A nationally-recognized leader in education policy and practice, Andrea Zayas envisions self-determined communities of color teeming with thinkers, doers, and makers who are inspired and prepared from youth to use their gifts in service to collective wellness. Since 1998, she has leveraged her experience as a public school teacher and mother to build bridges between families, educators, administrators, and policymakers - developing and implementing research-backed strategies that have been adopted around the country to maximize positive outcomes for Black and Brown youth.
In 2008 and 2018, respectively, Zayas founded La Cima Elementary Charter School in Brooklyn, New York and the New Orleans Youth Alliance, both award-winning institutions that center youth leadership as an integral tool in community sustainability.
Zayas has also served as Regional State Turnaround Superintendent in Camden, New Jersey, Director for Charter School Accountability for the New York City Department of Education, and Chief Academic Officer at Boston Public Schools. Most recently, she developed and executed education grantmaking, policy, and systems change work as the National Director of K-12 Education at the Ballmer Group.
Zayas is the founder of Upstream Education Consulting, a boutique firm of field leaders who support systems and organizational leaders through thought partnership, coaching, and facilitation. She currently serves on the Biden Administration’s Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics.
Zayas is a first-generation high school and college graduate and proud daughter of the African diaspora with indigenous Colombian and Afro-Boricua roots. She is a doctoral candidate in Urban Education Leadership at Xavier University of Louisiana and earned her Master’s in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education and her Bachelor’s at Rutgers University.
