Thank you for exploring my website! I have been a professional in all things young children for the past 20 years and I am thrilled to be sharing my experiences and what I’ve learned along the way.
My life started in June of 1968. I grew up in a college town with my brother and sister at my mom’s house during the week and my dad’s on weekends. I had a modest childhood in the 70s that involved a lot of outdoor time, home cooked meals, and limited time with the tv.
In my late teens, I moved to St. Petersburg, FL and in my early twenties, met a young girl named Kayla, who sent me on my path of all things early childhood. In 1997, I received my undergraduate degree in Elementary Education with a focus in Early Childhood from the University of South Florida. I completed one year of teacher training in elementary ed and two years of teacher training in early childhood education. I later went on to earn a Master’s degree in Elementary Education (with a focus in Early Childhood) Curriculum and Instruction in 2005 and an Education Specialist degree with the same focus in 2010. These later degrees went more in depth about how we learn, leadership in learning environments, advocacy for all—social justice, how society affects what happens with young children, and more.
I had my baby girl in 2008. A short time after, my world started to collapse slowly but surely over the next several years. My very healthy mom, died of cancer when my baby was 11 months old. About a year later, I found myself looking at brain scans of my daughter following her first few seizures, which sent her on ambulance rides and the beginning of her ride (and mine) into the world of epilepsy. After many years of dealing with medication side effects, testing, doctors’ visits, and dialing in the right medication, I am happy to say that she has been seizure free for a few years now.
I have worked as a preschool teacher of children who were labeled severely emotionally disturbed, a play therapist for 2- through 5-year-olds, a developmental screening specialist, an online curriculum developer for first grade math, a producer of education videos, a regional administrator of a teacher and parent training initiative, author, and university teacher for early childhood teacher education programming—taught about caring for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers in group care, learning theory, planning education/care/life/activities for young ones for days, weeks, and months, child development, diversity, behavior management aka discipline, and more.
Then, with all of that experience, I have been consulting. In this role I have developed and presented workshops for parents and schools, presented at several early childhood conferences locally, a few at the state level, and a few at the national level; written grants; and have served on advisory committees, and on the executive committee for our local NAEYC chapter.
Integrating my education and experience gives me inside perspectives on poverty, death, navigating the world of disability (both as a parent and as an educator), caring for young ones, educating young ones, and how we keep up as adults!
Of course, I am perpetually an outsider in any of those areas as well. The business of humanity and young children is a messy one wrought with contradictions, inconsistencies, and endless possibilities!! And…I love it all.