Your Community is Waiting For You: How to Find It
We're more connected than ever and yet, loneliness is an actual epidemic. If you're worried that your future career might leave you stressed, isolated and without community, this event is for you. Join Teach For America alumni and social justice advocates Taylor Gonzalez and Dr. Justin Pinn to learn how to leverage your passions to find your people. Followed by live Q&A.
About the Speakers
Taylor Gonzalez
Taylor Ann Gonzalez is a 2013 Teach For America Baltimore Corps member who taught second grade all subjects. Prior to joining the corps, Taylor worked in government and public relations. Following the corps, Taylor worked for staff on the national recruitment team and then a regional development team. Since then, Taylor has helped scale an education focused talent search firm and is now a career coach for the education sector supporting candidates throughout their job seeking journey. Further, Taylor has her own thriving business as a holistic wellness and athletic coach and yoga teacher. She is an avid runner, dog mom, and first-generation college student. Taylor has her Masters in Education from Johns Hopkins University and her E-200 hour Registered Yoga Certificate.
Dr. Justin Pinn
Dr. Justin Pinn believes that his calling in life is to ensure opportunity and access for all. Justin, a first-generation college graduate from Ohio, relocated to Miami, Florida as a TFA Corps Member, where he taught secondary science and served as chair of the Literacy Leadership team. After teaching, he exercised his leadership and vision in the nonprofit sector supporting afterschool programs, civic engagement catalyzers, college persistence initiatives, and educational and learning enterprises. Specifically, Justin launched two afterschool initiatives at Breakthrough Miami supporting underserved youth to receive access to STEM programming (robotics, coding, and engineering) and preparation for post-secondary success. Justin’s impact in the afterschool and youth development field allowed him to be nominated and selected as a National Afterschool Ambassador by the Afterschool Alliance in 2017. Furthermore, Justin led TFA Miami-Dade’s Alumni network where he architected and launched professional development learning communities for school leaders, teachers, and civic and social impact leaders.
Currently, Justin operates his own consultancy where he supports social impact organizations with change management processes, DEI training, fundraising/revenue strategy, metrics and evaluation support, strategic planning, and theory of change development. Additionally, Justin, an education practitioner at heart, is an adjunct professor at Miami Dade College’s School of Education. He contributes to the national discourse on the transformational impact of out-of-school programs on marginalized youth, equity issues, mentorship practices, and youth participatory action research.
Justin serves the following organizations as a board member: Cristo Rey Miami HS, Engage Florida Civic Foundation (Chair), and Miami EdTech (Chair). Most notably, Justin served as the Chairperson of the City of Miami Community Advisory Board, overseeing a U.S. Department of Justice settlement agreement with the Miami Police Department due to excessive force on and killings of largely unarmed Black men from 2008 to 2011. Lastly, Dr. Pinn graduated with an Ed.D. in Organizational Learning and Leadership with a specialization in higher education administration from Barry University. After being selected as a 2018 Miami Leader, Justin received his executive certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University. He received his MS in Educational Studies/Secondary from Johns Hopkins University and his BA in English and Government from Georgetown University.