Creative Leadership
I am a lover of the written word, and I’ve spent my career learning and teaching languages. I’m the Senior Creative Editor and Virtual Exchange Specialist at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in the Office of English Language Programs. I manage virtual exchanges and creative projects for English language learners and teachers worldwide. Before working at State, I was an English Language Fellow in Novi Sad, Serbia, through the State Department’s English Language Fellow Program, and before that, I was a high school ESOL teacher and community college ESL teacher in many parts of Maryland. I’ve been on the board of the ISTE Online and Blended Learning Network and the M-Education Alliance. My interests are in design thinking and human-centered design, visual communication, creative thinking, ed tech, and creative leadership. Creative leadership is at the heart of what I do, bring creativity with me wherever I go. When not working, I’m often in my studio, where I create designs and abstract pieces focusing on the principles of color theory and design.
My most recent project was being the creative editor for Critical Creativity in Action, a flexible collection of literacy strategies designed to help EFL teachers add opportunities for creative thinking to their classrooms. Presented as a deck of 50 cards, these strategies are being implemented in virtual exchanges and learning opportunities around the world. My prior release, Panels and Perspectives: Creating Comics in the English as a Foreign Language Classroom, alongside writer Dan Ryder and illustrator Josh Alves, provides instructional guidelines to creating comics for educators of all English language learners. Presented in comic book format, Panels and Perspectives includes insights, strategies, and practical applications for making comics in any American English classroom to improve both language skills and critical thinking abilities. This book is being used in conjunction with several virtual exchanges, connecting teachers and students worldwide in the creation of comics for storytelling, empathy, and problem solving.
I’ve had many experiences living and working in multiple countries as part of my career at the Department of State and through personal travel, including Ireland, Serbia, Estonia, Indonesia, Korea, China, South Africa, Russia, and Central America. In addition, I’ve has taught in many settings, including urban public schools, community college and adult education, and foreign universities. I’ve has spoken locally in the Washington, DC area, as well as across the country and world on topics in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, comic books for teaching and learning, Computer Assisted Language Learning, and Public Diplomacy, at SXSWEDU, ISTE, Comic-Con International, TESOL, MassCue, and NCTE. I’ve also conducts trainings to foreign service officers worldwide on Public Diplomacy and English language education.
