Introduction

My name is Nikki and I reside in NC. I hold a BA in Health & Human Services, Minor with Child Development obtain through Ashford University. I earned a MA degree in Grant Writing, Management and Evaluation from Concordia University Chicago. 

My overall professional experience is 19 years working with various populations such as: adults and children with cognitive and physical disabilities (including mental illness), adults with traumatic brain injury, at – risk youth with emotional and behavioral challenges, typical developing children and geriatrics. Working environments have included: residential settings, early childhood education facilities, day programs, day health programs, and individual’s natural environment in order to promote self – sufficiency, cognitive, physical, social, language and emotional development.

My experience in education is in early childhood education (infants to Pre-K). At the beginning of the year; I resigned my position as Lead Teacher for a Head Start program. I loved the children; however, I just found the routine repetitive, the paperwork was just overwhelming and it just didn’t align with my career goals. When I resigned I decided to start my own grant writing and nonprofit consulting business; therefore, I am still working on building my brand etc. 

About six months after that I decided that I wanted to pursue another degree and I found myself returning to Ashford pursuing a MA degree in Teaching and Learning with Technology – Specialization: Online Educator. I am hoping to use this degree to be able to be able to add Instructional Designer to my professional resume and develop trainings etc. for businesses / organizations.