How Teaching, Motherhood, and a Mission Sparked Early Success Literacy Consulting

Hi!

I’m truly so grateful that you’re here and reading my words.

I’ve wanted to be a writer my entire life.
Actually, I’ve wanted to be a lot of things:
A singer, a star on Broadway, a published author, a motivational speaker, a wife, a mom...

Of all those dreams, becoming a wife and a mother are the ones that came true—and the ones I hold closest to my heart. But now, standing in this season of midlife, I feel a familiar pull. One that whispers: There’s more. You’re not done becoming.

That whisper of you’re not done becoming didn’t lead me back to the classroom. It led me here—to a new calling: Early Success Literacy Consulting.

🌟 From Dreams to Detours

As a kid, I was always singing, writing, and talking.
Ohhh how I LOVE to talk!
I like to think singing was my way of writing and talking at the same time—lyrics conveyed what I was feeling and wanted to say out loud.

But life doesn’t always unfold the way we expect.

After high school, I went to a performing arts college in Pittsburgh and planned to major in musical theater.
When I didn’t get into the program—twice—I was devastated. My plan had fallen apart.

But in the in-between, something unexpected happened.
I got a work-study job at the university’s children’s school... and I fell in love.

One of the teachers asked me, “Why aren’t you studying education?” That question stuck with me.

🍎 Becoming a Teacher (Even Though I Never Planned To)

Eventually, I transferred to Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP)—a school I once dismissed as “too close to home.”
But it ended up being one of the best decisions I ever made.

I received an incredible education and stepped confidently into the classroom.

Over the years, I’ve taught a range of grade levels—kindergarten, first grade, and fourth grade ELA—across four different states: Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Washington D.C., and Virginia.

I earned my Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Literacy Leadership for Diverse Schools, and completed my K–12 Reading Specialist Certification—all while working full-time, being newly married, pregnant, and raising my baby.

Exhausting? Absolutely.
Worth it? Without a doubt.

Eventually, I became a reading specialist and literacy coach. Today, I work in education publishing as a curriculum reviewer, ensuring high-quality instructional materials make it into real classrooms.

But the biggest lessons in literacy—and in life—came not from my career…...but from becoming a mother.

👩‍👧 From Teaching Children to Supporting the Adults Who Raise Them

Motherhood cracked me open.
It changed how I saw children, learning, and myself.

I wasn’t the same teacher anymore.

These kids I taught? They were someone’s Henry (that’s my 8-year-old). They were someone’s whole world.

Parents were trusting me with their most treasured beings.
And I had been doing something more sacred than I ever realized.

As I juggled teaching and parenting, I started noticing how much valuable learning happens in the quiet, messy, everyday moments:

On car rides
In checkout lines
During bedtime stories

I started blending what I knew as a teacher with what I was learning as a parent—and I shared those insights with friends.

That’s when it hit me:
I have more to give.
More to say.
More to teach.

But this time, not to children - to the adults nurturing and leading them.

💬 Why I’m Here

To the moms doing their best.
To the caregivers who want to help their kids thrive but aren’t sure where to start.
To the women who may have forgotten that they matter too—

I see you.
I am you.

I always tell my husband I would’ve loved to have had a third child...
But I’m beyond content with our two.

This business—this blog—is my third child.

It’s my next new beginning.
It’s where I share what I’ve learned—through education, through parenting, and through my own healing and rediscovery.

💡 What You’ll Find Here

Stories from my real life (the funny, the painful, the transformative).
Simple literacy (and sometimes math) strategies woven into everyday routines.
Encouragement for parents—and for women—finding their way again.

If You’re Still Reading…

Thank you for being part of this new beginning.

I’m so glad you’re here.💕