I am a queer poet, artist, educator and keynote/workshop presenter who specializes in processing emotions through creativity with children and youth. Art-making and personal poetry writing about my emotions has inspired me to share my writing through books. I have been a depression, panic and anxiety survivor since childhood. I earned a BA in English and Women’s Studies, MA in Art Education, and PhD in Education, focusing on how language and creativity can help young people develop their voices and identities in the world. I was a bilingual K-8 teacher in California and Texas for six years, then was a teacher educator at California State University for eleven years, teaching courses in language arts, visual arts integration, social justice, and bilingual education. I was also a gender diversity and LGBTQ+ inclusion specialist in K-12 schools, trained in the Human Rights Campaign’s Welcoming Schools Program in 2016. Then, in late 2017, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and, during treatment, began to help families like my own going through the confusion, fear and grief of being treated for a life-threatening illness. I co-founded a non-profit project, Well Beings Studio, and supported families impacted by cancer through literature and the arts for four years. Since cancer, I have become an author and self-publisher of four children’s literature books, and secured grant funding to donate over 6,000 copies to families, cancer support organizations, hospitals, libraries and schools. I also conducted hundreds of in-person and virtual art-making and book workshops, and presented at dozens of professional workshops and keynote talks for teachers, social workers, family liaisons, and nurse navigators.
