Topic to Cover
“Cultural Presentations”
Biography
Graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University, M.A.T. World Languages, NJ (2013), with double certification Spanish and English as a Second Language, as well as a certification on Equity and Excellence in Education from McDaniel College, MD (2021). She graduated from La Escuela de Formación de Actores del Teatro Libre, Bogotá, Colombia (1999). She collaborated with ID Studio Theater, NY from 2001 to 2016 where she performed in more than 25 productions in New York, New Jersey, and Bogotá.
For several years, Jimena has worked as a volunteer in different artistic and public organizations such as Alianza Dominicana, Natives Theater in Queens, NY, and Center for Traditional Music and Dance, CTMD, NY where she was in charge of creative, administrative and pedagogical roles. In 2006 she won the Swing Space Award provided by LLCM in NYC, and in 2007 won the Puffin Foundation award in Teaneck, NJ. In 2007, Jimena was the director and producer of La Guía del Inmigrante en TV Pública while working at Immigration and American Citizenship Organization, IACO, in Passaic, NJ.
In 2018 Jimena created a curriculum for citizenship applicants and developed a series of instructional tools to serve this community. From 2009 to 2013, Jimena was President of the Instituto de Cultura y Arte Latinoamericano, ICAL, Hackensack, NJ, where she directed an artistic educational project. Since 2013 she has been teaching Spanish and ESL in various NJ Public Schools. She is currently working at Pascack Valley HS District where she definitely feels that she is in the right place, and she hopes to continue serving and growing as an educator. She has been a Spanish Adjunct Professor at Bergen Community College, NJ for four years.