I was raised in southwestern Montana in "The Mining City" of Butte. My father was a college president, so we were lucky enough to grow up in the middle of a college campus. Education has always been a priority in our family.

After graduating from the University of Montana in 1999, I joined my father in Massachusetts where he was the president of Massachusetts Bay Community College. 

I landed in the Waltham Public Schools, teaching 5th grade. Since then I have been an elementary classroom teacher, an elementary science specialist, a middle school science teacher, and am currently a Digital Literacy Teacher at the elementary level.

In 2004, Waltham Educators Association co-president Ryan Hoyt asked me to attend Just for New Members at the MTA Summer Conference. That was the start of my passion for the work we do as union leaders.