Bio
I’m a children’s musician with the absolute privilege of singing and making music with children in multiple classrooms in multiple schools (primarily preschool age and some elementary school age…and babies!) on a daily basis. Building relationships with the children through music from week to week and from year to year as they grow through their early childhood developmental stages is the foundation for what the Kids’ Music Circle can accomplish. I use my guitar and drum as well as plenty of a-cappella singing with hand motions, puppets, and finger plays, to uplift, educate, learn together, and engage children through the joy of music.
In addition to classroom settings, I perform at libraries and festivals for larger audiences as well as facilities including hospitals, shelters, and various programs that serve children.
I have been a member of CMN since around 2018 and have been co-facilitating the White Awareness, Accountability, and Antiracism Group (WAAAG), which is a CMN affinity group that meets virtually each month. This is a space to explore and attempt to dismantle oppressive systems that exist in the broader culture and, by extension, within ourselves.
In addition to my focus on music with children I am also the co-producer of the “Bending the Bars” album project that brings together incarcerated artists with beat makers, musicians, and producers on the outside. The incarcerated artist presents their song idea a cappella through the phone recording and then they collaborate over the phone lines, including recording their vocals over the phone lines, to bring their songs to life. There are 15 tracks on the album, each by a different incarcerated artist/collaborator team. This project is an extension of the work of the Community Hotline for Incarcerated People (CHIP), which I co-founded in April of 2020, and the primary goals of the album are to amplify the creative voices of incarcerated artists and to serve as a tool to further our organizing rooted in abolitionist principles. We hope to release the album on FREER Publishing in early 2025.
