What prompted you to become a tutor?
In my language learning journey, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by people who wanted to help me learn. I wanted to give some of that back. I'm fascinated by language and how it works, so I really enjoy partnering with students to work out a tricky construction or figure out differences in nuance between words.
Tell us about your professional life.
I've had several career shifts. I worked as a research scientist for Cepstral, a speech technology startup, building synthetic voices in various languages. I then worked as a Project Scientist at CMU on a collaboration with UNESCO, where I had the opportunity to work with teachers and students from around the world on a digital photo documentation project. That got me really interested in education, so I started working at the Falk School, a K-8 school within the University of Pittsburgh, developing and teaching a computer science curriculum. After that, I worked briefly for Amazon Alexa, but realized how much the field of speech technology had changed since I was in school, so I went back to do another master's in computer science through Georgia Tech. So I'm currently a student, with one more class to go!
Tell us about your current student? What are you working on?
My student came to Pittsburgh with her family—her husband is a researcher at UPMC. She has two young children, so we spend a lot of time talking about their experiences. Since she has had extensive formal education in English, we are focusing on conversation, such as building listening ability and speaking fluency.
What makes Literacy Pittsburgh meaningful to you?
I love that it is a free program that is open to anyone in Pittsburgh who wants to learn. The range in learner backgrounds and abilities is huge, and Literacy Pittsburgh meets them all where they are!
Literacy Pittsburgh (formerly Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council) helps create better lives through learning. Recognized as a national leader in adult and family literacy, Literacy Pittsburgh is the largest provider of adult basic education in Allegheny and Beaver Counties. Last year, Literacy Pittsburgh helped more than 4,000 individuals acquire the skills needed to reach their fullest potential in life and participate productively in their communities. Literacy Pittsburgh provides free, personalized instruction in workforce readiness, high school diploma test preparation, digital literacy, English language learning, math, reading, and family literacy through one-to-one and small class instruction. Founded in 1982, it serves local adults through numerous neighborhood locations and its Downtown Pittsburgh Learning Center.
