I have some exciting news: after 5 incredible years at FPF, I have started up my own consulting practice! My new venture - Public Interest Privacy Consulting (pipc.tech) - focuses on supporting and advising school districts, government agencies, non-profits, companies, and policymakers on all things child and student privacy.

I’ll still be available in my new capacity for anyone who has questions or wants to geek out about child or student privacy issues. So many of my professional colleagues have become my personal friends, and I want to stay in touch with you. If you ever need anything, feel free to email me at avance AT publicinterestprivacy.com. If you have a consulting gig where I can be useful, please reach out via our contact form - I’d love to find a way to help. I’ll also be at IAPP Global in April and would love to meet up in person!

So why the change? I think COVID has made us all think more about work-life balance and what aspects of our personal and work lives that bring us the most joy and fulfillment. As all of you know, I love and am deeply passionate (and nerdy) about child and student privacy issues, and, with such a big team, I haven’t had the chance to personally step back, examine trends, analyze legislation, and create resources that help people - and I want to get back to doing that hands-on work.

Over the past two semesters, I was fortunate enough to be invited to co-teach information privacy law and global privacy and data protection with my colleague Kelsey Finch at PennState Law thanks to the amazing Margaret Hu. And it turns out that I love it - I love teaching, creating lesson plans, interacting with students, and breaking down complex issues. I want to continue to teach part-time, and leaving FPF also gives me the time I need to find more opportunities to teach and have the time I need to serve my students well.

I loved every minute at FPF; I learned so much, and Jules and John gave me the freedom and support to build the Youth & Education program from just me back in 2016 to the eleven phenomenal team members we have today. I cannot say enough about the incredible colleagues who I got to work with and learn from every day - Kels, Stacey Gray, Christy Harris, Brenda Leong, Sara Jordan, Katherine Sledge, Jim Siegl, and so many more - who I will miss so much. FPF tends to hire amazing people, and I’m sure the Youth & Edu program will continue to blossom moving forward.