GRAPHIC: How did the TFA experience lead to your professional calling?

Rachel Vicente: When I think about my core experience as a teacher in Chicago, particularly in the West side of Chicago, I think a lot about how important it was for me to get developed and to have a coach who was in my classroom, you know once a month supporting me, observing me, asking me questions. Not only supporting my teaching practice but also my overall leadership and my growth. As an individual.

GRAPHIC: What is your profession today?

Rachel: I am a consultant of my own business, and particularly I do executive coaching and I support institutions and their desire to be more equitable and to be aligned to their values. to be values based. And it's not surprising that that experience of having such strong, structured leadership development transformed me into really doing the same thing for people, whether or not they are a teacher.

GRAPHIC: What are some ways you're working towards making a positive difference today?

I have the incredible, incredible, incredible privilege of running, founding and I'll just say designing a fellowship with another Teach for America alumnus and former staff member, Vanity Jenkins. And our fellowship is called Authentically Me. And the focus of the fellowship is for us to provide high-quality professional development to mid-career women of color who are really looking to explore what does authenticity mean to them and what are the barriers for them being authentic in their current roles, personally and professionally. And the beautiful part of that is, I think as a result of us both being alumni and former staff members, is that we've had a significant, significant group of the participants, the women of color, be Teach for America affiliated.

And so for me, that has been such a culmination of all of the things from learning and being a part of a leadership development, when I was a corps member at the Fellowship, to coaching and developing across lines of difference, really understanding, you know, the unique needs of my students and then understanding how do you know, limiting mindsets show up in our work to now kind of using all of that to run and lead a fellowship. And so it is such a huge honor for me to continue the work of creating spaces for people to thrive.