I’m an educator. I love working with kids. I love working with adults. I have a passion for facilitating conversations and asking questions that help people consider how we might better serve our kids. I enjoy systems thinking. I fell in love with education but that is not all that I do…

I’m a fitness coach and instructor. I am obsessed with working out. It gives me energy to sustain my lifestyle – to work as an educator and to be a wife, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend. I love to share what I do and motivate others in their health journey. I fell in love with fitness but that is not all I do…

I’m an advocate for equity and inclusion. I believe we need to work toward breaking down barriers and honoring the lives and voices of others. That we need to make space for others to share their stories and tell their truth. We need to work toward eliminating systemic racism. I believe in helping others learn and grow in order to do this work – that it doesn’t happen overnight – it happens through conversation. I fell in love with advocating for others but that is not all I do…

I look at these three areas of passion for me and I think, “I don’t fit the mold of what an administrator should be.” What administrator also teaches fitness classes while facilitating a podcast series and trying to write everyday? This does not align with what society says administrators do. This is not normal.

Yet, it has taken me years to recognize that there is no normal. That this may not be the image I had in my head of what someone in my role does, yet it is the image that I am creating because I am following my areas of passion. I am taking time to do the things I love and the one thing they all have in common is helping others.

So… yes I am a curriculum director who strives to motivate others – at work or in the workout room. And yes, a curriculum director can also be an a fitness instructor and while doing all of that can advocate for equity in the spaces she resides.

Stop painting a picture of what life “should” be like and paint the picture of what life is like for you. Take “should” out of your vocabulary. Be you. Find joy in your passion. Make it happen.