BMP 51: Schooled By a Black Educator

Black Menaces Podcast

In this episode, Nate and Rachel interview the amazing Sheryl Ellsworth about her experiences as an Educator, an Administrator, and a Black LDS Woman. Sheryl Ellsworth is an at-home mother and resides with her family in a suburb of Atlanta. She worked previously as the project manager for the Utah Youth Leadership Pipeline, an initiative to increase BIPOC representation in Utah's education, political, and business leadership. Prior to that, she worked as the Family/Community Engagement Specialist for the Utah State Board of Education. In this role, she supported and trained schools, namely administrators and teachers, in engaging families through evidence-based strategies in urban, suburban, rural, remote, and Indigenous reservation communities. Sheryl served as the team leader of a family engagement fellowship to design a strategic plan to improve family engagement in Utah. Before working at the Utah State Board of Education, Sheryl taught in Philadelphia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. While in D.C., she played an integral role in helping her school move from the second-lowest performing position in the district to become the first school out of priority/turnaround status. Sheryl received an undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University in Communications and Sociology. She was part of the Washington D.C. region of the 2008 Teach for America Corps and obtained a master's degree from George Mason University in Early Childhood Education. Sheryl served a mission in the South Africa Cape Town Mission.