Minnesota Board of Social Work
Term ends: January 1, 2029
Please give a brief biography, including your education, licensure or certification level and employment history:
I am excited for you to know me a bit more. I am a mother to an amazing 16 year old, a daughter, and the granddaughter of a boarding school survivor. I am a White Earth descendant, someone in the midst of a professional transition, an advocate, a social worker, and so much more.
I earned my B.A. in Psychology, then realized social work aligned more closely with the work I wanted to do. I went on to complete a dual M.Div./MSW at Loyola University Chicago. I am a Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW) in Minnesota.
My career began in direct service, from running a one stop shop resource center in a rural community, to clinical internships in Chicago, to supporting survivors of sexual assault. I found that macro level work fit my skills best, and I moved into social and systems change work around sexual violence and sex trafficking nationally, with particular focus on rural communities and Indian Country. I provided training and support to communities and systems for 10 years.
Currently, I work in development at an arts nonprofit while I discern what comes next, carrying the same commitment to community and justice into this new chapter.
Give a synopsis of your regulatory and professional experience. Please emphasize your involvement with ASWB:
My regulatory involvement began with ASWB, through the Cut-Score Committee for the Advanced Generalist exam in 2017. As a new social worker, that experience gave me a peek behind the curtain at the why and how behind licensure exams, and it sparked my interest in regulation itself. That led me to apply to be on the Minnesota Board of Social Work, where I am now serving my third appointment since 2018.
On the Minnesota Board, I served as Secretary/Treasurer for five years before becoming Board Chair in January 2026. I have been involved across several committees, including Executive, Finance (as Chair), Compliance Panel, Legislation and Rules, Advisory, Community Education, and County Exemption.
My work with ASWB has grown alongside this. I served on the Practice Analysis Task Force in 2023 and 2024, reporting to the Delegate Assembly on that work, and as a member of the By-laws Committee those same years. I served on the Passing Score Committee in 2026, and I am currently in my second year of being on ASWB’s DEIJ Committee.
Together, this work reflects my commitment to a licensure process that’s rigorous, fair, and responsive to the profession we serve.
Finally, make a brief statement on the major issues you see facing ASWB, and how you would address them:
From my board work and my relationships with other social workers (regulators and beyond), I know there are a lot of issues facing ASWB, as a public face of our profession and its regulation. But two stand out to me. The first is the upcoming Social Work Compact. As boards work to operationalize it, there will be real bumps around compliance and implementation. ASWB can help by staying closely connected with the Compact Commission, and by making sure member boards and support staff have what they need, practically and relationally, to navigate the changes as they come up. The second is how social workers, regulation, and ASWB itself are being perceived right now. It feels like a shaky moment. Jurisdictions are under pressure from a lot of directions, and social workers genuinely want to do right by the people they serve, but what regulation actually does is often misunderstood or maligned. I don’t have a tidy answer, but I believe consistency, transparency, and real relationships, with boards, with social workers, and with the public, go a long way toward rebuilding trust. I want to take what I know, learn from others, and collectively work to address these and other issues.