Cindy graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science (Ecology) from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver before travelling to South East Asia for eight months to hike, birdwatch, and eat her way through seven countries. When she returned to Canada, she moved to Trois-Rivières, Québec where she pursued a Certificat en Français pour Non-Francophones including courses in international development at University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières. Having reached the end of the line for that program, Cindy moved to Montréal where she worked as an environmental educator, translator and writer in both French and English until 1992 when she moved to Winnipeg to pursue a Bachelor’s of Education at Universitaire de Saint-Boniface (Dean`s Honour Roll). While completing her B.Ed., Cindy was involved in teaching vegetarian courses in French, as well as nature programs to teachers, writing activities in French for the teen journal Vidéo Presse , on the board of directors for the Manitoba Naturalists Society, coordinator for a scientific Olympics for 200 grade 4-6 students as well as one of the founders of EnvirAction.

Feeling the travel bug once more, Cindy heard the call of her twin passions of international development/environment and in 1994 moved to Malawi in Eastern Africa as part of WUSC (World University Services of Canada). The first year as Conservation Coordinator for Habitat for Humanity, she worked with locals to plant trees to overcome the detriments of house building on the environment. The second year, she worked with a local NGO called PAMET (Paper Making Education Trust) to help teachers create teaching and learning aids out of homemade paper. Her son was born in Malawi in 1995 and one of his names is Michiru after a local mountain and favourite birdwatching/hyena haunt.

Back in Canada in 1996, Cindy moved to Calgary and into Sunnyhill Housing Co-operative, where her daughter was born in 1999 and she resides there to this day. She loves to observe the birds, beavers, and muskrats that frequent a pond near her home. She also enjoys hiking, gardening, and naps with her cats. Cindy is active at her housing co-operative and volunteers with the Calgary Urban Species Response Team. Cindy is a medaled triathlete, masters swimmer, and runner. Other passions are reading, playing Pokémon Go, and working on learning German.

Because community is important to her, homeschooling her children seemed a perfect fit. Cindy and her two children did hands-on projects, read a ton of books, and went on lots of outings in the community. When Cindy started working as a Home Education Manager in 2002, she organized a science club for 50+ kids, planned countless field trips and created a history program for her children and others out of her home as well as winning a Bronze Merit Award for 7 years of service with Girl Guides of Canada. Cindy’s children are grown up now, and she continues to share her passion for homeschooling with other families, finding delight in sharing familiar resources and learning about new ones.