Our Staff

SENIOR DATA ANALYST

Emily joined EmpowerK12 as the Senior Data Analyst. Prior to becoming a member of our team, Emily taught middle and high school science in DC charter schools for 6-years, holding various leadership roles to support teachers. As the founding ninth grade science teacher, she wrote the first Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) aligned curriculum and helped students design experiments to be completed on the International Space Station and advocate for policies to address climate change. Her interest in data triangulation led her to work on the data team at DC Prep where she supported with the annual enrollment process and developed dashboards for data analysis.

Emily has a Master of Arts in Teaching and a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. She believes providing accurate data and easy to use dashboards will give leaders and teachers the information and tools they need to support students and continuously improve. 

Outside of education and data analysis, Emily enjoys cooking and baking, traveling, watching movies, playing board games and spending time outside with her friends and family.

DIRECTOR OF SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

Jesika leads the design and implementation of our professional development and coaching model that helps schools build data-driven, sustainable systems of improvement that boldly accelerate students’ academic and social-emotional wellbeing. Prior to EmpowerK12, Jesika served as a curriculum manager at DC Public Schools, providing consultative guidance to a portfolio of thirteen Title I schools. She assisted school leaders in building robust systems and implementing data analysis protocols to enable effective coaching, professional development, and growth.

Jesika’s passion lies in discovering the key enabling conditions for success and collaborating with teams to establish and execute a vision. She excels in designing learning experiences, coaching cycles, and tracking metrics to monitor progress. When Jesika is not supporting our partner schools, she enjoys working out, binge-watching docuseries on Netflix, and expressing herself through gifs because who doesn't appreciate a good gif?

FOUNDER + EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Josh is the Founder and Executive Director of EmpowerK12. Prior to starting EmpowerK12, Josh served in a variety of education roles in DC over the last 20 years, including teaching 7th grade math at DC Public Schools, leading the KIPP DC data team as their first Data Director, and contributing as a member of OSSE’s Assessment and Accountability team.

Josh is recognized as a leader in DC assessment and data analytics. He serves on the DC Education Research Collaborative’s leadership council and was appointed to the original DC State Board of Education ESSA Taskforce in 2017. His primary work at EmpowerK12 focuses on leading our Student and Educator Wellbeing work, pandemic impact research, Bold Schools analyses, citywide strategic data planning, and coaching education leaders. Josh also consulted with MySchoolDC, the District’s common lottery system, during its first implementation year, running and auditing the lottery matching algorithm. In his free time, Josh nerds out over astrophysics, attends games at Nationals Park and Audi Field, and plans his trip into low-Earth orbit. 

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Kenli Okada joined EmpowerK12 as Managing Director. Before becoming a member of our team, Kenli led the data team at E.L. Haynes Public Charter School, an award-winning school serving nearly 1,200 students in Washington, DC. Through his tenure at E.L. Haynes, he worked in operations, enrollment, strategy, performance management, and accountability, and Kenli utilizes his broad understanding of school dynamics to focus on the key data needed to improve instructional and operational practices.  

Kenli’s helps schools develop systems to fully understand how they are progressing against their goals — across assessment, culture, family engagement, and equity. He believes that developing an objective, complete picture of a school’s performance is the first step to helping leaders take the highest impact actions and continuously improving. Outside of the data world, Kenli manages a running club for Kenyan high school students and enjoys watching American Ninja Warrior with his two daughters.

MANAGING DIRECTOR, DATA ANALYTICS

Kristen joined EmpowerK12 as a Data Analyst and now manages EmpowerK12's technical data team. Kristen did her undergraduate work in mechanical engineering at MIT, but her passion for improving the lives of young people led her into education. She has 12 years of experience teaching science, math, and engineering courses at the middle and high school level.  Kristen has taught multi-variable calculus, 7th grade earth science, and everything in between in both public and private schools. She was the founding physics teacher and drama director for a successful private school in Cleveland, Ohio, that serves low-income students. She also spent several years growing the pre-engineering program at a large public high school in Kansas.

Kristen’s passion for the benefits that good data can offer K-12 education spurred her to get a master’s degree in educational research and she is excited to combine that knowledge with her many years of teaching experience in her new role with EmpowerK12. Beyond education and analysis, Kristen enjoys DIYing home renovations, musical theatre, and hiking in the woods with her family. 

DIRECTOR OF STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT & OPERATIONS

Preety joined EmpowerK12 as the Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Operations. Preety brings over 10 years of experience working in education along with a passion for data and educational equity to our team.

Prior to joining EmpowerK12, she spent five years working at the DC Charter School Alliance (previously FOCUS) managing school support services, including the Data Internship Program, DC Data Summit, and ongoing workshops where cultivating and managing external partnerships with stakeholders was crucial to her work. She also worked with the Capital Teaching Residency at KIPP DC where she managed the program's compliance, data systems, and supported teachers with attaining their teaching licenses. Before moving to DC, she worked with early childhood education research and advocacy organizations in North Carolina to ensure all children have access to high quality early childhood programs.

Preety is an AmeriCorps alumna and has her Masters of Social Work and a Bachelors of Arts in Management and Society from UNC Chapel Hill. In her spare time, she can be found exploring DC's museums, watching college basketball, hiking, and planning her next travel adventure.

Research and Strategy Fellow

Ramya joined EmpowerK12 as a Research and Strategy Fellow focused on leading the build out of a new data inventory for the DC Education Research Collaborative. Prior to joining EmpowerK12, Ramya spent four years leading various data science and AI products at JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America and three years as an interpersonal violence educator educating student organizations on best practices within IPV. She also spends time volunteering as a pro bono consultant with DataKind where she advises various NGOs on data science and analytics best practices, tools and recommendations. She joined EmpowerK12 to tie her data science and leadership skills to something meaningful to her which is uplifting children’s education and creating more equitable opportunities for all.

Ramya holds a Bachelors in Economics from NC State University. Outside of work, she enjoys playing soccer, going on walks, interior decorating and planning the next country she would like to visit!

DATA ANALYST

Rose joined the team as a Data Analyst. Prior to joining EmpowerK12, Rose served as a Teach for America Corps Member in Baltimore City where she taught 7th Grade Math. Rose also worked as a Senior Instructional Leader for Kode with Klossy, a summer program introducing female/non-binary scholars to data science and careers in the STEM field. Rose is interested in how leveraging data effectively can help to inform best practices in schools and classrooms to ensure high quality education for all students.

Rose has a Master of Science in Education from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. Besides data analysis, Rose enjoys baking, running, doing yoga and reading.