I am honored in this work to have supported learners in their evolving individual learning needs and collaborated with students, families, staff, the school and the community in learning about and building life and lives. And now in retirement from education, I am ‘nexting’ with my experience in social justice and a passion for creating. I seek to connect and be a connection; working on how to create in community as a responsive artist. 

I have always advocated for and been an activist for community and belonging AND I have always been an artist. As a younger person I did not know enough about how to bring those two passions together. So I sought collaboration and dialogue, especially with children and families, in communities and schools as a working artist. This experience brought me into many schools and classrooms in Chicago  where I felt the pull to learn more about the craft of teaching. My Masters in Education work led me into an innovative role at a teacher-run school and then from there to a Masters in Social Work where I hoped I could understand and support human needs better while in the classroom.  After 10 years in education, I spent another 20 years as a school social worker in a community and school where families had lived and then come from all over the world  and where not only 83 languages were represented but a myriad of different  personal lived experiences were gifted onto the community. During this time, and for the past 10 years, I have been part of The National SEED Project community as a social justice facilitator for educators, and then more recently part of staff.