Amanda Pincock’s love affair with culture and language began with a study abroad to France during her sophomore year of college. Bitten by the travel bug, she then spent the rest of the summer solo backpacking across Europe. After graduating from Sonoma State with a BA in Elementary Education, Amanda joined the Peace Corps in Cote d’Ivoire and Madagascar as an Education Volunteer, and led programs doing HIV/AIDS outreach, assisted with health initiatives, and taught adult literacy classes for women, among other projects.

Amanda later went on to earn a Masters in Language Development with a focus on Minority Language Literacy from Dallas International University. She speaks fluent French, is conversational in Spanish, and also speaks various levels of Portuguese, Malagasy and Worodougou. Her favorite thing about learning languages is how it allows a deeper connection within the community she is visiting. She considers making someone laugh in another language the highest honor!

When she isn’t studying languages, Amanda is a semi-professional swing dancer and instructor who teaches locally and nationally. She also loves reading, hiking and spending time with her cat, Saka.

Amanda was a VISIONS leader and Program Director for ten summers from 2006 – 2013 in diverse locations, including Guadeloupe, Dominica, Alaska, Ghana, Vietnam and the Montana Reservation. After five years of working with underserved populations and partnering with nonprofits in the workforce development community in Austin, TX, Amanda returned to her VISIONS roots as our valued Director of Outreach.