About Amanda
Amanda Macias joined TechtalkRadio in 2008, first as a viewer on Ustream.tv, and then as a TechtalkRadio guest Disney Parks blogger and Comic Con enthusiast, but then left to pursue her passion in education and innovation. With over 16 years under her belt in K-8 education using technology, inside and outside the classroom, Amanda ignites a spark in students’ lives and those of the educators she engages.
As instructional support coach, she is responsible for supporting her local county school district leaders, educators, educational initiatives and student outcomes where her message has always been that “Play Matters.”
More recently her rediscovery has been the love of gaming, the maker lifestyle, and how technology seamlessly integrate and flow from her life into her career. Amanda is a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, MIE Trainer, Minecraft Education Edition Trainer, and educational pioneer since the beginning. She is also a Professional Learning Specialist with Insight 2 Execution, a Global Microsoft Training Partner, taking her expertise of education and pedagogy practices into the art of gamification for education for 21st century learning skills while supporting educators throughout the world using Microsoft Education products and partner applications.
Amanda continues to grow her passion with games-based learning, and enjoys streaming and engaging with other educational professionals in game-based learning networks on Twitch and as much as humanly possible, with global friends from around the internet. She continues to ignite passion in others so that they may inspire children around the globe with education that is relevant and meaningful to student voice and choice.
In her spare time, she is the CEO of her own health and fitness business, passionate about animal ambassadorship, partnering with San Diego Zoo Global, and enjoys participating in a local Halloween enthusiast group, CalHaunts, making and creating studio quality sets for the enjoyment of others. There, she learns beside like-minded spook-tacular friends, how to design as an amateur Home Haunt Enthusiast, for conventions such as MidSummer Scream. She shares this love of craft, with her husband, an IT professional in his own right, who encourages her to pursue any crazy passion she dares dream.