After graduating from Lake Oswego High School, I attended Whitman College where I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology.

I moved to Portland and worked as a research assistant at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center for two years. After the birth of my first child, I worked as a stay-at-home Mom and parented my two young children for seven years. My first involvement with teaching was as a parent volunteer in a cooperative preschool. 

When a divorce forced me back into the paid labor market, I realized that I much preferred the active classroom to the lonely lab. I worked as the head teacher in a cooperative preschool for three years while taking the courses that I needed for a teaching certificate. 

After receiving my certification, I taught in the Portland Public Schools for twenty years - kindergarten at Robert Gray for the first two years and then first and second grades at Metropolitan Learning Center. During that time, I received an MA in Early Childhood Development, remarried, and had another child.

After retirement, I worked part-time as a supervisor of Student Teachers at Lewis and Clark Graduate School of Education. I was also a volunteer tour guide at the Portland Art Museum.

When Covid forced me out of my retirement activities, I joined SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice). Because of leadership opportunities and activities there, I gained the confidence to step out of comfortable roles and try something new. When I heard of an opening on the school board, I applied, and here I am.