Connie Edwards is a certified Social-Emotional Mindfulness Coach, Meditation Practitioner, Wellness Champion, Yoga Instructor through Breathe for a Change, and Practitioner of Sound Therapies through Meditate: School of Mindfulness and Sound. Connie embodies the spirit of compassion and healing. With over two decades of experience working with school-aged children and building wellness and family centers, she understands the transformative power of connection and support in unlocking each individual's potential. She reduces the barriers to learning by providing school-based wellness centers and connecting the students and their families with resources through community partnership.

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Connie started her career as a Healthy Start Coordinator with the Pasadena Unified School District in 2000. Connie Edwards created a model school based family center for Healthy Start in Pasadena Unified School District. Throughout her time as the coordinator for Healthy Start, her center was recognized as the model center. In 2016, she started working at Moreno Valley Unified School District where, under the direction of the superintendent, she created the first school-based Wellness Center in Riverside County equipped with essential resources to support families in need. The Wellness Center has a full functioning shower and laundry facility, food pantry and clothing closet for families in need. The wellness center served, and continues to serve, as a nurturing hub for the community.

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Connie's service to the community is an expression of who she is as a person. She is always looking for different ways to connect with and help students and their parents become better people. She has her own unique way of communicating with students and parents to help them see themselves as worth the extra effort. In 2019, Connie founded Embracing Families with Hope, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the physical, mental and emotional well-being of children and families through mindfulness, sound therapies, and wellness. She believes that every student deserves to thrive, regardless of their circumstances. Connie's unwavering commitment to eliminating barriers to learning is evident in the way she communicates and connects with students and parents. With the purpose and hope of benefiting the students and alleviating barriers to academic success, Connie works wholeheartedly to improve the socio-economic issues and challenges that students endure.

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Building relationships with various community partners is easy for Connie, as she expresses the value of their support and the benefits to the students and their families. Her passion to help others is evident in the many relationships she has developed, nurtured and fostered throughout her career. Connie has partnered with Hemet Unified School District, Alvord Unified School District, and Moreno Valley Unified School District, as well as community partners such as All Kids Health / Geri Smiles Dental Program, Love 4 Humanity, Pure-land Foundation, and Rosston Barber. Connie’s goal, along with these partners, is to improve not only the academic but the socio-economic lives of students and to eliminate barriers for the whole child and their families.

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Throughout her career, Connie has received numerous recognitions and awards. A few of her awards include:

• Woman of Distinction – Assemblymember Jose Medina (2017)

• Unsung Hero Award – Molina Healthcare (2018)

• Golden Bell Award (2018)

• Magna Award – National School Board Association – Moreno Valley School District’s Wellness Center (2019)​