I was born in a suburb of L.A. Downey. It was a very nice quiet place. It was the kind of place where neighbors left their doors unlocked.

 At the age of 8, I remember my mother leaving early in the morning saying she had to go, but she would be back for us. Eventually, our parents told us they were getting a divorce. Their relationship had become too volatile, so they bankrupted each other and we were homeless for a year or so.  

Living in the back of a van, garages, motels, and friends' houses was our new normal . My parents worked long hours to get out from poverty. So my siblings and I spent a lot of time alone. Besides learning from school books or teasing each other, I did most of my learning from TV. Smartphones weren't invented back then!à

In fact I taught myself how to cook from watching PBS and the food network. By the time I was 18 I worked as a sous chef for two years. I was saving up to open my own farm to table restaurant. (This was before farm to table was a thing.) With two years of cooking under my apron, I had set up a remote farming job in Northern California, and I worked hard and many of the As migrant workers, we didn't get fair treatment, and I had an epiphany. My citizenship and ability to learn quickly would help more people if applied to making systemic change. So, I changed my focus from Farm to Table to JUSTICE and Literacy. 

After I graduated from UCI with a Bachelor's in English and minor in Classic Latin an Honors Cord and worked with some of the world's best literary theorists and writers at the time. Many even complimented my writing. 

I moved to Memphis, TN with my beautiful partner to Memphis, Tennessee. Shewas inspired by my passion for education and taught 3rd grade ESL and I taught high school Latin, English, Etymology and Mythology in one of the most under-served communities. While I loved Memphis and the community that my partner and I had built, we wanted to start a family and be closer to family. So, we moved back to CA. 

When we moved back, I finished my Masters in Education and taught 4-5th grade ELA in underserved communities in San Jose. I was one of the educators who was at the forefront of blended learning which was when I was introduced to Khan Academy and other edtech companies. However, I noticed a disconnect between the academic content that students were learning and their social emotional development.

As one does in Silicon Valley, I came up with a start-up school model that I believed would increase engagement and improve the well being of the educators, students, and community. I pitched the model to 4.0 schools and they provided seed funding for my partner and I to test the STEAM and Wellbeing components of the model.

We tested it at RAFT and they wanted to hire us full-time because they wanted to be more inclusive of students, parents, and educators in their organization and needed the help. It was a success, and I ran versions of it from 2018-2021 at RAFT. 

At RAFT, I realized that I had a talent for creating and supporting the development of educational products from activities, to fun and engaging characters, to model electric windmills. I've been creating and managing the creation of educational products that have been inspiring learning and joy for thousands of people since then. I transitioned to MeandMine as a contract full time, where I've had the amazing opportunity to innovate systems and develop products. Although I thrived in start-up environments, I want to work in organizations that are more established, that value my strengths, and could align with my personal and professional goals.