Executive Director

Monica has spent her entire professional career dedicated to children. She is half Spanish and had challenging experiences at school as a child when she spoke Spanish and English in Kindergarten. This was the main impetus for her 15-year career as an elementary school educator at the Detroit Public Schools in Southwest Detroit primarily teaching bilingual children. She then transitioned into development and leadership work at various non-profits where she raised over $10 million dollars in her career including leading a capital campaign. Additionally, she was an Executive Director leading teams through partnerships and programmatic initiatives. Monica earned her bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and her master’s degree in Education at the University of Michigan. One of her favorite books to read to her class was Everybody Cooks Rice by Norah Dooley.  This book shows the diversity within a girls’ neighborhood through different cultural dinner dishes where the common thread was everyone uses rice for cooking.

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