ISDI Student Spotlight ft. Anne Maloney
In this weekly series, we’ll be highlighting the student journeys and accomplishments of our future leaders in digital business.
This week we feature Anne, a career educator whose work experience ranges from building up educational startups to managing high-impact in-school programs — read on to find out more about Anne!
- Tell us a little bit about your background and why you decided to make ISDI a part of your journey?
I grew up in Washington, DC, but came to the Bay Area for college and eventually made it my home. After a brief stint working in France, I moved to the Bay Area for my first teaching job and have been in education ever since. I studied History in college and started out teaching History and English to middle and high schoolers. After a few years in the classroom, I joined an educational startup founded by teachers who wanted to improve social studies education in California.
In recent years, I’ve been working at Bellarmine College Prep, engaging students in social justice education and helping to run the school’s Community Service program. In addition to leading local immersion trips and outreach events, I help students find opportunities to serve with local nonprofits that serve the socio-economically disadvantaged. Our goal is to get students into the community so that they can learn about local organizations, volunteer, and meet people they otherwise would not encounter. In the process, we are trying to plant seeds that will hopefully grow into a lifelong desire to use their gifts and talents in service of the world. I love working at a school that’s committed to social justice and forming young men of conscience, competence, and compassion.
My path to ISDI was through Steve Cadigan, one of the university’s co-founders. Steve invited me to ISDI Talks and I went to check out and support his latest venture. I was really impressed with the whole presentation, the proposed content and amazing roster of instructors. While I wasn’t thinking about ISDI for me, after some follow-up conversations with Steve and Amir, I decided to jump in and be part of #thatISDIlife.
2. We know ISDI has a full spectrum of digital thinkers, which one are you: Digital Immigrant (new to technology), Digital Native (one with technology), or somewhere in between?
I’m definitely somewhere in between. I am interested in new technologies and enjoy learning about them and trying them out. I signed onto to Twitter very early on, but I don’t tweet much. Let’s just say that my enthusiasm for things digital is higher than my Klout score.
I believe in the power of technology to connect people and to improve lives. I also have some concerns about the role of technology in our lives. As an educator, I’ve seen technology used in lots of beneficial ways — and I benefit from it every day. As much as technology and digital tools can enhance teaching and learning, they are not the answer for every educational challenge.
3. If your friends and family had to use 3 words to describe you what would they be?
Creative, Compassionate, Insightful
4. What is your proudest work accomplishment and life accomplishment?
Work — I loved my time with the startup Teacher’s Curriculum Institute (TCI). It was really fun to be part of a small, rapidly growing company with a mission to revitalize social studies education in California. We had a set of dynamic teaching strategies and developed innovative, engaging content to make history come alive in K-12 classrooms. Our curriculum ended up in thousands of schools in California and beyond and is still impacting students and teachers every day.
Life — Being a mom. My husband and I have raised two daughters and my family continues to bring me indescribable joy and fulfillment.
5. What is a surprising fact not many people know about you or something you wish more people knew about you?
I’m a yoga instructor. I have been lucky enough to teach yoga for years and thoroughly enjoy helping students learn poses and breathing techniques that promote strength, flexibility, balance, focus, concentration, calm, relaxation and mind-body-spirit connection.
6. If you had to write a book about something, and you knew it would be an all time best seller (as in this message would be seen by millions of people) what would it be and why?
Well, my first choice for a best seller would be a photography book! I love trying to capture something ephemeral in an image and would love to put together a book of images that move people, that make them smile or laugh, or feel more connected to something bigger, some aspect of beauty or truth or love or what it means to be human.
If I were to write a book, it would be similar: a collection of poignant and funny stories about hope, love, forgiveness, and triumph that point to the sacred in everyday life and help people feel their own worth, be themselves, take risks, and fulfill their potential, while helping others to do so.
7. If you decided to start a business tomorrow what would it be and why?
I would probably start promoting and selling fair trade products from artisans and small scale producers around the world. The business would feature cool, quality products that improve your life, reflect your style and values, but also highlight the unique stories of the people who made them. I’d want customers to know exactly where each product came from, who made it, what went into making it, and how buying the product is good for the consumer, the producer, the community, and the environment. Several of our modules, especially the e-commerce one, have helped me to imagine how I could pull this off.
My interest in a fair trade business was heightened during my recent trip to Nicaragua. I’ve been promoting ethical products for years as an ambassador for Catholic Relief Services, but it wasn’t until I visited Nicaragua and spent some time with coffee producers in a small farming community that I really started to understand — and appreciate — the tremendous hard work, dedication, ingenuity, and community resources that go into small scale coffee production. Meeting farmers and getting a glimpse of their land, their lives, and the many challenges they face, inspired me to want to find new ways to share their stories and promote fair(er)trade.
8. What is a piece of advice you’d give to the younger version of yourself?
Probably to stop trying to give people advice. Just listen.
9. What technological innovation are you most excited about in the coming decades?
The digital tools and technologies that will alleviate poverty and give more people and communities access to education, economic opportunity, and improved health.
10. Give us a digital tip or trick you’ve learned at ISDI!
Slack has been invaluable for our backbone project. We use it constantly and I’ve been singing its praises to family and friends.
Thanks for joining us on our Student Spotlight Series! For more ISDI blog posts written by our amazing students and our esteemed academic board, check them out at our ISDI Blog here.
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