“Only the educated are free.” – Epictetus Tiara Abu is a career educator, leadership coach and serial entrepreneur who has committed her life to the pursuit of justice for marginalized communities and developing leaders with a focus on people- oriented leadership. She has a 17 year tenure in education, 12 years in leadership development, 9 years in the US Army, 3 years as CEO of Lead WITH People, LLC, and now CEO and Founder of SHE CAN WORK, LLC. Her career has given her robust experience in managing, coaching and developing leaders at junior and senior levels of organizations, as well as strategic leadership, startup and managing business development and operations. While Tiara’s experiences across multiple organizations, including the companies she’s founded are robust, the thread between all of them is a pursuit for educational and social justice. As Founder and full-time, CEO of Lead WITH People, LLC, Tiara provides leadership coaching dedicated to teaching leaders ways to improve performance alongside the people on their teams, with an intentional focus on women in positions of leadership. And as Founder and full-time CEO of SHE CAN WORK, LLC, Tiara leads an online school community dedicated to helping women learn how to make, save and invest more money, through on demand and live finance courses. Prior to leading her companies full time. Tiara proudly led at KIPP Texas Public Schools. During her tenure there, Tiara served as Deputy Chief of School Leadership and KIPP Forward, Deputy Chief of Teaching and Learning, Managing Director, and Director of Teaching and Learning. She is also the proud founding School Leader of KIPP Victory Academy, the first elementary school for KIPP St. Louis Public Schools, where she served prior to KIPP Texas. Before becoming a school founder, she served as principal of Tinsley Elementary, a turn-around school part of Harvard University and Houston ISD's Apollo 20 Program. The 3 years prior to her principalship, Tiara served as the assistant principal at Robinson Elementary. She is a native of Kansas City, MO and celebrates her proud family of two boys, Ayden and Micah; and her husband, Austin. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from the University of Tulsa and Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from Dallas Baptist University. In addition to teaching 5th grade science in Houston, she also taught 6th - 8th grade science in Grand Prairie, TX and 7th grade in Tulsa, OK. Tiara served as a member of the United States Army for 9 years and completed her duty at the rank of Sergeant.