Mary-Leigh enjoyed a career as an educator for over twenty years. Early on, she taught Kindergarten and primary grades. She spent a few years teaching special education, high school mathematics, and then spent a decade as the Head of the Social Science and Humanities department of a large high school. After developing a passion for working with in-risk students, Mary-Leigh helped to design and implement a teaching and learning approach for these students, which was later adopted by the Ontario Ministry of Education. Mary-Leigh has contributed to two textbook publications for the senior Social Sciences, serving as both a pedagogical reviewer and advisor. She also worked as a contributing writer to the accompanying Teacher’s Guide for the Grade 12 Challenge and Change in Society textbook. Mary-Leigh worked as part of a team to implement the Black Studies program in her school and across the Board. Later in her career, she began teaching for Queen’s University.