About Me

I began my career working for a national organization that partners with government leaders and community stakeholders on juvenile justice policy reform. During that time, I observed how federal- and state-level policies manifested in the experiences of school-aged youth. In the end, I felt eager to interact directly with students and families in their communities as well as to experience a different part of the country. I left my beloved city of New York and moved to the Bay Area. I went on to work as a K-8 humanities and French teacher for the next five years.

While I absolutely loved teaching in the classroom, it was difficult to accept how ill-equipped schools are to provide the individualized support that some students need in order to flourish. I could never relax into the culture of letting children who had so much potential fall behind solely because there was not enough time and attention to devote to their needs. In trying to manage that, I made it part of my job to regularly educate myself in contemporary research on developmental science so I could provide my students with targeted support. In so doing, I found a lot of success helping them overcome the constraints that impeded their ability to meet our learning objectives. Parents in the school community began to approach me as someone who was capable of yielding positive, material outcomes for their kids. That experience is what led me to pursue my current work.

In my free time, I make music, hike, read, or travel in search of dramatically scenic backcountry.