I want you to know this: the perspective I bring today is the result of years spent in very different seats, the student’s, the teacher’s, the therapist’s, and the leader’s.

The work I do today didn’t start with a business plan, it started in real classrooms, with real kids, and the very real weight carried by the adults leading them.

My career began as a teacher, where I saw firsthand what happens when families are in the middle of big changes or students are navigating trauma. I also saw the demands educators face up close. The exhaustion, the pressure, the way their own well-being is often the first thing to go.

That led me to Marriage and Family Therapy, where I trained and practiced, including at a suicide prevention center, specializing in trauma. I sat with people in their hardest moments and learned the power of practical, human tools that help both in the moment and in the long term.

While practicing therapy, I began speaking and designing trainings for school leaders showing them how to apply trauma-informed practices not just for their students, but for themselves. That work eventually led me into school leadership as a Director of Social Emotional Learning, where I saw the bigger picture: the systems, culture, and strategies required to sustain well-being for staff and students alike.

Today, through Grit & Grace Education, I am honored to partner with educators and school leaders to strengthen student and staff well-being, reduce burnout, respond effectively to crisis, and build trauma-informed systems that last. Because when we take care of the people leading students, we create the conditions for students to thrive.