You can find a lot of creative souls wondering the halls at ILI, including next up in our #VoicesOfILI series, Heather Hall!
Heather grew up in Baltimore and always loved traveling as a young person. From Italy, to Spain, to Mexico, or traveling cross country she says it never gets old, how beautifully big and diverse the world is. She spent a number of years in her 20’s saving up as much money as possible working and then traveling for as long as possible. Eventually, she stopped traveling to study Agro-ecology at UC Santa Cruz. From California to Martha’s Vineyard, Heather moved and worked as a gardener. She spoke highly of her time spent on the Vineyard. Surrounded by great friends, in a creative place, with the beach close by!
It wasn’t until her daughter was born that Heather made the move out to western Massachusetts. When she got here she finished college at UMass studying cross cultural education and soon after met Caroline and well – the rest is history. Initially Heather was volunteering to help with office tasks, then she got her TESOL certificate and started teaching in the Intensive English Program as well as teaching English to Spanish teachers. It was right around the time that Heather was debating moving back to Vineyard that she was offered a job at ILI. 17 years later and Heather says that her favorite things about working at ILI are her co-workers, getting to meet all kinds of people from all over the world and learning about what they are doing and why they chose to learn a language. She loves being a part of a team that does a lot of different things that are all creative and meaningful.
In her free time Heather enjoys being outside whether that be on a walk, a bike ride, or traveling. She also spends time hanging out with friends or in her at-home studio where she channels the fiber artist within – creating art out of materials such as silk and wool.
Heather is gratified by the work that she and her co-workers accomplishes at ILI, in her studio, and in her family. A fun fact Heather shared about life before becoming a world traveler, fiber artist, mom, and English teacher is that she was a majorette in elementary school! She says that she can still twirl a baton – who wants proof?
Thanks for sharing all the awesome details about your life Heather, ILI appreciates you!