Jalesa joins Girls Leadership after being an educational administrator and teacher for over 8 years. She
loves inspiring and empowering youth and adults to achieve both their personal and professional goals
by building an authentic relationship with individuals. She achieves this by leading with love,
compassion, empathy, humility, and respect. Being a product of the NYC public school system, she
believes in the importance of seeing individuals as who they are and using emotional intelligence to
spark greatness in youth.
Jalesa’s passion of developing self-awareness within individuals has blossomed throughout the years and has developed greatly during her time as an educator and Girl Scout troop leader. Paired with her background in fashion and entertainment, she is known as a fashion extraordinaire who impacts and encourages through style as well. She has been featured on Humans of New York for her interactions with her students and has been a panelist at various events, highlighting the benefits of social emotional learning and culturally responsive education strategies. She holds a BS in Human Ecology from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and a MAT from the Relay Graduate School of Education. When Jalesa is not fulfilling her God-given purpose within her work, she enjoys dancing, journaling, spending time traveling alone, and traveling with friends and family.
