Five-day ™

As President and Chief Executive Officer of UnboundEd, Lacey Robinson sets the organization’s vision for equity-driven national change as she carries the pride and tears of her enslaved ancestors and the native sons and daughters of this sacred land to this work. While continually monitoring the design, delivery, and quality of UnboundEd’s antiracist work, Robinson concurrently maintains the nonprofit’s health, sustainability and future-driven vision for what teaching and learning can be in the 21st century. 

Robinson engaged with industry partners to support standards-aligned, content-focused, equity-driven adult professional learning and development from the organization’s infancy as its Chief of Program and Engagement. She also supported vital design and execution elements for UnboundEd’s signature professional learning opportunity, the illustrious Standards Institute. Robinson’s contributions led to the rapid growth of the organization and positioned UnboundEd as industry leaders. Robinson spearheaded migrating this work into a virtual space during the pandemic to meet the needs of educators.

As a teacher, principal, and staff development specialist, Robinson maintained a focus on literacy, equity, and school leadership for more than two decades. Her life’s work aims to help educators in school systems disrupt systemic racism and all of its legacies in classrooms. Inspired by Langston Hughes, her path is to build temples for tomorrow, as strongly and bravely as she knows how, and to ensure that future generations can stand freely within themselves to be whomever they choose to be. As CEO, Robinson pursues this passion by leading an organization known for the highest integrity in professional development.

Dr. Pamela Seda is an educational consultant with over 30 years of educational experience.  She is the owner of Seda Educational Consulting, creator of The VANG Game math card game, and co-author of the book, Choosing to See: A Framework for Equity in the Math Classroom. Dr. Seda has held various positions in mathematics education including high school mathematics teacher, math instructional coach, college math instructor, and district math supervisor.  She currently serves as the Professional Learning Director for NCSM Leadership in Mathematics Education, and Treasurer for the Benjamin Banneker Association. Dr. Seda is passionate about changing how students experience mathematics, especially those from marginalized groups, and advocates for mathematics instruction that develops all students as mathematical thinkers and problem-solvers.

Gyasi Ross (Blackfeet) is an essayist and writer, poet and speaker, lawyer and activist. Through a life of service, listening and living within Native communities, Gyasi profoundly understands the needs of his people and has dedicated his life to forging change within his communities.

Part of Gyasi's mission is raising the profile of the reservation populace, often viewed with ignorance as a shadowy world, as well as instilling a sense of pride amongst the people. He has taken his message to hundreds of colleges and universities, high schools and community venues nationwide.

"My point in everything is helping my community and the various populations therein to influence the systems that affect them. My goal in life is about mentorship, about figuring out how to instruct others to fulfill their purpose and understand the sense of self-awareness and application of spirituality to everyday life. To understand that we are worthwhile: economically, politically, educationally, and spiritually. We have a lot to offer."

Ross is the author of two books, “Don't Know Much about Indians (but I wrote this book about us anyways)” (2011) and “How to Say I Love You in Indian” (2013). "I come from a family of storytellers. My family tells long stories, drinking coffee and blowing smoke in your face. It just fit for me to tell stories, and then I started writing them. My standard for writing stories is, if I can't explain it to my niece or nephew, or my grandpa who dropped out of school then I need to understand this topic better. People have a love affair with over-academicizing things."

Ross has written for Huffington Post, Indian Country Today, Deadspin and Gawker and is often tapped to appear on various talk shows and news programs (including MSNBC and ESPN) on topics about Indian Country and beyond (immigration, climate change, sports). Ross is in demand as a speaker at conferences on race and social justice as well as speaking at colleges and universities nationwide on a variety of topics. He also speaks to and mentors young people to encourage confidence in the future and to address the epidemic of adolescent and teen suicide in Indian Country.

Ross’ latest project is a spoken word/hip hop CD, “Isskootsik (before here was here)” which recently debuted at number five on college radio hip hop charts.

While still utilizing his skills as a Columbia Law School graduate, Gyasi continues in the family business of working within the community and telling his people's stories. Always believing in his mission, Ross first and foremost just wants things to be right with the complex world of the Indian nations. "Gratification is internal and I'm comfortable with that," Ross says, "I'm just trying to figure out how to help my folks."

Mr. White served as a fifth-grade reading teacher in Charlotte, NC for seven years focusing on instilling the love for reading in his students. Currently, Mr. White serves as a Vice Principal in the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District. In 2016, Mr. White discovered that a practice he’d implemented as a sign of trust between him and his students, had gone viral. Earning the title “Steve Harvey’s Hero” Mr. White’s increasing popularity stemmed from his relationship building skills, which depicted him giving personalized handshakes to each of his students, attracting attention all over the world. His purpose—to stress the importance of individuality and the positive impact that giving individualized attention to each student can have. Prompting a love for learning inside/outside the classroom. Mr. White received the 2019 Black fathers rock Surrogate Father of the year, NC AT&T Heritage Calendar Honoree at the Governor's Mansion and the CMPD & Community MVP award for his outstanding work in the community and the city of Charlotte. 

Barry White Jr. is a premiere speaker at the National Speakers Bureau traveling cities working with educators on examining the classroom with a critical lens prompting an evolving experience for students to develop a love for learning. 

Tanji Reed Marshall, Ph.D., is the senior practice associate for P-12 literacy, leading Ed Trust’s Equity in Motion literacy assignment analysis work.

Prior to joining Ed Trust, Tanji worked in the Office of Academic Programs at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University to prepare the school of education’s accreditation with the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. Before that, she supported prospective secondary English teachers who were working to obtain licensure through the school of education.

Before joining Virginia Tech, Tanji worked as a district-level literacy specialist in Charlotte–Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina, where she supported middle schools across the district to refine their literacy practices. She also worked to prepare the district as they transitioned to Common Core standards. Additionally, as a Title I literacy coach, Tanji worked with targeted schools to improve literacy instruction for traditionally underserved students. Her career also includes elementary and middle school classroom teaching in North Carolina and New Jersey, which has allowed her opportunities to consult with school districts across the country to refine and focus teacher practice on literacy and to strengthen student achievement — with an emphasis on traditionally underserved students.

Tanji holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction, with an emphasis on teacher practice with high-achieving African American students, from Virginia Tech; a master’s degree in English education, with a focus on critical literacy, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte; and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Boston College.

A second generation Afro Cuban-American, Luis Versalles was born and raised in Bloomington, Minnesota. His bilingual and bicultural life experiences have fueled his passion for fostering racial, linguistic, and cultural equity in education for all students. After completing his public school K-12 education, Luis went on to complete a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s of Education with emphasis on Second Languages and Cultures from the University This experience motivates his work in coaching school leaders to better understand the complexities presented to families of color as they navigate both the K-12 and higher education systems. Versalles specializes in aligning district strategic plans with PEG’s Systemic Racial Equity Transformation Framework to facilitate greater alignment in achieving racial equity system-wide. In addition, he leads a team of equity transformation specialists in guiding organizations through this work in the domains of Leadership, Culturally Relevant Learning and Teaching, and Family/Community Engagement and Empowerment.

Versalles began his professional career as a teacher of Spanish and English as a Second career spanned elementary, middle, and high school levels. As an administrator he worked as Luis was instrumental in the community outreach, feasibility study, and coordination required history of the state of Minnesota. Recognizing his leadership experiences in two-way immersion education, Luis was awarded the Joyce Bilingual Preschool Bridging Gaps, Bridging Cultures Award in 2010, and the Association of Two-Way and Dual Language’s Promoting Bilingualism Award in 2016. He has presented at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition Summer Institute as well as the Louisiana Department of Education on Immersion Principal Leadership Competencies. Versalles’ keynote presentations include: Courageous Leadership: Interrogating the Role of Race in Racial Disparities in Two Way Bilingual Immersion (ATDLE National Conference, 2016) as well as The Path Forward for Diverse Schools: Courageous Conversations About Race and Education (Teachers College Colombia University, Summer Institute, 2016).

Natalie Wexler is an education writer and the author of The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System—and How to Fix It (Avery 2019). She is also the co-author, with Judith C. Hochman, of The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades (Jossey-Bass 2017), and a senior contributor at Forbes.com. Her articles and essays on education and other topics have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and on her free newsletter, Minding the Gap. She has spoken on education before a wide variety of groups and appeared on a number of TV and radio shows, including Morning Joe and NPR’s On Point and 1A. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and has two adult children. Find out more about Natalie and her work at her website, www.nataliewexler.com, or follow her on Twitter (@natwexler).