I have been working as a knitting, crochet, arts and crafts instructor since 2009. I hold Craft Yarn Council level 1 and 2 teaching certificates in Knitting and Crochet instruction. I began my career as a fiber arts instructor teaching knitting to 5th through 8th-grade students at Bedford Stuyvesant Collegiate Charter school and have recently worked with 5th through 8th-grade students at Shaung Wen PS184m in which my students created two-color 'frosted' knit doughnuts, tiny knit houses with embroidered windows and doors, realistic-looking knit watermelons complete with a green rind, red flesh, and black stitched seeds, and squishy yellow and green lemon stress balls with leaves.

My focus in the classroom is always on building a safe, communal space where students can be creative, share their ideas and feel comfortable making mistakes. I also focus on developing leadership in the classroom by encouraging students who feel confident in a project to assist their classmates who may need additional support. When developing class projects, I focus on student interest and skill level, each project building on skill sets from the previous project. Previous examples include working on a healthcare bear while students were still under Covid restrictions at school and working on knit and crochet food projects when students expressed an interest in making fried chicken legs and watermelons.