Tricia Distifeno

Tricia graduated high school from a small school in Clatskanie (population 1,646); however, she grew up mostly in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon and considers it home.

In Tricia’s early 20’s, an Army recruiter promised her loads of money and travel opportunities, which sounded more exciting than being a hotel front desk clerk. She couldn’t wait to run the idea past her roommate (her brother). He laughed hysterically at the thought! To prove him wrong, she enlisted as a 71L and later became dual qualified as a Civil Affairs Specialist. She trained throughout the US and Thailand and deployed to Bosnia for a year. After seven years she separated from the Reserves in support of her husband being accepted to Officer Candidate School. 25 years and many duty stations later, her children (Emma, 18 and Will, 16) are leaving the nest and she is looking forward to beginning her next chapter.

Tricia has a breadth of administrative experience and has served on numerous boards and committees. She strives to always use her organizational skills and attention-to-detail to improve and optimize her surroundings. Tricia enjoys her family, friends, her dogs (Fusilli Jerry and Jim), antiquing, sewing, and especially packaging and presenting her creations creatively.

Tricia stumbled upon the Dog Tag Fellowship Program while searching for a gift for a fellow veteran and felt like the program was tailored specifically toward her. She’s looking forward to networking, marketing, branding and developing a business plan into a small business to foster with her husband.

Tricia has never met a baked good she didn’t like; her favorites are macarons, tiramisu, Nanaimo bars and the perfect brownie.