Prior to my recent studies as a doctoral student in International Education at New York University (Ph.D. ABD), I received an Ed.M. in Secondary Education (Teaching and Curriculum) from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2002 and gained a B.A. in English Literature with honors from the University of Florida in 2001, where I received a full scholarship as a Florida Bright Scholar and was elected early as a Junior to the Phi Beta Kappa national honor society.
Over the past fourteen years, I have worked as an educator in a variety of settings and capacities. I started my teaching career at Blind Brook High School in Westchester County, NY, where I taught English Language Arts for three years and developed a popular creative writing elective, which I also adapted for a pre-college summer enrichment program based out of Cambridge University in England.
Fascinated with the learning potential inherent in international experience, I took a professional "gap year," during which time I traveled extensively through Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji, followed by a half year living and teaching English as a Foreign Language in Madrid, Spain, where I attained a TEFL certificate. Determined to further enhance my Spanish skills and engage in an extensive volunteering experience, I traveled to Chile in South America, where I worked for a year as a volunteer English professor at the college level in coordination with World Teach, based out of the Harvard Center for International Development. I extended my stay in Latin America to nearly two years by serving as a field director for World Teach, training and supervising new volunteers. While there, I also teamed with Chilean educators at the Universidad Catolica to develop a national animation-based English language learning curriculum.
Since returning to the United States, I have engaged in doctoral studies in International Education with a concentration in cross-cultural exchange at NYU, where I served as an adjunct instructor for a number of courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, including "Culture Wars in America," "Cross-Cultural Studies of Socialization," and the "Interdisciplinary Studies of the New Immigration." I have also spent the last six years working with families throughout New York City as a private tutor and homeschool teacher at the elementary, middle, and high school levels and also as a college admissions consultant with a focus on essay writing. In addition, I freelance as an editor of academic and professional writing, and my specialty lies in helping students develop their writing skills and articulately express their thoughts.
