Emmalyn Pykles is an educator, policy advocate, and experience designer dedicated to dismantling systemic inequities in the American education system. Currently serving as an ESL educator with Teach For America in the Greater Boston area, Emmy works on the front lines of the classroom, teaching 5th and 6th grade "newcomer" students and investigating the heart of democracy through the eyes of her students.

Emmy’s approach is rooted in design-thinking and social impact theory, skills she honed during her undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University. She has experience applying these across diverse sectors — from interning with the White House initiative for historically Black colleges and universities to conducting qualitative research for organizations like NASA’s Servir and FamilySearch.

A recent “Roadtrip Nation” documentary co-host, Emmy is a firm believer that education is the ultimate preventive approach to poverty, racism, and division. She is currently pursuing a master’s in educational policy studies at Boston University and hopes to explore what policy solutions can help better deliver the cycle-breaking promises of an American education to all of our nation’s students.