Hobbies and Interests

California Farm Girl Turned Marine Biologist

Originally from the Central Valley, CA, I grew up on an almond farm in the small town of Ripon.  My mother a teacher and my father a farmer, it was a peaceful childhood spent outside climbing trees and catching critters with my brother and sister. Although I spent more time in the orchards than on the shore, I developed a deep fascination for the sea through books and movies. As a freshman in high school, when asked to report on our future career ambitions, I chose a Marine Biologist, which set me on my path. 

When it came time for University, I selected UC Santa Barbara for its renowned biology program. I was lucky enough to receive scholarships and grants to pay my tuition while I worked my way through school and graduated in 2006 with my degree in Biological Sciences. I was even able to study abroad in Costa Rica my Senior year, instilling a new passion in my life; travel. 

After graduation, I was eager to see the world but without the means to do so, so I joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to Nicaragua. It was there that I had my first go at teaching, working in indigenous communities to teach environmental education to elementary students. I also coordinated a community garden project, planting gardens in the schools and building aerial garden beds for families. With no electricity or running water, it was a challenge, but I am grateful for what I learned during my time there, particularly my Spanish. 

When I returned from the Peace Corps in 2009, I got my first "real job" working for Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of the famed ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau; a dream job for a marine biologist. My role entailed leading a Cousteau Naturalist program for cruise ship guests, including guiding tours, giving lectures on the local flora and fauna, and running an onboard environmental education kids camp. This was a wealth of experience as an educator as I got to work with both adults and children and continued to discover how much I loved talking to others about the beauty of our world. I designed an onboard lecture series as well as delivered Cousteau curriculum. Working on cruise ships, I was able to travel to the far corners, from Alaska to Tahiti.

In 2012, it was time to get off the ships and I started an internship to explore moving into field research. Working with Sea Turtles on St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands, I realized that as much as I loved biology, collecting data and conducting research didn't fulfill me in the same way. That same year, Cousteau approached me with a new opportunity, this time developing the content that would be used in his Naturalist programs for Ritz Carlton Resorts. This allowed me to gain valuable experience as a content writer and curriculum designer, a role that I thrived in.  Thinking of fun and engaging ways to teach children about the environment was amazing, and I was disappointed when the job was complete and the contract ended. 

Even more random than working on cruise ships or wrangling sea turtles, it's at this point that my career took another sharp turn in the very unexpected direction of corporate America. As the writer of the program through Cousteau, I was then invited to join the Ritz Carlton corporate office as the project manager who would be responsible for seeing the content I had developed take flight. This required a "temporary" move to DC for the 18-month contract. During that time, I developed and led a company-wide training program and traveled to resorts around the work to train staff firsthand. By the time my contract was done, I had fallen in love with Washington, D.C., and decided to stay to pursue my teaching credential. 

Finding Teaching 

Returning to school for my teaching certificate in 2014 at the age of 30 was a drastic change and I filled the gaps by substitute teaching in DCPS and walking dogs. My mother has been a public school teacher my whole life, so I knew once I had my certificate I wanted to work for DCPS. I began my formal teaching career in the 2015-2016 school year at Cardozo Education Campus. 

At Cardozo, I was able to use my Spanish from my time in Nicaragua as a teacher in their new International Academy. Teaching science to recently arrived English Language Learners allowed me to gain experience with traditional science curriculum, as well as introduce me to ELL support strategies. I enjoyed the work so much, that when I pursued my Master of Education degree, I focused my thesis research on Translanguaging as a learning strategy for ELLs.   After several years of teaching, an unexpected opportunity presented itself mid-year when our instructional coach informed us that she would not be returning from maternity leave. At that point in my career, I didn’t have intentions of moving to positions as I loved being a classroom teacher, but I also felt strongly that our team needed that support and I knew the program well. With encouragement from my colleagues and administration, I moved from teaching to IC. As an Instructional Coach supporting ELLs, I was able to expand my experiences as an educator, from test coordinator to part of the leadership team, and I loved supporting fellow teachers.

Like so many, I found the challenges that came with the closure of schools in 2020 overwhelming. It felt like I was moving at a break-neck speed to learn new tech tools to the point where I could then turn around and create entire professional development sessions for my fellow teachers. In the newness and confusion of it all, I gave it my all to try to move our students forward during such difficult times, and it took a lot out of me. When schools reopened 18 months later, we were still left scrambling to deal with the academic, social, and emotional support that our students needed and it was a challenging school year for many in education. After seven years at Cardozo, I felt the burn-out and the tank was empty. 

A Change of Pace

My partner of 10 years was facing his own challenges in his career and on top of all that we were planning our next steps for trying to start a family. When we decided to pursue fertility preservation, I knew the stress and the schedule of my job would add additional challenges, so as a pair we consulted our savings and decided it was time for a break. After two rounds of IVF, we decided to cast off and use this opportunity to travel, so on New Year's Eve 2022 we started our around-the-world journey.  In the last year, we have been fortunate enough to see some of the great wonders of the world.  

Some highlights have been a 4-day motorcycle ride along the Northern Vietnamese border, a 23-day camper truck adventure through Namibia and Botswana, a 6-day hike through the Albanian Alps, and standing at Devil's Throat at Iguazu Falls in Brazil. Throughout this adventure, I have also been able to continue to grow as an educator, picking up contract work as a curriculum writer. 

As we near the end of our travels, I am excited to return to the classroom, renewed and rested to be the best teacher or coach I can be.