I am a small-town girl with big dreams and a big faith.

Ciao, Bambini famiglia! My name is Alba Pegna, and I am the new foreign language teacher with a particular focus on Spanish. I was born and raised in Moca, a small town in the Dominican Republic, and have loved art in all its forms since I was a little girl. By grace, I managed to graduate from advertising, fine arts, and illustration at two of the most prestigious academic institutions in the Dominican Republic, consecutively. For a small-town dreamer girl like me, it’s important to highlight that scholarships made this happen. As much as I dreamed about this, I also had to believe there was going to be a path for those dreams.

Grateful for the privilege of studying at these two institutions, I decided to give back and teach, which led me to discover a new passion within me. This new path led me to study pedagogical sciences and become a art professor for more than ten years at my alma mater as well as other educational institutions.

 

A short version of my story reads that being a university professor is tied to how I met my husband — who was still happened to be a student at my alma mater at the time. The long version goes into beautiful details about how we started college together but never met. I finished on time and he took his time, and then the right time came for us to meet where we should’ve in the first place. That long version was edited out in the interest of time.

Fast forward to 2010 and a new season came rushing into our familly’s life. We packed six suitcases and moved with our two young kids from Santo Domingo to Louisville, Kentucky, in order for my husband to pursue his M.Div. in Worship Leadership. During that time my legal status did not allow me to work but I was able to volunteer in multiple places while also homeschooling our children. After adding two more kids, two more degrees, and a few more years, we became permanent residents of the United States and moved to Overland Park in 2017 where my husband joined an organization called Made to Flourish, where he currently works as VP of Communications. Thanks to our new immigration status I was now able to work as an artist once again and founded Foofly Co.

I now have a new opportunity to do more of what I love — teaching my native language and my love for wonder to a new generation of creatives in a place full of big dreams and big beliefs called Bambini Creativi.