Originally born and raised on the land and waters of the Muscogee/Creek tribes, also known as Atlanta, Georgia, Theresa has committed her life’s work to making positive social change via environmental and cultural education and youth empowerment. After earning her B.A. in Environmental Studies and Geography, with a minor in Cultural Anthropology, at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota in 2003, Theresa supported low-income and first-generation high school students throughout the college search and application process as an AmeriCorps service member through College Possible. During her summers, Theresa worked as a summer camp counselor mentoring and leading 3-day canoe trips for low-income urban youth, coordinating a youth mentoring and education program for an urban garden, and earning her Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Certificate through Hamline University. With a desire to connect with her ancestral roots and relatives, Theresa lived in Seoul, South Korea for a few years teaching English to elementary, middle, and high school students and developing curriculum for Chungdahm Learning. Theresa returned to the U.S. to pursue a graduate Certificate in Education for Environment and Community (EEC) through IslandWood, a non-profit organization based on a 255-acre forested campus on the land and waters of the Suquamish and Coast Salish, also known as Bainbridge Island, Washington. IslandWood's EEC Certificate is accredited through a partnership with the University of Washington’s College of Education, through which Theresa completed her Masters in Education in Science Education in 2012. Upon graduation, Theresa trained and mentored educators for equity in the context of the natural world as the manager for IslandWood’s graduate certificate program in Education for Environment and Community, and played a critical role in making organizational change and deepening IslandWood's commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Theresa most recently began working as an Independent Learning Center Paraeducator for Blakely Elementary School on Bainbridge Island as she considers earning her teaching license. She is an active member of the Environmental Professionals of Color (EPOC) Seattle chapter, the Bainbridge Island School District's Multicultural Advisory Council, and is a Pacific Northwest Senior Fellow of the Environmental Leadership Program. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to BTS (South Korean global musical sensation), practicing mindfulness, and spending quality time with her husband and their senior cat.