Becky Cortesi-Caruso has dedicated twenty-six years to being employed in public education. A former school social worker, she eventually made the leap of faith into school administration and is currently an Executive Director of Special Education.
Becky earned a Master’s Degree in School Social Work from the University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois, and another Master’s Degree in School Administration and Leadership from Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois.
She has devoted much of her career to assisting families in understanding the importance of special education law and advocating for students with special needs. She continues to be passionate about working with families and their children. In turn, Becky was selected by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to attend the Center for Equity Learner Equity Conference where Executive Director’s from all over the nation were invited.
Becky was inducted into the Lemont High School Athletic Hall of Fame where she was honored by her school community, friends and family. This was a great honor to Becky as she was recognized for her athleticism at the highest level.
In addition to all of Becky’s professional and personal accomplishments, she is most proud of being an author and a mother. She is happily married to her husband, Michael, and the proud mother of three children.
Becky and her entire family, including Charleigh, know the joy and inspiration that comes from exploring the world of adoption. They have chosen to share their story, Chasing Charleigh: An Adoption Story Filled with Hope and Love in hope that it will encourage others to take the same leap of faith they did and explore the complex beauty of adoption. Lastly, Becky tells a courageous and poignant story that features her daughter Charleigh in her second book entitled: Beautifully Biracial: A Young Girl’s Journey to Love Herself. This book examines the deep impact that racial discourse has on her daughter and the lessons learned throughout her journey.
Lastly, Becky is excited to announce the publication of her newest book entitled: For One More Wish, a poignant story about surviving the death of a loved one and the journey that all human beings transcend through.


Throughout my life, I often heard the question, what would you do if you were granted one wish? I was fascinated by people’s responses. What do you think the answer to this question would be? World peace? A functional family? Good health? End poverty? On the contrary, many people “said” or “replied” that they wanted to win the lottery and have all the money in the world.
This question has resonated with me for a very long time. Why do people wish for money? I could never imagine wishing for any amount of money to make me happy.
I learned when I was younger that no amount of money could bring me happiness. In my humble opinion, our life experiences, and our outlook on life define our happiness. Therefore, the only wish that I would have ever wanted was to spend one more day with my beloved father, who died over three decades ago.
My father was my best friend, my mentor, and an absolute inspiration to me. There is no amount of money in this world that could bring me the happiness that my father brought me. I began thinking about the people closest to me and if they felt the same way: if they had one wish, would they choose to spend the day with a loved one who died?
For One More Wish explores not only my personal journey through grief but also shares the narratives of those people who were courageous enough to write to me. It takes a great deal of transparency and courage to write about having one more day with the person you loved the most in your life. The amazing people in this book wrote authentically about what their day would look like while transcending through their own grieving process.