Career Path of a Senior Manager of Academics at TNTP
Ashley's career path began with a ballet major background and a desire to "bring dance to public schools," leading to Teach for America, where a math teaching placement unexpectedly sparked a passion for curriculum development. This passion propelled a progression from classroom teacher to district-level roles overseeing curriculum and professional development, culminating in a senior management position at TNTP, a transition reflecting a commitment to educational leadership and impact.
Education, Curriculum Development, Leadership, Nonprofit, Teaching
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Ashley D. Essary
Senior Manager of Academics
TNTP
Texas Christian University (2010)
University of Colorado at Denver, MA in Curriculum & Instruction: Pedagogy for Urban Leadership, concentration in English Language Acquisition
Fine Arts, Music
Education
Strategic Management and Executive
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, LGBTQ, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Ashley's career path highlights a unique journey from a ballet major to a senior manager of academics. This shows that diverse backgrounds are valuable in education.
2. Her experience as a teacher, grade-level chair, and curriculum developer demonstrates the importance of practical classroom experience for leadership roles in education.
3. Her transition from a traditional school district to a non-profit like TNTP highlights the various career options available within the education sector.
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college? Please also include any internships or jobs you had before your current role.
For undergrad, I majored in ballet. It was really important to me to bring dance to public schools, so that was my initial thought. That led me to learning about Teach for America.
I was working as a server during college to earn extra money. I also took on an additional job with Teach for America as a campus campaign coordinator. In that role, I supported recruiting on campus.
This experience gave me good insight into both Teach for America as an organization and education generally. So, I applied to Teach for America and was very grateful to get in. They did not place me as a dance teacher, as I had hoped; that's a very rare placement.
Instead, they placed me as a math teacher. I moved to Colorado and taught in public schools for a couple of years. I really fell in love with teaching math and got the opportunity to start an after-school dance program, so I was able to fulfill that passion at the same time.
I lived in Colorado for a couple of years teaching and then moved back to Austin, Texas, where I'm from. I taught at a charter school where I had a lot of leadership opportunities, serving as grade-level chair and course leader. This meant I was developing curriculum and leading other teachers of the same course across the district.
I did that for about four more years. My passion for curriculum was very apparent at that time, so I finagled my way into a district role because I knew I wanted to lead and do more curriculum work. I had been doing that on the side as a teacher for a few years.
I spoke to the leaders and said, basically, my last year in the classroom, this is something I want to do. I asked if they had a position on their team. They were able to create something for me, which was very lucky.
I first oversaw high school math curriculum for the school district and team teacher professional development, and then coached campus math leaders. Eventually, that turned into K-12 math, and then K-12 math and science in a director-level position where I was managing other people. That was really fantastic and very formative.
After that, I spent about a year in a traditional public ISD, different from the public charter. That gave me really valuable experience. I took on a part-time role with an organization called TNTP, an education nonprofit. I really enjoyed that, and eventually, that became my full-time role.
I transitioned out of the K-12 education space into the education nonprofit space. For the last year, so I've been a senior manager of academics in the Southwest region in the consulting division at TNTP.