Thalia Theodore Washington is the Senior Manager of Development at NewSchools Venture Fund, where she leads institutional donor strategy, relationships, and engagement.
Before joining NewSchools, Thalia was Executive Director of External Affairs at Higher Achievement, an out-of-school-time academic enrichment and mentoring program working to close the opportunity gap for middle school students of color in the Washington, D.C. metro region. There, she led fundraising and partnerships and successfully expanded the organization’s programming into Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland.
Prior to Higher Achievement, Thalia was the Program Director at BUILD DC, leading innovative entrepreneurship programming at high schools across the city. She served a two-year placement in the central office at D.C. Public Schools through participation in the Broad Residency. She is an inaugural cohort member of the DC Board Leadership Academy, which prepares a pipeline of Black and Latinx candidates to serve as the next generation of leaders on education nonprofit boards.
Thalia began her career as a public elementary school teacher in the Bronx through Teach For America and went on to leadership roles at nonprofits focused on supporting teachers including DonorsChoose, a crowdfunding platform for school and classrooms projects. Thalia holds a B.A. in English from the University of Maryland (Go Terps!) and a Masters of Public Administration from the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. She lives in her hometown of Silver Spring, Md. with her husband and two daughters and is often trying out new baking recipes and fulfilling dance mom duties.