Lisa Lazare

Lisa was born in Trinidad and moved to Brentwood, New York when she was nine years old. She grew up understanding the value of an excellent education. Her parents always reinforced the idea that your education is the one thing that someone cannot take away from you. Lisa was inspired and supported at an early age to advocate for herself and her education. While obtaining her degree, it became apparent that there were few women of color majoring in the sciences. After graduating from Stony Brook University with a bachelor’s of science and an M.B.A., she found her way to teaching high school chemistry. She always had a passion for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and wanted to inspire more young women and young men of color to pursue degrees and careers in STEM.

However, once In the classroom, she found the lack of representation more systemic in that teachers of color were poorly represented in the core and STEM subjects. To bring awareness to the challenges educators of color face, she founded TRIBAL in Education (Teachers Resisting Inequity for Blacks, Asians, and LatinX in Education) which is a coalition of educators who seek to advocate for the recruitment, retention, and agency of educators of color. 

Lisa joins Educators for Excellence to continue positively impacting communities of color in education. As an immigrant and a woman of color, there have been many spaces where she felt her voice was either stifled or not allowed. As Executive Director, she grounds herself in listening to the needs of her community and always bears in mind that best intentions do not always have the intended impact.