I grew up never knowing what it felt like to stay in the same place for more than two or three years. My father worked for the military, which led to a lot of globe-trotting as you might gather. I was born in the Philippines before my parents decided to take all of us back to California. We moved to Walnut Creek, California when I was just about a year old, but we never had much of a chance to get settled as we ended up moving to a lovely island called Guam not too much later. My dad's passion for diving took us to a number of idyllic tropical locales, and no one seemed to be complaining.

After a few glorious years in Guam, we headed to Yokosuka, Japan. Perhaps some of the best days of my life were spent in the land of everything cute, compact, and efficient. We ventured back to America right after both of my sisters graduated from high school. During that year of transition, I attended FIVE different schools! After all of our international jet setting, it was a relief to settle down in San Diego, where I briefly attended Ericson Elementary and Los Penasquitos Elementary before moving to Black Mountain Middle School. We picked up and left again in the middle of my eighth grade year. Naples, Italy was our next home. We ended up staying there for quite some time. A burgeoning passion for art history inevitably developed during my stint in the Mediterranean, and I followed it to Germany, where I began my post-secondary education at the University of Maryland, Mannheim. I actually spent over six years in Europe without even coming back to the States to visit, so when I did return, it was as though it was my first time in the country.

I came back to San Diego to finish my studies in 1997. I received my Bachelor of Arts in Art History at San Diego State University and began an internship at the San Diego Museum of Art and another one at an art gallery downtown. My internship in the museum's education department prompted me to begin my teaching career. I earned my teaching credential at CSU San Marcos after student teaching at Escondido High School and Rancho Bernardo High School. Soon after, I began teaching at Marshall Middle School.