Owner, Director, and Teacher

I am a Washington, DC native, born and raised in Brookland, as well as a singer and nanny. With parents in the performing arts, I was constantly enveloped in music growing up. Singing and making music were always an integral part of my life and continue to be to this day. As a child, I loved all sorts of music and was fortunate enough to have tremendously encouraging family, friends, and teachers that nurtured and fostered that love. At the age of 12, I made my Kennedy Center solo debut singing Mozart with the DCPS All-City Honors Chorus in conjunction with The Washington Master Chorale. I attended the DCPS magnet high school, Duke Ellington School of the Arts, where I studied Vocal Music and graduated at the top of my class. I went on to study at The George Washington University on a full academic scholarship where I earned my BA graduating summa cum laude with Special Honors with Major in Music and a Minor in Italian Language and Literature. I have performed in multiple professional choirs around the DC metro area and also occasionally sing with the super fun non-profit Opera On Tap!

I love children, especially babies and young children, and have for as long as I can remember. I was introduced to Music Together® classes as a nanny myself and attended for nearly two years (5 song collections). I was immediately hooked! I was intrigued by the program's variety of musical styles, rhythmic chants, dances, instruments, and concentration on informal music education for both children and their caregivers. After having taught the program for 4 years, I decided to open my own center and pursue a career with Music Together®! (In retrospect, starting a business in the Fall of 2019 was a tough endeavor, but with perseverance, hard work, and an amazing SAPling community, we are still going strong!) I truly believe that all people posses the capacity to be musical and hope to encourage the love and wonder of music that is in all of us!

Teacher

Raised in a military family and now a military spouse, I have traveled across the continental US more times than I can count, lived in seven different states, and have only called DC home since August 2024. With a family always on the move, the one constant in my life has been music. I started piano lessons at four years old and continued to study through high school and college, earning a bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from Washington State University summa cum laude and both a Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Collaborative Piano Performance from Boston University. While I’ve enjoyed making music at a very high level with professional groups in the choral, vocal, and operatic worlds, my favorite roles have been those with children: from coaching high school singers at the BU Tanglewood Institute, to teaching private piano lessons, to performing with the National Children’s Chorus here in DC.

When my husband and I first moved to DC with our then 8-month-old daughter, one of the first things I did was sign up for Music Together® classes with Ms. Emily. I had never heard of the program before, but was immediately taken with its exceptional pedagogy, variety of songs, exposure to languages, and unexpected melodies and rhythms. I looked forward to coming every single week—and still do! I am thrilled to join Emily’s wonderful work and to help spread the joy and fulfillment that comes from early childhood music education for both student and caregiver alike.