After graduating from Princeton University with a degree in politics and doubleconcentrations in Afro-American and Latin American Studies, I worked as a social science research assistant exploring human development before diving more deeply into politics and public policy.

 

This deeper dive led me to Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs where I earned an MPA. The preparation I received in this program—bridging the practical and philosophical— equipped me with the skills and disposition to examine policies as they pertain to the social, economic, and educational. Working in public policy was fulfilling and yet, something was missing. I didn’t know what was missing until my policy work became concentrated in the educational realm and I was confronted regularly with young children who would beg me to “come and play” with them. After repeated requests from these young souls, I realized I was being called to work with children directly.

 

Making the shift from educational researcher to educator meant preparing myself further to do this work in earnest, which led me to complete my masters in elementary education, with a focus on special and general education from Bank Street College. After working in the field of education for several years as an elementary educator in specialized and inclusive settings, I moved into the space of teacher education. I credit this shift into teacher ed with offering me the space and opportunity to merge the seemingly-disparate paths I had been traversing