My Journey

Hi, I’m Dr. Teresa Vasquez, but you can call me Dr. T. As a Nashville Tech Council Engineer of the Year finalist and full stack software developer, with the heart of an educator, I enjoy helping others find their power and use their imagination through software development.

I have been a unicorn and champion for UX/UI and its intersection with software engineering before it became a thing. It all started when my son was officially diagnosed with Autism 15 years ago.

My passion is studying how user and business needs collide into amazing opportunities for both designers and developers and taking what I’ve learned into this collaborative relationship to inspire creativity and innovation to build amazing software.

My Mission:

1. To demand diversity, inclusion, and collaboration for the Nashville tech community, which includes tech users, creators, and designers.
2. To empower software engineers and designers through innovative instruction and cutting edge creation of software that allows creativity and compassion.
3. To support users and creators with neurological differences so that they can create and crush their goals.

My Core Values: Honesty, Integrity, Social Responsibility, Trust, Compassion, Hard Work, Perseverance, and Self-Control.

Dr. T's Bio

Where I’m from, people don’t get doctorates. They barely get high school educations!. Even though I have more education, as well as the same life experiences that they have, I still feel like I am one of them. I just am one of the people who had hope and faith throughout my experiences. My entire life, I’ve fought against those same individuals as they told me that I wouldn’t be anything, no matter how hard I tried; that I was being dumb, and negligent with my time. What they didn't know was that as they were speaking to me, so was my inner spirit.

She unfolded her purpose for me. I knew that no matter how hard I struggled with this, my dreams for my life would ultimately be accomplished. Fast forward many years and I am often surrounded by like-minded individuals who are all working toward the same goal that I am...to further themselves through education. It’s a humbling experience, really; the idea that faith in one's self really can move mountains. From my humble beginnings, to a faith-filled calling where blessings arise daily through the life I was created to live.

My name is Dr. Teresa Vasquez. Born to an immigrant from Guatemala, and a Creole woman from Louisiana. My father has always said that "he wanted a football player, but what he got instead was the best blessing in the world...a daughter." (even though I also played women's professional football, so he got both!) My mother died when I was five, leaving my father to raise three children.

He did the best he could with his limited understanding of the political and social systems. He did, however, very much understand the meaning of hard work and dedication, to not only a job, but also to people. He taught me work ethic and honesty. He also showed me that people are more valuable than only our own selfish needs from them. This is where my servant heart was allowed to flourish - in the safety of a loving father who was a brilliant example of what the goodness and compassion of humanity looked like.

Today, I find myself teaching my kids the same lessons that my daddy taught me. I’m the wife to a great husband and educator in the Metro Nashville Public school system, and the mother of four wonderful children; one of whom has special needs. I’ve enjoyed following my inner spirit as I lead others through service. By trade, I’m a web, new media expert, and software engineer with high levels of innovation and business acumen. I am also a tech integration expert and special education advocate, fighting for the special needs community.

Through use of my education, professional experience, and the ethics that were instilled in me from a very early age, I’ve been able to take complex ideas, and use my ability to teach as well as my love of technology, to create safe harbors for the free flow of ideas and knowledge. Even from those who don’t have a formal education. I get more enjoyment and satisfaction from knowing that empowering others can help plant seeds that will bear good fruit than I do in physical rewards. This is who I am and how I was created, and I embrace it fully.

To honor this passion, I began a local TEDx outlet for my community as I curated several events, two major, so that those with ideas and passions could share them with the world!

Education

I graduated as a non-traditional student from Nashville State Community College (NSCC) in Nashville, TN, May of 2005, with Highest Honors. During my time at NSCC, I was named to the 2005 All-Tennessee Academic Team, and nominated to the 2005 All-USA Academic Team. I was also given the distinct honor of addressing the graduating class at the Nashville State graduation ceremony.

I chose to attend Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in Murfreesboro, TN, to complete my undergraduate work where I double majored in Visual Communications and English and minored in Women's Studies and Spanish. While a non-traditional student at MTSU, I was a member, and held leadership positions, within several student organizations and societies. One of my favorites was serving as the Editor-in-Chief of Collage: A Journal of Creative Expression, which is the visual and literary arts journal for MTSU. Among my many appointments, I also received various awards for community service, academic achievements, and leadership positions.

The most prestigious award I received was a $20,000 grant from the Hispanic Scholarship Fund to help at-risk girls achieve academic and athletic goals through a sports television program, which recognizes their achievements. It was through this gift that I was able to gain a better understanding of my passion for equality for all people, regardless of gender, race, or disability, as well as how I could use the gift I had in multimedia creation to express complex concepts. I also learned that there was a distinct disparity in this population’s access to educational technology, and an undervaluing of culture and disability. As such, this is where my passion was born.

After I graduated from MTSU in 2007, I chose to attend Trevecca Nazarene University for a master’s degree in business administration (Class of 2005 - I was also honored to address the graduating class), and a doctorate in education (Class of 2013).

In the spring of 2013, with my knowledge in hand, I decided to travel to Guatemala, Central America, to help its special needs citizens. Through this experience, I found my calling, which is to provide education in technology in order to streamline personal, family, and organizational goals and needs regardless of culture, educational level, and disability. As such, In 2016, I received my certification as a special education advocate from Vanderbilt University.

In 2017, in order to be fully effective, I needed to gain a deeper understanding of database structures and back-end programming languages, so I enrolled at Nashville Software School (NSS) and earned a certificate in programming in January of 2018. It was this experience that focused my passions and it was at NSS that I found the voice I had been searching for many years.

I decided to stick around NSS after graduation so that I could continue to help marginalized persons in tech, from within, embrace their missions and find their voices through mentorship, teaching, and leadership. After leaving NSS, I continue to volunteer to teach and lead new developer sessions to help those who also have a passion for software engineering.

I am currently UI Architect and Full-Stack Software Engineer Manager at Kindful where I help make it possible for non-profits around the world do good.