From classroom teacher to founder of a cradle to career movement, Dominique Lee built the BRICK Education Network in Newark to do what schools alone never could: support a child and their family from before birth all the way through a career. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Dominique Lee, founder and CEO of BRICK Education Network, to talk about what it actually takes to change outcomes for Black and brown children when the system was never built for them in ...
Jun 04, 2026•54 min•Ep. 31
Ethan Ashley got handcuffed at a police precinct at age six for stealing a pack of gum. He went on to finish high school at sixteen, earn a law degree from Howard by twenty-two, win an elected school board seat, and build a national organization that trains the people deciding what happens in your kid's classroom. His throughline: his story should have been the rule, not the exception. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Ethan, former school board member and CEO ...
May 28, 2026•49 min•Ep. 30
Catherine Suitor has spent two decades proving that schools can get better at scale, and she has the data to back it up. As Executive Director of the Alliance College-Ready Public Schools Foundation, Catherine has helped Alliance grow into one of the largest and most successful nonprofit charter networks in the country, serving 13,000 scholars across 26 schools in Los Angeles. When Alliance opened in 2004, LAUSD was graduating 49% of its students. Alliance has graduated nearly 100% from the star...
May 21, 2026•59 min•Ep. 29
Charter school leader Sonia Park spent her childhood as one of the only kids of color in suburban Philadelphia schools, then watched her own son experience the same othering thirty years later in New York City. She runs the Diverse Charter Schools Coalition because belonging is not a side issue. It is the thing that determines whether kids can thrive. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Sonia, Executive Director of the Diverse Charter Schools Coalition, to talk a...
May 14, 2026•55 min•Ep. 28
Scaling a 48-year-old national nonprofit takes more than vision. It takes a CEO and COO who trust each other enough to move fast in ambiguity. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Vincent Marigna and Alex Serna, the CEO and COO of Breakthrough Collaborative, a national organization that serves more than 11,000 middle school through college students each summer and exposes 1,100 college-aged future teachers to the rigors and joys of the classroom. Both men are firs...
May 07, 2026•45 min•Ep. 27
Marcia Aaron leads Charter School Growth Fund's investments across Texas, Arizona, Idaho, and Utah, and before that, she spent thirteen years building KIPP SoCal Public Schools from two schools to twenty-two as its founding CEO. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Marcia for a conversation about the three things she is most passionate about, and why each one connects to the others. Marcia started talking to her board about succession seven years before she left K...
Apr 30, 2026•50 min•Ep. 26
Keisha Gray sits down with Mike Montoya to make the case that cross sector collaboration is not a value statement, it is a muscle communities build out of necessity. And that operational excellence is how missions actually survive. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Keisha Gray, Chief Operations Officer at the Spartanburg Academic Movement. SAM is a cradle to career organization working to create long term opportunity and economic mobility across Spartanburg Cou...
Apr 23, 2026•50 min•Ep. 25
Vanessa Rodriguez, Executive Vice President of People at the Pahara Institute at Lone Rock, has spent her career building systems that give young people a fair shot, from District 79 in New York City to a national fellowship designed to keep education leaders in the work longer. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Vanessa to talk about what it actually takes to sustain a career in education without burning out. Vanessa grew up in Hartford, Connecticut after her p...
Apr 16, 2026•49 min•Ep. 24
Former Akron Public Schools superintendent Dr. David W. James never planned to work in education. He started at NASA, moved into environmental consulting, and ended up leading a school district for 13 years by accident. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with David, now executive director of Summit Education Initiative, to talk about what it takes to move the needle on economic mobility when the old factory jobs are gone and nobody can tell you what the new ones requ...
Apr 09, 2026•52 min•Ep. 23
Tricia Noyola is a charter school leader, Regional Superintendent at the KIPP Foundation, and former CEO of Rocky Mountain Prep who builds schools as love letters to the communities they serve. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Tricia to talk about bold leadership, identity, and what it really means to build schools that serve their communities. Tricia traces her path from the Rio Grande Valley to a college experience that exposed the inequity gap she had never...
Apr 02, 2026•46 min•Ep. 22
Charter school leader Scott Hindman went from minor league baseball to investment banking to building one of New Mexico's most impactful public education networks. The lesson he keeps coming back to: find great people, give them the runway to lead, and play the long game. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Scott, Executive Director of Excellent Schools New Mexico, to talk about a decade of building high-quality charter schools in a state that rarely gets the att...
Mar 26, 2026•49 min•Ep. 21
From teaching fourth grade in Compton to founding a KIPP elementary school in Newark, Joanna Belcher has spent her career building schools and supporting leaders who believe every student deserves opportunity. In this episode of The Stronger Podcast , Mike Montoya sits down with Joanna Belcher, Regional Superintendent at the KIPP Foundation, to discuss the leadership lessons she has learned along the way. Joanna reflects on the moments that shaped her approach to leadership, including the power ...
Mar 19, 2026•50 min•Ep. 20
What happens when the path your family imagined for you isn’t the one you’re meant to follow? From being the son of Filipino immigrants in Brooklyn to a leader shaping talent and social impact across education, Ron Rapatalo shares a powerful story about resilience, purpose, and the relationships that shape our lives. Growing up in Brooklyn and Queens, Ron experienced both the challenges and ingenuity of a tight-knit immigrant family, navigating early loss, academic expectations, and the search f...
Mar 12, 2026•51 min•Ep. 19
From Army Blackhawk pilot to transformative education leader, James Willcox shares how a life grounded in service and family shaped his path to reshaping K-12 education nationwide. From marrying his college best friend at 22, raising 3 daughters while serving in the military, and pursuing graduate studies at Stanford, James’ story is a masterclass in balancing personal milestones with professional ambition. He reflects on his early fascination with aviation, strategic decisions at West Point to ...
Mar 05, 2026•55 min•Ep. 18
From Boston to East San Jose, Shara Hegde shares her journey from Ivy League graduate to CEO of Alpha Public Schools and what it takes to lead charter schools through political and organizational complexity. Raised between the United States and India, Shara reflects on how her immigrant family background shaped her commitment to education equity and first-generation college access. After pivoting from plans for law school to Teach For America, Shara discovered her calling in the classroom. A fel...
Feb 26, 2026•44 min•Ep. 17
What if the promise that each generation will do better than the last is slipping away? In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya talks with Bill Crim, CEO of United Way of Salt Lake and Utah’s Promise, about economic mobility and what it really takes to align communities around cradle to career outcomes. Bill shares how cross sector collaboration, policy advocacy, and collective impact partnerships can strengthen education outcomes and rebuild opportunity for kids and families. Inst...
Feb 19, 2026•55 min•Ep. 16
From lifelong immigrant to education equity leader, Daniel Velasco shares how identity, resilience, and compassion shaped his journey to becoming President and CEO of Ensemble Learning and a national voice for multilingual learners. Born in Lima, Peru and raised across Venezuela, Colombia, and Peru before settling in the United States, Daniel learned early how to adapt in order to belong. As a child, he unconsciously mirrored accents and behaviors to fit into each new environment, a survival ski...
Feb 12, 2026•55 min•Ep. 15
From Bronx roots to shaping the future of public education: Jessica Sutter shares how a life grounded in service, trust, and intellectual rigor led her from the classroom to national education policy and consulting. Jessica is an education leader and consultant based in Washington, D.C., whose career spans teaching, charter school leadership, policy, and research. Raised in a large Catholic family in the Bronx, Jessica grew up in a household that prized education and community, values that conti...
Feb 05, 2026•58 min•Ep. 14
From sixth-grade math teacher to superintendent to leadership coach — Kelli Marshall shares how data-driven courage, deep relationships, and a clear “why” can transform schools and the people who lead them. Kelli Marshall, a proud Indianapolis native and IU Bloomington graduate, has spent her career shaping education across Indiana. Growing up near Butler University and attending Indianapolis Public Schools, her early experiences sparked a commitment to improving outcomes for students regardless...
Jan 29, 2026•47 min•Ep. 13
From a childhood shaped by instability to a career dedicated to building pathways of opportunity, The Stronger Podcast host, Mike Montoya, shares how resilience, education, and supportive adults can change the trajectory of a life and an entire generation. Mike, a consultant with Stronger Consulting, reflects on growing up in 1970s Colorado Springs as the son of a barber and a homemaker, rooted in agricultural communities and first-generation aspirations. Though his parents never attended colleg...
Jan 22, 2026•28 min•Ep. 12
The Stronger Podcast host, Mike Montoya, looks ahead to the future of school leadership, unpacking why the next hiring cycles will define whether schools stabilize or continue to struggle with turnover and burnout. In this episode, Mike reflects on what’s coming in 2026 and beyond for K–12 education, with a sharp focus on hiring season and leadership trends. Drawing on years of experience placing more than 90 school leaders and interviewing tens of thousands of candidates, he speaks candidly abo...
Jan 15, 2026•16 min•Ep. 11
From community organizer to education equity leader, Michelle Vilchez shares her journey of empowering parents and transforming schools, helping families of color advocate for meaningful educational change while addressing systemic disparities across California. Michelle Vilchez, CEO of Innovate Public Schools, has spent decades amplifying family voices to ensure Black and Brown students access high-quality education. Known for her leadership in community engagement and conflict resolution, she ...
Jan 08, 2026•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 10
From reimagining neighborhood schools to coaching leaders through liberation and change, Malka Borrego shares how authenticity, proximity to community, and systems-level leadership can transform education and the people within it. Malka Borrego is a third-generation Angeleno, proud Latina, and longtime public education leader whose work has reshaped educational access in Los Angeles. She is the founder of Equitas Academy, a K–12 public charter school system rooted in Pico Union, and the founder ...
Jan 01, 2026•54 min•Ep. 9
From educator to nonprofit leader, Cathy shares her journey of transforming education and community engagement, helping Bexar County’s youth access post-secondary opportunities while empowering women leaders and cultivating meaningful partnerships. Cathy recently joined Up Partnership in San Antonio as a leader of a nonprofit backbone network supporting the Future Ready Plan, a bold initiative aiming to ensure seventy percent of Bexar County’s 550,000 youth pursue post-secondary education by 203...
Dec 25, 2025•49 min•Ep. 8
From Watts to leading a national education movement, Sharhonda Bossier shares her journey of championing educational equity and economic mobility for young people of color while redefining leadership with purpose and authenticity. Sharhonda Bossier, CEO of Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC), has dedicated her career to uplifting Black and Latino students and supporting talented leaders of color in education. A former public school teacher and nonprofit advocate, she is known for her commitment t...
Dec 18, 2025•56 min•Ep. 7
From first-grade helper to transformative education leader, Clarisse Mendoza Davis shares her journey of serving underserved youth and reshaping early childhood and alternative education with compassion, vision, and equity at the core. Clarisse currently leads the See Forever Foundation and Maya Angelou Public Charter Schools as CEO, overseeing programs that serve over 1,000 justice-involved and opportunity-deprived youth across Washington, D.C. Known for her holistic, equity-focused approach, s...
Dec 11, 2025•47 min•Ep. 6
From Seattle classrooms to federal policy halls, Jessica de Barros shares her journey of championing equity in education, showing how a lifelong commitment to access and opportunity can reshape communities and systems. Jessica, a Seattle native and seasoned educational leader, has devoted her career to dismantling barriers to student success. From her early days working for U.S. Senator Patty Murray on education and social policy in Washington, D.C., to leading initiatives with Seattle Public Sc...
Dec 04, 2025•52 min•Ep. 5
From charting pathways for thousands of students to reimagining what true opportunity looks like, Daniel Gray shares a blueprint for reshaping how young people discover their futures with clarity and confidence. In this episode, Mike is joined by Daniel Gray, Deputy Chief for College, Career, and Military Readiness at Houston Independent School District. Known for his leadership in scaling college advising, work-based learning, and high-impact CTE pathways, Daniel has dedicated his career to exp...
Nov 27, 2025•53 min•Ep. 4
From rural classrooms to leading a mission-driven nonprofit, Kat Ling shares her journey of transforming education and leadership, cultivating inclusive communities, and empowering leaders to innovate for youth most on the margins. Kat Ling is the CEO of Moonshot, where she leads a team of ten staff and an alumni network of over 100 education leaders. Known for her expertise in education, leadership development, and social impact, Kat has dedicated her career to creating opportunities for underr...
Nov 20, 2025•55 min•Ep. 3
From corporate consultant to education changemaker, Helen Chan shares her journey of transforming disillusionment into purpose, using her talent expertise to build joyful, equitable schools where both children and adults can thrive. Helen Chan’s career began in international education after graduating from Brown University, working with the World Bank’s nonprofit partner World Links to bring technology access to developing countries. What started as a dream to improve global education soon revea...
Nov 13, 2025•54 min•Ep. 2
