About Me

Before the résumé-style information below, I've included two brief sections: The Quick Story, which offers a snapshot of my background and professional work, and The Bigger Story, which provides some of the personal context behind that work.

  • I’ve built my professional life around music, stories, education, and community. Along the way, I’ve performed for children and families throughout California and beyond, recorded award-winning children’s music, taught university students, developed educational media projects, and presented workshops and keynote addresses for educators.

    Today, I continue that work through teaching, writing, storytelling, music, and projects like Read Aloud What If? and Francie Dillon’s Comfy Couch Stories. While the settings have changed over the years, the common thread has remained the same: creating meaningful experiences that help people connect, learn, think, and find a little more joy in the world.

  • Most people know me professionally as a National Award-Winning Children's Recording Artist and Educator. I sometimes also include Regional Emmy Nominee. However, with seven decades of living behind me—and hopefully more ahead—there's more to my story. A little background may help explain why I'm here and why finding ways to create, connect, and experience joy matters so much to me.

    In the biggest of pictures, I'm living a full and varied life—one shaped by music, parenthood, athletics, teaching, family, and love gained and lost. Driven by a deep need to create and share, I find myself continually looking for ways to stay present, engaged, and open to the goodness and joy life can offer. Whether through the playfulness of stories and music, educational presentations that encourage thinking, or sharing life experiences that may help others, I seem to be hardwired to take what's inside and put it out into the world. These days, I'm increasingly interested in finding ways to use music, stories, education, and lived experience in service of children, families, educators, and communities. (Blog)

    In recent years, my life has also been shaped by two devastating events: the death of my 26-year-old daughter and a career-altering neurological disorder, Dystonia and Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). These experiences deepened my trust in the simple phrase that helped me survive: Change Can Happen, Hope Does Exist.

    I've learned what acceptance really means and the importance of family support, quality medical care, and trust in love. I've learned to surrender to what is and to recognize that when I can, when I have the wherewithal to complete something, I will. I've also learned that resiliency isn't simply about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. Sometimes it's about having access to the support and resources that help you find your boots in the first place. None of us does this life thing alone. We need each other.

    And lastly, I see myself as a deliciously messy human being, doing my best to live a little better, be a little kinder, and offer what I can. Above all else, I am the mother of two children—one living, whom I get to hug and spend precious time with, and one who lives as stardust in my heart. I trust that someday we'll be together again. The love I have for both of my children has given the deepest meaning to my life.

  • National Award-Winning Children’s Recording Artist

    Album: The Toy Box

    - Winner of the National Parents’ Choice Approval Award, 1996.

    - Regional Emmy Nominee, 1998.

    - Best Newcomer Award, 1996.

    Song: The Elephant Dance

    - Semi-finalist in the International Songwriters Competition, 2015 - 2017.

    Performance | Recording | Production Highlights.

    - Produced | Recorded | Music and Lyrics | Fairytale Town 23 Story Boxes, Sacramento, CA.

    -” We’re Gonna Be Okay” |Music | Lyrics | Performed | Regional Emmy Nominee

    -Bear Valley Music Festival – Orchestral Performance “The Toy Box” – Bear Valley, CA

    - Produced | Performed "How To Read Aloud," early childhood literacy & language development, High 5 For Quality, First 5 El Dorado County, 2010.

    - Produced “How to Puppetry” and additional Video Spots – California State Library | Early Learning with Family Initiative

    -Sacramento Men’s Choirs-T’was the Night Before Christmas- Narrator

    -Davis Youth Symphony – Peter and The Wolf – Narrator

    -Sacramento Children’s Orchestra –Performance – The Toy Box (Original Music)

    -Dallas, Texas Kid Around Festival

    -California State Fair

    -California State Capitol “Read Around the Capitol”

    -Fair and Festival Stages No. Calif.

    -Starlight Starbright Foundation (No. California Hospital Visits)

    100’s of libraries, commercial bookstores, school assemblies, and special events.

    Produced a theatre production of “The Toy Box”.

  • Keynote Speaker and Workshop Presenter

    - 2024 Conference | Sacramento County Office of Education – Presenter – Sacramento, CA.

    - 2023 Women’s History Month – Consumnes Rivers Community College – Sacramento, CA

    - 2021 | 2020 Sacramento Central Library Play Summit – Presenter, Sacramento, CA.

    - Sacramento City Public Library – Holiday Concert Specials, Sacramento, CA

    - 2019 Placer County Office of Education - Keynote, Early Quality Matters, Auburn, CA

    - 2015 State Conference - Presenter, California Association for the Education of Young Children – Sacramento, CA.

    - 2014 | 2008 Ft. Hays University Young Authors’ Conference- Keynote Presenter, Ft. Hays, KS

    - 2014 Marion, Kansas Early Childhood Workshop, Marion, Kansas

    - 2013 Kansas Association for the Education of Young Children State Conference Keynote, Manhattan, Ks 2013

    - 2011 – 2013 Giving Voice to Children’s Literature | Sacramento, CA

    - 2008 Kansas State Reading Association State Conference –

    - Keynote Speaker | Workshop Presenter, Junction City, KS

    - 2007 – 2009 California State University, Sacramento Arts Resource Faire –Sacramento, CA,

    - Giving Voice to Children’s Literature - For teachers, students, and school administrators

    ADDITIONAL WORKSHOP CONFERENCES

    - National Even Start Conference - San Diego, CA

    - Head Start Northern California Conference

    - Northern California Association for Young Children: 6 Years Presenting

    - California Department of Education

    - PACE

    - Child Action Inc.

    - Various teacher workshops over the past 15 years

  • HONORS

    - 2014 Golden Key International Honor Society Honorary Member  - CSUS

    - 2012 Arts Educator of the Year, Sacramento Arts & Business Council, Sacramento, CA

    - 2012 Nominee, Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, City of Sacramento, CA

    - 2010 Finalist: Arts Educator of the Year, Sacramento Arts & Business Council, CA

    - 2011 Community Service Award: UC Davis Children’s Hospital, Children’s      Miracle Network, Sacramento, CA

    - 2000 Community Gem Award: Blue Diamond Growers, Sacramento, CA.

    - 2000 Spirit of California Award: KXTV Channel 10 - ABC News Affiliate, Sacramento, CA

    - 1998 Regional Emmy Nominee, Northern California - Sacramento, CA

    - 1996 National Parents’ Choice Approval Award

    - 1996 Best Newcomers Award,

    - 2015 & 2017 Semi-finalist International Songwriters Competition

  • Master of Arts Education M.A. Behavioral Science Gender Equity, Fall 2022

    Bachelor of Arts in Psychology | San Francisco State University, 1986

    Adjunct Faculty 2004 – Present
    California State University, Sacramento - Sacramento, CA

    -EDUC 120 Literature for Children

    -EDUC 10 Critical Thinking

    -EDUC 121 Multicultural Children’s Literature

    -EDUC 21 First Year Experience 

    Ongoing: education

    -ACUE: Inspiring Inquiry and Preparing Lifelong Learners -Summer/Fall 2026

    -CTL | CSU Chancellors | Equity Minded Pedagogy Sp 2025

    -CTL: Adaptive Teaching for Equity - Completed 03/11/2022

    -CTL: Innovators Institute Hyflex Herky Flex & More - Completed 12/2021

    -National Council Behavioral Health: Certificate of Completion - 01/16/2021

    -ACUE: Active Learning Online Certificate - 12/10/2021

    -ACUE: Advance Credential in Effective College Instruction - 2020

    -CSUS Faculty Learning Center: Equity and Student Success - 2016-2017

    -CSUS Certificate of Completion - March 2015

    -CTL Summer Teaching Institute – 2014

    -CSUS E-Academy: Online Course Development Program - 2015

    -Los Rios Community College District, Sacramento, CA - Freshman Seminar

    - Central Valley Holocaust Educational Network (CVHEN) Course Design | Videography - Sacramento, CA.  2023        

    California State Library | Early Learning with Families Initiative | Consulting | Media Development | Producer | Special Project- Sacramento, CA. 2013 - 2018

    Professional Associations

    • National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

    • Children’s Music Network

    Areas of Interest

    • Early Childhood Education

    • Children's Literature

    • Music and Storytelling

    • Family Literacy

    • Educator Development

    • Community Outreach