Monica has pursued her love of nature-based education for nearly three decades. She is the founding director of the Association for Nature-Based Education (ANBE), a nonprofit that offers professional development and community-based programs to cultivate equitable access to nature-based education.  

As founder/cofounder of three forest and nature preschools in Maryland, and a consultant to countless others, she is grateful to help people nurture relationships with the natural world as an essential aspect of how we approach education. 

As an author, she shares the benefits of nature-based learning through various publications including an award-winning book, Nature Play Workshop for Families: A Guide to 40+ Outdoor Learning Experiences in All Seasons, coauthored by Karen Madigan (Quarto Press, 2020). 

This fall, she published Nature-Based Early Childhood Education to provide evidence-based guidance to help educators make deeper connections with children and nature (NAEYC, 2025). 

As an advocate for nature-based learning, she helped spearhead the house bill to establish an outdoor preschool licensing pilot in Maryland and is the co-chair of the Advisory Stakeholders Group. She was also appointed to Governor Moore’s Committee for Outdoor Learning Partnerships (OLP) where she impacts policy on the state level. 

She also serves as a representative in the Superintendent’s Stakeholders Committee for Baltimore County Public Schools where she lives. 

She earned a bachelor’s degree in Art Education and a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Towson University. Monica recently completed a fellowship at UMBC in the Maryland Early Childhood Leadership Program (MECLP), in partnership with the Shriver Center at UMASS in 2024. 

Always optimistic, she looks forward to continued advocacy that helps expand access to nature-based education at the local, state, and national levels.