Meet Our Team
Colleen Rodgers
Founder & Coach
Colleen enters the work of organizational change and school transformation with a belief that powerful teacher leadership is the catalyst for systemic change. Such transformation centers students as architects of their own learning and privileges holistic and sustained student outcomes. As a former Chemical Engineer, Colleen is obsessed with consequential impact for marginalized students in STEM disciplines. In the 17 years she has been in the field of education she has enabled the conditions for significant gains in student outcomes as a middle school teacher, school administrator, district consultant and National Director of STEM for the nations’ largest teacher preparation organization.
As a STEM consultant, she specializes in the areas of pedagogy, culturally sustaining curriculum development and leadership development. She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Tuskegee University and a Master of Arts in International Learning and Leadership from Roehampton University, London UK. She has also earned her NJ Supervisors certificate from Rutgers University and the Certificate in Advanced Educational Leadership (CAEL) from Harvard University. Her professional interests include gifted education programs, formation of academic identities, academic trauma, and teacher mindset.
Jacobe Bell
Founder & Coach
Jacobē is a change agent with over 15 years of experience as a National Board Certified Teacher, Instructional Coach, and Network Administrator in both the public and charter sectors. Jacobē works directly with teachers, teacher leaders, and principals to build equity for all students. At the foundation of Jacobē’s work is the belief that schools must be places where cultural pluralism, high expectations, asset-based pedagogy, and student voices flourish. To cultivate change in schools, Jacobē believes we must stop the “spirit-murder” of students by humanizing every aspect of education.
She is a graduate of Stanford University and a current doctoral student at Teachers College, Columbia University in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching. Her professional interests lie in humanizing pedagogies, student-centered teaching and learning, curriculum design, asset-based teacher mindsets, culturally responsive teaching, teacher preparation, and leadership development.
Dr. Reshma Ramkellawan
Founder & Coach
Reshma brings over 14 years of experience as an educator, school leader and instructional coach. She has supported at least a dozen schools within the greater New York, New Jersey and Connecticut region. While she specializes in English Language Arts and Humanities content areas, she has provided instructional support to STEM based subjects as well. At the core of her practice is the belief that students' voices should drive learning and instructional experiences. School is not a place where teachers “tell” students what to do, but rather act as “co-conspirators” in learning. Adhering to the ideas of Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy, she believes that the only way to improve schools is to be disruptive in practice.
She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in English Education from the University of Central Florida, Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction as well as her Doctorate of Education in English Education from Teachers College.