Prior to joining NJTIP, I graduated from Seton Hall University with a degree in Economics. I worked for several years at the headquarters of Avis Rent A Car, but left corporate America because I wanted to give back to my community. I became a certified classroom teacher and taught special needs students in Newark and Plainfield. During my free time, I teach Learn to Swim and Lifeguarding/CPR courses.

I utilize my classroom experience at NJ TIP by teaching travel training to students at the Deron School and The Children's Institute. I especially enjoy the monthly field trips with the students and find it very rewarding when they are able to take the bus semi-independently.

While I enjoy classroom instruction, I still receive great satisfaction from our one-on-one travel instruction. I was very pleased to teach a middle-aged man with a disability to commute from his home in Summit to his job in South Orange by independently using the train rather than having a job coach drive him to work. I also taught a young lady from Newark how to get to her job in Montclair using a convenient NJ TRANSIT bus.

I frequently make presentations at community agencies such as the Jewish Vocational Service and the Mental Health Association of New Jersey. I was gratified to hear from one seminar participant in Somerset who followed my advice and learned how to use public transportation to get to work and sustain a job.

Many paths have confronted me in my life. I think of my job as an adventure and encourage my customers to do so as well. I attended the University of South Florida, and received a B.A. in Anthropology. Immediately afterwards I began working on my Masters in Public Health. Both degrees have pushed me to look at everyday things a little differently.

I am currently both a one-on-one NJ TIP Travel Instructor and a Project Manager for our MCTIP program. I work closely with my customers and teach them how great public transportation can be.

One-on-one instruction allows me to be very interactive with my customers. I assess their travel needs and tailor our curriculum to fit their specific requests. Then the customer and I work directly together with the same goal in mind: their independence!

MCTIP (Middlesex County Travel Independence Program) is slightly different. I conduct small group sessions, where our customers can utilize me and each other, in order to become more familiar with all transportation options in their area. I focus on introducing the group to MCAT (Middlesex County Area Transit) shuttles, and how they can use those vehicles to connect to NJ TRANSIT buses and trains. We take real trips as a way to reinforce the familiarization process.

I love seeing the look on my all of my customer's faces when they realize there are practical transportation options, sometimes right outside the front door. This position has been overwhelmingly gratifying. Witnessing the smiles on the customer's faces once they mastered a route is priceless!

I was born in Queens, NY, not far from the #7 subway, so as a child I was indoctrinated in the use of mass transit. In addition, it was determined when I was six months of age that I was legally blind. So I have been a consumer of public transportation and shoe leather from an early age.

I was educated at Rutgers University where I earned an MA in Labor and Industrial Relations. I've been an advocate for social justice for many years. I have served as an observer and member of the NJ TRANSIT ADA Task Force since 1997 and provided transportation advocacy for people with disabilities as an employee of New Jersey Protection and Advocacy as well as The Alliance for the Disabled in Action.

As the NJ TIP Marketing Associate, I am responsible for the marketing strategy for our one-on-one program and have expanded our outreach efforts to include transition events and school resource fairs. I have also helped establish our in-school travel training programs at schools such as The Deron School and The Children's Institute.

From personal experience, I can state with certainty that being able to get from Point A to Point B independently is both liberating and satisfying.

I am a Travel Instructor and the Project Manager for the Caldwell LIVE & Mercer County "Train the Trainer" programs. NJ TIP hired me in January 2008 after I graduated from Muhlenberg College where I studied Psychology and Theater. My first job after college was assisting with the 2007 NJ TRANSIT bus survey so travel instruction was a natural fit for me.

Currently, I am working toward a Masters Degree in social work with a concentration in public planning from Rutgers University. The Association of Travel Instruction recently published my article "Using Technology in Travel Instruction" in their newsletter. Last year I gave a presentation about Walkability at the Association's annual conference. For NJ TIP I wrote our Train-the-Trainer curriculum and also created the transit map for the Caldwell LIVE "Guide to Public Transportation".

I grew up in Allentown, PA with my sister Carolyn, who has epilepsy and developed a seizure disorder after a bout of encephalitis at the age of 2. We spent countless hours together and she is the person to whom I attribute my patient and thoughtful nature. She works as an aide at an early intervention charter school in Pennsylvania.

I am pleased to have made New Jersey my new home and currently live in Belleville. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings I work at the United Synagogue of Hoboken as their fourth grade Hebrew Reading & Jewish culture teacher.

Travel instruction is a vital way to touch individual's lives and affect our society and the world in a positive way. My personal goal is to make the world a more livable, walkable and friendly place.

I graduated from Rutgers University with a B.A. in Economics. After working in business for 15 years, I redirected my career. As a person who stutters, I became interested in the challenge of education and social services. I worked as a substitute teacher in New Jersey and Florida for six years, was a counselor for the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, and was a special education teacher in Jersey City for two years.

Transportation has always fascinated me. In Florida I worked as a toll collector on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and the Tampa Crosstown Expressway and loved taking my bicycle on the county buses. Now I enjoy using the New York City subway system and public transit in Newark.

I am a long-time member of two organizations for people who stutter. I performed in a play about stuttering at an international conference in Germany and have traveled throughout the United States participating in conferences for people who stutter: giving speeches, running workshops, and of course exploring transportation in different cities.

I am happy to bring my enthusiasm and experience to NJ TIP as its Senior Travel Instructor. It is rewarding to head up a staff so dedicated and qualified. Together we bring travel instruction to Access Link riders, high schools and senior centers. I personally have trained over 150 individuals. To be outside, to experience different people and places every day, and to teach very special individuals to use public transportation is my dream come true.

I am delighted to have the opportunity to be Executive Director of NJ TIP and to help bring travel instruction to New Jersey residents who want to travel independently on public transit.

I graduated from Duke University with a BA in Psychology and started my career as a medical social worker. For most of my 30-year career, I have developed and managed employment and training programs that have helped people with disabilities find jobs and become self-sufficient.

During the 2005-2007, I developed the NJ TIP travel instruction model in cooperation with NJ TRANSIT and then helped to start NJ TIP Inc. as an independent non-profit organization. In these past five years, I have seen how life-enhancing travel instruction can be – it helps individuals achieve independence, access jobs, socialize with friends and family, and be active members of their communities.