Faye has been a professional speaker, communications trainer and storyteller for almost two decades. She is a long-standing member of the National Speaker’s Association and has spoken at conferences and conducted workshops in all fifty states.
She grew up in Sicily and Trinidad and has traveled all over the world. Her travels and experiences with different cultures are reflected in her stories. She writes and tells stories about her adventures and the diverse people she has met over the years – from Sicilian Countesses to Trinidadian Chauffeurs.
Faye is a spoken word artist. She performs and conducts training sessions at corporate events, conferences, festivals, schools, museums, libraries, retreats, conventions, and house concerts. Faye has a powerful singing voice and her stories often include song. Who knows, you might just hear a story and a little bit of opera.
Abigail Adams
As a storyteller Faye delights in portraying historic characters. She is currently bringing the past to life from the personal side by portraying Abigail Adams. Abigail was the wife of the second President of The United States and she witnessed the transformation of thirteen colonies into a young and ambitious country.
Unlike most women of her time, Abigail was an educated woman. Her parents and grandmother taught her reading, writing, religion, and basic arithmetic in their home. She believed in women’s rights and was against slavery. She was well read and had superior writing skills. In fact, Abigail’s husband, John Adams, once told her, “I have a great opinion of the elegance of your pen.”
Abigail wrote over 2,000 surviving letters. She was deeply interested in politics and highly influenced her husband’s career. She was also the first woman to live in the White House.
She lived through a truly formative phase of American history. She heard men cry “No taxation without representation!” She saw the effects of the Boston Tea Party. She was down the street when the Boston Massacre occurred. She heard the cannons fire on Bunker Hill and wrote to her husband John, “The constant roar of the cannon is so distressing that we cannot eat, drink, or sleep.” She personally knew and spent time with famous men such as Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and John Hancock. At one time she had a very close friendship with Thomas Jefferson and in one of her letters described him as “…one of the choice ones on Earth.”
Abigail’s story brings to life the spirit of courage, the demands of discipline, and the capacity for sacrifice. Her story as an educated woman, a mother of six children, the wife of the second President of the United States, the mother of the sixth President of the United States (John Quincy Adams), and the first woman to live in the White House is a meaningful story of a strong woman who refused to sit on the sidelines of life.
In portraying Abigail Adams, Faye brings Revolutionary America to life in the 21st Century. Sharing the tidbits and details of life during this important time in history gives listeners a true feel for what it was like to live during the period when The Declaration of Independence was written and The United States of America became a country.
Faye’s program Abigail Adams: A Revolutionary Woman with Revolutionary Ideas is ideal for the English/Language Arts or History/Social Studies classroom as well as museums and libraries.
Lessons and residencies can be customized to fit your needs.