Brenda brings a broad range of learner-centered experiences to her work with Step Up. Prior to this position, she served for five years as coordinator for the Achieve College Internships Program, which provided internship experiences for 198 college interns from over two dozen colleges in partnership with 95 Twin Cities employers. Brenda has also worked with UpTurnships, coaching college internship candidates and helping with employer outreach and strategic planning.

Brenda has also served as a managing editor in educational publishing, developing digital and print college courses for programs in healthcare careers, cultural awareness, and computer applications. She has also taught college courses in several subjects while a graduate student in literary theory, languages, and short fiction, tutored students at a university writing center, and volunteered as an ESL instructor and cultural coach to new immigrants. She loves all things language, literature, and learning, and especially values helping all learners to follow their self-inspired pathways forward.

Brenda completed her doctoral coursework and exams and earned her M.A. in comparative literature at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. She completed her B.S. in biology at UCLA, including a track-changing year of study abroad at Sussex University in England. A proud native of Eveleth, Minnesota, Brenda frequently visits family “Up North” near the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame and loves to bake, run and hike, take on tailoring gigs, practice foreign languages, watch foreign films, and LOL when reading Richard Brautigan stories.