Biography

I was raised in Idaho, the daughter of two educators. My family includes my husband and two kids and the friendliest cat in the whole world, Kissa. We are a soccer family: Both of our kids play, my husband coaches and we support the Tacoma Defiance, OL Reign, and Seattle Sounders. When there isn't soccer, I like to knit, cook, create art, and do puzzles. We live in a Tacoma Craftsman that I love to work on.  I’ve spent years opening painted windows and building window screens, as well as repairing all the little things that go wrong in old houses.  My husband and I recently built a fence and are currently rebuilding our deck. Our philosophy is to leave things better than they were when we arrived.

This is my 9th year teaching in Tacoma and my 25th year in the profession. I have taught in 3 states, at public and private schools at all levels from Preschool-12th grade. I started in college as a piano performance major, but I quickly learned that coaching musicians and working with groups of people was what I wanted to do, so I became a music teacher.   I love watching students grow as musicians and as human beings.

My first love was music.  Piano is my first instrument and over the years, I have accompanied several musicals, several choirs and many, many students and soloists. I am a vocalist as well, and have been a member of The Esoterics, a semi-professional choir in Seattle since 2004. Here is a virtual choir video we created during 2020.