A Worldly Woman: Executive Director at the United Nations Association New York Chapter and Mother of Hungarian Roots
“I was the man of the family at age 15. I became so independent that it is hard to me to give up independence now."
“Since I was an only child, I did feel a heavy burden. It was not a burden but a thought: here is my mom, what is going to happen to her if she gets ill. What will I do? I am trying to live my own life. I can sense that feeling from my daughter now because of this traditional thing. She saw me taking care of my mother-in-law. I know she must have thought of this and what will happen to us when she is getting her career started and I am in my 70s or 80s. It is this thing in the back of your head, a cultural thing...." On Hungarian culture and caring for elderly parents
“He is(husband) is from Sierra Leone, Africa. I felt (whether it was a storybook thing) you fell in love and got married and lived happily after. This was an idea that was ingrained in my myself and I fell in love with this person and we decided get married. I didn't care what the world thought, what my mother thought, what his parents thought, what my friends thought. I was getting married and I was getting married for the right reason. I was not getting married because he was this fabulous caretaker--he didn't have a dime. I was getting married because we were madly in love. I felt at the time and I still do, that it is something that binds people together and I wanted that very much. I did want I wanted to do and I am glad I did. We have been married 33 years and it has been a wonderful journey."
“I wanted to be with my children, this little person I brought into the world at age thirty seven. It's a hell of a long time to wait to have a baby. So I thought, that's it...I could have gone back to work I suppose. It would have been an easier thing to do but I didn't want that. I had one of the best jobs. It was fabulous and my boss was wonderful. He also concurred and he said he understood because his wife was at home too." On leaving work temporarily when Ann had her first child
“Ask for what you want and not just be accepting of it[the way things are] meaning[your] title,[your] salary. I was privy to an incident in my former job where one of the guys who did not get his raise and was called into a conference room...he walked out and slammed the door. He got his raise because they didn't want to lose the guy. He was not going to take it and if I had done that, I think I would have been fired. Women could learn to say things in the right way- certainly not in an offensive way- but say they could say what they need to say and not worry about it so much, not go around thinking they will offend somebody and thinking about it for days before a job interview. Say what you need to say and I think you get a lot more respect that way." On advice to her younger self