Kara Mauro

An upstate New York native, Kara grew up with a constant curiosity about human behavior – always wanting to know and understand the reason for everything. This curiosity led her into the wide field of psychology.

While attending graduate school at Teachers College, Columbia University, Kara took her curiosity beyond human behavior and began to question the functioning of our society as a whole. Fueled by a passion for social justice, Kara began working at a community-based organization whose mission is to break the cycle of intergenerational incarceration.

As a licensed mental health counselor, Kara worked with children and families plagued by our current criminal justice system and our society’s broader issues of racial injustice. Utilizing her training in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Kara worked closely with her clients, their families and even their teachers. Despite the progress of some, Kara constantly encountered challenges with the systems that often left her clients at the short end of every stick.

Frustrated by these systemic challenges, Kara made the difficult decision to leave direct service. Kara joined Educators for Excellence because she understood that just like with therapy, change needs to happen from within. And the most important system that her clients needed to see change in was education.