Learning Designer · Program Builder · Experience Architect

Learning should change people.

The best learning doesn’t happen when people are told what to think. It happens when they’re curious enough to discover it for themselves. That’s the idea that has guided every chapter of my career.

LeAndra McDaniels

For more than twenty years, I’ve designed learning experiences that help people grow, solve problems, and see the world differently. Sometimes that meant rebuilding an entire curriculum. Sometimes it meant launching a robotics program, leading youth programs aboard cruise ships, teaching lifesaving skills, interpreting history in a museum, or building AI-powered learning tools.

The setting has changed. The mission never has.

Every organization has knowledge worth sharing. The challenge isn’t creating more information. The challenge is helping people care enough to remember it. I enjoy taking complicated ideas and transforming them into experiences that feel clear, engaging, and memorable. I enjoy walking into projects that are unfinished, systems that have grown too complicated, or programs that have lost their direction — then building something people actually want to use.

Robotics Grant & Curriculum Redesign
A robotics grant wasn’t simply an opportunity to buy equipment. It was an opportunity to completely rethink how students experienced mathematics. I secured and managed a multi-year STEM grant, redesigned five years of curriculum around exploration and problem solving, and integrated robotics into everyday instruction. The result was a 57% increase in measured student comprehension — but the number I’m proudest of isn’t 57%. It’s the number of students who discovered they were capable of more than they believed.
The Safety Lab
Most CPR classes teach procedures. I wanted to build confidence. The Safety Lab is my own American Red Cross training company, created to make First Aid, CPR, and AED certification practical, engaging, and memorable. Every class is designed around real situations, real conversations, and real confidence — because when someone’s worst day suddenly becomes yours, confidence matters just as much as knowledge. Training should prepare people for real life. That’s what The Safety Lab was built to do.
Visit The Safety Lab →
Empathy Lab
Empathy may be the hardest thing to teach. You can’t build compassion with a lecture — you build it through experience. Empathy Lab is an AI-powered learning platform I’m developing to help people practice difficult conversations, receive meaningful feedback, and explore different perspectives in a safe environment. It combines instructional design, storytelling, psychology, and artificial intelligence into a learning experience that feels less like software and more like a conversation. It’s the project that brings together everything I’ve learned about how people grow.
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See I don’t see curriculum. I see experiences.
See I don’t see training. I see opportunities for confidence.
See I don’t see programs. I see ecosystems where people either flourish or quietly struggle.
Ask What frustrates them? What excites them? Where do they get stuck? What would success actually feel like?
Believe Learning doesn’t begin with slides. It begins with curiosity.
Build Good design isn’t about adding more. It’s about removing everything that gets in the way of learning.

The format changes. The purpose doesn’t. I build experiences that help people understand something they couldn’t understand before.

Learning experiences Training programs Curriculum systems Operational frameworks Youth programs Museum experiences Grant-funded initiatives Interactive learning environments AI-powered educational tools

Where I’m strongest: Instructional Design · Curriculum Architecture · Training Program Management · Grant Writing · Youth Development

“She’s been a warrior for the students she serves since the day she walked in. I fully expect her to lead wherever she goes.”
Todd Gooden, Deputy Superintendent, La Vega ISD

Let’s build something worth remembering.

I’m looking for organizations that believe learning can be more than information. Organizations that believe training should inspire confidence instead of compliance. Organizations willing to invest in thoughtful experiences instead of checking boxes.

The projects I enjoy most begin with a simple sentence: “This isn’t working.” That’s usually where the interesting work begins.