I was born and raised in Guatemala, and I am a native Spanish speaker. I also grew up speaking, reading, and writing French while attending a French school in Guatemala City. Later, I learned English in middle school and high school. The diverse exposure to and fluency in different languages has prepared me to better understand a child’s language acquisition process. I earned a B.S. in Molecular Biology from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1999, and an M.A. in Language Acquisition and Teaching from BYU in 2007. I was an assistant preschool teacher for two years at Teaching World in Nampa, Idaho. I also successfully co-created, organized, and taught at the Skit Skat Doodle Dat Summer Camp in Caldwell, Idaho.

In 2005, I teamed with my husband, Michael, to start Discovering Language in Caldwell, Idaho. Our goal was to provide foreign language classes for preschoolers and elementary age children, as such classes are not offered in the mainstream education. In addition to teaching with my own business, Discovering Languages, I have volunteered at the Lakevue elementary helping ESL students with their language development. I also taught an elective fifth grade Spanish class for students who were interested in learning the language.

In 2011, our family moved to Minnesota and I had to switch gears and I started to discover Rochester. I taught swim lessons at the local YMCA and RAC (Rochester Athletic Club). I worked as a support paraprofessional in early childhood education for a couple of years, then started substitute teaching and finally decided to obtain my teaching license. I have been teaching as a high school EL Teacher since 2015. I am the adviser for the Latinx Club at our school.

Education Minnesota has provided numerous opportunities for training and growth. I am part of the Facing Inequities and Racism in Education - Racial Equity Advocates (FIRE-REA) program. As such I am trained to deliver the Cultural Competency Trainings from Education Minnesota. I am also part of the National Education Association Leaders of Color Pathways Program (NEA-LOCPP) which provides training opportunities for leadership. I am passionate about the liberation of marginalized students, specifically Latinx youth. I invest time in important issues such as identity work, humanizing pedagogies in education, Heritage Speakers education, and supporting Educators of Color.

I believe that education is a door that opens opportunities and that children should be given such opportunities. Because of my desire to continually challenge my own children and provide other children with learning opportunities, I have volunteered in numerous community events including literacy nights, Children’s Story time at the library, Science camps, Community and Library fairs, school and extracurricular events, and with our local Revolutionary Earth Farm gardens in Rochester, MN.