I founded Ashlar in 2019 and I find great joy in acting as the director of this growing community.

 

My degree is in psychology. I have many years of experience in preschool classrooms and I spent some time working for a psychiatrist at a residential treatment center for severely emotionally disturbed children. I have a deep interest in human development and behavior, and I am passionate about protecting children and childhood. I am a child advocate- I think I was born that way.

 

I was also born with an entrepreneur's mind and a creative drive that does not rest. I look at the world and see potential. I am a big proponent of thinking outside the box- or throwing away the box completely. Everything that I observe gets filed in my mind as 1) something that does not work well (and is begging to be fixed by some creative, entrepreneurial, problem-solving mind) or 2) something that works well (and could be replicated or adapted to other situations that do not work so well by some creative, entrepreneurial, problem-solving mind). So, it is really no wonder that when mainstream education didn't work so well for our family (nor for so many families around us), I decided to create a program that did. As our program grows, I have big dreams for Ashlar- including the dream to one day provide a full-time educational program where ANY child could thrive. We are off to a great start, and we do have a path ahead of us. Currently, my work is to lay that path, one stretch at a time. 

 

When I'm not working on Ashlar, you can find me enjoying life in other ways, most often with my husband and our three children. I love going on walks with friends, drinking decaf mochas, inventing new recipes or indulging in old favorites, traveling a bit, and spending quiet evenings at home. When I have time to myself, I like to find that healthy balance between infusing the moment with an invigorating new audiobook and simply savoring the sweet silence for a while. I love anything that makes me think or makes me laugh. And- I love the rain.