As a child, I would always want to play teacher. I would line up my stuffed animals, barbie dolls or gather the neighborhood kids to be their teacher. While in high school I got to be a part of a teens program which prepared us for a job. While in the program I got to volunteer in our local elementary school which is where I enjoyed my time in the kindergarten class. I eventually choose to attend Vanguard University to study Liberal Arts. In my first year there I discovered that Liberal Arts was not my calling, but Child development was. I remember telling my roommates that one day I would own my own preschool, never did I imagine it would be an outdoor studio.

A few years later I started working at the Lake Elsinore School District as a Head Start teacher, the way I ran my classroom was different from many of the other teachers there. Our parent coordinator would visit and one day after attending a training at a Reggio Emilia School in San Francisco, California, she was excited to share her findings and realized how my classroom had the same kind of feeling as that school. I did not know anything about the Reggio Emilia approach but I knew I wanted to learn all about it, so that is when my journey with Reggio Emila started. I read books, visited schools, and worked in an Atelier at a Montessori / Reggio Emilia school in Temecula, California. Also, I always felt the need for the children to get outside to play & create so I always loved to take our classroom outside. When I heard about The Outdoor Classroom Project. I enrolled in their level one training, I have now completed all 3 levels.

Beautifully Made Atelier started with me teaching art classes to my friends’ daughters. While I was preparing to open a family childcare, I had worked so hard to get licensed since it was my dream to have the preschool, yet I was not happy with the results. I then had to reevaluate what I wanted my business to look like and if there would be families interested in what I had to offer. Moving from a family childcare to a once-a-week outdoor studio has been the best choice I took for our business.

I am so grateful for the opportunity the schools & my friend gave me as I was putting into practice what I was learning. I believe we spend our lifetime learning and I continue to learn while I work beside every child who comes into our studio.