Meet a TwinBridger: Sandy Rubino
By Richard Landers
Sandy Rubino’s Catholic faith is central to her world. But her background and experience have led her to cite cultural diversity as key to her life, her work and her understanding of others.
Diversity, of course, has become a bad word in some circles, but Sandy relishes diversity—the differences between us—especially in religion and culture—that makes life a learning and enriching experience. She believes that living and working in a wide expanse of cultures has made her who she is and is responsible for her success as a working person and in life generally.
“I was raised in Brooklyn,” she says, “a real melting pot of different cultures, different religions, different ways of looking at the world. That really helped me with what I do and has given me a real understanding and respect for different cultures.”
Sandy says the personal experiences of dealing with different cultures have helped her to understand that we are all basically the same, and yet jealousy and anger are all around us now. Her Catholic faith helps her to deal with those contradictions.
She is frequently assumed to be of Italian heritage because of her orientation toward her big family, her love of cooking and her last name. Sandy is really more Hispanic—“I grew up in an Italian neighborhood and have six older siblings. Everybody thinks I’m Italian.” Sandy has four children of her own, all adults now and the icing on the cake are her “three beautiful grandchildren.”
A real estate salesperson with K. W. Platform, Sandy has always worked in real estate starting in New York City with Century 21 Real Estate. After relocating to the Capital District, she was also working for a hotel in Clifton Park.
“I love the one-on-one of real estate—just me and the client.” Sandy says. She learns about them, teaches some of them the ins-and-outs of real estate. It’s usually someone’s biggest purchase and bringing the client the thrill of selling when it’s time to move on or buying the right house for their next move creates satisfaction and a real sense of accomplishment for Sandy. “I like working with senior citizens, some of them need a little handholding and I’m good at that.”
But she has also learned to adapt to selling via the internet, a requirement in today’s world. Mostly she works independently but is a part of a K. W. Platform team when it comes to new construction sales. Her last several sales (from November 2025 to March 2026) ended up with multiple offers whether she was representing the buyer or the seller. “We’re blessed in this area that houses do move,” according to Sandy. “Mortgage rates around 6 percent are not that high despite some people complaining about them. If you’re old enough, you can remember mortgage rates of 11 or 12 percent or even 16 or 17 percent back around 1980.”
What’s the appeal of Rotary and Twin Bridges to Sandy?
“I like helping the underdog, someone who needs help from friends or community. I seem to find those people,” she said. “Coming from a large family, I’m really into hospitality. I’ve worked at a food pantry for a long time and Rotary fits right in with the idea of helping people.”
Frequently cooking with other Rotary members at Ronald McDonald House (where families stay when they have young children at Albany Medical Center Hospital) is a Twin Bridges activity Sandy really enjoys and fits right in with her personal interest in cooking. The monthly visits to seniors at the Home of the Good Shepherd is another connection as Sandy relates well to older people and enjoys the interaction.
Among her other activities, Sandy has now taken up a new hobby of hiking with friends.
At Twin Bridges, Sandy has been heavily involved with the Chuck Chera Scholarship program, which was named in honor of a Club charter member who passed away a few years ago. Chuck had a long interest in education for students aiming for the building trades. Sandy is part of a new committee that is tasked with reexamining and rejuvenating the scholarship program.
“Again, it’s all about helping people.”
