Multimedia weirdo. ADHD gremlin. Poser composer.
As a coding mentor at the Academy, Zoe is passionate about developing clean, colorful interfaces and building accessible apps. She draws from her eclectic interests to be the translator between different areas of expertise. As a generalist, Zoe is frequently seen pretending to be a designer, facilitator, and curriculum developer. She is happiest when presenting topics she knows nothing about in front of unwitting Academy learners. Challenge-Based Learning pushes her to confront the unknown, while embracing radical educational models as part of the radical change she seeks.
Prior to joining the Academy, Zoe earned a Bachelors of Music from Oberlin Conservatory and a Master of Music from University of Michigan. When not in the Academy, you can find her playing trombone, climbing, avoiding her composition commissions, cooking spicy food, making paper snowflakes, throwing ceramic vessels, pretending to be a whole brass quintet on YouTube, forgetting to water her plants, and trying a new hobby each week desperately hoping something will work out.
My colleagues refer to me as the “CBL Queen,” but really I just love to analyze the details and help us deliver the best educational experience we can.
Jump wholeheartedly into every area available! Everyone can try their hand at idea generation, design, coding, business and presentation. Don’t shy away from the ones you find scary.
I’m a musician at heart but have been coding since middle school. When I was young I wanted to be an engineer, but “not the train kind.” (But I’ll try anything twice, even train engineering!)
Entrepreneurship is an essential skill in the music field. I self-publish my compositions as Zoe’s Sounds Publishing and sell them on my website. In college, I found time to take computer science classes (in between my dozens of ensembles) and most recently took courses in iOS development.
I’m so excited about this investment in Detroit’s tech access and literacy. I hope the Academy inspires its learners to invest in their own communities, create new tech jobs that diverge from the debt-creators of Detroit, and build tools for radical change.
I grew up in Ann Arbor, and in 2020 finally made it to the Big City. I’m very happy to be here. Detroit inspires me.