Nashira was born and raised in Wisconsin, where her love of music took root long before she knew it would become her life’s work. She earned her degree and certifications in General & Instrumental Music Education (K-12) from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, followed by a Master’s in Music Education from Boston University. Since then, she has taught across a wide range of settings, including private, public, bilingual, and after-school programs, in Milwaukee, New York, and now Chicago. Much of her work has centered on general music and string education in elementary schools, using a culturally-responsive, popular music pedagogy that meets students where they are and honors the music they already know and love.
At the core of Nashira’s approach is a simple but guiding belief: she is teaching children, not simply teaching music. Whether she is facilitating a music class filled with rambunctious 1st graders or coaching a first-time teaching artist, she sees every lesson as an opportunity to help learners build the critical self- and social skills that will serve them well beyond the classroom.
Nashira’s path into teaching artistry began at Third Street Music School in New York, an experience that shaped how she thinks about music education outside the traditional classroom. When the opportunity arose to step back into that role with the Chicago Center for Music Education (ChiME), she was thrilled to return to the work of building community through music. Today, as Program Director for ChiME’s Music Education team, Nashira supports both students and fellow teaching artists as they grow their skills and deepen their practice. She has been instrumental in embedding Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into ChiME’s curriculum and in organizing ongoing SEL-focused professional development for her team, PD which will now include trauma-informed practices that support ChiME’s mission of access for all.
Though Nashira was raised in the classical music tradition, trained in piano, cello, and saxophone, her musical identity has since expanded well beyond performance. She has found a new and deeply meaningful passion for non-performative, social music-making, the kind that happens not on a stage, but in community. She occasionally engages in jam sessions where she can be found singing and improvising on cello alongside friends and neighbors. For Nashira, this kind of music-making captures something essential about why she does this work: music is not just something to be mastered or watched, but something to be shared.
Outside of ChiME, Nashira’s life is full and joyfully chaotic. She spends her free time playing with her kids and her cat, watching the Marvel Cinematic Universe with her husband, reading, making to-do lists, and listening to podcasts, occasionally all at the same time. That same warmth, curiosity, and multitasking spirit shows up in her work at ChiME, where she moves fluidly between mentoring teaching artists, building curriculum, solving technical problems, and championing the idea that every learner deserves the chance to grow and experience joy through music.
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