Dr. Mayra Lara joins the ETW team after ten years of classroom teaching experience in the Los Angeles Unified School District. While at the district, she worked to create meaningful and lasting relationships with students as they moved toward achieving critical consciousness. In addition to her duties as an English teacher, Mayra served as department chair, union representative, and coach. She has also contributed as a lecturer at California State University Long Beach in the College of Education. As a Teach Plus Policy Fellow, Mayra worked on projects specific to teacher retention and developed professional learning opportunities for teachers in California’s central valley. She received her B.A. in English Literature and M.A. in Social and Cultural Analysis of Education from California State University Long Beach, where she also taught courses as a lecturer in the College of Education. Mayra also holds an Ed.D in Educational Leadership for Social Justice at Loyola Marymount University, where her research focused on Chicana feminist theory, critical pedagogy, as well as the sexual politics of education.