Ilia, a bi-lingual 30-year Bronx educator, was our Model Classroom Pilot Lead and now serves as Director of Instructional Programs at LAC. In this role, Ilia leads LAC’s professional development and coaching, curriculum mapping, and documentation. She brings 19 years of teaching experience, including positions in bilingual, multi-age, and ESOL collaborative teaching classrooms. Ilia’s classrooms served as lab sites for the teaching of math and science in conjunction with the New York City Math Project and the Workshop Center for Science Inquiry. She has also been a member of the Prospect Center and published a review of her water study with 2nd and 3rd-grade students. Ilia has served as an elementary math instructor at Lehman College and facilitator of descriptive review groups at the Prospect Center. She has presented math workshops at regional curriculum conferences and orchestrated school-based and district-wide professional development for elementary math teachers in the White Plains Public Schools. Ilia holds a B.A. in Sociology from Hamilton College, an M.S. in Elementary Education from The City College of the City University of New York, and an Advanced Certificate in Bilingual Education along with a Master's Degree in Educational Leadership (Lehman College, CUNY).

Naomi is our Director of Community & Family Engagement. Naomi became involved in educational advocacy work when her oldest child was diagnosed with Dyslexia 17 years ago and given an IEP. She quickly had to learn how to navigate the special education bureaucracy in NYC and experienced first-hand the overwhelming complexity of the system. Through support from organizations, she learned the special education law and lent herself as a support for other special education parents in her community. In 2015 she joined the Community Education Council for School District 1, where she served as President for five of her eight years. As President of the CEC, and as a proud product of NYCHA, she helped develop and implement NYC’s first district-wide Diversity in Admissions system, and the first Family Resource Center in District 1. She has a professional background in legal, marketing, operations, and finance.

Ruth is a co-founder and the Executive Director of Literacy Academy Collective and brings over 20 years of leadership and innovation in the NYC education sector. Ruth founded the New York office of Bottom Line and served as its Executive Director for eight years. During her tenure, Bottom Line NY grew from an inaugural class of 125 students to a thriving program helping over 3,000 students annually to earn their college degrees, establishing itself as a leader in the college access and success space. Previously, Ruth worked at New Visions for Public Schools where she launched and directed New Visions’ first Data and College Readiness departments. Before joining New Visions in 2005, Ruth worked in the Bloomberg Administration on the integration of after-school services across several New York City agencies. Ruth has served on the advisory board of several NYC nonprofits and education coalitions. She began her career as a New York City public school teacher through Teach for America. Ruth holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley; and a Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University.

Kalyani is the Special Projects Manager at LAC, providing hands-on support to the Leadership Team through project management, operational support, grants and donor management, and communications. She works to ensure the smooth coordination of cross-departmental initiatives, both internally and externally within the organization. Prior to joining LAC, Kalyani has worked in various capacities, including teaching and research, and in different areas of the education sector, such as ed-tech, early childhood education, and special education. She did education consulting at the Center for Public Research and Leadership at Columbia Law School. She also served as a Vice-Principal of a private K-10 school in Hyderabad, India, where she taught middle-school English. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Psychology from the University of Delhi, a Master’s degree in Education from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and a Master of Public Policy, specializing in Education Policy and Quantitative Methods from Peabody College, Vanderbilt University.

Emily leads External Affairs and Strategy for LAC. Emily is a community activist and parent of a child with dyslexia. She is the former Vice President of the CEC for District 2 founding the Students with Disabilities Committee which she convened monthly with parents from across the district. She served as PTA president, on the School Leadership Team, and was a pioneer family of a new and incubated D2 school - Peck Slip PS343. As Co-Chair of 75 Morton Community Alliance, Emily organized multiple community focus groups and envisioning sessions. She has a background in non-profit fundraising serving as the former development director of start-up non-profit Shine Global and finance chair of several state-wide and national political campaigns. She was a working actress in New York City from 1994 to 2004. In 1998 she co-founded the Project 400 Theater Company, co-creating and acting in, among other works, The Donkey Show - a hit off-Broadway musical running for 8 years in NYC.

Shoshana manages LAC’s programming, school partnerships, and instruction in District 1 in Manhattan. She has worked in New York public education for over 21 years, as a teacher, curriculum developer, classroom coach, and university professor. Shoshana began her career as a middle school English teacher and literacy coach, bringing standards-based ELA instruction and formative data analysis to her school. She then served as an Associate Professor and Director of New York Programs at Relay Graduate School of Education, where she led a team of professors and developed and taught curriculum focused on supporting all learners and classroom data collection and analysis. Shoshana holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Michigan, an M.S. in Secondary English Education from Lehman College, an Ed.M. in Public School Building Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an Ed.D. in Organizational Change and Leadership from the University of Southern California. She has conducted original research and published on the topic of mental health in education.