Before obtaining her MS in Early Childhood Education from University of Bologna (Italy) in 2018, Maria spent time in Columbus as a visiting scholar at The Ohio State University, A. Sophie Rogers School of Early learning to work on her dissertation: “Emerging Childhood Literacy: Role of Educational Strategies and Cultural Context”. After graduating, she worked as a Master teacher in mixed age classroom (3-5 years old). She served as assistant director and worked closely with the executive director at Don Bosco School (Italy) from 2020 to 2021 to design curricula and programming designed to foster emergent literacy and kindergarten readiness. Maria has a professional certification in dramatic storytelling and believes in the power of narrative as a tool for facilitating learning and collaboration in the classroom. Maria believes that her job as an educator is to provide a safe environment that is inclusive and honors teachers and children’s funds of identity; she plans to pursue a Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology in the future.