REDMOND, Wash.–Sure, the $25,000 in cash is great. And a brand new mini-van? That’s grand too.
But the thing that matters most for Samantha Graziadio in becoming the first Chief Common Sense Officer for the Scott brand of paper products isn’t the prizes. It’s the validation.
“I just think it’s an honor that a big company like Scott values what I do, and that they value common sense,” Graziadio said. “It just makes me feel good.”
Graziadio, a 37-year-old, at-home mother of two, was chosen from more than 20,000 entrants in a nationwide search for someone who embodied common sense and had tips for living to share with the world.
Graziadio, a former newspaper reporter who grew up in Orlando, views her family work as a career, with a job title of household manager.
Though she has a comfortable lifestyle in a well-appointed home outside of Redmond, Graziadio focuses a lot of time and energy on ways to make her household run smoothly and free up more time to spend with her family.
“I’m totally dedicated to my job. I believe in doing everything 110 percent,” said Graziadio, whose husband, Brad, is a manager at Microsoft.
But Graziadio, a Girl Scout troop leader and regular volunteer, says she’s no Martha Stewart-like maven of perfection.
“I am not a clean freak and I am not an organizational queen,” she said. “I’m not a slave to my house. I do not make my beds every day.”
She says much of her common sense came from observing her mother, a working woman who took care of family and guests graciously.
She adopts ideas from books and magazines and is the go-to person among her friends for her everyday wisdom.
“Her common sense attitude was just a natural,” said Ellen Wheeler, associate director of Scott, which makes toilet paper, paper towels and napkins. “We all sat there thinking, `Wow, why didn’t we think of that?’ She just does it well on an everyday basis.”
And, yes, Graziadio does use Scott toilet paper, because its 1,000 sheets are safe for her septic system and mean less changing of rolls.
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She knows it’s a cliche, but says her greatest advice is “carpe diem.”
“We only get a few spins around on this Earth. Wake up and grab at this day and live it to its fullest,” Graziadio says. “Smell flowers. Hug people. Every part of life is just grand. Take it.”
In that vein, she recently donated the prize Ford Freestar mini-van to a local substitute teacher, Denise Taddeo-Smith, who had taught her children once or twice. Though Taddeo-Smith, who was paralyzed last summer in a car accident, isn’t able to drive the van, her family will be able to take her places in it.
“We don’t need it. We have a van,” Graziadio said. “I just can’t think of a better place for the van to go.”