I grew up in Long Beach and on my parents’ avocado farm outside of Fallbrook, where my family spent weekends building a home without electricity or running water. I spent four freezing years in Connecticut studying American studies (an interdisciplinary major focusing on American history, political science, and literature) at Yale. Inspired by my college experience to explore the world, I moved to Washington D.C. and worked for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan for a year, spent a year as a substitute teacher, and then traveled throughout Europe for a year. When I returned to California, I moved to San Francisco and earned my J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. A week after graduating from law school, I married my husband Tom, also a newly minted lawyer, and moved to that overlooked jewel of a city, Pittsburgh. I clerked for a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Homesick for my family and the avocados, I convinced Tom to move to San Diego. I practiced labor and employment law for several years before immersing myself in community, non-profit and educational pursuits, including serving as the founding advisory board chair for the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego, the president and board chair of the Junior League of San Diego, and the board chair of Explorer Elementary (now HTeX). I am a graduate of the HTH Teacher Credentialing Program with credentials in English, Social Science, and Inclusion. Tom and I and our three children (two HTH grads who are in college and a current HTH student) live in Point Loma with our two dogs and two cats.
