Leading with AI: Centering Latino Voices in Education’s Next Frontier

About the Presenters

Amanda Fernandez is the CEO and Founder of Latinos for Education, the first Latino-founded and led national organization dedicated to developing, placing, and connecting essential Latino leadership in the education sector, while mobilizing Latino voices to promote practices and policies that remove barriers to equitable educational opportunities. Amanda is a visionary leader adept at integrating her entrepreneurial and strategic capabilities with her values. As a Latina leader, she not only acknowledges the strengths of the Latino community but exemplifies them in her approach and actions.

Maya Valencia Goodall, Chief Impact Officer at CORE Learning, is an education entrepreneur with over two decades of experience at the intersection of bilingual literacy, language acquisition, and edtech. As Co-creator of OL&LA (Online Language & Literacy Academy) at CORE Learning, she champions spoken language as the foundation of effective literacy instruction for all learners. Recognizing gaps in how Structured Literacy was applied in language-diverse classrooms, Maya prioritized the integration of spoken language to support Multilingual Learners, English variety speakers, and students with dyslexia. Her expertise spans educational theory, learning experience design, and classroom practice, always centering students’ diverse language backgrounds. Before CORE, she co-founded Lingual Learning, which was later acquired by Rosetta Stone/Lexia. There, she led the creation of Lexia English, an award-winning program using speech recognition and culturally authentic avatars to teach English through conversation.