Kristen was born and raised in Salisbury, Maryland, and currently lives in Laurel, Delaware. She graduated from St. Mary’s College of Maryland with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English. Since that time she has held several administrative positions as well as instructional assistant positions in elementary and middle schools in Salisbury, Maryland. For the last several years she has worked for the Board of Education transcribing documents into Braille for blind students. She has been certified through the National Federation of the Blind as a Braille transcriptionist.
Kristen has served in leadership positions with the Eastern Shore Self-Advocacy Project, which promotes self-advocacy for persons with developmental disabilities. She has been the Mistress of Ceremonies at meetings and acted as a liaison between it and UNA for several years. She received a Leadership Award from ESSAP in 2016 for this and later served on their Leadership Committee. She has also advocated in Annapolis both in person and with a letter, to pass laws benefiting and strike down laws hindering the disabled.
Kristen has been a member of the UNA Board of Directors since 2016 and was elected Secretary in November 2019, with her term beginning January of this year. She has been transcribing the Board’s minutes since March 2018.