My parents, mainly my dad, had a deep affection for Maya Angelou. He had hopes that if he named me after her, that my personality and strength would mirror Dr. Angelou. However, to ensure that my name had some individuality, he decided to spell it with the “uy” to make the long “i (/ɑɪ/)” sound. (Like for the words “guy” and “buy”.) Weird, I know. It caused tons of embarrassing moments being referred to as M-oo-ya as a child and adolescent but I have grown to love it now. Now on to a little snippet about me as a person, not just a name! I am a mother of three lovely children ages 20, 14 and 10. It’s interesting having them all spread out, I get to experience three different stages of growth and maturity all at the same time. I have been a resident of Austin since 1990. (Although, I’ve snuck out of the state to live in Costa Rica for a few years.) I graduated from RRISD, Southwestern University in Georgetown and Texas State University in San Marcos. I started my teaching career in 2002 as a PK Teacher. Since then, I have had the opportunity to teach, mentor, coach and now coordinate in the wonderful world of Early Childhood.