About Me

I grew up in the midwest where I excelled in sports, earning numerous MVPs, district and regional recognitions and Female Athlete of the Year at my high school.  I was a city park supervisor during summers working to organize and manage daily activities for kids in low-income areas.  

After high school graduation life took me south to Florida’s east coast where I earned a B.S. in Marine Biology and a B.S. in Ecology at the Florida Institute of Technology.  I was a member of the Florida Tech Woman’s Basketball Team and was a weekend vet tech at a local veterinarian hospital.  During the summer between junior and senior years I was an intern at the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, NJ.  I was a lead researcher on the Terrapin Project for Conservation and Research where we focused on three main projects: population estimates, terrapin conservation and recovery, and crab trap mortality.  

Life shifted after college and took me to the southwest coast of Florida where I was a project manager at Southern Biomes, Inc.  I was in charge of all consulting projects and authoring of reports submitted to different government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  

After three years of project management, I moved to central Florida where I earned a M.S. in Biology from the University of Central Florida and became a project manager and researcher with the UCF Marine Turtle Research Group, specifically for the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge.  I performed daily surveys of the beach, counting turtle nests and crawls to estimate sea turtle populations, tagged juvenile turtles in the Indian River Lagoon and adult females nesting on the beach, and authored and presented data to local and federal government agencies.  I compiled the long term dataset for analysis and completed my dissertation on the distribution and severity of fibropapillomatosis in juvenile green turtles that earned the UCF Department of Science Thesis of the Year award.

While working with the research group I trained several interns on projects and led several groups to observe and learn about our research on the water and beaches.  I began to pursue teaching at both a local community college and a career college.  I became a full time faculty member teaching biology and the corresponding labs.  I was promoted to General Education Coordinator where I managed 20+ faculty, conducted trainings for both onboarding and continual professional development, and implemented the campus’s hybrid teaching program.  

After a few years at the college level it was time to shift again and try my hand at the high school level.  I started as a biology teacher and progressed to become the lead science teacher and department chair of science at a private K-12 institution.  Additionally, I designed, developed and implemented trainings for beginning teachers and continuing professional development for current teachers.  I worked closely with the technology department to help select the current learning management system, attended and presented at local and national conferences, and co-developed a training course for teachers to transition to more of an online format.  I also decided to pursue my education further and in 2018 became a doctoral student at the University of Illinois focusing on Learning Design and Leadership and I am currently working on my dissertation.

In addition to research and education, I enjoy baking and cooking.  In 2010 I started a cupcake business called “Cupcakes and Love” where I grew my small business to include birthday party catering and weddings.  After four successful years I decided to close the business as I could not focus on being both a teacher and a small business owner.  Currently I am focusing on healthy cooking and a fitness focused lifestyle to improve my overall health and blog my journey on Instagram @healthyfloridablonde.