She joined the College after 10 years of teaching art in Baltimore City Public Schools. Vanessa is a locally and nationally recognized art educator due to her service on the writing team for the National Core Arts Standards in Visual Arts, her work as the coordinator for the 2010 National Art Education Association Convention held in Baltimore, and her role on the Fine Arts Education Advisory Panel for the Maryland State Department of Education.

Her research interests focus on cultural identities in school settings and urban education. She has been published in the Art Education Journal, Art and Social Justice Education: Culture as Commons (2011), the New York State Art Teachers Association (NYSATA) newsletter and the National Art Education Association blog.