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.

Jessica Bledsoe’s career switch to teaching began with chance words from her college mentor who saw the teacher in her. In 2008, she joined Teach For America in Los Angeles, and after one year of teaching, Jessica knew her career change to teaching would be permanent, lasting long after her two-year TFA commitment.

Donovan shares how his relationships with colleagues and students energizes his teaching and coaching.

Taylor Martin has taken his knowledge of being a teacher and creates custom, culturally responsive curriculum and implementation solutions for schools across the country as a senior consultant at Public Consulting Group.

In 2016, Alicia was elected to the board of trustees for Donna Independent School District, her original Teach For America placement district. In this role Alicia helped support the process of hiring a new superintendent and has improved the district to achieve a B rating in the state accountability system. Alicia also serves on Teach For America national staff.

Teach For America Chicago-Northwest Indiana alum Anthony Zarate was named a finalist for the 2016 Illinois State Board of Education's annual Teach of the Year Award.

Zikia's teaching experience honed her skills as a communicator and creative problem-solver. She channels those talents in her career as an educator, consultant, and writer.

Reuben Ogbonna (Metro Atlanta '12) co-founded the Marcy Lab School in 2018, a program focused on training marginalized youth for the careers of the future.

Juan Carlos joined Teach For America Kansas City in 2013 after graduating from the University of California-Davis. He remains in Kansas City and  works as a math and Spanish literacy teacher for his 4th grade class at Carver Dual Language School.

Jorge Santos is a restorative justice coordinator and teacher leader.