I am fortunate to have been born and raised in the sunny Okanagan Valley of British Columbia by loving and dedicated parents, with my two brothers. My dad and my mom, also a teacher, shared their love of reading, writing, music and art with me from an early age, with some of my earliest and fondest memories are of reading with them, playing piano, and sharing illustrated stories that I had written. When I started school in Kindergarten in the French Immersion program, I was thrilled to be able to expand my love of reading and writing to another language.

My desire for personal exploration and expression grew to include the kinesthetic realms when I began ballet and Highland dance at the age of 5, going on to dance with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Company during the summers, and competing in provincial competitions up to the age of 16. While injuries prevent me from continuing to dance today, I have found yoga to be a therapeutic and beautiful way to continue to express myself through movement. In fact, my love for yoga led me to do my teacher training in Vancouver and Bali a few years ago, and it continues to be a part of my daily life with my home practice and teaching youth and adults.

I am grateful for having a lived a very full life up to this point – I have travelled across Canada and much of the United States, throughout Australia, and lived for nearly four months in Indonesia. I have skydived in the Similkameen, surfed in Hawaii, and running my first half-marathon in Vancouver in August 2014. I document my adventures through photography, attempting to capture the physical as well as the emotional setting in my photos, and my photography has even been featured by Tourism British Columbia on multiple occasions. My affinity for people and seeing the beauty in every experience has graced me with meaningful connections and memories from all over the world. The curiosity and enjoyment I get from learning from others and forming enduring relationships is part of what drew me to study psychology, and, ultimately, to teaching.

Friends, family and colleagues describe me as an affable person with a passion for life who loves to share her love of learning with others. I am a dreamer, inquirer, and pragmatist, all wrapped into one. Constantly in search of opportunities to grow and learn, I pursue my goals and diverse interests with an open heart and open mind. It is my hope to share this passion and love of life-long learning with those in my local and global community.