Rose A. Scalia was born in the small coal mining town of Nanticoke, Pennsylvania. Her mother worked as a seamstress, and her father was a World War II veteran who fought on Omaha Beach.
“Before playing with Barbie dolls, I was taught to shoot .22 rifles” Scalia said.
Scalia’s grandmother, who was blind and in a wheelchair, was also a key person in her life. She trained Scalia how to play a variety of musical instruments and that, considering her impairment, she could accomplish something.
Scalia’s uncle, on the other hand, gave her an accidental nudge onto Broadway. He relocated to New York, and she paid him a visit.
Her holiday had been the longest of her life.
Scalia, of the Village of DeSoto, said, “I haven’t stayed with them for 55 years, but I never went there.”
She moved to New York City at the age of 19 to pursue a career in theatre. She landed a job at Trude Heller’s as a cage girl and afterwards auditioned for the Rockettes. But she was attracted to more theatrical performances, and she landed the part of Marge MacDougall in Broadway’s “Promises, Promises.”
Scalia also developed an interest in music. She even once performed a duet with Barry Manilow at the Waldorf Astoria in New York.
Scalia returned to school after a while, majoring in theatre and mass communications. Scalia completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees over the course of 12 years of night school.
She served as a staff assistant for Queens Congressman Gary Ackerman after graduation and later as a campaigner and fundraiser for Rudy Giuliani.
A radio station in Pennsylvania asked her to do a radio call-in talk show called “Success Line” at one point during her hectic schedule. She said yes, and for the next five years, she got up at 7 a.m. on Saturdays to speak to people about how to write a resume, get a job and run a company.
Scalia worked in many major positions and for many people, including Barbara Corcoran of “Shark Tank” and Tishman Speyer.
She was the human resources officer at Tishman Speyer before moving on to Corcoran as vice president of human resources.
“It was the best job I’ve ever had,” Scalia said.
She brought what she learned there at night to New York University, where she worked as an assistant professor teaching business management, diversity and inclusion three nights a week.
She wanted to quit when she learned that Corcoran was selling the business.
Her husband, John, on the other hand, was not yet ready to retire. As a result, Scalia found part-time work as a notary and legal paperwork servitor with a law firm, a position for which she “always got my man.”
She also found time to practice her acting skills, taking on the personalities of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe for special occasions.
The couple moved to The Villages in 2019, and Scalia recently entered the competition to be Ms. Sumter County Senior Queen in 2021.
It wasn’t the first time she’d run for a title. She was the third runner-up for Ms. Senior Florida State 2020 and won Ms. Congeniality for Ms. Senior New York Senior 2014.
At one point, Scalia served as a public relations media consultant for Ms. Senior USA.
But in Sumter County, she was crowned queen. Scalia’s biggest platform is that she is not retiring but rather “reinventing” herself.
She knows, after all, that she has no idea how to sit still.
“And I have no intention of doing so,” she said.