because I loved animals. I thought I might be a veterinarian but in high school I got it into my head that I only have a finite amount of love and I probably should spend it on humans…after all, I found them more difficult to love than animals. Nevertheless, I still love animals and our sweet rescue lab is royalty in our home.

DY: How did you wind up in Newburyport?

MG: We came up for “Eagle Day” and for one of the NCMF concerts (a piano recital featuring Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”) and loved the area – a small city that has so much culture and activity to offer and is close to nature – the ocean, the Merrimac, woods, etc. My partner, also a “Mary,” had the vision to say we can do this. We love it here. (Ed: Mary Jacobsen is host of The Morning Show on PortMedia.)

DY: What first comes to mind as a favorite concert you have attended?

MG: Well, that Mussorgsky I mentioned above is up there. I also saw Sir Georg Solti conduct Beethoven’s 3^rd Symphony when I was a teenager. Oh, and a performance of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” at Lincoln Center with Chagall’s set designs! I loved the Queen of the Night’s aria!

DY: You created this extraordinary program “Giving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind when You Know What's Right.” Can you tell me a bit more about this? ‍

MG: “Giving Voice to Values” is an approach to values-driven leadership development in business education and the workplace. It is not about persuading people to be more ethical. Rather GVV starts from the premise that most of us already want to act on our values, but that we also want to feel that we have a reasonable chance of doing so effectively and successfully. This pedagogy and curriculum are about raising those odds.

Rather than a focus on ethical analysis, the GVV curriculum focuses on ethical implementation and asks the question: “What if I were going to act on my values? What would I say and do? How could I be most effective?”  

DY: You travel all over the world for this work. Where are some of the most memorable places you have been?

MG: I have been to India many times and have fond memories of sitting around the dinner table with friends in their home in Mumbai. There is an expression in India that “we talked until our fingers were dry” – referring to the idea that our hands become moist from using naan to pick up the food and that our conversations were so long and rich that our fingers dried.

I also remember fondly a post-meeting gathering on the beach at night in Goa with a full moon and music. Or a mind-and-heart moving visit to Robben Island in South Africa where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. Or hookah-smoking and whirling dervishes and camels in Sharja; the beautiful subway of Moscow; staying in a Centuries old inn in Yorkshire; holding a koala in Australia - I feel very lucky!

DY: What keeps you awake at night?

MG: The state of the world – and my country. When I was a little girl, I used to wonder what I would have done if I had lived in Germany in the 30s/40s…But now I feel that this is “my moment” and I struggle with finding the right way to contribute to the good and the light.

‍DY: What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

MG: I guess that things are never as good or as bad as I think….and that they change.

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