| I was born in the City of Rochester to a public school teacher and a civil engineer. My father fled his home country of Ethiopia during the civil war, overcoming major cultural and financial barriers to earn his degrees in math and engineering here in Western New York. From my parents, I learned the importance of education, hard work, and the need to be resourceful when faced with obstacles.
I attended School #12 in the Rochester City School District, and then Pittsford Central schools, first as an Urban-Suburban student and then later as a Pittsford resident. My parents still live off Mendon Road in the house where I grew up. On weekends, we'd spend time with my grandparents in East Bloomfield and some of my fondest childhood memories are teaching Sunday School at St. Peter's Episcopal Church.
Throughout my life, I have always stood up for my values.
As a high school student, I spoke out against unfair testing practices. While at Williams College, where I worked three jobs to pay my tuition, I organized a group volunteer trip to Biloxi, Mississippi. We did everything from removing mold from homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina to helping community clinics navigate FEMA in order to rebuild.
After graduating from Williams College with a Bachelors in Psychology and a minor in Spanish, I joined the U.S. Peace Corps where I volunteered in rural Guatemala as a health education specialist for two years. Upon returning home, like many of our young people, I was faced with limited job prospects. I was given an opportunity to help the Town of Brookhaven adopt a recycling education program for their population of nearly 500,000 people. I spent the following four years partnering with mayors and municipal leaders across the Northeast to adopt recycling education programs.
Following that, I joined the largest global member organization for young people, DoSomething.org, to mobilize millions of young people as social change advocates. Later, I helped start Umbrella, a start-up that used technology to keep seniors safe in their homes by connecting them with affordable and community-driven home care. Most recently, I drove fundraising efforts for Chalkbeat, the fastest growing grassroots journalism organization, supporting their work reporting on inequities in the public school system.
I currently live in Rochester, NY with my husband, Brian, who works with court-involved young people. |