Credentials

EDUCATION

• Masters in Counseling Psychology from University of San Francisco (USF) (School Counseling and PPS Credential)

• Masters in Public Administration (M.P.A) from Columbia University

• Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Conservation Resource Studies from U.C. Berkeley

EXPERIENCE

• School Counselor, The Ross School (K-8th grade) (current)

• School Counselor, Old Mill and Park Schools (K-5th)

• School Counselor, The Cove School (K-5th)

• Senior Program Officer, Kaiser Family Foundation

• Program Manager, The Representation Project

• Educator and Trainer, Girls Leadership

TRAINED IN

Mindful Schools, Kimochis, Toolbox, Zones of Regulation and Social Thinking

My Story

Born and raised in Mill Valley, I am a proud alum of Park School, Mill Valley Middle School, and Tam High. My connection to Marin and the local public school system runs quite deep. I grew up with Mount Tam and Bolinas ridge as my backyard, Dave Fromer as my soundtrack, and Cascade Falls as one of my most treasured places. While I have lived and worked in many other cities, including Berkeley, Seattle, San Francisco, NYC and beyond, I returned home to Mill Valley to raise a family.

I currently live next door to my parents and my childhood home, where I raise my 16 year old daughter. I am a single mother, so I feel incredibly grateful to have my parents living so close - as my parenting and all around life co-pilots.  As a parent, I have navigated both the public and independent school system for my daughter. In terms of my background, I was married for many years to another fellow Mill Valley native. While we are no longer married, we remain close friends.  All of this experience in marriage, divorce, blended families, and parenting, has been a part of my journey that I bring with me to my role as School Counselor and as a counseling coach in private practice. It has provided me with tangible real world experience, a learning lab of sorts, and a great deal of empathy and understanding for parents and families. 

I have spent the past eight years working as a School Counselor in a number of Marin’s public elementary and middle schools, including, The Cove School in the Larkspur School District, and Old Mill School and Park School in the Mill Valley School District. I am currently The School Counselor at The Ross School, a public K-8th grade school in Ross, CA. 

My role as a School Counselor is quite varied, but primarily includes providing 1:1 counseling for students, running small counseling groups for social, communication, behavioral, and other themed based issues (i.e. divorce, anxiety, self-regulation etc), teaching Social Emotional Learning (curriculum based) to all grade levels, integrating mindfulness throughout the daily curriculum, managing crisis counseling, and acting as a student advocate. Above all else, my role in a school is as a change agent to improve equity and access, achievement, and opportunities for all of my students. 

Before becoming a School Counselor, I worked for many years as a Senior Program Officer for the Kaiser Family Foundation, where I developed and managed social issue focused media campaigns supporting young people in making healthy decisions about HIV/AIDS and sexual health, including MTV’s, “It’s Your Sex Life” campaign, BET’s, “Rap It Up”, Viacom’s, “Know HIV/AIDS”, and other campaigns around the world in India, Russia and the Caribbean. In addition, I worked for The Representation Project, launching their film, The Mask You Live In, and related curriculum and content. 

I absolutely loved my career in social issue media campaigns, and it hands down was one of the more inspiring and exciting times in my life. It required a great deal of travel, and as my daughter entered elementary school, it became too challenging for me to manage such a global career with parenthood. My ex primarily works and lives abroad - so it was quite untenable for me. I entered into a life coaching process (I never really understood coaching until this juncture, but truly appreciate it now!), and took some time to explore how I could continue to have a life and career of service focused on social justice while also being a mom. This process landed me at School Counseling. It took some mourning and shedding of the ego to let go of my first career, as well as diving head on into a new Masters program, but I love what I do, believe in the power of young people to change the world once equipped with the necessary tools, and have never looked back! 

When I am not working and teaching, I can be found on the mountain with my dogs, in yoga, singing, dancing and listening to music, raising my teen girl, and doing everything I can to walk with integrity and make the world a better place.