meet our speakers
Phil Nguyen
He/Him/His
Phil Nguyen is the Founder, and Executive Managing Partner of EdChiefs - a strategic consulting firm that provides education and social impact organizations with remote Chief Level Support. In addition to EdChiefs, Phil also serves as the National Partnerships Manager for K12 Inc, is the Founder and Chief Program Officer of the New Jersey Charter School Launch Program – Executive Director Fellowship, the New Jersey Impact Lead for ImmSchools, and the Founding President of NAAAP NJ (National Association of Asian American Professionals - New Jersey Chapter). He also sits on a few Non-Profit Boards, serving as a Founding Board Member for Lotus Public Schools, the Founding Alumni Board Chair for Teach for America New Jersey, and the Senior Board Advisor for the National Virtual GSA.
In his early career, Phil served as an educator, campus administrator, and district leader. He is a 2013 Oklahoma City Alum, and is a proud first-generation college student. Phil received his Bachelor’s from Washington State University, Master of Science in Education from Johns Hopkins University, and is currently pursuing his second Masters in School Leadership/ School Development at Harvard University.
Allecyn Gay Howard
She/Her/Hers
Allecyn Gay Howard is the founder of Alexander Howard Consulting, a firm focused on developing the effectiveness of mid-level leaders and designing leadership pathways for individuals in mid-level leadership positions.
A native of College Park, Georgia, Allecyn began her career as a teacher in South Louisiana before transitioning to a Literacy Integration Specialist in New Orleans, LA. She has served in numerous leadership capacities with Teach for America, including Manager of Intervention and Leadership Development. She also served as the Founding Dean of Instruction at KIPP Delta: Forrest City. In 2018, Allecyn relocated to Washington, DC, where she has worked as an administrator with both charter and public schools.
Allecyn holds a Bachelors from Southern University and A&M College and Masters from Teachers College at Columbia University. When she is not leveraging her skills to combat inequities, Allecyn enjoys exploring new recipes, traveling, and reading. Her greatest joy is spending quality time with her wife and children.
Sergio Jara Arroyos
He/Him/His
Sergio grew up working in the fields as a child (age of 10) farmworker, alongside my family in Washington State. While in the corps, he taught Pre-K with the Community Action Project (CAP) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Since the corps, he has focused his career in youth leadership development and grassroots organizing. As a National Institute of Latino School Leaders with UnidosUs (the largest Latinx civil rights organization), he continues to be representative of migrant farm working communities and the broader Latinx community. Sergio has a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) focused on Cross-Cultural Studies emphasis in Political Science from Whitworth University.
Am Norgren
He/Him/His
Am lives to connect. He has facilitated training in educational spaces for over a decade, first as a secondary mathematics teacher in Maryland, where he organized staff professional development sessions on culturally responsive teaching. After moving to Connecticut, he channeled his energy into Gender, Projected--a project he co-founded to explore gender identity and expression through photography and dialogue.
Am currently serves as a Regional Director of Professional Services at Agile Mind. In this role, he supports school districts across the country with implementing high-quality mathematics curriculum. Working across disciplines to help professionals develop their practice while creating spaces for people to learn through brave conversations, Am is a leading voice for equity in K-12 classrooms. He advocates for teachers and leaders to incorporate social-emotional learning concepts into their pedagogy to provide all students with access to rigorous content.
Am held a teaching position at Johns Hopkins School of Education and currently serves as a National Prism Advisory Board Member and Equity Facilitator at Teach for America.
Reese Ramponi
She/Her/Hers
Reese Ramponi moved to the East Coast from Alaska in 2009, where she studied Religion and Psychology at Dartmouth College. After a brief foray as a wilderness adventure guide, Reese earned her MSN Yale School of Nursing, where she began her work with transgender and queer youth and young adults.
Reese is dedicated to creating accessible, collaborative spaces where clients are given agency to make informed decisions about their health. Her most recent endeavor was an agency-wide training to ensure collection of sexual orientation and gender data at Community Health Center, Inc, where she works as a Psychiatric- Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.
Reese has been involved in queer advocacy for the past 10 years as a photographer, healthcare educator, and curriculum diversity representative. She has spoken at Yale Medical School, Dartmouth College, Southern Connecticut University, University of Vermont, Philadelphia Trans Wellness Conference, and the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy’s Transgender Mental Health Symposium.
Outside of the office, Reese performs as a jazz singer and plays roller derby. Other interests include home-brewed kombucha, living in a tiny home, and obscure 19th century Danish philosophers.
Kate Blanchard
She/Her/Hers
Kate Blanchard is the Managing Director of the Learner Variability and Special Education Initiative at Teach For America. She works to propel Teach For America forward in their systems change and educational equity – particularly in order to address ableism, and the ways in which it intersects with racism, classism, and other forms of systemic oppression. Kate collaborates with partners and advocates on disability justice, the neuroscience and theory behind Learner Variability and Universal Design for Learning, and the mindsets, knowledge, and skills leaders need to use the system of special education as a tool of empowerment.
Alaine Jolicoeur
She/Her/Hers
Alaine Jolicoeur is a 2016 Teach For America Baltimore corps Alumna. She is a Public Policy fellow. The co-chair of the Education & Advocacy committee on the Baltimore City LGBTQ Commission. Upon her appointment on the Commission in 2018, she began tackling the issues and recognized the lack of LGBTQ+ centric policy at Baltimore City Public Schools. She collaborated with a member of the city council at the Baltimore City Council to pass the first-ever city council resolution affirming the protection of transgender and gender non-binary. Also, the legislation to require business in Baltimore City to make single-stall restrooms gender-neutral. The bill passed successfully, and Baltimore became the third city after Philadelphia and Washington D.C. to enact similar progressive and inclusive legislation. She later led a coalition for the successful passing of policy "JBB" to protect transgender and gender-non binary students at Baltimore City Public Schools. Alaine is committed to eradicating to dismantling systemic and structural anti-blackness, transphobia in our society.
José González
He/Him/His
José González is the Senior Managing Director of Teach For America’s DACA Initiative, where he supports nearly 300 DACAmented educators in 24 regions across the country. Jose began his career in education as a middle school math teacher in Los Angeles, where he lived and taught for four years. In his time before, during, and after teaching, immigrant students and families have been at the forefront of his work. As a DACA recipient from a mixed-status family, the work José leads is deeply personal. His years of lived experience as an undocumented student, DACAmented educator, and community organizer continue to inform his work and fuel his commitment to immigrant students and families.
José holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and a Master of Arts in Urban Education from Loyola Marymount University.
Tania Chairez
She/Her/Hers
Tania is an undocumented immigrant born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. She received a B.S. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.Ed. from Grand Canyon University. For the past decade, Tania has prioritized her passion for the intersection of immigration and education. Watch her TedX Talk on being Undocumented and Unafraid, share her journey in the local documentary Five Dreamers, and uplift her nonprofit for immigrant youth, Convivir Colorado. She is Motus Theater's National Outreach & Education Director and a monologist in the UndocuAmerica Series.
Charity Jackson
She/Her/Hers
Charity Jackson is currently on staff at Teach For America Alabama where she works as a Manager, Teacher Leadership Development. She works with 1st and 2nd year Corps Members in the Greater Birmingham area and all across Alabama’s Black Belt region (Hale County, Perry County, and Selma City school districts).
Charity was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. She began her career as an educator in Bridgeport, Connecticut where she was a Spanish teacher, founder of PRIDE (Peers Rallying for the Inclusion of Diversity and Equity), and the step team coach. She transitioned back to her hometown where she continued her work as an educator at the historic Arthur Harold Parker High School. She continued there as a Spanish teacher as well. She also served as the advisor to the Robotics team, Spanish Honor Society, and the Multi-Cultural and Diversity Club. During her tenure at A.H. Parker High School, she also served on TFA Alabama’s Alumni board and is a founding board member and prior board chair for TFA-Bamaly (TFAB) Prism board.
Charity holds a bachelors degree from the Illustrious Howard University and a masters with Dual certification in English as a Second Language and Spanish from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Noah Dougherty
He/Him/His
Noah Dougherty is a Senior Design Principal at Education Elements and co-chair of Prism DMV. He was a member of the 2007 D.C. Region corps and previously worked as a teacher, curriculum writer, instructional coach, and school leader. In his current role, Noah works with districts around personalized learning, strategic planning, and school reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is focused on developing his team's work in educational equity and student-centered learning. Noah grew up in Syracuse, NY, and now lives in Washington, DC.
Nicole Young-Turner
She/Her/Hers
Nicole Young-Turner, Founder of Kaleidoscope Village and Chair of the Metro Atlanta Prism Coalition Board of Directors, is a courageous advocate for elevating and empowering the BIPOC LGBTQIA2s+ community and a champion for inclusivity, equity, and intercultural coalition building. Her identity as a Queer Southern Black-American Woman fuels her passion for and lifelong dedication to educating, mobilizing, and unifying underrepresented communities. Native to Atlanta, GA, Nicole grew up in public schools, where she served as a founding GSA member. Following high school, she attended Georgia Institute of Technology, obtaining a B.S. in Science, Technology, and Culture and becoming the first undergraduate student to receive a President’s Undergraduate Research Award for an ethnographic study focusing on LGBTQ family structures.
As a Teach For America Corps Member and staff member, Nicole has played an integral role in establishing and supporting Diversity Initiatives, including launching the inaugural Brave Education Summits in 2014-2016 and regional PRISM Boards alongside Tim’m West. She is proud to continue her service to LGBTQIA2s+ and allied students, educators, and community leaders in her hometown as the founder of Kaleidoscope Village, an emerging organization seeking to provide learning and development experiences and resources for educators as well as affirming spaces and empowering programs for LGBTQ youth and families.
Justin Tindall
He/Him/His
Justin started at the It Gets Better Project in 2014 after spending several years working in nonprofit development in locations around the world. He began as an employment specialist helping young people in Nicaragua before serving as an educational specialist at the DREAM Project, a non-profit school in the Dominican Republic. In 2012, Justin was recruited by Teach For America (TFA) and became a bilingual (English-Spanish) teacher in an elementary school in San Antonio, Texas. Thanks to help from an It Gets Better video made by a group at his graduate alma mater, Justin came out that same year and has since built a career around empowering LGBTQ+ youth. He has a Bachelor's in International Area Studies (Latin America) and a Master's of Public Health (MPH) in Global Health Promotion from Brigham Young University.
Sean Worley
He/Him/His
Prior to joining EducationCounsel, Sean Worley worked as a high school science teacher and instructional coach with DC Public Schools. He began his career in education as a 2013 Teach for America corps member in Sacramento, California. Sean has also served as an intern with the House Committee on Education and Workforce, where he worked extensively on monitoring state implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act. Sean earned a Master’s in Education Policy and Leadership from American University, and earned a Bachelor’s in Psychology, with a minor in Health Care Ethics, from Saint Louis University.
Jesse Holzman
They/Them/Theirs
Jesse Holzman (they/them) is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. They are a queer, non-binary, non-monogamist, anti-racist, educator, and gender, sexuality, and organizational scholar. Part of their dissertation explores how LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness conceptualize inclusion and safety, as it pertains to the spaces that they occupy. They are also interested in the way in which organizations, that serve LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness, reproduce and/or interrupt gender, sexual, and racial inequalities. Currently Jesse is working on a research project that examines how non-binary individuals conceptualize their identities in a binary world. Additionally, over the past few years, Jesse has offered professional development courses to middle school and high school teachers, social workers, and staff on how to work with LGBTQ youth. During these seminars, Jesse calls attention to both the assumptions people make about gender, sex, and sexuality and the way in which these assumptions are problematic and harm students. In additional to researching, teaching and consulting, Jesse currently sits on the Advisory Board for Teach for American’s (TFA) LGBTQ Initiative, Prism and co-hosts a Chicago non-binary group called Subverting Gender.
Quetzalli Castro
She/Her/Hers
Quetzalli Castro (she/her) has a B.A. in Applied Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Masters of Arts in Teaching from the University of Chicago. Quetzalli is a queer, bilingual, anti-racist, community educator, and advocate for over 10 years. She is currently teaching in Chicago Public Schools and is also very involved with the Chicago Teachers Union. Through the CTU, Quetzalli collaborates with CPS educators to fight for social justice issues within Chicago Public Schools. Part of this work has been involved working to remove School Resource Officers from CPS schools, advocating for sustainable school communities, advocating for and facilitating LGBTQ curriculum and after school programs, and continuing the fight for better teacher working conditions - because that equates to student learning conditions.
Coyote Shook
They/Them/Their
Coyote Shook is a cartoonist and PhD student in the Department of American Studies at the University of Texas, Austin. Their research examines intersections of disability history and environmental humanities in Florida. They also work as the education and outreach coordinator for the Radclyffe Hall/ Una Troubridge Grant Project at the Harry Ransom Center. They are a Teach For America (New York City, 2012) and Fulbright (Poland, 2014-15) alumnx. In addition to PRISM, they are a member of the Teach For America Austin Alumni Board, operate social media for the Austin Interfaith Community for Palestinian Rights, and are a member of the Texas Environmental Democrats. They have an MS in English Education from Fordham University and an MA in Gender Studies from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Courtney Parker West
She/Her/Hers
Courtney Parker West (she/her/hers) is an organizer, writer, and consultant living in Zebulon, NC. A first-generation college graduate of the University of Iowa, Courtney triple-majored in English with a focus on Black modern literature, Religion, Creative Writing and minored in African American Studies. She is a former public school teacher by way of the Eastern NC 2008 corps and, after 5 years teaching middle school language arts, worked as both a teacher coach and alumni organizer for the ENC team. Currently, she serves as the National Managing Director of Leadership Development Strategy for Teach For America where she also leads the staff Multiracial, multiethnic, and Jewish resource groups. Courtney is passionate about intersectional anti-racist diversity, equity, and inclusiveness (DEI) work and takes an institutional organizing approach to both her work in education and DEI consulting. She is co-founder of Radical Roots Consulting and recipient of the 2020 Leadership in Diversity Award from the Triangle Business Journal. She sits on the boards for Safe Schools NC (an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization for educators), Profound Ladies (a leadership development organization for womxn of color), Revolve, and Selah (two Jewish leadership development organizations.) Courtney loves Star Trek; being an auntie to her 11 niblings who range in age from 6 months to 20 years old; and seeks to live through her values of storytelling, bridge-building, individual and communal healing, and liberation.
Candelario Cervantez
He/Him/His
Candelario Cervantez is a business executive who opens educational opportunities to historically underrepresented and underserved minority populations and a champion for educational equity and excellence. Candelario is also a strong advocate of the promotion and advancement of diverse leaders in all industries.
Currently, he is the National Senior Managing Director, Latinx Alliances on the National Public Partnerships and Government Affairs Team at Teach For America. Teach For America’s mission is to enlist, develop, and mobilize as many as possible of our nation's most promising future leaders to grow and strengthen the movement for educational equity and excellence. At Teach For America, he also serves on the Latinx Advisory Council. The Council analyzes organizational data through the Latinx perspective with the intention of understanding, communicating the current reality of the Latinx community in the organization. He is currently the President Emeritus of Prospanica, formally the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, Dallas-Fort Worth board. The board focuses on the advancement of Latinxs to executive level positions across all industries. He is also currently serving on the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Houston Advisory Council which focuses on empowering Latinx families with the knowledge and resources to successfully complete a higher education, while providing scholarships and support services to as many exceptional Latinx American students as possible. Finally, he is the CEO of Art By Cervantez. The company focuses on utilizing art to connect with others on a deep level and to evoke passion, reflection and gratitude for the gifts of nature and faith.
Washington Navarrete
He/Him/His
Washington Navarrete (he/him/his) serves as the Education Leadership Program Manager for UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization. In this role, he leads the National Institute for Latino School Leaders (NILSL) that supports educators and administrators in developing and advocating for policy solutions that advance education equity and outcomes for Latinx students and their families. Previously, he served as the Manager of Alumni Communications and Engagement for Teach For America Greater Delta, where he worked with a network of 500+ alumni across Arkansas & Mississippi to expand opportunity for children and families. Originally from Los Angeles, CA, he attended San Diego State University where he got his degree in Criminal Justice and Chicanx Studies. He is a member of the GLSEN’s National Education Advisory Committee and Teach For America’s National PRISM Board. In 2018, Washington was named one of Little Rock’s 20 over 20 for nonprofit professionals.
a.t. furuya
They/Them/Theirs
a.t. furuya is a queer trans and nonbinary Asian person. They are the Youth Programs Manager at GLSEN and have been working with youth for 18 years. Their personal and professional work and growth is centered in Transformative Justice. Prior to joining GLSEN, they served LGBTQ youth in San Diego providing direct service support, GSA collaborations and building, training for educators and classified staff, and support for families of transgender youth. They love strategy and capacity building, their spouse, and their bunny Mina.
Carminia Muñoz
She/Her/Hers
Carminia’s career has been focused on working directly with individuals to help them overcome barriers by co-creating vision, connecting to opportunities, and translating across cultures and experiences. Carminia currently leads alumni work for the TFA Phoenix region, supporting the leadership development of a network 1000 strong. A key part of this work in building coalitions via alumni boards, BIPOC alumni support, and LGBTQ+ connections. Carminia previously supported and funded budding entrepreneurs, as well as worked as an attorney in the areas of youth advocacy, immigration and employment law. Carminia is proud to be a graduate of the Hispanic Leadership Institute of Valle del Sol in Arizona, and in her 5 years as a member of the TFA Latinx Advisory Committee.
Carminia is a proud queer Dominicana, as well as a first-generation college and law school graduate. Her J.D. hangs on her mom’s living room wall, and her 5 year-old daughter humbles her daily.
Kezia Gilyard
They/Them/Theirs
Kezia Gilyard is a nonbinary educator and facilitator with a decade of experience in diversity, equity, and advocacy. Their work with LGBTQIA+ youth has been featured in various publications during their tenure in south Florida. Recently, they were the recipient of the Bishop SF Makalani Mahee Transgender Equality Award for their work in transgender and nonbinary communities. The focus of their work centers the experiences of those at the intersections of race, orientation, gender, and class. Kezia has facilitated professional development courses for school districts and universities locally and nationally and consulted with organizations dedicated to developing leadership among youth. Between hosting community events and connecting under-served populations with the resources necessary for them to thrive, they enjoy reading about Black liberation and spending time with their favorite people Jasmin and Janijah.
Soukprida Phetmisy
She/Her/They/Them
Soukprida Phetmisy (she/they) is a queer Lao American activist, DEI capacity builder, teaching artist, and anti-racist/anti-bias educator and facilitator. She is the sister/daughter/granddaughter of Lao-Viet refugees, and grew up in Houston, TX, where she was partially raised by her maternal grandparents. Her passion for community, storytelling, and disrupting the status quo was catalyzed by a decade of organizing and advocacy-centered work within the arts and education sectors. In her role leading Teach For America’s (TFA) national Asian American and Pacific Islander Alliances, she is responsible for cultivating and sustaining relationships with organizations, influencers, and media committed to strengthening Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander educators, students, and their communities. Alongside her work at TFA, Soukprida serves as a lead organizer and trainer with Chicago Regional Organizing for Antiracism. A first-generation college graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, she holds a B.F.A. in Writing, where she also focused on multidisciplinary concentrations in Sound Design and Arts Administration, and was a 2008 NPR Next Generation Radio fellow, publishing Accents & Identities. Her voice, writing, and poetry has been featured on Seeing Myself Writing, NPR, Reset, Artemis, and more.
Instagram: @soukprida • Twitter: @soukprida
Zoey Kapusinski
They/Them/Theirs
Zoey is a 2017 TFA OKC alum still working at their placement school teaching biology, serving as advisor to the Sexuality and Gender Acceptance Club, and coaching girls soccer. Through their work helping to found Prism Oklahoma, they have led PD for more than 200 pre-service and in-service educators around how to support LGBTQ+ students.
Tai Tran
She/Her/Hers
Tai recently finished her service with TFA in Richmond, CA as part of the 2018 Corps teaching middle school math and science. She is a bright, bold, and brave queer educator who goes by Mx. Tran in the classroom. Her passions include dismantling the anti-queer patriarchy in the institution of education, empowering students with comprehensive sex ed, and being the change she has always wanted to see in the world.
Sadie Redfern
She/Her/Hers
Sadie is a fifth grade teacher at Rogers Ranch Elementary School, a Title I school serving 100% BIPOC students in the Laveen School District located in Phoenix, Arizona. She is the first and only trangender teacher in the history of her school district and a member of GLSEN at both a national and local level. Nationally, she serves on the Educational Advisory Committee, and locally, she is a member of the team that does professional developments on inclusivity of LGBTQ youths in the curriculum.
Riley Long
He/Him/His
Riley teaches special education at a suburban public school in northeast Kansas. A substitute for two years, he enters his first official year as a full-time teacher with a passion for LGBTQ+ rights. Riley led a Trans 101 program for his district's diversity panel last year and is highly involved in the local LGBT.
Whitten Steele
They/Them/Theirs
Whitten is an openly queer and nonbinary special education paraprofessional at the high school level in Denver Public Schools and a candidate for licensure in the Special Education MAT program at Metropolitan State University of Denver. They are an advocate for LGBTQ students and staff in their district, promoting equity in tech systems and buildings, alike.
CJ Crowder
He/Him/His
CJ Crowder is currently the Area Manager for New England, Catapult Learning. Formally, he was the Managing Director of Alumni Leadership Development for Teach For America – Massachusetts. CJ began his career in 1999 as a Teach For America Bay Area corps member, teaching middle school social studies and language arts in Oakland, CA. After completing his graduate studies, CJ worked as the Program Development and Evaluation Manager for The Breakthrough Collaborative in San Francisco, CA, advising more than thirty sites across the country in the areas of curriculum development and program performance. From 2006-2008, he was Director of Talent Recruitment at Teach For America. In 2008, CJ became the founding Dean of School Culture at Achievement First Brownsville Elementary in Brooklyn, one of the highest performing schools in New York City. In 2010, CJ was asked to join Achievement First’s Network Support Team as the Director of School Leader Recruitment and Diversity Initiatives. In 2015, he joined the Phoenix Charter Academy Network as the first Chief Talent Officer. CJ earned his B.A. in History and Social Studies Education from Syracuse University, and his M.Ed. from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.
Omar Ornelas
He/Him/His
Omar Ornelas (California Capital Valley, 2014) taught 3rd grade in Stockton, CA. He was a part of the founding Stockton Corps. Prior to joining Teach for America, Omar was the Vice-Mayor & Councilmember of the City of Lathrop, where he focused on community & youth capacity building.
Omar has always believed that our best work is done when we work directly with communities and partners to help build the capacity of its people. He’s dedicated his work to do this in his own community and in communities across California. He believes that if we each individually leave our world better than how we found it, we would be more successful as people.
Larah Helayne
They/Them/Theirs
Larah Helayne is an eighteen year old singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and activist from Mount Sterling, Kentucky. Growing up in the foothills of the Appalachias, Larah’s life and music have been greatly impacted by the magnificence of the mountains. Their songs and activism reflect both the beauty and struggles of living in Eastern Kentucky, while weaving in the story of their own wild and wonderful life. Larah has worked with various non-profits and political organizations to fight for LGBTQ+ Equity in Appalachia and beyond, including Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky, the STAY Project, and Sexy Sex Ed. Larah is currently a Freshman at the University of Kentucky, where they are pursuing a degree in Gender and Women’s studies and Appalachian studies. They look forward to moving back home, and using their knowledge and music to build safe spaces for rural LGBTQ+ people, and continue to fight for liberation for all.
Stephanie Devine
She/Her/Hers
Stephanie (she/her/hers-and call her Steph!) Devine grew up in a small town outside of Columbus, OH, eventually attending college to study special education. After years of rural living, she joined TFA’s work as a 2011 Baltimore corps member, where she was among the first two teachers placed in self-contained special education settings for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities. After three incredibly rewarding years in West and Southeast Baltimore, Stephanie felt a pullback towards rural living. Grounded in Eastern Kentucky given years of stories from her grandmother, the daughter of a Perry County coal miner, she joined Appalachia’s regional staff as a teacher coach in 2014. In the last six years, she has worked alongside and led her team to achieve their most dramatic and sustained gains in programmatic and development outcomes across fourteen counties in Central Appalachia first, as a teacher coach and now, as the Executive Director. She holds a bachelor’s degree in K-12 Special Education and a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on Differentiated Instruction. When she’s not working at TFA, Stephanie loves exploring the breathtaking mountains, rivers, lakes, and amazing communities of Central Appalachia. Stephanie lives on the rural, remote mountain border of KY and Virginia with her partner, their very spoiled dog, and a host of deer that eat all the crabapples off her trees.
Bryan Billy
He/Him/His
Bryan Billy is an enrolled citizen of the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians. He is originally from the Central Valley of California where he attended UC Davis but Teach For America brought him to Alabama. After teaching middle school math, he joined Teach For America’s staff to coach teachers across the state and currently is the Senior Managing Director of Strategy and Program Impact. Bryan has a passion for ensuring that Youth and Students are seen as Leaders so he co-founded the Alabama Youth Coalition for Equity to empower youth to use their voices to impact change now. He also sits on TFA’s Native Alliance Council and co-leads spaces for Indigenous staff members. In his personal life, Bryan spends all of his time with his wife and three kids.
Wren Walker Robbins
She/Her/Hers
Wren is a Two-spirit woman of Mohawk descent. She is Dept. Chair of Secondary Education at Salish Kootenai College in Montana, and is Founding Director of Changing Communities Consulting. She is a member of the Minnesota Two-spirit society and a member of the Mountain Spirit Lodge Society. She sits on the National Prism Advisory Board for Teach for America, and is a Sequoyah Fellow of the American Indian Science & Engineering Society [AISES].
Wren has taught for more than twenty years in minority serving colleges and universities. She works nationally with teachers and university faculty to build STEM education and research programs that nurture and grow diverse students through the integration of Indigenous language, culture, and Spirit.
Darius Rucker
He/Him/His
DJ is the oldest of five from a single parent household in which he was a first-generation college student.
Upon graduating college, he taught for two years in St. Louis public schools as a while obtaining his Master’s degree in Secondary Education. After his second year of teaching, he realized that he wanted to have a bigger impact on the broader community, upon which he chose to begin his pathway to become an executive director of a non-profit. He currently works to support local youth and young adults at Williams and Associates, Inc. He specifically works with those who are affected by health disparities around sexual health.
Through his work as both an academic teacher and sexual health educator, he has realized the impact of trauma on the mind, body, and soul as well as how it blocks opportunities for us. If we place people at the center of our work, we can recognize trauma sooner and start to support our communities to overcome systemically oppressive systems.
Tamila Gresham
She/Her/They/Them
Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Tamila was exposed early on to the realities of anti-Black racism in America which informed her identity as a Black, queer, ciswoman from a low-income background and sparked her passion which is to secure the liberation of Black people across the diaspora and all intersectional identities. This passion has guided her work across education, legal, and nonprofit contexts.
Tamila began her career as a TFA corps member in Connecticut as a founding 6th grade Reading & Writing teacher. During her time as a teacher, she founded Represent, a nonprofit working to reach equal media representation for people of color, women, the LGBT community, folks with disabilities, and all those at the intersection of those identities. She served as Executive Director of Represent for 6 years building partnerships with and supporting the work of multiple mission-aligned nonprofits.
After teaching and while serving as ED of Represent, she attended The University of California, Berkeley School of Law where she studied Critical Race Theory and served as Staff Editor of the Berkeley Journal of African American Law and Policy and as Marketing Editor of the Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law, and Justice. She also worked with East Bay Community Law Center’s Education Defense and Youth Justice Clinic where she represented and successfully defended Black youth arrested during Black Lives Matter demonstrations. After law school, she went to work at the California Attorney General’s Office under Kamala Harris in the Civil Rights Enforcement Division, where she worked on juvenile justice issues and addressing for-profit online education fraud targeting K-12 students.
Tamila joined TFA staff in 2017 as Director, Alumni Talent Recruitment in the Bay Area. In 2018, she stepped into the role of Managing Director, People Development & Talent in the Bay Area where she set vision, designs, and facilitated staff-wide DEI learning. Currently, Tamila serves as the Senior Managing Director for Teach for America's Black Community Alliances.
In addition to her legal education, Tamila holds B.S. degrees in both Sociology and Philosophy.
Dymir Arthur
He/Him/His
Dymir Arthur earned his B.A. in History & Political Science from Rutgers University and began his career as a High School Literature and Philosophy Teacher with the School District of Philadelphia. He then served as the Director of Alumni Affairs for Teach For America, NY. He went on to serve as a Dean of School Culture, Dean of STEM and finally Principal with one of our nation's largest Charter School Networks. He holds a master’s degree in Secondary Education and a second master’s in Instructional Leadership. He is passionate about designing educational experiences that nourish introspection, agency, and analytical thinking. Dymir is currently a Head of School with the Academy of Thought & Industry, a private school designed for teens who want to excel on their own terms. In his spare time, he writes essays about issues of race and education.
Tim'm West
He/Him/His
Tim’m T. West is an educator, poet, youth advocate, and hip-hop artist who has spent decades traveling the nation, speaking about issues at the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, and social justice. A graduate of Duke University (BA), The New School for Social Research (MA), and Stanford University (MA), he is the author of several books and hip-hop projects and is widely anthologized. He has also appeared in multiple documentaries at the intersection of hip hop and black masculinity. Prior to joining Teach For America in 2014, Tim’m served as inaugural faculty at Oakland School for the Arts, impacted educational outcomes as an English teacher and basketball coach at Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School for Public Policy, and more recently as Director of Youth Services at Chicago’s Center on Halsted. A Board member of the LGBT Institute located at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Tim’m was named one of 31 icons during LGBT History Month in October of 2015. Tim’m currently leads Teach For America’s national LGBTQ+ Community Initiative, advancing safer and braver classrooms for LGBTQ educators and students in grades PreK-12. He lives in Cincinnati, OH where he is on the Boards of WordPlay Cincy, School Board School, and where her chairs the Local School Decision Making Committee (LSDMC) at Chase Elementary School in his beloved Northside neighborhood.
Domenico Ruggerio
He/Him/His
Domenico Ruggerio (he/him) is the director of education, advocacy & systems transformation at TFA South Carolina. Prior to joining TFA, he worked in higher education, specifically in multicultural affairs and civic engagement programming, to support and empower historically underrepresented students and communities. He ran the Bonner Scholar's Program at the College of Charleston, an Academic Advisor at Bard College, directed the ALANA (African American/Black, Latinx, Asian/Asian American and Native American) Cultural Center and LGBTQ Center at Vassar College, and was the Assistant Director of the Multicultural Resource Center at Oberlin College in Ohio. Domenico has a bachelors from Colgate University in Sociology and Anthropology (2008) and a masters in Humanistic/Multicultural Education from SUNY New Paltz (2014).
Luckie Flores
They/Them/Theirs
Luckie Flores has been a public educator in South Texas for the last 16 years. Currently, they serve in a large Title I school district as an Elementary Social Studies Coordinator. They have a master’s in education administration and are completing a doctoral degree in educational leadership. Luckie is the co-chair of RGV TFA PRISM and an active advocate for LGBTQ+ causes in South Texas.
Carmarion D. Anderson-Harvey
She/Her/Hers
Carmarion D. Anderson-Harvey (she/her/hers) is a vibrant and visible trans woman of color with a passion for inclusion in the world. As the Alabama State Director within HRC’s Project One America, Carmarion became the first Trans Person of Color to serve in a leadership role with HRC in the organization’s history. Carmarion was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, with family roots in Natchez, Mississippi. Before joining HRC, Carmarion worked in Public Health and Education, managing both local and national prevention initiatives focusing on HIV/AIDS and other health disparities that impact marginalized communities. Carmarion also brings a wealth of experience in faith spaces, currently serving as the National Co-Minister and South Region Coordinator for TransSaints ministry of TFAM (The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries). In addition to this role, Carmarion previously served for 16 years as an associate minister/elder at the Living Faith Covenant Church, Dallas, Texas. Carmarion is the founder and former Executive Director of Black Transwomen, Inc., a national non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization with a mission to uplift the voices, hearts, and souls of Black trans women. Carmarion is a wife, has one son, four bonus sons, and three adorable grandchildren.
Arykah Carter
She/Her/Hers
Arykah Carter (she/her) is a Trans Woman of Color and native of Michigan currently residing in Cleveland, Ohio. She is a board member of TransOhio.org, a statewide transgender advocacy, and education organization. She believes that she has a story to be told that will encourage, support, and advocate for others in the Trans Community. Arykah is a self-taught freelance photographer & graphic designer and is writing and self-publishing a personal memoir tentatively entitled Beautiful Struggle, focusing on her unique and non-traditional experience as a later life transitioning Trans Woman of Color. Arykah is also working on a photo exhibit entitled, the Black Trans project, designed to bring visibility and perspective to Black Trans & Non-Binary experiences. Ms. Carter is a woman of faith and a member of Truth & Destiny Covenant Ministries Fellowship United Church of Christ in Cincinnati but worships regularly with other groups. She is a member of TransSaints, an auxiliary group of the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries that invites Trans people and allies of faith to become involved in leadership and advocacy training that is focused on the unique perspectives of the African American Trans community. Arykah earned a B.S. from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, an MBA from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and is starting a Master of Divinity at Chicago Theological Seminary. She currently works for SGS, a leading company in the Brand Packaging Management Industry. You can find Arykah’s work at ARYKAH.COM
Tori Cooper
She/Her/Hers
Tori Cooper (she/her/hers) is a health and equity advocate, community organizer, educator, published author and leader in the transgender and HIV communities. She leads with more than 30 years of experience at all levels of HIV service, from volunteer roles to her service as executive director and founder of Advocates for Better Care Atlanta, LLC. She now serves as the Human Rights Campaign’s Director of Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative. In this role, her focus includes economic empowerment; capacity building programs; public safety; and expanded public education campaigns. Before joining HRC, Cooper was a consultant and Prevention Specialist at Positive Impact Health Centers in metro Atlanta. In 2015, Cooper created Advocates for Better Care Atlanta, LLC which is an organization dedicated to the education and empowerment of marginalized people across the country. Since its inception, she has self-financed this agency which prioritizes transgender women and men as well as people living with HIV. Cooper has received numerous awards for her work and is a published author, most recently appearing in print and video. Her work is featured in a new documentary titled, “Silent Epidemic” where she talks about the trans community and HIV in the South. She is currently matriculating towards her Master of Arts degree in Public Health. Tori believes that empowerment, education, and opportunity are three important factors in success.
Corrine Oqua Pi Povi Sanchez, PhD
She/Her/Hers
Corrine Oqua Pi Povi Sanchez, PhD (she, her, hers) of San Ildefonso Pueblo is Executive Director of Tewa Women United. She completed her doctorate in Justice Studies at ASU. Dr. Sanchez has been contributing to the building of Indigenous Knowledge through her work with Tewa Women United for the past 30-years. She currently serves on the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s Advisory Council, the Community Advisory Board for Masters in Public Policy at UNM, and is a Board member of the Attach Your Heart Foundation. Most recently, Dr. Sanchez has been selected to serve on the Governor of New Mexico’s Advisory Council on Racial Justice.
Marlon Footracer
She/He/They
Marlon Footracer, Diné, Water-Flows-Together, born for One-Who-Walks-Around-You clan serves as TLPI's Administrative Coordinator. Marlon was raised in Tsé Síaní (Lupton, AZ). He attended Stanford University where he majored in Creative Writing with an emphasis in poetry. He has worked as a non-profit strategist and consultant for development and capacity building, specifically focusing on non-profits that work to end homelessness in New Mexico/Navajo Nation border towns. He volunteers on the Navajo Nation Sexual Assault Prevention Working Group and is a founding boardmember of the womxn-focused Native nonprofit, My Native Sisters’ Fire.
Andre Zarata
He/Him/His
Andre Zarate is the founder of The Z Factor Project (instagram: @the.z.factor.project) – an education platform aimed to (1) put the voices and stories of marginalized, underrepresented people of color in the forefront within the education field and (2) to create and design schools, programs, and curriculum that cater to the development of marginalized underrepresented people of color. He is currently also an education entrepreneur fellow with Chicago International Charter Schools, developing a MicroLab school for students who identify as LGBTQIA+ set to tentatively launch in Fall 2021. For the 2020-2021 school year, he is in his seventh year in education teaching 7thand 8th Grade Social Studies and has had experience primarily with middle school students (including teaching 5th – 8th grade English Language Arts, 7th and 8th Grade Mathematics, and instructional coach).
Before becoming a teacher, Andre graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in urban studies and masters degree in elementary education. He is a Teach for America, Chicago-Northwestern Indiana 2013 Alum. In October 2016, Andre was named an Illinois State Teacher of the Year Finalist, the first charter school teacher to receive this honor and in 2018, he was named the Frances and Elliot Lehman Excellence in Teaching Award winner for Teach for America Chicago.
Kimberlie Milton
She/Her/Hers
Kimberlie Milton is a graduate of Jackson State University in Jackson, MS where she received her Bachelor’s degree in chemistry. After graduating in 2002, Ms. Milton joined the Teach for America program and began teaching at L.J. Price Middle School in Atlanta Public Schools. During this time, she completed the Mercer University Tift College of Education Master’s program with an emphasis in Middle School Education.
Over the past 20 years, Ms. Milton has served in several capacities in the education management arena across the nation. From assistant principal to regional director, Ms. Milton has been committed to developing an effective learning atmosphere for colleagues, parents, and scholars.
In 2018, Kimberlie and Claudine co-founded Restore More, an educational consulting firm in Atlanta, GA. Restore More helps organizations build capacity through restorative practice, self-awareness, and social emotional learning. She and her business partner do this through professional development for teachers and leaders, sessions for parents, and curriculum for students.
Claudine Miles
She/Her/Hers
Claudine Miles, originally from East Providence Rhode Island, holds an English Degree from Hampton University, and an Educational Leadership degree from Georgia State University. As a proud TFA alum her work started at KIPP WAYS ACADEMY, a Title I. public charter in SW Atlanta. During her 10 years there, she served in several roles including: 6th grade Science Teacher, Grade Level Chair, Gifted Coordinator, Upper School Dean, and Dean of Restorative Practices.
She won Teacher of the Year and led her school to winning Charter School of The Year in 2016. In 2018, Claudine launched a consulting firm called Restore More, which helps organizations build capacity with Restorative Practices, Self-Awareness, Anti-Racism and Social-Emotional health. The central mission is to continue sharing wellness strategies nationwide to uplift communities of color. They do this by training others on Restorative Practices, SEL,Wellness and Anti-Racism.
Claudine is also invested in her community, serving as the Vice-Chair for Zest Preparatory Academy’s school board in Douglasville. She additionally serves as a mentor to local youth through the Youth Leadership Douglasville Program. She was also a Teach For America Social Innovation Fellow, and is a proud member of the ACEE Regional Strategies Team where she advocates for policy reform around the School-to-Prison Pipeline & Gang Prevention and Intervention.
Amita Swadhin
They/Them/Theirs
Amita Swadhin is an organizer, educator, storyteller, and strategist working to end interpersonal and institutional violence against young people. Their work stems from their experiences as a non-binary, femme, queer woman of color, daughter of immigrants from India, and years of childhood abuse by their parents, including eight years of rape by their father.
In 2016, Amita received a Just Beginnings Collaborative Fellowship, allowing them to launch Mirror Memoirs, a national storytelling and organizing project centering the narratives, healing, and leadership of LGBTQI+ people of color who survived sexual abuse, in service of ending rape culture and other forms of oppression. From 2016-2018, they recorded 60 stories from survivors across 15 states in the U.S. and have given over 100 trainings and keynotes on this intersectional praxis at colleges, conferences, and non-profits nationwide.
In January 2017, they testified on behalf of survivors of sexual violence and LGBTQ Americans as a witness for the Democratic Party against Jeff Sessions’ nomination as the US Attorney General.
From 2009 to 2012, Amita was the Project Coordinator and a cast member of Secret Survivors, an off-off-Broadway production they co-created with the award-winning Ping Chong & Company, featuring adult survivors of child sexual abuse telling their stories through theater. Amita is also a published writer whose work has appeared in the anthologies Dear Sister: Letters from Survivors of Sexual Violence, Queering Sexual Violence, Pleasure Activism, and the forthcoming Beyond Surviving: Stories and Strategies from the Transformative Justice Movement.
Over the past twenty years, they have been an executive director, board chair, youth organizer, faculty member, and consultant at organizations serving low-income, immigrant, and LGBTQ+communities of color. They hold a Master’s in Public Administration from NYU, where they were a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship, and a Bachelor’s in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.
Reyna Sosa
She/Her/Hers
Reyna is currently a middle school special education teacher in Las Vegas. She was born in Mexico and grew up in Philadelphia. Reyna has a Bachelor's Degree in Secondary Education from Temple University and a Masters Degree in Special Education from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She enjoys hiking, reading, and working out. In the future, Reyna hopes to start a nonprofit organization that works with immigrant families in their community. Her preferred gender pronouns are she/her/hers.
Takeru Nagayoshi
He/Him/His
Takeru Nagayoshi is the 2020 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. A sixth-year educator, he teaches AP English in New Bedford, MA. After piloting the research-based AP Capstone program, Takeru helped his district lead the state in the number of AP Certificates awarded with over 92 percent of his students passing their exams. As a son of Japanese immigrants and a gay person of color, Takeru leverages his identities to fight for education equity. Outside the classroom, he has written op-eds on education issues, coaches developing teachers, and lends his voice to multiple panels, committees, and an educator diversity task force. He has also participated in several fellowships, including those offered by Teach Plus, Harvard, and the MA Department of Education. An advocate for community-based solutions, he launched his own educator leadership program, SNEALI, which develops local capacity for New England teachers. Takeru has received recognitions such as the Sue Lehmann Excellence in Teacher Leadership Award (2019), Boston University Young Alumni Award (2019), and Sontag Prize in Urban Education (2018). He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with an honors B.A. in international relations and from Boston University an M.Ed in Curriculum and Teaching.
Evalaurene Jean-Charles
She/Her/Hers
Eva is the founder of a social media platform that started to bring black educators, experts, and thinkers together to increase learning in the black community. Although their content intends to be catered to the black community, they are calling for allies in their quest to re imagine and redefine what a high-quality education means for this community. She is passionate about so much, and refuses to be complacent.
Jamaal Thomas
He/Him/His
Jamaal Thomas is a Serial Entrepreneur who has long had a passion for transforming our education system. A budding futurist who is dedicated to being a part of radical systemic and institutional change in order to create a more fair and sustainable future for all. Proud father to Black on Black Education’s CEO and looking forward to helping her create an organization that develops and curates the tools that will help offer our communities education outcomes equal to those in communities with significantly more resources.
WaziHanska Cook
He/Him/His
WaziHanska aka (Robert Cook) is Senior Managing Director of Teach For America’s Native Alliance. In this role, Cook oversees strategies to grow Teach For America’s impact in school districts serving American Indian and Native Hawaiian students and to build partnerships with tribal organizations and other key stakeholders to work in collaboration to improve education options.
Cook has over 35 years of experience as a teacher, administrator, and advocate for American Indian education. Prior to joining staff at Teach For America, he was the principal of Pine Ridge High School on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Cook has served as president and board member of the National Indian Education Association (2006-09 and 2014-2017) and board member of the South Dakota Education Association and South Dakota Indian Education Association. Cook, serves on the Technical Review Panel of the National Indian Education Study and was called to serve by President Obama on the National Advisory Council on Indian Education.
Cook is the recipient of many teaching awards including Teacher of the Year at Little Wound, Lower Brule and Crow Creek Tribal Schools; South Dakota’s 2005 Milken National Educator; Crazy Horse Memorial/SD American Indian 2006 Teacher of the Year; and the National Indian Education Association 2006 Teacher of the Year. Additionally, Cook has been named one of Black Hills State University’s 125 Most Accomplished Alumni.
An enrolled citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe (Oglala Lakota), Cook received a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Black Hills State University and a master’s degree in education administration from Oglala Lakota College.
Ronnie James
He/Him/His
Ronnie James is the central Brooklyn organizer for the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA). Ronnie and his family migrated to the United States more than 14 years ago and have since permanently settled in the City. For the past five years, Ronnie has been engaged in community organizing and activism, acting as an advocate on the Black immigrant experience. Outside of MOIA, Ronnie organizes with the UndocuBlack Network as one of its NYC Co-Chapter Leaders. There he coordinates with leaders to support the needs of the membership as well as various policy initiatives.
Margaret McLeod, Ed.D.
She/Her/Hers
Margaret R. (Peggy) McLeod, Ed.D. serves as Vice President of Education, Workforce Development, and Evaluation at Unidos US (formerly known as NCLR) in the Texas Regional Office. Dr. McLeod served as Executive Director of Student Services in the Alexandria (VA) City Public Schools. She was Assistant Superintendent for Special Education in the District of Columbia (DC) Office of the State Superintendent of Education. She has also served as State Title III Director, Director of the Office of Bilingual Education, Title VII Coordinator, bilingual program developer, and ESL teacher in DC. She worked at the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services from 1995–2001. In her native Puerto Rico, she taught in two Montessori schools and owned a center that provided afterschool services to students with disabilities. She was a member of the National Board of Education Sciences from 2010 to 2015.
Dr. McLeod holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Puerto Rico, an M.A. in Special Education from New York University, and an Ed.D. in Bilingual Special Education Leadership from the George Washington University.
Andy Nez
He/Him/His
Yá’át’ééh. Salutations from Andy Nez. Mr. Nez is an enrolled citizen of the Diné people from the Navajo Nation. He is currently a Senior Education Specialist for the Office of Educational Research and Statistics at the Navajo Nation Department of Diné Education. Mr. Nez also serves as a member of the Fort Defiance Chapter Business Management Committee and a former Board of Director for the Navajo Studies Conference, Inc. Mr. Nez considers himself a philanthropist and devotes a lot of time and energy to community initiatives, which include Co-Founding Diné Pride, Navajo language digital learning, and numerous Navajo translation work. He is a former head volleyball coach and Diné language and culture elementary teacher. Mr. Nez earned his BA in Native American Studies from the University of New Mexico, a Master’s in Education from Northern Arizona University, and is currently a doctoral candidate at Grand Canyon University. His dissertation focuses on how gay male Navajo leaders describe how settler colonial leadership practices influence their leadership practices, and how these leadership practices influence organizational outcomes. ‘Ahxéhee’, thank you.
Sarah Storm
She/Her/Hers