My Story
I am the daughter of first generation college students. Each of whom, I extend my gratitude for raising me to be humble.
Born outside Tokyo, Japan, I had my first passport and international flight when I was just 10 months. Perhaps travel as an early stage of my life absorbed into my system, and fueled my desire to fly to new places and learn from different places and people.
It also might have contributed to feeling slightly peripheral to the normal everyday life in the U.S. At a young age, a teacher told my parents that I would never graduate high school, that I wasn’t smart, and that they should prepare to take care of me. From that moment, I channeled my energies into showing that learning and expressing intelligence comes in many forms.
Now that effort lives in others through the project, Unlocking Silent Histories. My life experience underlie my expertise in:
- Nonprofit Strategy and Visioning
- Educational Innovation and Disuption
- Project Management of Cultural exchanges
Publications
Presentations
Storyline
- 1985
Graduated from Lake Lehman High School in Pennsylvania. 12th in my class.
- 1989
Earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics from Susquehanna University.
- 1996
Earned my M.S. in Technology in Education, Leadership Stand,
- 2004
Completed my Ph.D. in Educational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania. Dad joked that I wasn’t a real doctor!
- 2012
Left my tenure track position to persue my passion for creating educational designs that reflect cultural knowledge and traditions.
- 2013
Founded Unlocking Silent Histories
- 2016
Unlocking Silent Histories was featured at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Three youth leaders from Guatemala presented their films and the films of their students in New York City and Washington, D.C.
- 2016
Delivered a KeyNote speaking engagement at New Zealand’s International Indigenous Research Conference.
- 2017
Awarded “2017 Women To Watch” for the category of education from WILMA Magazine.
- 2017
Awarded “Distinguished Scholarly Engagement and Public Service” from UNCW.
- 2018
Collaborated with the Lumbee Tribe on an adoption of Unlocking Silent Histories.
- 2021
Formed an alliance between Unlocking Silent Histories and the Kusi Kawsay Association. USH is now a formal program led by two Quechua young women, who are expanding the program to various communities within Peru.
- 2022
Co-Founder and organized Across the Americas with the Kusi Kawsay Association, a youth-led cultural exchange program between the. Quechua Nation of the Andes and the Pueblos of New. Mexico to inspire a global youth movement to elevate and reignite Indigenous wisdom, amplify youth identities, and dissolve arbitrary National boundaries.
- Today
Writing, Reflecting, and Ready for new opportunities!
“
May we all enter spaces humble,
with a willingness to learn about ourselves
and each other.
May we all unleash our collective creativity
and innovation to not accept what is,
but rather to imagine what is possible.