Erica Buchanan-Rivera is an educational equity scholar, consultant, community organizer, and fierce advocate for children and liberatory spaces where people can be their authentic selves. She has served as a teacher, principal, director of curriculum, and a district DEI administrator (e.g., Chief Equity Officer and Director of Equity and Inclusion) in a suburban and an urban school district. Buchanan-Rivera is an Assistant Professor in the Leadership, Language, and Curriculum Department of DePaul University, who brings a lens of justice into her educational leadership courses. She is also the author of the book, Identity-Affirming Classrooms: Spaces that Center Humanity (2022).