Dr. Karen Miles moved from England to California 25 years ago, and she has focused her efforts on preparing students and adults for their next career step and bridging gaps between educational systems.

Dr. Miles co-authored the Building a Bridge to Your Future curriculum to prepare middle school students to explore careers, and she introduced career exploration curriculum in high schools which was taught to thousands of students.

For many years, she worked as a community college career counselor and taught career classes for community college students and career counseling classes for Master’s level students.

For many years, she worked as a community college career counselor and taught career classes for community college students and career counseling classes for Master’s level students.

An expert in the areas of dual enrollment and high school articulation for providing early college credit for students, Karen has helped colleges and their K12 partners fix and expand their career pathways by providing technical assistance and professional development, in addition to grant-writing and grant management.

She also provided pedagogical training to new career technical education faculty in community colleges across the state. Her most recent publication, “Guided Pathways Begin in High School,” is a toolkit which provides models and ideas from research on how to better connect K12 and the community colleges.

Social entrepreneur, Mindy Bingham, founded Academic Innovations in 1990 to promote a unique, classroom-based, comprehensive guidance course for all entering freshmen. Today her low-profit company works with hundreds of high schools and colleges across the country helping them prepare students for a self-sufficient future.

Over 200,000 students each year complete courses based on the Career Choices series and the Get Focused…Stay Focused!® Follow-Up Modules and manuals that Mindy has authored or co-authored.

Her titles have sold over 2 million copies, and she is the recipient of numerous national, regional, and local awards, including a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for Innovative Approaches to Curricula by the United States Congress.

Dawn O’Bar has been involved in educational efforts for over 30 years and over 25 years in the nonprofit arena. Dawn was a Board Member of the nonprofit Get Focused Stay Focused National Resource Center for four years, including serving as President of the Board of Directors from March 2019 to October 2020.

She also helped found an international organization at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has been an adjunct college professor, and for the last five years has been a Senior Trainer for the Career Choices and GFSF curriculums, working with more than a thousand educators.

Carol Keiser began her teaching career in 2015 after 25 years working with youth through nonprofit organizations and 15 years owning a small graphic design business. Carol was introduced to Get Focused Stay Focused during the 2015 school year and piloted a new GFSF course at Pierce High School (Arbuckle, CA) in 2016. In 2019, Carol moved to Wheatland Union High School (Wheatland, CA) to implement the GFSF program and a Business Management Pathway.

Carol holds a Masters of Science in Education from Eastern Oregon University and completed the GFSF Curriculum and Program Specialist certification as a part of her Masters program.

Rudy Ramirez served in education for 41 years—24 years as Principal of Indio High School before retiring. A graduate of UCLA, he is a former high school teacher, counselor, and junior high and high school principal. He has also taught at the graduate level and presented at the National Principals Conference.

Mr. Ramirez believes in academic success for all, and his team is credited with turning Indio High School from “Scary to Ranked” (Desert Sun Newspaper, May 27, 2016).

Amy joined the Human Development Department at Cate School after teaching history and dual-enrollment college/career planning at Carpinteria High School for eleven years. She has worked as a conference presenter and mentor teacher for the nationally recognized Get Focused Stay Focused program. She has a bachelor’s degree in history and her teaching credential from Westmont College.

While at Carpinteria High School, Amy was the GFSF Lead Teacher, coordinated the Stay Focused modules with all the faculty, and provided GFSF Demonstration Site Visits for visitors from schools across the country.

Erin Hansen is a graduate from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a degree in Communication and Comparative Literature. After completing her degree she attended Westmont College and earned her secondary teaching credential in English. For eight years, Erin worked in public education as a Freshman Seminar, English, and AVID teacher. She has served in a variety of leadership roles, including as the English Department Chair.

Erin was adjunct faculty for Santa Barbara City College, where she implemented the first dual-enrollment freshmen transition course. She currently acts as a curriculum consultant for Get Focused Stay Focused and teaches at Cate School where she covers Freshman Seminar, supports students with learning and organizational skills, and coordinates academic tutoring.

Dr. Paul N. De La Cerda has over 25 years of experience in nonprofit, for-profit, and educational leadership consulting and training with specialties in organizational development, strategic planning, workforce and adult/youth development, entrepreneurship, learning and development, and grant/contract development and management. Working with Federal and State departments and workforce boards/agencies, he collaborates with nonprofit leaders, K12, higher ed, and other government agencies, businesses. and a full spectrum of mission-driven social enterprises, advisors, and intermediaries who are seeking to attract talent and resources and collaborate with nonprofit and for-profit corporations to achieve their organizational goals.

Dr. De La Cerda was elected to public office in 2005 and served for three terms as the first Latino elected School Board Member in North Los Angeles County where he assisted with the launch of the district’s first public STEM elementary school academy and, as board president, led the passage of a $148 million school bond.

A native of California, Dr. De La Cerda began his college career in Los Angeles as a community college student. He went on to complete a Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) at Oklahoma State University, and he earned a Doctorate in Organizational Change and Educational Leadership from the University of Southern California.

He is a leadership fellow of the American Association of Community College’s National Community College Hispanic Council and acquired an Executive Leadership Certificate in Public Administration from Darden at University of Virginia.

Tanja Easson exemplifies why comprehensive guidance is crucial for ALL students. Thanks to concurrent enrollment and Advanced Placement, Tanja started at the University of Utah just a few credits shy of sophomore status, but she lacked clarity about her career path or a plan.

She explored numerous majors before settling on English. And where do most English majors end up? In the software industry, of course, where she worked as a technical writer, programmer, and software support technician.

In 1996, Tanja joined Academic Innovations, where she now serves as Vice President of Operations, Curriculum, and Technical Support. In this role, she has helped hundreds of educators around the country build and expand their Career Choices series and Get Focused Stay Focused programs.

She has also been instrumental in the development of My10yearPlan.com® and The Teachers’ Lounge. As an advocate for the power of a 10-Year Plan, Tanja is ready, willing, and able to discuss course ideas, resources, and any of our web-based tools.

OIC-SFL, Division Director of Youth & Family Services

Shannon Atwell has served as Division Director of Youth & Family Services at OIC-SFL for almost 3 years. In this role, Ms. Atwell leads a Division that serves over 6,000 youth and their families annually in both in-school and out-of-school Positive Youth Development programming.

Through resource development, partnership cultivation and growth, and evidenced-based curricula implementation, OIC-SFL’s Youth & Family Services maximizes program outcomes that support the educational and career aspirations of Broward and Miami-Dade County youth in middle and high schools.

Prior to her tenure at OIC-SFL, Ms. Atwell served as Director of Grants at St. Thomas University and Director of GEAR UP/CROP programming at Miami Dade College.

Before moving to South Florida in 2015, Ms. Atwell had a 20-year career serving children and families in southern West Virginia from early childhood through young adulthood in program implementation, public policy advocacy, resource development, and organizational development. Ms. Atwell directed a large Head Start/Early Head Start program.

For 11 years, Ms. Atwell served as Executive Director of Community Connections, Inc., a grassroots advocacy and community development organization. Also, for 6 years, Ms. Atwell was Executive Director of ChildLaw Services, the only non-profit law firm in West Virginia dedicated to the legal representation and advocacy of children and youth.

Ms. Atwell earned a Master of Public Administration from West Virginia University and a Bachelor of Art degree from Converse College in Spartanburg, SC.

Autrell (Trell) Reid is OIC of South Florida’s STEMLinx and My10YearPlan Facilitator. Autrell is an accomplished and acclaimed Christian/gospel rapper and poet with strong ties to many performing artists in South Florida.

While recognizing the shortage of safe spaces for youth to have their minds cultivated outside of school, Trell wanted to do more to make a positive impact in the community. In 2015, in honor of his mother and her work for the public school system within South Florida, Mrs. Reid’s Reading Stars LLC (MRRS) was born.

MRRS serves the community of Liberty City, Florida by teaching students to read through rhythm. However, this program was not able to support those who needed it the most. In order to work with students he could not reach under the for-profit/fee based model, in July 2016, Trell founded his non-profit organization Star Support Foundation. Through Star Support Trell has been able to share his love for the arts by expanding the range of services he offered!

Director of Workforce Development

Mika Lissade is the Youth Leadership Council and STEMLinx Coordinator at OIC of South Florida. Her current role is to introduce STEM pathways to marginalized youth residing in Broward County, Florida. She also engages middle and high school students into becoming lifelong advocates and agents for change in their communities by equipping them with the tools to identify and maximize their leadership skills and obtain the training needed to make a positive impact.

Mika started as a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Educator and facilitated the Love Notes curriculum to over 20 different schools in Broward. Her connection with the youth, brought her the opportunity to start the Youth Leadership Council for students to have a safe space to be their most authentic selves but learn skills to be a leader in their community. Mika has been able to expose hundreds of youth to different programs like public speaking, videography, and financial literacy with JP Morgan Chase Bank.,

Working with youth has been a passion of hers since she was 13 years old. Her first job as a summer camp counselor sparked an interest in needing to show youth the power they can possess and emerge them in activities they've never experienced before! Mika is a proud graduate of Florida Atlantic University.