NORCROSS, GA — Twenty-five years after escaping the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, Beth Zampieri remembers walking to work under a clear blue sky for just her third day at her dream job.
Zampieri was 24 years old and working from a cubicle on the 51st floor of Tower One, with a view overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge.
“I truly was living my dream. I had a window cubicle on top of the world. At 8:46am my tower was hit,” Zampieri said.
Zampieri joined hundreds of others making their way down the stairs. She remembers the strong smell of gasoline in the stairwell and encountering firefighters heading in the opposite direction around the 20th floor.
“It was about the 20th floor, and they were diligently very focused walking up the stairs; kind of a silence came over us as they passed, but to me I felt this giant sense of relief that if they could get in the building, I could get out,” Zampieri said.
Zampieri said the actions of first responders that day have stayed with her.
“Unselfishly, they immediately ran into the building so that we could run out,” Zampieri said.
After moving to the Atlanta area years later, Zampieri began marking the anniversary by making homemade cookies and cards and delivering them to local fire stations and police departments.
“Turning this day into a day of giving back really has this profound healing effect on me, but also I saw the impact on my kids,” Zampieri said.
She now encourages others to use the anniversary to show their appreciation for first responders.
“You never know when they’re going to get the call to your home, so my challenge is to visit a fire department, a police department, on 9/11 and say thank you,” Zampieri said.
WSB Radio’s Ashley Simmons & Graham Carroll contributed to this story.