At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, I was given the opportunity to work closely with Portland State faculty in the Women, Race, and Gender, and the Communication departments to transform in-person classes to online synchronous courses that met the evolving needs of students during the unknown and demanding time. While reconstructing classes with two weeks’ notice was trying, to say the least, it set me on my current trajectory in the instructional design field. Following my undergraduate graduation at Portland State, I was admitted to Florida State’s Learning Technology and Instructional Systems graduate program where I was able to enhance my experience in course design with best practices, learning theory, and establish a strong and flexible foundation in my approach to adult learning design. At my core, I believe learning should be a fun and engaging process, and am fulfilled by helping others learn something that helps them reach their goals. Learning was never easy for me growing up, and what may have been seen as a weakness has become my biggest strength. Understanding how difficult or discouraging learning can be allows me to take technical or difficult information and redeliver it in a way that is easily understandable by learners. But aside from my passion for helping others learn and grow, I have other interests too…

I am an avid gardener! You would be shocked at what you can grow on just a balcony, and that’s what I have been doing for nearly 5 years now. While I am content with my sky garden, I look forward to the day when I can look out to my crops in my backyard. In addition to growing, I like to utilize anything I grow in any way I can. I have infused herbs I’ve grown into oils, made delicious breakfast scrambles with the zucchinis and tomatoes I have harvested, and have even dried flowers like chamomile into tea for months to come.

I may be from The Bay Area, but currently reside in the Pacific Northwest. This obviously means that I love spending time in nature as I have so much of what our country has to offer all around me. A day spent hiking in the Columbia Gorge or Mt. Hood National Forest is a day well spent to me! However, I am not just counting my steps on these hikes. Years ahead of my time, I am also an avid bird watcher. While watching the local finches eat away at my kale fills me with mixed emotions, there’s nothing quite like catching a glimpse of an indigo bunting doing its things out in the wild.