Do you have any details about the day you were born?

I was born on a Thursday. Because I was born early in the morning, my mom has always told me she knew that I would be a firecracker because she could hear them going off when she was having me!

What is the one piece of advice would you give your younger self?

I would tell myself to just breathe and relax. Things will always work out the way that they’re supposed to, even if it isn’t how we thought it would turn out. Be patient and trust the process.

Name at least one outstanding experience you have had in your life. How did this or these events affect you?

My first year teaching, I started out with my own classroom but half way through the year, two classrooms were combined due to lower enrollment. My co-teacher and I were great partners who had very complimentary skills and talents. So when she decided to move abroad, I was devastated.

Luckily, my husband was working for an airline at the time and had flight benefits (of a sort) on other airlines. When she moved to New Zealand, I offered to go with her and get her settled. After we got her settled, we decided to travel and explore the area a bit. Her job not only provided her a place to live, but it also gave her access to a vehicle. With me behind the wheel (because she was scared to drive on the left side of the road!), we set off down the coast of the south island of New Zealand. We discovered a town called Kaikoura, which was famous for its resident pod of dolphins. We quickly checked into our hostel and then booked a dolphin excursion for the next day.

At our scheduled time, we showed up for the safety briefing, were fitted for gear to allow us to swimming in the VERY COLD Pacific Ocean and took the walk of shame down the main street in full snorkeling gear toward the waiting boat. After a while, we found the dolphins and the boat was stopped and many of the 15 or so other people jumped into the water and set off in search of the pod members.

I, however, stayed for a bit and watched where the people went and how the dolphins reacted. I noticed that the people were concentrating on only a few of the pod but that there were many others at the periphery of where we were. In the safety briefing, they had mentioned that we had to get the dolphins to take an interest in us, because they were wild animals and we couldn’t MAKE them do anything they didn’t want to do. They also mentioned that two things that intrigued them were to swim in circles and to sing into your snorkel (they like the sounds!). Armed with this knowledge, I entered the water, swam a distance away from the boat and started to swim in a large circle. Sure enough, I noticed a single dolphin approach and seemed to investigate me. Then, a couple more. But swimming in circles didn't hold their interest for long.I decided to change tactics. Quickly, I began singing into my snorkel. Having just been trained to be an early childhood teacher, I had a large arsenal of songs and pulled them all out. The longer that I sang, the more dolphins that would show up. After what felt like a long time, we had to get back on the boat to go back. And though the experience had to end, the memory of it is as fresh as the day it happened. It was both the most exhilarating and terrifying thing that has ever happened to me. On one hand these were wild animals whose behavior was totally unpredictable. On the other hand, it was the most connected to beings of another species that I have ever felt. It was life changing and close to a religious experience.

When in your life, so far, have you felt most confident and why?

I feel the most confident when I’m passing on lessons learned through experience or showing other people how to do things that I love and am interested in doing. Your energy is different with those things and people can tell when you truly enjoy something or when you’re just going through the motions. Your authenticity helps others buy into what you’re doing more fully when they can feel your passion for it.

What is your superpower?

I feel like my superpower is taking care of people, but that sometimes comes at the cost of me putting others' needs before my own. I’m working on finding balance in all aspects of my life.