Joanna’s experience in education began as a Peace Corps teacher in a small, trilingual city in Nicaragua. Seeing her Miskito-speaking students struggle with Spanish sparked a passion for supporting language learners. Joanna taught 2nd, 3rd and 7th grades in New York City, taught writing to first-generation college students in Mississippi, and college-level literature classes in California. She has an MA in bilingual/bicultural education from Teachers College in New York City, and in 2016 received her Ph.D. in Literature with a focus on language and migration from the University of California, Santa Cruz.