As a seasoned professional in museum education, I have worked my way through the ranks from working as a part-time program educator to leading and planning key initiatives focused on improving the learning of museum guests. I spent 10 years working for The Franklin Institute, communicating complex science concepts in the history of science to modern, cutting edge research to guests of all ages and backgrounds. I am a proven educator working with the diverse audiences of the Greater Philadelphia area, in small, intimate group settings and able to keep the attention of large audiences. All of this while being able to customize my approach to meet the needs of the audience I am participating with in facilitating learning. I didn’t just spend my time working with the guests to the museum; during my time at The Franklin institute I found a new well of joy and accomplishment in coaching and training volunteers and staff to elevate their skills as educators and lead them to evolve into the best version of their educator self. Those years training, evaluating, coaching, managing, and learning alongside the rich talent found in this region was deeply rewarding, and provided me more channels to impact the learning experience of guests than I could on my own.

After my 10 years at The Franklin Institute, I began to wonder what more I could provide to the museum field, and an opportunity presented itself at the University of the Arts to lead their Museum Education MA program. Now in my thired year of teaching, this has been an opportunity to further my knowledge and experience in the museum education practice. Also, this provided me the opportunity to continue my passion for coaching and preparing the next crop of museum educators, and allowed me to participate in learning at any and every museum. This time in higher education allowed for me to further ingratiate myself in national organizations such as the American Alliance of Museums Education Committee, and work alongside a dear friend and former colleague to contribute to an upcoming book on museum education set to release later in 2021.

Throughout all of my roles in museum education, a key component to my success is how I work with others. There is nothing in the museum field that can be a continued success without team work in all of its forms. I am a staunch believer in the power of collaboration from the smallest, individual program to the largest community festival, working together makes the experience stronger, more enriching, and provides deeper, lasting, constructive learning opportunities. We, humanity, are social by nature, and in creating learning opportunities together will reflect better social learning experiences and lead people to grow their understanding and appreciation for visual arts and all content presented.