Malia is an educational consultant leading principal leadership initiatives at the Charter School Growth Fund and Summit Public Schools. She was formerly the Chief Program Officer at Summit Public Schools where she designed and implemented organization-wide pilots to improve student outcomes. She also oversaw Special Education and the support of Multilingual Learners. Prior to her role as Chief Program Officer, Malia led the Washington region of Summit Schools and founded Summit’s first high school in Seattle. She considers herself fortunate to have started an innovative, diverse, community-oriented school with a team of incredibly talented, loving educators and courageous students and families. Prior to joining Summit, Malia was an assistant school leader and teacher at the Noble Network of Charter Schools. She began her teaching career in the Bronx where the incredible young people in her classes taught her the magic that can happen in a classroom and the transformational possibility of school when we get it right. Malia was born on Kauai and connects her deep belief in the power of diversity to growing up in a culturally rich and diverse community. Malia is an alum of Seattle University and Columbia University. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two sweet, energetic sons. In her free time, you can find Malia watching the sunrise over Lake Washington with her rowing team or eating great food in friends' homes or our city’s great restaurants.