Manager, Program - Coaching

she/her

Prior to joining Teaching Lab, Ninamarie worked for ten years in elite independent schools throughout the U.S. Most recently, she taught an interdisciplinary American studies course and served as Upper School Equity Coordinator at The Chapin School in Manhattan. Ninamarie’s professional experience ranges from teaching all levels of high school English to serving as 6-12 English Department Chair, as an Equity Coordinator, and on various DEI leadership teams at her schools. In 2020, Ninamarie helped initiate development of the inaugural DEI strategic plan at the Francis Parker School in San Diego, and she later helped steward the plan’s initiatives. Throughout her career, she has honed her practice as an instructional and leadership coach, and she has had the privilege of coaching JK-12 faculty members, department chairs, administrators, and Boards of Directors.

Ninamarie is an active member of her community in El Paso and has volunteered for multiple labor unions, immigration resource centers, environmental conservation groups, and youth services organizations throughout her life. As a native El Pasoan, she takes great pride in uplifting artists and creators in the Borderland, and she enjoys connecting local artists to educators and their students. Ninamarie earned a certificate in Independent School Teaching from The University of San Diego, and has also completed Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED) training. As an advocate for historically marginalized groups in education, Ninamarie has received years of specialized training from such scholars and practitioners as Dr. Bettina Love, Dr. J. Luke Wood, and Dr. Liza Talusan.

Ninamarie’s field of study as a graduate student at UChicago was monstrosity in Victorian literature, and she still enjoys diving into works that explore the relationship between monsters and the human condition. As such, she’s an avid fan of horror films (her favorite is the original 1977 Suspiria), and she gleefully revisits her favorite novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, as often as possible. Ninamarie is also an accidental poet, and her work was published in the February 2022 issue of POETRY Magazine. Additionally, she enjoys embroidery, desert walks, swimming, and frequenting the library.