Extended Team Bios

Kelly Ocasio, Ph.D.
Founder & Principal Consultant

Kelly is the Founder & Principal Consultant of Amplify Equity Equity. She brings two decades of experience in education systems, and has a rich portfolio of experiences across the P-16 continuum. Some of these roles include:

• Senior Consultant at 2Revolutions, leading systems and school transformation through strategic planning, coaching, and capacity-building

• Director of Pathways (and previously the GEAR UP State Grant Director) at the Texas Education Agency, leading initiatives aimed at creating and supporting comprehensive, high-quality college and career pathways for Texas students that are aligned with labor market demand

• Course instructor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction within the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Teacher Preparation Program

• Program manager for UW-Madison School of Education’s College Access Program

• Dual Language Teacher in both Texas and Wisconsin public schools

She has a BS in Elementary Education and Spanish from UW-Madison and an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the UT – San Antonio. She also holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis and Curriculum & Instruction from UW-Madison, focusing her research on Latinx teachers’ pathways into education and identifying the opportunities and barriers to the Latinx community pursuing a career in teaching. This research and the need to elevate the voices of the Latinx community is a passion that Kelly prioritizes as she works with education leaders, educators and community members to transform learning systems.

Kelly lives in Austin, TX with her family. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, travel, volunteering at her kids’ schools, planning events & parties, and enjoying the outdoors.

Torrye Parker
Senior Consultant

Torrye is the founder of Reimagine Consulting Group. She has worked for the past 17 years as an educator, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practitioner, learning designer and facilitator, and transformational coach who helps organizations center diversity, inclusion, and equity. Torrye has a wide variety of experience in the nonprofit sector that includes working in K-12 schools, educational access programs, and higher education. She started her career as a middle school English teacher and also has experience teaching middle school U.S. History, World Geography, and high school English.

Torrye has served as a DEI practitioner, academic advisor, and adjunct faculty member at the University of Connecticut and George Mason University. While serving in these capacities, Torrye developed programs, designed and facilitated ongoing professional development workshops, led anti-bias and anti-racist (ABAR) efforts to amplify the voices of marginalized groups, and progressed the social justice efforts and awareness at these organizations. She also served at Wesleyan University as program manager for the educational access program Upward Bound Math-Science, a Federal TRiO program designed to identify and provide services for individuals from underserved communities. Torrye’s past work in schools has been informed by numerous bodies of research and frameworks including asset-based pedagogical research such as Gloria Ladson-Billings’ culturally responsive pedagogy, Django Paris and H. Samy Alim’s Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, and Sharroky Hollie’s Culturally and Linguistically Responsive teaching principles. Her work in schools and nonprofits also centers the National Equity Project’s Liberatory Design principles and Malcolm Knowles’ research on adult learning theory.

One of her most recent roles included serving as the head of the K-12 DEI curriculum team at an independent school in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. There, she led the creation of a curriculum scope and sequence that infused culturally responsive pedagogy with social justice issues while designing meaningful professional development experiences to build teacher capacity. She also worked as a Senior Consultant at 2Revolutions, an international education design lab. There, she designed engaging professional development experiences for adults and helped schools and organizations build competency-based, personalized learning experiences as well as equitable and innovative learning models for students of all backgrounds.

Torrye holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Public Administration degree with a focus in Nonprofit and Education Management from the University of Connecticut.

Annette Gutierrez
Consultant

Annette brings over 15 years of extensive education experience spanning from K12 to higher education institutions, as well as non-profit organizations. She earned her BS in Biology from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, followed by an M.Ed. in Higher Education Leadership & Policy Studies from the University of Texas at San Antonio. In addition to her academic achievements, Annette holds certificates in Science Teaching, Non-Profit Leadership and Management, and Project Management, showcasing her dedication to professional development and interdisciplinary expertise.

Throughout her career, Annette has demonstrated a profound commitment to empowering individuals from marginalized communities, aiming to break the barriers hindering them from realizing their career aspirations and contributing to the eradication of poverty cycles. Her multifaceted roles have involved direct engagement with students in teaching, college access, and success initiatives, as well as mentoring future and current educators and non-profit leaders. Annette's programs are distinguished by their holistic approach, integrating the needs of diverse cultures, learners, and human experiences, while maintaining a steadfast focus on achieving objectives.

Residing in Austin, TX with her family and pets, Annette finds joy in outdoor activities like hiking and running, indulges her intellectual curiosity through reading, channels her creativity into DIY projects, and stays informed and inspired through podcasts.

Meg McCormick
Senior Consultant

Meg is an experienced educator and leader of innovation with a demonstrated history of improving student outcomes through design thinking, school leadership, and school redesign. As the former Director for the Imaginarium, Denver Public Schools Innovation Lab, Meg led the team to implement and study the impact of Personalized Learning in K-12 classrooms, emphasizing the development of learner agency. In addition, Meg and the team explored strategies to nurture innovation in education by holding design challenges, sponsoring individual innovators from the community, and designing communities of practice for principals and teachers who faced challenges for which there was no ready solution. Meg and the team’s overarching goal was to (re)design education for equity, in order to close opportunity and achievement gaps for the most vulnerable and underserved students.

Meg also has experience as a former Elementary School Principal, Assistant Principal, Instructional Coach, and classroom teacher. During her time as a teacher, coach, and school leader, Meg saw the disturbing inequities that students of color face in our public schools. She recognized that the creative, personalized curriculums and well-resourced classrooms that her own children received were not widely accessible to students of color in the Denver area public schools as well as many schools around the country. Meg understands that in order for equity to be achieved, all schools must rethink their school cultures, relationships, and curriculums so personalized, creative, and culturally relevant teaching and learning will be a given for all students. She strives to create more equitable learning opportunities for all students and is committed to supporting schools and teachers to transform their practices and help all students find joy and passion through the process of learning. Meg has also worked as a consultant for Precision P3, and 2Revolutions leading professional learning communities and communities of practice for schools and districts to redesign and rethink education with students at the forefront. Meg holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Mass Communication from Southern Methodist University, a teaching license from the University of Denver, a Master of Arts in Administrative Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Colorado, and K-12 Principal’s License.

Desiree Alva, Ph.D.
Strategic Advisor & Consultant

Dr. Desiree Alva currently serves as the Director of Student Programming & Assessment within the New Student Services Office at UT-Austin, she has also held positions in Diversity Affairs, New Student Orientation, Admissions, Counseling, Advising, Student Organizations, and Residence Life at multiple institutions of higher education. She is passionate about advocating with and for unique and marginalized populations such as transfer students, veterans, first-generation, foster care alumni, and LGBTQA+ students and staff and has done so in each role she has had.

She is a trained facilitator in True Colors, Ally mentorship, as well as being selected at UT-Austin to lead conversations among colleagues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (Intercultural Development Inventory - IDI). Desiree serves as a mentor for several UT-Austin students holding intersectional identities that are underrepresented. She is a co-President for UT-Austin’s Hispanic Faculty Staff Association (HFSA) where she works to advocate for and advance issues related to Latino/a faculty, staff, and students on campus. Desiree holds a BA in Legal Studies, Sociology, and Women’s Studies along with a certificate in Chicano/a Studies from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. She also holds an MS in Counseling Psychology and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Her research focused on the undocumented student experience of navigating college-level work internships as part of a degree plan.

Yara Flores
Consultant

Yara is an educator of nearly a decade, mother, writer and activist. She has a passion for equity in all realms, especially in public education. Yara was born in Monterrey, México, and moved to the Rio Grande Valley as a child, where she gained valuable insights on the nuances of the immigrant experience. She later graduated from UT-Austin. Hook ‘em! Her parents proudly participated in the Chicano rights movement and inspired in her a sense of advocacy and service to her community from a young age. Some of her roles have included: Immigration advocate/paralegal of detained people; Educator in Title 1 campuses where, along with her team, they crafted a team-wide social justice curriculum; Teacher Mentor for Dual Language Teachers; Advocacy Chairperson for her local PTA; Dual Language Committee Co-chairperson; Dual Language Advocacy Committee; Coalition for Bilingual Education Equity in Austin; and ¡Adelante! conference presenter on Parent Engagement. She has organized parents to advocate for change within their communities, both as an educator in Title I campuses and, more recently, as a parent herself. Yara is passionate about bilingual/dual language education and advocating for the equity issues that surround fair access to an excellent public education for all.

Yara lives in Austin, Texas with her family and in her free time enjoys travel, reading, and writing short stories with Latinx elements and themes.