I have been in public education since 2000. After earning a bachelor’s degree from New York University, I taught for six years in a small public middle school in New York City with over eighty percent of the students receiving free or reduced lunch. In 2006, I finished a master’s degree in special education at the City College of New York and moved to Oregon to work at Clear Creek Middle School in Gresham as the special education teacher in the behavior support program. In 2008 I was asked to become a district-wide behavior coach. The 2009-2010 school year was spent in a tiny Alaskan village as the special education teacher. Since 2010 I have been a behavior coach in the Gresham-Barlow School District working in the Structured Skills Center (for students with behavior disorders and mental health needs) as well as in high needs elementary schools and all middle and high schools.

I live in Portland with my partner and our four year old. In my free time I play the saxophone, go hiking and serve as the artistic director of the Creative Music Guild .