Award-winning musician with National Orchestral experience, specializing in Music Psychology within children and young adults

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• When and why did you develop an interest in your chosen field?

  I developed an interest in helping kids through music when I realized just how much music has helped me. Growing up and feeling different from everybody else, it was hard to feel understood, but when I started practicing piano more, I was able to put my feelings into my playing. It boosted my self-esteem, made me happier, and helped me through some very challenging parts of my life.

• What makes you passionate about your subject?

  The thing that keeps me going is seeing progress and change in the people I work with. I started volunteering at a camp for people with mental and physical disabilities at the age of 13, and I offered to teach them piano. I was working with people older than me at the time who had a range of disabilities, from autism to down syndrome to cerebral palsy. This experience completely changed my life, because when I started seeing how happy music makes people and how much it can help, I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.

• What do you like about tutoring? What makes you a "Superprof"?

  My favourite thing about tutoring is passing on my passion for music to another person. What better thing is there in the world than to share what you’re passionate about? What I believe separates me from other music teachers is that this isn’t just a job to me. If I could, I would do this for free for the rest of my life. I care about the kids I teach so much it's indescribable. My job doesn’t end when the lesson ends. Every day I go home and search for music for a specific student or make them personalized sheet music of their favourite song that matches their abilities, or create a long-term plan for the goals they want to achieve.

• Do you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you? Please explain.

  Several of my music teachers have shown me what it means to go above and beyond for your students, and I wouldn’t be the same person and teacher that I am today if not for them. In addition to that, I wouldn’t be able to name my role models without mentioning my parents. My mom dedicated her whole life to helping kids with disabilities, and even though I may not be taking the exact same route as she did, I hope to eventually have as much of an impact on people's lives as she has. If not for my dad, I may not have continued to play piano because he pushed me to keep going and kept reminding me not to throw my talent away and use it for something special instead.

• What are your keys to success?

  Success means something different to each person and each situation, and because of that, “the key” is different for everyone. The approach I take to achieve my idea of success is being genuine and treating everybody with kindness. I believe choosing to do the right thing will have far greater reward than anything else.