April 27, 2021 – In 2011, Florina Truica was faced with a difficult decision: Follow her employer to Georgia, or lose her job but continue to raise her family here in Kingston.

Truica, born and raised in Romania, came to Kingston in 2008 after completing her PhD and post-doctoral studies at Ecole Polytechnique of Montreal. She accepted a research scientist position at Novelis Global Research Center and moved her family from Montreal to Kingston when her son was three years old.

“When Novelis moved its Research Centre to Atlanta, GA, in 2011, I had a tough decision to make: to accept the job offer in Atlanta or to stay,” Truica shared. “On one hand, I loved my job and working with the Novelis people, but on the other, my family was well adjusted and living a happy life in Kingston. I agonized for weeks over the decision, it felt like it was career-over-family type of choice, but in the end, I decided to stay in Kingston, because my family and their happiness is the only thing truly worth something to me!”

Truica said her life became more relaxed after they moved here from Montreal. “With less commute times and lower costs of living, we had a better work-life balance. Another aspect that we’ve loved in Kingston is the French community, and the access to French education for my son. Born in Montreal and 3 years old at the time of the move, he was already speaking fluently French, English and Romanian. We wanted for him to keep his language proficiency, especially in French, and Kingston and the French community here offered that opportunity,” she said.

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