Senior Director Equity and Santa Cruz Silicon Valley New Teacher Project
Santa Cruz County Office of Education

California Hub | USA

I am a proud second-generation teacher. Both of my parents, the first in their families to graduate from college, were educators, and I grew up wanting to be a teacher. I have taught elementary, middle, and high school students in Long Beach, California, Lafayette, Louisiana, and Milford, Connecticut, before returning home to Santa Cruz, California, where I now work at the County Office of Education. 

In California, after going to school to earn a teaching credential and securing a position in the classroom, teachers go through a two-year phase of Induction to finish the credential process. I oversee California’s founding program, the Santa Cruz/Silicon Valley New Teacher Project, which is in its 26th year of developing the mentors who support new teachers. We are tasked with growing effective educators and guided by our mission to provide equitable education for each student by developing culturally responsive antiracist teachers who focus on student outcomes.

In addition to supporting new teachers, I am also part of an amazing team that works with site and district administrators to grow equity leaders. Together we analyze data, observe classrooms to better understand how individual students are accessing and engaging in learning, provide feedback to teachers, and strengthen systems to improve student outcomes.

Reading, staying active, and spending time with my friends and family are my cup fillers. My son is in his second year of junior college, and my daughter is in her final year of high school. Both my children are still at home, and my husband and I are currently navigating the reality that soon we will be empty nesters.