Panelists

Stephanie C. Mack Ed.D., an educator, administrator, advocate, and personal support system for your elementary and special education needs. For well over 25 years, she has served students and families from the public-school classrooms, prison settings, and administrative offices. Dr. Mack has also served in the non-profit early childhood sector and corporate educational delivery programs in Texas and New Mexico.

Her passion and call to service are to ensure equitable learning, providing tools and resources, and to empower students and families. She is able to assist with support to elementary campuses and district programs, as well as assess processes and make recommendations for system wide improvement. Having served in rural, urban, and suburban low-income school systems, Dr. Mack brings a fresh perspective to district, campus, and individual family educational challenges.

Currently she works with Tribal Communities and rural education programs and is the owner and operator of A+ Class ACT Consulting in Corrales, NM.

Prior to her current position, she was the executive officer of Student Support Services in the Houston Independent School District, the eighth largest district in the country, where she was responsible for districtwide oversight and strategic leadership of student support services, including Wraparound Services, Afterschool, Counseling and Socio-Emotional Learning, Student Assistance, Health and Medical Services, and Athletics and UIL programming. In addition, she led the district’s COVID-19 response, which received accolades from the U.S. Secretary of Education. During her last year with Houston ISD, she launched their telehealth services initiative in 77 schools to address students’ physical and mental health needs. Before joining Houston ISD, Dr. Castillo spent nearly two decades in the corporate world, where she worked in various industries and roles, including corporate communications for a leading global financial institution. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration, a master’s degree in global management, and a doctorate in education in ethical leadership degree.

Coming soon!

Julia Rosa Emslie has over 20 years of progressive education experience working in public school systems, university programs, and at the state-level. Her work includes professional learning and leadership development for parents, families, teachers, principals, superintendents, advisories, and governance boards. She loves education event planning and project management and what she does best is design non-regulatory policy guidance to ensure compliance, understanding, and equity in the implementation of federal and state laws/funding. She currently serves as the Hispanic Education Liaison for the New Mexico Public Education Department and is tasked with ensuring that the department leverages the components of the Hispanic Education Act to support and empower local school districts and charter schools to improve how they serve Hispanic students and families.

Coming soon!

Coming soon!

Coming soon!

Simone Vann earned her bachelor’s degree in secondary mathematics education in 2013 from the University of New Mexico. She immediately started working at Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, NM as an Algebra 2 teacher. At Cleveland, Simone designed an Algebra 2 modeling class for students who struggled with math, was a part of the NM Teacher Evaluation Taskforce tasked with revamping the teacher evaluation system, and participated in a group who designed a more equitable grading system for the Rio Rancho Public School District. In May 2020, Simone earned a master’s degree in Secondary education with an MSET focus and a minor in Educational Leadership at the University of New Mexico. Simone joined NMPED in January 2022 as the Black Education Curriculum Coordinator where she was instrumental in setting up the curriculum requirements of the Black Education Act. She was promoted to Identity, Equity, and Transformation Division Director in May 2022 where she continues her desire to make education equitable and accessible to all students. Simone’s motto is that all kids are capable of being successful in education if educators ensure their teaching material is relevant and accessible to all students.

Kimberly currently oversees the Black Education Bureau for the New Mexico Public Education Department. She is a doctoral candidate at Grand Canyon University, completing a Ph.D. in Psychology with an emphasis in Organizational Psychology. Her dissertation focuses on perceived organizational support and occupational burnout. She is an Independent Licensed Clinical Social Worker (mental health therapist) with over 25 years of blended experience in organizational leadership, youth development, training facilitation, and racial and social justice. She excels in education and community-based development, strategic planning, and systemic transformation. Her clinical competencies include resiliency-based mental health assessments, treatment planning, and conducting individual and group therapy with children, youth, and families.

As a servant leader, Kimberly has a proven record of commitment to service. She was appointed by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham to the New Mexico Racial Justice Council and elected as the Diversity Coordinator of Las Cruces Chapter of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). She previously held additional community leadership roles as the 2nd Vice President of Dona Ana County NAACP (Education Chair) and a member of the Executive Committee of the State of New Mexico Office of African American Affairs. She has provided consulting services to many organizations including Las Cruces Public Schools, United Way of Southwest New Mexico, Ngage New Mexico, La Casa, and more.

Kimberly holds a Bachelor of Social Work from Capital University. She earned a Masters of Social Administration and a Masters of Nonprofit Organizations (specialization in Nonprofit Management) from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). Additionally, Kimberly is an alum of the Treu – Mart Resiliency and Youth Development Fellowship at CWRU’s Mandel Center for Non-Profit Organizations. Her international experience includes organizational and youth development in Bangladesh and the Netherlands. Kimberly holds Independent Clinical Social Work license (with Supervision designation), Non-Profit Management Certification, Advanced Mediation Certification, and No Bullies, No Victims trainer. She is a Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) Practitioner, National trainer of Nurturing Parenting, and Circle of Security. She is most proud to be a National Resiliency Trainer and has completed National Character Education Training by the Josephson Institute on Ethics. She is a member of the Phi Alpha National Social Work Honor Society and the Alpha Sigma Lambda Honor Society for Adult Learners.

In May 2023 Kimberly was inducted into the Alpha Chi National Honor Society which recognizes top scholars for their academic achievements.