Laura Curran has seen the world – but chose Nassau County as her home.

Born in Canada and raised everywhere, the once-and-future journalist was the first woman to serve as Nassau County executive, after early jobs reporting for New York City’s biggest tabloids and before her later career in podcasting and talk radio. As county exec, the Democrat – not always an ally of Albany’s liberal majority – took innovative approaches to Nassau’s raging property taxes, rising drug problems and rampant cronyism, before old political machinations took her down.

In today’s episode, Laura joins Spark host Gregory Zeller to review her writings, grill local government and recall how a novice school board member became the most powerful person in Nassau – and why, two years out of office, she’s thrilled to leave county politics behind.