In 2010, I decided to spend a few years at home soaking up my babies while they were still tiny and squishy and sweet. While freelance work kept my skills sharp (and my mind sane), by 2012 I was itching to take on something bigger. When the tragedy at Sandy Hook turned the world upside down in December of that year, I felt compelled to act, to be a force of positive change in some small way. And instinctively, I knew just what I wanted to do.
Combining my background in education with my experience in marketing, I hatched a simple two-step plan: first, I’d dive right into the deep end of the research pool to learn everything I could about what leads young people to commit acts of violence at school; then, I’d apply what I learned to author a research-based curriculum designed to prevent school violence while also curbing the related pervasive problems of bullying and youth suicide. No big deal, right? Just a stay-at-home mom with one baby on each hip, working to save the world one lesson plan at a time.
And that’s how etiQit was born — a fresh, modern social emotional learning and mental health curriculum that over the past eight years has reached tens of thousands of students in classrooms around the world. I am deeply humbled by the feedback I’ve received from teachers, school counselors, and even parents about how etiQit has changed the lives of the young people they know and love. Pouring my heart into this passion project will undoubtedly be one of the proudest accomplishments of my life for which I will be forever grateful.