Born in Saudi Arabia to Henry McCormick and Diane Conner McCormick, Ellen spent several years of her childhood in the Middle East and Thailand before settling in the United States.

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From a young age, Ellen developed a great love and devotion for her Catholic faith, as well as an interest in education. Since then, she has combined the two throughout her life, dedicating time to mission work as well as study during high school, and continuing to obtain two post-secondary degrees – one in educational development, and one in religious and pastoral sciences.

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After completing her education, Ellen has continued down both these paths by becoming an educator, working whenever possible in Catholic schools, and setting aside time in the evenings and weekends for other faith oriented projects.

Ellen moved back to the Middle East in the summer of 2009, which was when she met Adib Mady, her future husband, in Lebanon. They were married in 2010, and blessed with their first child, Charbel, a year later. Their second son, Paul, joined the family soon afterwards, in February 2012.

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Their family of four now lives in Erbil, Iraq, where Ellen works as Head of Secondary at Mar Qardakh Catholic School, and dedicates her free time, in addition to playing with the kids, having quality family time, and fulfilling different responsibilities, to assisting her husband with the OneCatholic Network.

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Ellen is very happy and fulfilled in her state in life, as a wife and mother with a beautiful and blessed family, as an educator and, above all, as a child of God.