My Background

I grew up in a small rural community in Northwest Ohio. My parents worked 2-3 jobs each, (it always felt like more), to keep my family together. From a young age, I was expected to help out. When my mother went to a cleaning job, I came along and cleaned with her. I have a vivid memory of mopping floors with a mop that was taller than me. In my neighborhood, people didn’t live paycheck to paycheck. They lived from paycheck – to community outreach – to neighbor helping neighbor – to paycheck. In short, I grew up with a strong work ethic and a sense of community. By the time I was college-age, I realized that for families like mine to be healthy and financially free, they needed to have pathways to success and access to education. I needed an education. I enrolled in classes at Bowling Green State University with the intention of becoming a teacher. Little did I know my skills were better aligned with project management. I was determined to improve the community that I grew up in. I wanted to make a difference like so many idealistic young people before me. Following graduation, I worked for children’s services to ensure that children like me could remain in their homes and with their families. I quickly came to see poverty and a lack of marketable skills as one of the biggest impediments to reunification. I searched for quick training programs that could develop in-demand skills which would lead to high-wage jobs. When I couldn’t find these programs in my area, I left children’s services to work on grant proposals for training programs at my local community college. Over the next decade, I would write and manage over $16 million in grant-funded employment training programs and student support initiatives that promote equity in education. I also found a love of project management and helping people to accomplish seemingly impossible goals. I developed programs to help adults attain their high school diplomas. I saw how gaps in the education system caused kids to become disenfranchised and I developed a desire to make state and district-level changes. As a project manager at reDesign, I have the opportunity to do just that. I help reDesigners to create tools and rethink systems that so learners can be agentic and empowered to shape their own future. I am a project manager at reDesign so that one day a child will be able to see the needs of their family, and their community, and have the tools and support to raise up their own communities.