I was raised in a home that was a community hub for arts, history and advocacy. My parents were on school boards and worked as community leaders and owners of a Bed and Breakfast. I was raised sharing meals at a huge communal table, with guests from a wide variety of backgrounds, talking about any and all topics. This was a life filled with one-on-one conversations, and constant community engagement. I have been a teacher, artist, and an organizer for as long as I have been able to talk. 

In the late 90s I left Grass Valley to attend San Francisco State, where I stayed for a few years before moving to Sacramento eventually earning my History degree and teaching credential from CSUS. In 2002, I started teaching at St. Hope Public Schools, a charter in Sacramento. After two years of deplorable conditions, I moved to Natomas Unified, a mid size district In North Sacramento where I have been teaching high school Social Science for 20 years. I have my Master's In Educational Leadership and Administration, which has been pivotal when making arguments to the district and speaking the language of manangement. 

As a teen and up until I started teaching, I worked primarily in food service. I started college as an art major at SFSU, following in the footsteps of my parents, who had both earned their degrees in fine arts there, when I met my now husband at my Olive Garden job. Our experience in the restaurant industry, where he is still employed, gives me a different perspective all the time Into the challenges of hourly workers, where every hour is important.  We have been married for over twenty years. We have two children who are now 18 and 13. Like most of our lives, our experience in public education was vastly different. I attribute to his experience as black man in California public education in the 1980s as one of the most important contributions to my views on education and the changes we have to make to educate all students.