Mayor McDonald makes cameo appearance in national ad

When Malvernite Andrea Carman began developing a commercial for a television network’s new community outreach program, one of the first people who came to her mind was village Mayor Patricia “Patti” McDonald.

The A&E Network announced the launch of its “Real Life. Change.” campaign exactly one year ago, and accompanied it with a commercial featuring real people who have effected or inspired change. McDonald was a natural choice, according to Carman, who has lived in Malverne for about 20 years.

“Why wouldn’t I pick Patti?” Carman said. “They were looking for real people … who actually have a positive attitude, who do different things in a positive light, and there is nobody who better exemplifies that than Patti.”

According to A&E, “Real Life. Change. is a pro-social movement about personal improvement and positive transformation. It’s about taking that first small step that leads towards bigger change, and a better life.”

McDonald is known, both within and outside the village, for her grit, for the strength she exhibited after and since her husband, Steven, was shot and paralyzed while on duty as a New York City cop in 1986 — when she was three months pregnant with their son, Conor. “When most people would have crumbled, she’s a person of complete fortitude,” said Carman, who works for a film production company that makes promotions and commercials for a number of differentt television networks.

As soon as this project fell in Carman’s lap, she reached out to McDonald. “I knew she looked good and she sounded good, so I gave her a call and I said, ‘How ‘bout it?’ and she came to the city and did a fantastic job,” Carman recently told the Herald.

The commercial, which is available at the network’s website, aetv.com/real-life-change, and occasionally airs on television, opens with Gene Simmons, who says, “Real life change can start with one small step.” A number of people featured in the ad are A&E celebrities, but the majority are just everyday people.

In her cameo appearance, McDonald says, “You change, then you inspire somebody else to change. It can definitely start a ripple effect.”

The mayor repeated the sentiment in an interview with the Herald, where she explained that she was happy to participate in a campaign that encourages people to “pay it forward.”

“[Carman] was looking for people whose lives have been altered in some way and she called me,” McDonald said. “I talked about how this was not the direction that I thought my life was going to go in, but after Steven’s [injury], one thing happened and then it just had a ripple effect for the rest of my life. People helping me and, in a lot of ways, that’s what I’m doing with the village, trying to help people, to help the community.”

Although Malvernites might be used to catching a glimpse of McDonald on MalverneTV every so often, they should still take a moment to check her out in the commercial, which she enjoyed shooting.

“It was very interesting,” McDonald said. “Obviously, I’m not used to doing stuff like that, but it was fun.”