My point of joy is getting to build relationships and collaborate with children, families, and schools. As a certified Positive Discipline Educator since 2012, I have facilitated workshops for families and schools and previously served as board president of Positive Discipline Community Resources. 

​​

My intention for equity-based work ranges from addressing racial, gender, and class equity in school settings, to advocating for spaces that support neurodivergent needs. Change toward equity happens when those who are being impacted are not only brought into the planning process, but are centered in the decision-making process. I practice this through different co-constructing approaches such as participatory action research and supporting youth in leading their own solution teams. 

​​​

More recently in life, I have gotten to love, learn, and grow with my own two fantastic (and let's say it--wild!) children. The realities of parenting and attempts of daily patience are humbling, emotional, heart-filling, sometimes heart-breaking, and true a education! 

​

​

YOUTH & CHILD DEVELOPMENT

In addition to parent education and research, my passion lies in working with children and teens. With all the breadth and nuances that growing up presents, I take it to heart when someone young is willing to share their inner-world. I have  gotten to work both with K-8 age children at Tierra Pacifica and Live Oak Elementary School, as well as counseling teens at Costanoa High and Ark Independent School. My work has spanned the breadth of teaching parenting classes for teen parents to facilitating youth groups that foster healthy relationships and build confidence in stepping into leadership. My direct work with youth provides insight into how they make decisions, what matters to them, and why. 

​​

Additionally, I have studied child development through practical experience as an early childhood teaching assistant, home visitor, and family literacy program coordinator at the Walnut Avenue Women's Center. My work incorporates Attachment Theory, Developmental Assets & Trauma-Informed Care.

​​

​

RESEARCH

As a PhD candidate studying social psychology through the University of California Santa Cruz I have had the opportunity to delve deep into research on educational equity and creating empowering settings in K-12 school systems. Some projects have examined:

• institutional barriers for working class/working poor Latinx parents' engagement in elementary schools

• empowering settings and Positive Discipline within a 4th and 5th grade afterschool program

• access and support for historically underrepresented students in higher education

• reconstructing narratives for Latinx immigrants through youth participatory action research

​