She is a graduate of Davidson College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Previously, she was a public school science teacher and Director of Education at Cincinnati Museum Center. She has also worked for the National Park Service, the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in England, and Newfound Harbor Marine Institute in the Florida Keys. Her hobbies include reading, writing, dancing, and hiking with her family. In 2010, she won the Equity & Social Justice Advocacy Award from the National Association for Multicultural Education. Her book The Forgotten Room about a public alternative school was published in 2009. Visit her book's website at www.theforgottenroom.org .