#125 Melissa Aviles-Ramos
The First Latina NYC DOE Chancellor is Ensuring Schools Support Every Child
Hi! New here? Welcome to the Uplifters! I'm Aransas Savas. I've spent the last 20 years at the intersection of behavior change research and coaching. On The Uplifters Podcast, we share diverse stories of trailblazing, change-making women who have done big, brave things and show us how we can too!
Listen to the latest episode to learn about:
How to transform personal struggles into systemic solutions
The power of deep listening as a leadership practice
Building confidence when you're the first or only in your role
Creating educational environments where every child feels seen and valued
Turning data into compassionate action
This Week’s Featured Uplifter: Melissa Aviles-Ramos
When Melissa Aviles-Ramos stepped into her role as Chancellor of New York City Public Schools, the largest school system in the nation, she wasn't just breaking barriers as the youngest person and first Latina to hold this position. She was carrying with her the weight and wisdom of a journey that began in a small South Bronx apartment, where a single mother with a ninth-grade education made impossible sacrifices to give her daughter what the public school system had failed to provide her other children.
Her siblings, despite being brilliant and hardworking, got lost in a system that asked no questions about missing coats, tired eyes, or empty stomachs.
Melissa didn't just escape that cycle. She dedicated her career to changing it.
Ways She Shows Us How to Build Our Courage Capital:
Convert questions into action by trusting your lived experience as expertise. Melissa could have spent years wondering if she was qualified enough, credentialed enough, connected enough. Instead, she recognized that her experience as a first-generation college graduate, as someone who understood food insecurity and housing instability, wasn't a deficit to overcome. It was precisely the perspective the role required.
Unite with allies who believe in your potential before you do. From her principal, Sana Nassar, and assistant principal Dina Revelle, who saw leadership potential in a young teacher, to the colleagues who supported her through career transitions, Melissa surrounded herself with people who could see her future before she could envision it herself.
Alchemize your struggles into your most meaningful work. Every policy decision, every budget priority, every initiative gets filtered through the question: "What is going to have a direct impact on our kids and families?" Her mother's sacrifices, her siblings' experiences with an uncaring system, all became fuel for ensuring other families don't face the same impossible choices.
Grant yourself permission to take up space that wasn't built for you. Being the youngest, being the first Latina, being someone without traditional connections, she had to learn to talk herself into deserving this role every single day. "I have to remind myself I deserve to be here," she says. And then she turns around and shows nearly a million students that they deserve to be seen, heard, and loved for exactly who they are.
If You Liked This Story, Check Out These Stories:
Lia De Feo shows us how to transform the deepest grief into advocacy for others facing similar struggles in their family-building journeys.
Kate Milligan reminds us that all it takes is one girl to start a revolution.
Terry Grahl, founder of Enchanted Makeovers, shows us what can happen when we take tiny steps into our purpose
Laura Kavanagh, the first female Fire Commissioner in FDNY's 157-year history, demonstrates how leadership isn't about being born ready, but about doing the work to become who you're meant to be.
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