Our People Matter

Fallingwater staff

Rhonda Mariotti

Membership Representative

It’s not about the paycheck. It’s about the passion!

As a membership representative at Fallingwater, Rhonda Mariotti knows that people can sense when your job is, well…just a job. “When you speak with people, they can tell if you care for Fallingwater,” she says. “You really need to love the house.”

So dedicated is Rhonda to ensuring that people realize her passion for Fallingwater that she keeps a book by William A. Storrer, a scholar of Frank Lloyd Wright, that helped her learn about Wright’s works. When owners of other Wright homes visit, she invites them to sign the book, which she calls her “Fallingwater bible.” And, she says, “I really love it when my younger co-workers look at the book.”

The self-proclaimed “Wright nerd” came to Fallingwater later in life than many employees do. Now 73, she started working at the site in 2012. (Rhonda Mariotti Fun Fact: Sometime before that, she served in the U.S. Army for five years!)

“My young co-workers call me Granny and treat me with such respect,” she says. “We all love our job, which is raising money for the house, and sharing and learning about Wright and stories about the Kaufmanns and their guests.”

Rhonda’s face lights up at the mention of visitors. She loves to talk with them about the historic site she’s helping to protect. “You can see the passion in their faces,” she says, “and I love hearing about the other Wright buildings and houses they’ve been to.” To converse more fluidly with people, she says, “I tried to learn most of Wright sites and what states they are in. Speaking with our visitors helps me to remember!”

Rhonda knows that when people become Fallingwater members, they want to see Wright’s masterpiece cared for. So she goes to work each day inspired by “knowing that I am helping a World Heritage Site live on for younger generations.”