Erika Halstead

Erika Halstead is a nonprofit leader dedicated to closing the opportunity gap through education. She has been the Executive Director of Minds Matter NYC since 2015. Her career traverses the whole educational cycle from bilingual elementary school teacher to university lecturer in BIPOC literature. Most recently, she served as the Senior Program Officer at Humanities New York where she directed education and community engagement initiatives, including award-winning programming for Latinx and American Muslim communities. In addition, she is an expert facilitator and master trainer, with experience teaching hundreds of people to lead meaningful dialogue in their organizations and communities. Erika holds a BA from the University of Texas at Austin and an EdM from Teachers College, Columbia University. A proud Colombian-American, she was named a 40 Under 40 Rising Star by the Hispanic Coalition of New York in 2018.