A layoff in 2011 opened a door I didn't know I'd been waiting for. By 2013, I was a certified Social Studies teacher — and I've never looked back.

My father worked at LAMCO — the iron ore mine that built this town. Nearly 30 years after leaving as a refugee, I finally came home.

Fourteen years of civil war had left a generation without education. I came back to the U.S. in July 2021 with one mission: literacy.

I became a Special Education teacher, earned credentials in Science of Reading and Orton-Gillingham, and never stopped pushing.

Setting objectives. Differentiating for every learner. Assessing understanding. Now scaled, intentional, and powered by technology.