MY STORY
I started in a classroom watching kids' eyes light up when they realized they could do something they thought they couldn't.
That moment — the one where a child discovers their own capability — has been the center of everything I've done for the last 25 years. I've taught high school and elementary, led a school in Panamá, and came home to Annapolis to run a preschool. Along the way, I created three characters named Drip, Drop, and Drizzle who teach kids that their feelings aren't the problem. Their feelings are the starting point.
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Yet, over time, I learned that the kids weren't the ones who needed to change. The adults around them were carrying so much — so much pressure, so much noise, so much doubt about whether they were doing it right — that they simply couldn't show up the way they wanted to.
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That realization shifted a lot for me. I've spent the last few years as the only educator inside a cross-industry AI learning community, working alongside professionals in biomedical, legal, finance, and tech. And the lesson was always the same: the gap between where we are and where kids need us to be isn't about technology. It's about whether the adults have done their own work first.
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Social-emotional skills. Executive functioning skills. The willingness to learn out loud. These aren't just things we teach kids — they're things we have to build in ourselves.
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That's the work. Whether I'm on a stage, in a classroom, or sitting across from a school leader who knows something has to change.
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No advice. Just ideas for folks who keep showing up.​
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THREE WAYS TO WORK TOGETHER
Whether you came for curriculum, came for AI consulting, or just want to keep in touch — here's the door that fits.
The Drizzle Effect®
Curriculum for kids and the adults guiding them.
The DROPLETS™ curriculum is a hands-on, story-rich way to weave emotional growth, creative expression, and life skills into everyday moments — preschool through 5th grade.
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FOR
Parents | Homeschool Co-ops | Teachers | Classrooms
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AI Consulting
AI for school leaders who need real answers.
I train your school's first AI champion in five days — then build the daily improvement loops that move enrollment, advancement, and instruction.
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FOR
Heads of Schools | Principals | Superintendents | Admissions + Advancement
Still Showing Up
Friday writing on showing up for kids (and ourselves)
A weekly micro-essay.
This newsletter turns one moment from the week into an insight you can use. Just the honest work of doing and living alongside one another.
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Teachers | Parents | School Leaders | Anyone walking the same path
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SPEAKING
These are the conversations I'm having with schools, parent groups, and conferences right now.
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Before the Algorithm
What Rain Teaches Us About Raising Resilient Kids
The story of Drip, Drop, and Drizzle — and why emotional intelligence is the most overlooked factor in preparing children for an AI-powered world. For parent groups, school communities, and early childhood audiences.
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The PATH from EI to AI:
Why Your School's AI Strategy Starts with You
Many schools are trying to adopt AI before they've built the leadership clarity to guide it. This talk reframes AI readiness as a human development challenge — not a technical one. For school leaders, boards, and education conferences.
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What We Do for Ourselves
We Model for Students
Adults who develop their own emotional intelligence raise AI-ready kids. A talk about why the transformation has to start with us — and what that actually looks like in practice. For educators, administrators, and professional development days.
The PATH from EI to AI™
— Pause, Align, Trust, Hone —
is the through-line connecting all three. Mary's framework for helping school leaders understand that AI readiness isn't a technology challenge. It's a human development one, and it starts with the adults.
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