I am passionate about educational research and children's learning through play! I firmly believe in the power of play incorporation to create meaningful, engaging learning accessible to everyone. I pride myself as being an educational expert in the areas of child development, child-centered learning, children's play, and developmentally appropriate best practices. For almost twenty years, I have been involved in children’s education, from brick-and-mortar classrooms to running a homeschool cooperative program and even founding and leading a 4-H club for military youth. I currently teach future educators at the university level and homeschool my own children, using our cooperative as 'play testers' for clients! My work bridges the gap between play and education across toys, content, media, and curricula using UX research, child-development knowledge, and childhood play expertise. I hold my Bachelors and Masters in Elementary Education from Northern Arizona University, along with my Reading Specialist and Structured English Immersion Endorsements. I earned my Doctorate in Education through Indiana University with a research focus on the intersection of play and popular media with literacy components as children utilized technology expanding the definition of local, converting distant interactions into a common, shared space.