It was my high school and paraprofessional experiences with students with cognitive disabilities that lead me to pursue an undergraduate degree in special education. Unbeknownst to me at the beginning, my undergrad experiences are also where I uncovered my passion for social justice and troubled youth. I entered my professional career focused on finding and supporting students similar to those I met in corrections with the hope of meeting them before they landed in "the system." I pursued this goal as a resource, self-contained, and alternative special education teacher in neighborhood, co-op'd, and alternative schools.

While I was working with the crew in alternative ed, I realized that my favorite part about teaching was partnering with students through unique barriers toward realizing they were capable of more than they thought. So I started my masters in educational psychology to become a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and spent the next season of my career coordinating and consulting on behavioral services in therapeutic and public settings.

Yet as I designed, launched, and organized programmatic supports to enable this population to reach beyond what they could see for themselves, I increasingly engaged in work untangling messy systems of decision-making, power, and ulterior motives. These experiences are what ultimately launched me into pursuing my doctorate in program evaluation and organizational behavior management. It is my goal to help organizations redesign climates and processes affecting staff motivation and productivity so that students can be more freely supported in their day-to-day moments.

I believe that resistant learners can be successful when staff are supported by efficiently resourced systems.