Hi, I'm Dr. Sharon Michaels.

I created Tended Collective out of necessity.

Working in schools can ask a lot of you.

You can spend the day solving problems, answering emails, supporting students, talking with families, covering for a colleague, sitting through meetings, and making one decision after another. Then someone asks how you're doing, and the easiest answer is often, I'm fine.

Educators get very good at keeping things moving, even when we're tired, frustrated, grieving, overwhelmed, or simply running on empty.

As a principal, I watched brilliant educators disappear into their resilience. I was one of them.

And I knew we didn't need another reminder to practice self-care or be more resilient. We needed something that made room for the actual experience of doing this work. A place to be honest about what we're holding deep within, get clear about what we need, and decide what comes next.

This is that something.

Tended Collective exists because educators deserve space to be people, too. To say what is hard. To be supported without having to explain everything. To reconnect with themselves and with people who understand.

And because none of us should have to do that alone.