The majority of my career has been early childhood education, but since the beginning, I had an ever-growing sense that the way things were done in the indoor early learning centers where I worked was not the best way to meet the children's needs. In 2014 I began taking my classes outside for longer and longer amounts of time. The children's development accelerated by leaps and bounds. Children who were not meeting standards caught up quickly. Challenging behaviors disappeared. This made all the sense in the world, and I began learning about nature-based early education.

In spring of 2016 I co-founded The Forest School Foundation, a 501(c)3 intended to support nature-based early education across the United States, starting with a single program in Asheville, NC. The program run by The Forest School Foundation was originally called Asheville Forest School, of which I was a co-founder and Head Teacher.

I trained with The Academy of Forest Kindergarten Teachers based out of Santa Barbara and Bishop, CA. 

Asheville Forest School went through some changes, and I was brought in as director of the new program: Growing Wild Forest School. I continued my training with AFKT and built a successful year-round, all-outdoor, nature-based early education program for children ages three to six years. For four hours a day, five days a week, up to 12 children meet on forested private land for movement, songs, stories, crafts, and above all, relationship-building with the biosphere of Western North Carolina. The school year is about 9.5 months long, with individually themed camp weeks all summer.

I wrote staff and parent handbooks, hired staff members, and wrote a year-long nature connection curriculum drawing my AFKT training, Waldorf and Montessori influences, and my foundation in early childhood development. I designed and created the website, made marketing materials, hosted promotional events, and built relationships in the Asheville community. 

After four years of leading and teaching in Growing Wild Forest School, I needed to step away to care for my health. In my tenure, I worked with over 300 children and 12 staff members. Years later, the program is still running successfully, using the curriculum and structure I created. There is an endless amount to learn about human development, the natural world, and running a program, and I am grateful to continue learning every day.

I fully believe that nature connection is a human birthright, and that we must do all that we can to structure early childhood education around this. We and these next generations must change the way that humans live with our planet. Deep and lasting change is based in love, and to love someone, you must first develop a relationship with them. I feel it is imperative for us to develop our own relationship with the natural world and support the youngest among us in connecting as soon and often as possible, so that we can mitigate climate change with changes based in real relationship.