Naressa is known amongst her colleagues, family, and friends for her commitment and efforts to create a more just and equitable world. For over a decade, she has combined that unwavering promise with experience in DEI, Talent, Strategy, Operations, and Six Sigma to advance equity, justice, and organizational excellence in the corporate, government, K-12 education, and nonprofit sectors. Her education sector work began as a Broad Resident at the Louisiana Department of Education where she oversaw and supported the development of the state’s educator support and evaluation system, teacher and leader certification redesign, school turnaround, district support, and common core implementation efforts. To deepen her understanding, broaden her impact, and further advance educational equity, Naressa taught 4th grade, earned her teacher certification in elementary education, and led talent, data, policy, strategy, and operations initiatives for two charter networks in New Orleans. She has partnered with clients and communities on a range of equity-centered strategy consulting and talent efforts including Black Education for New Orleans (BE NOLA), Black Teacher Collaborative, UNCF, Charter School Growth Fund, New Orleans Youth Alliance (NOYA), OneGoal, EL Education, and Proyecto Pastoral at Dolores Mission. Naressa looks forward to continuing her life’s work to advance collective equity in Black and other under-resourced communities.