Natalie was born in Tucuman, Argentina.
Her father, Albert, an agricultural specialist from Tennessee,
was working as a tobacco consultant for Phillip Morris when
he met her mother, Alicia, a native of Argentina. Natalie
and her two older sisters, Vickie and Jennifer, were born
in Argentina, but at the age of three, her family moved
back to the farm in East Tennessee. Within a couple of years,
the family grew again, this time with the addition of two
brothers, Albert and Ralph.
Natalie's family moved to Apollo
Beach, Florida, a suburb of Tampa, at the age of 11. She
was first introduced to Rotary in her high school in South
Hillsborough County. As member of the interact club of East
Bay High School, she had the opportunity to experience first
hand the work of Rotary. Through hard work and dedication
to the organization, she was selected by the local Southshore
Rotary Culb to paricipate in a week long Rotary sponsored
leadership seminar, Seminar for Tomorrow's Leaders (S4TL).
Energized by the skills that were learned, a group of S4TL
graduates from the Tampa area joined together to expand
the experience for students of their high school class by
organizing a mini S4TL. Due to the success of her mini seminar,
Natalie was invited back to S4TL as one of eight junior
staff members. Her senior year of high school, she became
the president of her Interact club and was selected by two
local clubs, Southshore and Sun City, as a College Scholarship
recipient.
Natalie attended the University
of South Florida where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree
in Interdisciplinary Science- Chemistry. While at USF she
was the charter member of the Rotaract Club. With her focus
on dentistry, she applied and was accepted early to Northwestern
Dental School in Chicago. After four years, Natalie graduated
Northwestern University Dental School receiving several
awards including International College of Dentists Award
for the most professional growth as a student, Northwestern
Alumni Association Award, Delta Dental-Outstanding Record
Keeping Award, Pediatric Dentistry Award, and American Association
of Public Health Dentistry's Student Recognition Award.
She then moved to Houston, Texas, to the largest medical
center in the world, to complete her pediatric dentistry
training. She graduated from the University of Texas-Houston
with a 4.0 average and received a Master's degree in Pediatric
Dentistry. Following graduation, she worked in a primarily
Medicaid private practice in Houston for five years before
moving back to Florida.
Currently, Natalie works in a
group practice setting where she is the pediatric dentist
for the Brandon Area. She is involved not only in private
practice but is very active in the local and state dental
society. In the Hillsborough County Dental Society she serves
as an Alternate Delegate to the Florida Dental Association,
Children's Dental Health Month Chairperson, and Give Kids
a Smile Chairperson. She is also the chairperson for Children's
Dental Health Month for the West Coast Dental Association
where she oversees and helps to organize the component dental
society activities. She is a member of the Florida Academy
of Pediatric Dentistry where she acts as a liaison to the
Florida Dental Association on the State Oral Health Initiative
Plan (SOHIP) committee. Her grandmother, a schoolteacher
for 39 years, instilled in Natalie the importance of education
and service to others. Natalie volunteers at the University
of Florida General Practice Residency program at the Hillsborough
County Community College Campus as Part-time Clinical Faculty
and also provides volunteer dental services at various free
dental clinics. Natalie was honored with the Hillsborough
County Dental Association - Community Service Recognition
Award in May 2004 and the Florida Dental Association, Project
Dentists Care, Distinguished Service Award in July 2005.
Natalie is a certified
Body Pump (a group fitness program) instructor and she teaches
weekly classes at her gym. In her spare time, she enjoys
salsa dancing, spending time with her friends and family,
and traveling.
