Dr. Nadia Lopez

Dr. Nadia Lopez is an award-winning educator who became a viral sensation after the popular blog Humans of New York featured her as one of the most influential people of this life. Disrupting the school to prison pipeline, Dr. Lopez founded Mott Hall Bridges Academy, a STEAM-focused middle school in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York, in 2010, and served as the principal for ten years. She was named Linkedin’s 2019 Top 10 Voices in Education and received the Black Girls Rock award–alongside Michelle Obama in 2015. As she works vigilantly to improve education disparities, her mission has been publicized across major media outlets: New York Times, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, Glamour Magazine, PopSugar, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, etc. The Ellen Degeneres Show, Good Morning America, and The Today Show. In 2016 Dr. Lopez visited the White House, where President Obama recognized her as Varkey Foundation’s Top 50 Global Teacher Prize Finalist. Her Ted Talk on the Education Revolution has garnered more than a million views. She also serves as a guest lecturer at Harvard University’s Graduate School for Education, teaching students on the subject matter of Transformative Justice, Education, and the School-to-Prison Pipeline.

In 2020, Dr. Lopez ended her tenure as Mott Hall Bridges Academy’s principal to focus on her work as a mental health advocate and wellness enthusiast. After developing a stress-related illness that threatened her life, she dug deeper into her passion for educating, providing workforce training and coaching through her company, The Lopez Effect. Dr. Nadia Lopez continues to support leaders on their journeys to build their capacity, improve culture through DEI practices, and develop systems to create healthy spaces for professional sustainability; on her crusade to impact 10,000,000 educators globally. Additionally, she consults with individuals and organizations on their goals and social responsibility initiatives that target marginalized communities for a positive impact.