Holly graduated with honors from UC Davis. She is a licensed TN educator and has earned the following credentials: AZ K-8 Elementary Education with Reading Endorsement and CA K-12 Multiple Subject with endorsements in Cross-Cultural Language and Academic Development. She has over 10 years of classroom teaching experience including K-4 reading intervention at a large Title 1 school. Holly has served as a team leader and mentor. In addition to her passion for education, she is a gifted communicator, strategic planner, and empathetic advocate. She enjoys spending time with her teenaged son, 4 adult daughters, 3 grandkids, and pup. She is also an enthusiastic member of the Sewanee University Orchestra. Holly is thrilled to collaborate with others in the community to assist with early literacy.

Laureen received a BA in Education from Mercyhurst University with a dual certificate in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. She taught a year of basic skills instruction and gifted education in K-6 and then found her niche as a first grade teacher for 11 years. She served on her school’s Intervention and Referral Services committee for 8 years, which helped facilitate her passions for inclusion, implementation of assessment data, and small group instruction. She served as a mentor teacher and was nominated to be teacher of the year. Laureen earned a Master’s Degree and Reading Specialist certificate from Wilmington University and then moved to TN to explore a family business opportunity in agriculture. She thrived as a 4th grade teacher at Sewanee Elementary School for a year. Ultimately she decided to focus on the farm and her 4 daughters full time. Laureen misses the education world and is excited to channel that passion into Early Literacy Ambassadors.

Mary Margaret received an MBA from Tennessee Technological University. She manages finances and operations for CyVerse, a national cyber infrastructure for the life sciences. She has expertise in the management of large federal-funded collaborative projects, both international and domestic, including fiscal management, executive and project support for collaborations, maintaining compliance with federal regulations, and facilitating communication across global and virtual organizations. Her interests lie in extending collaborations beyond the academic sector and identifying sustainable pathways to continued research and discovery. Communication is key to the success of these collaborations and her work with ELA emphasizes the need to learn and refine these skills early on. Mary Margaret lives in Nashville with her husband and two sons.

Angie obtained her Bachelors degree with honors in Psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In her senior year, she was named the Outstanding Undergraduate student in the Department of Psychology and was inducted into the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. She continued her education at the University of Memphis, obtaining an MA in Speech Language Pathology. After completing her Clinical Fellowship year at Boling Center for Developmental Disabilities in Memphis, she received the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech Pathology. She has worked as an SLP for 35 years in a variety of settings, including outpatient rehab, long-term care, and home health care. She joined the Franklin County school system as a Speech-Language Pathologist in 1998, where she remained for 25 years. She retired from the school system in May of 2023. Angie believes the ability to read is not only a necessity, it is a gift. She currently lives a quiet life in the woods, 20 minutes outside of Sewanee with her husband, four dogs, and one cat.

Rachel graduated from Sewanee in 2000 with a BA in Fine Arts. She began working at St. Andrew's-Sewanee School in 2001 in the technology department and started teaching visual arts there soon after. Currently, she is the chair of the Arts Department, the Middle School Coordinator, and the Service Coordinator at SAS. Rachel loves teaching photography to high school students and has found that it can be a powerful tool to teach visual literacy. While a teacher at SAS, she has created and led 10 experiential service learning trips for students domestically and abroad. She traveled with students to Kingston, Jamaica, and she has led trips to Zuni, New Mexico. Central to each of these trips is her work with at-risk elementary aged children. As a founding member of Shakerag Workshops, she is well-versed in working with start-up organizations. She oversaw the graphic design, advertising, and marketing of the organization. She assisted multiple faculty during their workshops and was able to take several classes which have been essential to her growth as an artist.