Alefiya believes that enabling students to have passion-driven career choices should be a key focus for all educational institutions. She is a young female educator turned entrepreneur who is passionate about ensuring that there are more people like her in the world. She speaks about the concept of #beapreneur and the importance of taking any ideas or interests that you have and creating solutions to solve for problems that exist within them. She believes it is essential for us to be teaching this kind of thought process in our schools, early on. Alefiya has spoken and presented at events around the world, including at the United Nations, ASU GSV, Digital Divide Roundtable, Pinal County Business-Education event, Future of Technology Summit Women in Tech, ISTE, and many more. She knows the critical role of education in workforce development and the need to have ALL kids learn to think and create for themselves and be exposed to technology creation, not just consumption. When we don’t know what jobs are going to be available 10 years from now, we have to teach kids how to create their own.

Alefiya’s degree in psychology and education from Emory University, along with her training and experience as a Montessori teacher, powers her passion for wide-scale education improvement. It is this passion that led her to start her first education company, Crescerance, in 2011 to enable schools to better communicate with and engage their communities through mobile. In 2014, she started her second EdTech company MAD-learn which she now runs, focusing on bringing the concepts and tools of app development to K-12 students by enabling them to build their very own mobile apps. This design-thinking program empowers 21st century technology literacy by teaching students vital and transferable skills that will enable them to gain experience with problem identification and solution. In her spare time, Alefiya enjoys touring the world, meeting new people, learning new languages, and experiencing new cultures. She is also a closet adrenaline junkie who loves the occasional ski, sea, or sky dive expedition.