Alison W. › SmartSitting

Family Application

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I am a concert soprano and actress, pursuing a career in film, opera and multimedia performance. Recently I sang several oratorios, produced my own recital of baroque and classical Italian song, acted in two films that played at Sundance, sang and acted in a major installation during the 2009 MOMA Performa Biennial, and wrote original music for a major modern dance company. While I have a deep abiding passion for my creative life, my long-term goals also feature teaching and community building, and I love the learning, caring, and constancy involved in working as a nanny.

Originally from Seattle, I come from a family of musicians, writers, and artists. The oldest of four children, I played a large role in raising my siblings—and babysitting for other families in our tight-knit community. By the time I was sixteen, I was teaching dramatic play, working professionally as an actress, and attending high school and college at the same time. I have over fifteen years of teaching and babysitting experience, and am experienced working with kids of all ages, from infancy through adolescence. A trained, experienced birth doula, I am knowledgeable about breastfeeding and infant care and am supportive of individual families choices in breastfeeding, bottle-feeding, and attachment parenting.

I love people, families, community, and stories! My personal interests and hobbies include nurturing my midtown theatre company, cooking and entertaining, reading, writing, dancing, learning about maternal-child health, learning opera roles, studying French, Italian, and Hebrew, and listening to and telling great stories. Working with babies, children, and families has afforded me countless rich and wonderful experiences. I am excited to meet and work with your SmartFamily!

Education

Indiana University, 2005

B.S. in Music
Minor in Theatre and Drama
Bain Scholarship for Undergraduate Voice, 2002-2005
Trinity Episcopal Church music scholarship, 2003-2005
West Palm Beach Opera Competition Finalist, 2005

Childcare experience:

15 years, on-call babysitter
14 years, teacher
1 year, nanny
3 years, camp counselor

Availability:

For an ongoing weekday schedule, I am available either 8am-6pm, or 2pm-10pm.
Sundays are also possible, as are Saturday evenings.

Long-term availability:

Available at least through summer 2012, hopefully longer.

I will be SmartSitting while...

Auditioning, learning new roles and acting skills with my teachers, producing my own work, and volunteering with non-profits.

My childcare expertise lies in working with…

All ages. I am comfortable and experienced with all ages, and I have special skills with infants.

Activities and skills I love to teach and share with children:

Music lessons (singing and dancing and musical skills with piano), swimming, cooking, good manners, communication skills, and reading and math.

Most memorable childcare experience:

When I was caring for Noah last year, it was so amazing to see him roll over completely for the first time. For weeks he had been rolling halfway over and staring longingly at his little black and white and red toys sitting nearby on his play rug. He wiggled and gazed and tried to get there. And eventually he rolled over from back to front and then gave a nice little bounce and rolled all the way back to his back. How exciting!! He seemed so surprised and please and distracted that he forgot about the toy and just wiggled and smiled peacefully. What a great moment.

In 5 years, I hope to be...

An internationally known singing actor, with gigs across the globe, a debut at the Salzburg Festival in an opera directed by Peter Sellars, films debuting at the Berlin Film Festival and Cannes, and maintaining a steady long-term commitment to a small theatre company in the city.