Erika is passionate about creating quality relationships to foster agency and identity, specifically in disenfranchised learners. She is an advocate for human connections, understanding, thinking, and student voice. For over 20 years, Erika has worked in Special Education with students from elementary to post-secondary education with neurodiversity. She also serves as an Instructional Coach, facilitating professional learning opportunities for educators and administrators in her school, district and county, infusing Project Zero research and practices, to foster creative teaching and learning. She is the co-creator of Enbrighten®, a framework designed to scaffold student speaking, thinking and interactions which has been featured in Dr. Ron Ritchhart's book Creating Cultures of Thinking. She is curretly the Co-Instructor for Creating Cultures of Thinking online, offered through Harvard Graduate School of Education. In her free time she enjoys spending time with family and friends doing just about anything!