Paula is an officer for the Strategy, Learning and Evaluation Department (SLED). Paula supports learning and evaluation related to WFF’s Education program.

Prior to joining WFF, Paula worked with IFF, a community development financial institution, as a senior project manager overseeing education, nonprofit, and fresh food access lending initiatives as well as early childhood education research while also pursuing a Ph.D. in education policy and equity from Saint Louis University studying student-parents through two-generation approaches to education.

Paula has engaged in civic leadership as a Coro Fellow in St Louis as well as working with Washington University’s Social Policy Institute as a program manager focusing on academic-industry partnerships, development efforts, and the Master of Social Policy Program.

Prior to Paula’s work in education policy and leadership, she taught elementary and high school for five years in New York City through Teach For America and iMentor working to increase economic mobility for her students through education and college access. She earned her Master of Arts in Teaching from Relay Graduate School of Education and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance from Marygrove College in Detroit.