Heather facilitates learning experiences for school and district leaders and provides one-on-one coaching to build their capacity in creating systems and structures that help ensure postsecondary success for all students. Heather has more than 18 years of experience and leadership in education. She began her career as an English language arts teacher. From the classroom, she moved into the role of director of her district’s first stand-alone career academy. Heather most recently served in a school administrator role as Academy Coach, where she worked to help implement wall-to-wall career academies that changed the focus and quality of learning experiences for all students at her school and throughout the district. Her passion is to work with district, school, and community members to bring relevance and purpose to learning in an equitable way and to have a long-term impact on student postsecondary success. Heather holds an Ed.S. in Educational Leadership and an M.A. in Secondary English Education from the University of Kentucky. She also holds a B.A. in English from Western Kentucky University and a National Board Teacher Certification.

 

Dr. Kayla Ritter Rickels has been coaching leaders and teams to collective and systemic change in college and career opportunities across, with a primary focus on rural regions. With a set of values rooted in the belief that education is liberation, she has dedicated her career to the creation of enabling conditions for equity in exploration, access, and attainment of a postsecondary credential. She began her career in college admissions and enrollment management and has moved through roles within college access non-profit, K12 school district, and ed tech organization spaces that allowed her to drive impact and system change with a keen focus on equity for historically marginalized and minoritized students. She earned her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Northern Kentucky University, her M.S. in Marketing from the University of Cincinnati, and her B.A. in Mathematics from Thomas More College. She resides in Kentucky with her partner and daughter.