PHOTO BY STEVEN DRAY PHOTOGRAPHY

The average American spends a third of their lifetime at work, so it’s no wonder many of our closest friends are our coworkers. Sometimes, these coworkers can become even more than friends; according to a study by the University of Chicago, nearly 22% of Americans met their spouses at work. 

Mason Jackson and Gina Senatore are part of this 22%; they met while working at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Gina, a physician’s assistant in plastic surgery, was called by the emergency department one evening to help suture a patient. Mason happened to be the sedation nurse for the patient.

“It was love at first stitch,” Gina says. 

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After their first encounter, she sent Mason a friend request on Facebook, and Mason struck up their first conversation.

“I would be lying if I didn’t say I was pretty elated when I received a friend request from her,” Mason says. “After all, we had really only had the one encounter together, and it was very professional. I remember texting a friend eliciting advice on how I should play it.”

Luckily, their shared workplace and passion for helping children gave them more than enough to talk about.

“It gives you a common space. You get to talk about experiences that happen, and then you know the [things] that they’re talking about,” Gina says. “So, it did make conversations in the beginning really easy.”

They married on June 12 and share a home with Blue Bonnet, their Australian Shepherd. 

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Nathan Bossory and Nicolle Driscoll met in college while working summer jobs at Edgewood Country Club. Nathan was a football player at the University of Pittsburgh, and Nicolle was a student at Carlow University.

“He was so kind and very smart,” Nicolle says. 

They became friends and Nathan expressed interest in her, but she initially rejected his advances. 

“He would try to flirt a little bit and asked me out a few times,” Nicolle says. “And I was like, ‘Oh, no, we’re just friends.’”

Despite this, Nathan introduced himself to her parents when they were at the country club for dinner one evening. He asked Nicolle if her parents were there, and when she told him which table they were sitting at, he approached them.

“He just goes over and … actually introduced himself,” Nicolle says. “You know, ‘I’m Nathan Bossory. I’m studying finance. I play at the University of Pittsburgh, and I’m going to be your future son-in-law.’ We weren’t even dating at all. We were just friends, and I didn’t even know he said that until I got home.”

Afterward, Nicolle said yes to a first date.

“I said, ‘Sure, we’ll just go as friends.’ And that’s how it started.”

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They went to Cappy’s in Shadyside. The friendship they had developed at work made conversations easy.

“We were very comfortable because initially, we were friends,” Nicolle says. “He was very respectful, and he’s been like that since the day I met him. I mean, even though he’s very goofy, he’s very respectful.”

Nathan later proposed at Cappy’s, in honor of their first date.

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“I always said I wanted my family involved [in my proposal], I’m very much involved with my family,” Nicolle says. “We were walking to my car [from dinner], which was parked outside of Cappy’s, and then he starts talking to me about a lot of emotional things … and he gets on his knee right in front of Cappy’s. Obviously, I said yes, and I turned around and all of our family and friends were inside Cappy’s ready to have a little party and celebrate with us.” They were married on May 21. 

Gina says people who are unsure whether to accept a date invitation from a coworker should go for it, because “you never know unless you try.” Mason feels the same and recommends approaching the coworker outside of your workplace setting to keep things comfortable.

“It is a difficult thing, at least it was for me. I saw it for what it was,” Mason says, “a professional setting in which Gina was a very beautiful, intelligent, driven and hardworking young lady. … Be a gentleman or lady about it, be humble, be kind and take a chance, take your shot. You honestly never know what might be.”

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Gina says that their former workplace will always signify an important part of their relationship.

“It’s such a memorable place,” Gina says. “Children’s Hospital will always hold a special place in our heart. … We’ll tell our kids that one.”