Erin Jones is a biracial, transracial adoptee, who was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she was adopted by parents who had been raised in Northern Minnesota. Her father took a teaching job at the American School of The Hague in the Netherlands, where Erin was raised and where her parents taught for over 30 years. By the time Erin was 17 years old, she could speak four languages and had played soccer, basketball and softball in 10 countries. Upon graduation from high school, Erin returned to the United States for college. She attended Bryn Mawr College, in a suburb of Philadelphia, where she earned a Bachelor of a Arts degree in Literatures of the African diaspora in English, French, and Spanish. She later earned her teaching certificate from Pacific Lutheran University and another certificate in Language Immersion instruction from Concordia College. Erin has worked as an athletic coach, a substitute teacher, a classroom teacher, an instructional coach, a state assistant superintendent and a school district executive. Erin has earned awards as The Most Innovative World Language Teacher, the Washington State Milken Educator of the Year, a White House Champion of Change, and the Inaugural Hanford Education Leader. Erin ran to lead the Office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2016 and lost that race by 1%. Her loss propelled her into full-time consulting on issues related to equity and public speaking at conferences, in schools, and at churches. Since 2017, Erin has spoken to over 500,000 students and provided trainings and keynotes to a similar number of adults. She has three TEDx Talks and recently published a book, “Bridges to Heal US: Stories and Strategies for Racial Healing.” She and her husband, James, have been married for almost 30 years. James is a high school teacher and head football coach. They have three adult children - one who is a para eduactor and coaches football, one who serves as the communications and project manager for an education foundation, and one who works for an independent video game design company.