About Me

While working in the financial industry in my 20's, I volunteered as a mentor to an eight year old girl named Monet who was living with her grandmother. I met with this little girl once a week for a year and spent time helping her with her school work, since she was struggling academically. I noticed, when going over math problems and reading assignments with Monet, she was perfectly capable of completing her homework assignments successfully. I came to realize that what Monet needed to do well in school was someone to show interest in her and someone to believe in her potential. While spending week after week witnessing this little girl develop belief in herself and bring her grades up, I became inspired to help more children like Monet, so I applied to graduate school to study family and child counseling.

During graduate school I had the opportunity to apply my knowledge and skills to counseling individuals, couples and families at the Family Institute at Northwestern University, and I worked as a Child Life Specialist at the Children's Hospital in Chicago. Since graduation in 2002 I've been working as a consultant in the Children, Youth and Family Development program at the Family Service Agency of San Francisco, and I have been in private practice since 2006.

Additionally, I have experience as a volunteer at the Child Development Center at California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) in San Francisco, and I served on the Board of Directors of the Junior Committee to the Women's Board of CPMC Foundation for several years. Currently, I am a volunteer for Room to Read, an NGO that aims to educate children in the developing world to break the cycle of poverty, and I'm a member of the Steering Committee of the Young Professionals International Forum, a group that organizes programs of public interest with distinguished guests for the World Affairs Council of San Francisco.

Trainings: