Biography

Originally from Southern California, I completed my undergrad at Cal State San Marcos (a wonderful school in North County of San Diego). I began my work in education as a college admissions counselor where I saw firsthand how academic potential was equally distributed amongst prospective students, but access and opportunity to critical education resources in their K-12 experience was not. I soon realized that the impact I desired would not be found as an admissions officer but rather in the classroom.

For the past nine years, I served as an educator in Richmond, California, a journey that began as a Teach for America corps member. During that time, I taught 10th Grade English and 12th Grade Journalism. Shortly afterward, I joined the staff at Teach for America staff as Director, Head of Teacher Leadership Development. In this role, I partnered with schools all over the Bay Area and managed new teachers as they completed the credentialing process. Although I have had the privilege of coaching teachers in all grades and subjects, my primary responsibilities as an Instructional Coach were to build systematic programming, expand curriculum, implement DEI strategies, design cycles of inquiry centered on student achievement data, and have routine coaching conversations for my cohort of Humanities teachers.

The classroom is definitely my favorite place to be, but when I’m not there, you might see my wife and me walking our dog Koda, scuba diving, or hiking. I also enjoy snowboarding, traveling around the world, and playing all kinds of music on the guitar. As a fun fact, I also had the privilege of teaching 2nd and 3rd Grade Elementary for a summer with Teach for the Philippines in Metro Manila. This was a study abroad program through Loyola Marymount and was truly one of the best experiences of my life.