About Ms. Minjkives

Ms. Minjkives is a Raleigh native although she lived in Virginia, Maine, Wisconsin, and Southern California before moving back to her hometown with her three children in November 2001.  

Ms. Minjkives earned her Bachelor of Arts in theatre, with minors in vocal music and German, from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.  She performed in musicals and children's theatre productions in Southern Wisconsin including The Roar of the Greasepaint (Yellow Urchin), The Rope (Mary Sweeney), My Fair Lady (Flower Girl/Aristocrat), Annie (July), Lil' Abner (Moonbeam McSwine/Dee Dee), South Pacific (Ensign Janet MacGregor), Sleeping Beauty (Minerva), and Rumplestiltskin (Marina). 

Several years later, she moved to Southern California to pursue acting and appeared in several TV shows, feature films, and industrial films including Back To School with Rodney Dangerfield and Robert Downey, jr., Beverly Hills Madam with Faye Dunaway, and several episodes of Cagney and Lacey.   She played the role of Liesl in an 8-week run of The Sound of Music in Los Angeles.  Ms. Minjkives worked in Park Event Sales at the Disneyland Resort for over twelve years in Anaheim, California.  She also completed her portfolio in advertising/graphics design at Fullerton College.

In February 2002, Ms. Minjkives began her career with the Wake County Public Schools, teaching dance electives at East Wake Middle, and dance, drama, and musical theatre electives at Wiley International Elementary.  In the fall of 2006, Ms. Minjkives began teaching at Carnage GT/AIG Middle School as the German teacher while still teaching at Wiley.  The next two years, she taught Technical Theatre at Carnage while at Wiley for a year, and then, Theatre Arts I for a year at Garner IB High School. 

Ms. Minjkives now teaches Acting I, Acting II, Technical Theatre, Best of Broadway, Costume & Makeup Design, and Beginning German, German I (HS Credit), and German II (HS Credit) at Carnage as well as directing the fall play, spring musical, and three one-act plays each year at CMS.  

Ms. Minjkives was the director/choreographer for musical theatre production workshops for the City of Raleigh at Sertoma Arts Center from 2006 - 2018.  She retired from the Walt Disney Company in July 2018 with 25 years (half at Disneyland & half at the Crabtree Disney Store).