Larissa grew up in Albany, NY but moved to Seattle in the fall of 2004 with her husband as he began working on his Ph.D. in genome sciences from the University of Washington. The community at University Unitarian Church was very important to her during this transition, and she greatly appreciates all the wonderful people she has met who have made Seattle feel like home. Because of this, she absolutely loves working for the church as bookkeeper!

Larissa graduated from Brown University with a B.S. in Aquatic Biology and grand plans to become an oceanographer. However, after graduation she found she wasn’t as interested in being out to sea for months at a time like she thought she would be, and ended up finding work as an administrative assistant. It was then that she discovered she enjoyed the analytical nature of accounting – for the same reasons she liked math and science – and decided to change career paths and become a CPA. She has since been taking accounting courses at North Seattle Community College and plans to sit for the CPA exam in mid-2009.

In addition to working and attending school, Larissa is an avid knitter and loves to read. She is a member of UUC’s Intergenerational Choir, U-Knitarians and the Triathlon Team.

Larissa Sheffler: UUC Bookkeeper