Ellyn came to Voices because of her passion for dual language education. Ellyn started her career teaching in East Side San José, while earning her master’s degree in Urban Education: Policy and Administration from Loyola Marymount University. She went on to be a founding teacher at KIPP Heritage Academy and then to found the English Language Development program at Alpha Public Schools. In her most recent role at Aspire Public Schools, Ellyn supported the strategic planning for and implementation of Multilingual learning programming. With over a decade of experience at different networks of charter schools in California, she has developed a passion for ensuring schools are driving towards equitable results through the use of technology, systems, and data-driven decision making. She’s most excited about learning all the ways in which Voices teammates are pushing towards incredible results using innovative thinking!

She is a proud partner and mom of two daughters (3 and 5) who attend two-way bilingual schools in English and Spanish. She and her partner José enjoy cooking with food they’ve grown in their garden and teaching their girls about sustainability. They also love to travel and learn about new cultures together! She joined Voices because she cares deeply about kids being about to thrive in a global economy and learning more than one language and culture is a crucial part of that.