Mario Benabe always knew he wanted to teach and maximized his experience with Teach For America as a way to guide him from turning a passion into a career.

Melissa has worked in English language learning (ELL) instruction her whole career, starting with her experience as a corps member in the South Bronx. She now works to strengthen the inclusion of ELL students and students with disabilities in NYC charter schools.

Kien Nguyen took the skills he learned while working in the classroom to developing software and technology to help connect users on various platforms.

As an investment principal at the Charter School Growth Fund, Soenda leads strategies that support the growth of high-quality charter school networks led by entrepreneurs of color across the country.

Angélica Infante-Green began her career as a bilingual classroom teacher in the South Bronx where she was a Teach For America corps member before moving to Community School District 6 in the heart of Washington Heights in 1995. Since leaving the classroom, Infante-Green has served in a variety of roles focused on improving instruction for all students, and particularly for students learning English. She served as the Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Education Department’s Office of Instructional Support P-12, before transitioning to her current role as Rhode Island’s Commissioner of Education. Infante-Green is the first Latina and the first woman of color to lead the Rhode Island Department of Education.

Julia Rafal-Baer, Ph.D joined Teach For America in 2004, where she began her career as a special education teacher in the Bronx. Julia went on to become Assistant Commissioner of the New York State Education Department where she was responsible for the strategy, management, and implementation of teacher and leader initiatives under the state’s Race to the Top grant, Teacher Incentive Fund grant, and other state-wide initiatives. Today, Julia lives in Rhode Island and serves as Chief Operating Officer of Chiefs for Change, a nonprofit network of bipartisan state and city education leaders.

Teaching special education in NY as a TFA corps member gave Max Lesser the proximity he needed to keenly identify educational inequity and the systemic factors that feed into it. Since his days in the classroom, Max has leveraged his teaching experience and legal knowledge to advance criminal justice reform, policies that could greatly improve the lives of the community he once served. Learn more about his journey.

Teach For America alum Sandrene Cassells shares how her time leading a classroom enhanced her love for medicine, leadership, and a lifelong dedication to teaching and serving marginalized communities.

Teach For America New York City alum Jack Elsey leads one of the largest Detroit nonprofits focused on high-potential investments to expand successful schools, improve lower performing schools, and discover and develop talented educators so that every child in Detroit has the opportunity to receive an excellent education.