Kesha is Managing Director, Early Childhood, based in Washington, D.C., where she leads the organization’s strategy of mobilizing cross-sector collaborators to transform the way our government and other providers deliver quality and affordable early childhood services in the United States.

She is a systems specialist and enjoys helping early childhood institutions streamline their processes and improve organizational efficiency so that they can focus on helping children achieve their highest potential. Kesha has more than 18 years of experience leading programs and advising social enterprises and government agencies on designing equitable education programs and systems. Her core expertise includes designing and implementing early childhood observation tools and quality-improvement systems.

Her past roles include Executive Director of the Hurston Wright Foundation, Senior Director of Global Strategies at First Book, and leading the Early Childhood Working Group at The Clinton Foundation. She has also worked as a consultant with School Readiness Consulting and Danya International supporting early childhood readiness quality improvement in the northeast and midwest regions of the United States. Kesha has been a pre-k teacher and an elementary school teacher and has served in various education non-profit leadership roles across the United States.

While at the World Bank Group, Kesha facilitated the execution of a $20 million Results-Based Financing early-grade reading trust fund and the launch of Teach ECE. She is a co-author of Teach ECE (World Bank, 2021), an open-source classroom observation tool that helps countries track and improve teaching quality in early childhood education. She speaks and trains on teaching quality nationally and globally with recent engagements in California; Washington, D.C.; Guyana; Liberia; Romania; and Pakistan.

Kesha studied at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) as a Luard Scholar and holds a Master's in Public Policy from the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University and a bachelor's degree in International Business and Japanese Studies from Dillard University. She enjoys theater, swimming, and improv and is especially passionate about advocating for early-grade reading and culturally responsive book access through her work as the Founder of #WARD8READS.