Yandra Mordan is a dedicated early childhood educator with over twenty-seven years at Bloomingdale Family Program, which follows the HighScope curriculum. She earned a master of arts from Teachers College, Columbia University, with a concentration in early childhood education and special education (dual certification and extension). A proud Dominican, she promotes culturally responsive teaching that fosters independence, initiative, and critical thinking in a loving and active learning environment.

Dr. Tara Kirton is a lecturer in the early childhood program at Hunter College, The City University of New York (CUNY). She holds an EdD in curriculum and teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Kirton is a mom and a former preschool teacher, special education itinerant teacher, and curriculum writer. She centers historical literacy and culturally responsive pedagogy in her work with preservice teachers as they prepare to teach culturally and linguistically diverse children. 

Alfonsina Paez is a grade 3 bilingual teacher at Samara Community School in the Bronx, where she teaches in a dual language, project-based learning program. An immigrant from the Dominican Republic and the daughter of two teachers, she has a lifelong passion for education. Paez spent eight years as a paraprofessional in District 75, supporting students with special needs. She is committed to inclusive, empowering classrooms where students build confidence, develop agency, and advocate for themselves and their communities.

Katherine Cordova is a grade 3 bilingual special education teacher at Samara Community School in the Bronx. She has five years of teaching experience and over fifteen years in education. A former bilingual student, she values inclusive, multilingual learning and sees project-based learning (PBL) as a powerful way to support all students. Certified in special and general education through grade 6, Cordova empowers educators to structure PBL to effectively support learners with varied learning needs. 

Rubi Brioso, a grade 3 bilingual teacher in the Bronx and adjunct at Lehman College, brings ten years of experience to her work. Growing up in NYC, she is deeply committed to creating joyful, identity-affirming spaces where students feel seen and empowered. She centers student voice through project-based learning and real-world inquiry. Inspired by Cultivating Genius, Brioso designs a curriculum rooted in joy, identity, and criticality. She has presented at NCTE to share her passion for integrating culture and community into learning.

Cecilia M. Espinosa, PhD, is a professor of early childhood/childhood at Lehman College-CUNY. Her research focuses on children’s writing, translanguaging, and children’s literature that affirms and nurtures multiple identities. Espinosa served as chair of the NCTE Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children. Her work is rooted in the Institute on Descriptive Inquiry, and the NYCWP, CUNY NYSIEB, CUNY IIE Projects. Espinosa coauthored the book Rooted in Strength: Using Translanguaging to Grow Multilingual Readers and Writers (2021).

Kaya Richardson is a recent December graduate with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a minor in psychology. Originally from Illinois, she attended East Carolina University and decided to stay in the area to begin her teaching career. Richardson is passionate about creating a supportive and engaging learning environment where all students can thrive.

Dr. Julia A. Lynch, a Black-poet-scholar, is an assistant professor of literacy and language at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She operates primarily from a BlackMothering epistemology to engage in education that promotes equity and social justice in rural education, teaching, and learning. Using culturally responsive pedagogy as a foundation, her research centers on rural education context within the post-colonial south, culturally sustaining pedagogies, and arts-based literacy practices that support culturally and linguistically diverse students.

Maria Rodriguez Maldonado is a Title I public school teacher in Savannah, Georgia. She recently completed her master’s degree in elementary education. She is originally from Mexico and is fluent in Spanish and English. This is her fifth year teaching diverse multilingual students, which is her passion. She is happily married with two beautiful girls, an upcoming sixth grader and a sophomore in high school. She loves animals and has three dogs and three cats that are part of the family. She is excited about this project and can’t wait to learn so much from this experience.  

Sally Brown is a professor of literacy education at Georgia Southern University. She teaches graduate students in the MEd and EdS reading programs. Previously, she taught in South Carolina public elementary schools. Her research focuses on emergent bilingual literacies using a culturally relevant/responsive framework. Brown’s research has been published in Reading & Writing Quarterly, Language Arts, and The Reading Teacher. She is coauthor of Multimodal Funds of Knowledge: Countering Deficit Narratives of Diverse Families (2025).

Carissa Treviño is a general education elementary school teacher in San Antonio, Texas. She attended the University of Texas at San Antonio where she received her degree in equity and education EC-6 with a specialization in ESL. Treviño is passionate about empowering multilingual learners and fostering inclusive classroom environments that reflect and celebrate diverse identities and lived experiences. She believes every child brings unique strengths, cultures, and stories that enrich the classroom community. As an educator she strives to create a safe, inclusive space where students see themselves reflected in their learning and feel empowered to use their voice. Through culturally relevant teaching her aim is to foster critical thinking, empathy, and a lifelong love of learning while equipping students not just to succeed academically, but to thrive as confident, compassionate individuals.

Dr. Yvette M. Regalado (ella/she/her) is an assistant professor of literacy instruction. As an Indigenous Latina practitioner-scholar-activist, Dr. Regalado is committed to advancing cultural and language pedagogy in literacy instruction through restorative literacies, counterstorytelling, and Indigenous pedagogy. Her research works to disrupt and dismantle educational deficit narratives surrounding BIPOC students in K–16 classrooms. She is a Cultivating New Voices Among Scholars of Color Fellow and won third place in the 2025 AAHHE Outstanding Dissertation Competition. 

Jing Zhang holds a master of education in language and literacy and is currently pursuing a PhD in the same field at the University of South Carolina. She has over twelve years of experience in bilingual education—four years in China and eight in the United States. She is certified by the state of South Carolina in multiple areas, including Literacy Specialist, Literacy Coach, Literacy Teacher, ESOL Teacher, and World Language Chinese. Additionally, she holds the Read to Succeed endorsement. Zhang is deeply committed to fostering the academic growth of young learners and finds continuous inspiration in the reciprocal learning that occurs in the classroom. 

Yang Wang is a professor in language and literacy in the Department of Teacher Education at the University of South Carolina. She earned her PhD in literacy and MEd in TESOL from the University of Missouri. She is the co-director at the Center of Bilingualism Matters @USC and president of Literacies and Languages for All, NCTE. Her research focuses on sociopsycholinguistic perspective of the reading process, eye movement miscue analysis with multilingual learners, English language teaching and learning, bilingualism, and biliteracies.