Why We Lead Education Roundtable: Fostering the Leadership of AANHPI Girls and Gender-Expansive Youth
On Monday, October 28, 2024 we held an education-focused roundtable discussion of Why We Lead: Understanding and Supporting the Leadership of AANHPI Girls and Gender-Expansive Youth
Two years ago we set out to research the complex, nuanced, and intergenerational story of the leadership development of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) girls and gender-expansive youth. That result is Why We Lead: Understanding and Supporting the Leadership of AANHPI Girls and Gender-Expansive Youth, the first-ever national study of AANHPI girls and gender-expansive youth.
You won’t want to miss this one-hour interactive roundtable event. Our panelists Ann Waterman Roy, Johanna Paraiso, and Youth Research Council member Yehji Hwang will discuss the report findings and detail actionable next steps. Attendees will gain firsthand insights into what inspires AANHPI young people to lead, the barriers they face, and how educators and school administrators can effectively support the leadership development of AANHPI girls and gender-expansive youth. Chief Executive Officer at Aspire Public Schools Mala Batra will moderate the discussion. Executive Director and Market Manager at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Leslie Walters will make opening remarks. Girls Leadership National Board member and P16 Partners founder Aditi Goel will make closing remarks.
Sponsored by Morgan Stanley
In partnership with
Host
Aditi Goel
Aditi Goel brings over 20 years of nonprofit and education expertise to the work of solving critical problems around equity and opportunity. Born and raised in the Bay Area as the only child of Indian immigrant parents, Aditi Goel (Bay Area ‘01) began her career as a TFA Bay Area teacher in San Jose, CA. The unique multi-sector experience Aditi has from her leadership at Google where she designed + launched CodeNext, leading the education policy and program portfolio at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, conducting research at WestEd and as a Teach for America teacher enables her to now provide strategic advisory services through P16 Partners for clients across school systems and the nonprofit, private, ed tech and philanthropic sectors.
Aditi serves as a Board Member for Girls Leadership and Teach for America – Bay Area, and advisory board member of Challenge Success. She is a 2022 50CAN National Voices Fellow, has been named as a 2021 Woman of Influence, was recognized as a 2020 Top Executive in Nonprofit & Education and received the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 2019 Silicon Valley Community Impact Award.
Aditi holds a B.A. in Philosophy with a Minor in South Asian Studies from UC Berkeley and an Ed.M. in Education Policy & Management from Harvard University. She lives in Los Altos with her husband and two daughters, Ananya and Amisha.
Leslie Walters
Leslie Walters is responsible for the growth and profitability of the South Sound Washington branches and Yakima and Kennewick branches of Morgan Stanley. The core values are: Do the Right Thing, Put Clients First, Lead with Exceptional Ideas, Commit to Diversity & Inclusion, Give Back. Leslie’s commitment and passion are helping financial advisors and staff to grow and excel.
In July 2019, Leslie was selected to lead the Tacoma Morgan Stanley office as Branch Manager, with the privilege of working with the leadership teams in the Gig Harbor, Federal Way and Olympia Morgan Stanley offices, as the South Sound Market Manager. In 2022, they expanded and the Market now includes the Yakima and Kennewick branches. Leslie’s prior Branch Management roles included Princeton, New Jersey and Silverdale, Washington. She has 20+ years tenure at Morgan Stanley.
Together with some fabulous visionary women, Leslie is one of the co-founders of W@MS ~Women at Morgan Stanley, a board of professional women committed to education, empowerment, and ongoing transformative change for women in the community. She was recognized in the 2022 class of MAKERS@Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, a recognition that celebrates women who are ground breakers, advocates, and innovators in their given field.
She earned the Certified Investment Management Analyst®, administered by Investments & Wealth Institute and taught in conjunction with The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of Bates College with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics.
She and her husband have been married over 30 years and are the proud parents of two boys: Tim and Jeff.
Mala Batra
Mala Batra is the CEO of Aspire Public Schools – a charter management organization serving historically under-resourced communities in 36 schools across California spanning grades TK-12. Mala joined Aspire Public Schools in 2011, serving in various roles across strategy and growth including overseeing the launch of six new Aspire schools and leading Aspire’s expansion into Memphis. Mala served as Aspire’s Chief of Staff for 3 years before serving as interim CEO in 2018.
Prior to joining Aspire, Mala held strategy and project management roles at Levi Strauss & Co. and Gap Inc. and worked as a consultant for Deloitte. Mala holds a B.S. from University of California, Berkeley and an M.B.A from Harvard Business School.
As the proud daughter of Indian immigrants, Mala was deeply inspired by her father – a physicist turned educator, to pursue work in public education. Having experienced the transformative power of education and choice for families, she believes strongly that all young people deserve the opportunity to be empowered to realize their potential and equipped to make the choices that are right for them and their families.
Panelists
Ann Waterman Roy
Ann Waterman Roy is an independent consultant for school systems and nonprofits on transformation, growth, and other strategic challenges. Recent projects include helping South San Francisco Unified School District design and implement their 5-year strategic plan, and supporting the Ravenswood district (in East Palo Alto, CA) to bring students back to campus during COVID, accelerate learning, and build out their Transitional Kindergarten program and partnerships with the local early childhood community.
Prior to that, she spent six years in various roles at the rapidly-growing education nonprofit Innovate Public Schools, where she worked with and coached leaders from multiple Bay Area charters and districts. Before moving to California in 2014, she spent more than a decade in leadership roles in Boston’s education sector, including Director of Strategic Planning at Boston Public Schools, Boston ED at The Achievement Network, and ED at Excel Academy Charter School. Ann is an alum of the Broad Residency in Urban Education, and earned a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
Ann is the proud daughter of a teacher who (along with her father) taught her gratitude for the opportunities she has received, appreciation for the transformative power of education, and a sense of responsibility to create opportunities for others whenever possible. She is also the mother of two teenagers who keep her humble, and remind her that every child in this country deserves to attend a school that supports, challenges, and prepares them for success in life.
Johanna Paraiso
Johanna “Jo” Paraiso is in her 22nd year of teaching English. After 16 years in the high school setting, most of which was spent in Oakland, Jo now teaches 6th grade in Berkeley. She co-founded and currently moderates the Asian and Pacific Islander Club there, which the community affectionately calls the “Spam Fam”. After decades of helping students in the classroom to express their Literati selves, Jo embraces the messiness that comes with empowering students to take on the world with solid communication skills, an appreciation for equity, and kindness always.
Yehji Hwang
Yehji Hwang is a second-generation Korean American living in Maryland. She joined this study because she firmly believes that her Asian American friends around the country are too amazing to be limited by systemic challenges. Her goal is to improve our institutions, and she’s deeply invested in how we can use our research to work towards overcoming barriers and supporting the growth and dreams of Asian American youth. She wants to help create a world that roots for them.
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