I’m a mid-career professional who’s made the change to being an educator, after 25 years of operational and management experience in fine-dining restaurants within New York City’s restaurant industry. While in hospitality, I had the pleasure of building strong teams for success in highly competitive markets and coaching individuals to excel and grow in leadership. Having a strong understanding of hiring practices, I provided many opportunities to young people as they entered the workforce from high school and college. As the founder of BAMLA, my goal is to contribute my experience and leadership skills to urban youth as they begin to navigate American adulthood. I’m currently a doctoral student at St. John Fisher University pursuing an Ed.D in Executive Leadership. I’m a graduate of NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development with a Master of Arts in Education and Teaching. I’m also a graduate of Indiana University-Bloomington, and have Master Certifications in Hospitality Manage and Hotel Revenue Management from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.
Adolescence is a tricky experience. Young people need educators and mentors who continually encourage their growth by nurturing their talents and providing constructive feedback for their self-improvement. I created BAMLA to be instrumental in bridging the gap between adolescence and adulthood, by providing young people with the tools they need to be successful in our changing world.
Christopher Means, Founder
Shobita is a poet and scientist, with over twenty years of teaching experience in urban communities from Brooklyn to Bangalore, India. She is currently a doctoral student in Urban Education at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. As a founding member of the non-profit By All Means Leadership Alliance, (BAMLA), she is developing the Chem4All initiative to provide access to young adults interested in health science careers. Through The Anonymous Indian Trust, she collaborates with local scientists and activists in India to publish and deliver the Trashonomics curriculum, encouraging government-run schools in rural and urban India to teach solid and liquid waste segregation at the source.
A graduate of Indiana University-BS, Biology, Columbia University-MA, Science Education and The New School-MFA, Creative Writing. Shobita presents her unique approach to science education globally, through her workshop entitled “Teaching Social Justice through Radical Science Curricula,” presented last year at the NAIS People of Color Conference. Shobita continues to evolve in her role as Science Department Chair as she mentors new teachers and develops socially relevant curricula by radicalizing science education on our planet.
Shobita Mampilly, Director of Programs
Lee A. Means is a founding member of BAMLA. He is a longtime New York City educator with a background in law and arts. He taught at various K-12 environments as a teacher and teacher leader in New York City and Newark, NJ.
Lee has a Bachelor of Arts, Religious Studies, and Doctorate of Jurisprudence from Indiana University. Lee also has a Masters of Science, Education Policy degree and a doctoral student in Education Leadership from University of Pennsylvania. He has studied courses in Dutch and European Law at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and ESADE in Barcelona. All these experiences are the basis of his perspective on the value of high quality educational engagement and they are important parts of his identity as a lifelong learner.
“The work of equity, civic engagement, and cultural responsiveness is critical to the healthy functioning of our schools and liberating stakeholders to engage in mutually beneficial growth. I seek to be an agent of that transformation in my work with BAMLA. My outlook as a person with multiple marginalized identities in academia, the professional world, and the larger sociological frame we all share, make this work personal and urgent for me.”
Lee A. Means, Director of Curriculum
BOARD MEMBERS
Frank Trigg, Titus Trasks, Melanie DiSalvo, Frank Dunham Jr., Jose Liz, Gabrielle Stevens Holder, Damon Clark
