Keynotes that move leaders from awareness to action on educator retention.
Dr. Andrea Terrero Gabbadon is a nationally recognized expert in educator retention and culturally affirming leadership. She brings both research grounding and school leadership experience to move a district from awareness to measurable action. She knows what it costs to lose great educators, and what it takes to keep them.
Signature
Keynotes
Why Educators of Color Leave, and What Leadership Can Do About It.
Retention is not an HR problem. It is a leadership problem, and a solvable one. Moreover, three in four teachers who leave do so for preventable reasons tied to leadership, job, and workplace satisfaction.
This keynote shows why retention matters for student outcomes, school culture, and the budget. Dr. Gabbadon then turns the research into steps leaders can take tomorrow, drawing on her book Support and Retain Educators of Color and her work with districts through Affirming Schools.
Three Leadership Moves to Cultivate Spaces That Foster Belonging.
Delivered as a TED-style talk at the ASCD + ISTE Global Conference, this keynote explores the concrete leadership behaviors and organizational features that make educators stay.
Listening as Leadership: 6 principles of culturally affirming leadership in action
Educators of color often tell leaders why they’re leaving, but only when someone asks and listens. In this keynote, Dr. Gabbadon centers the stories and experiences of educators of color, using them to show what supportive and unsupportive leadership looks like day to day. She gives leaders practical ways to listen better and to act on what they hear.
Hire to Retire: Building Supportive Pathways to Retain Educators of Color.
Teachers’ commitment, well-being, identity, and effectiveness change throughout their careers. A teacher in year two needs something different from a teacher in year twenty, yet most retention strategies treat the workforce as a single group. This keynote takes a full career-arc view, from recruitment through veteran leadership. It draws on Christopher Day’s research on teachers’ professional life phases and shows leaders how to match supports to each stage, including the added barriers educators of color face along the way.
Grounding Ourselves in Our Genius and Joy.
The subject of her keynote at Leaders Like Us Global Summit, this talk covers the impact of educators of color on students, the long tradition of educators of color, and four ways to sustain yourself in the work: physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual.
The Role of the District Leader in Affinity Group Work
Presented to Profound Gentlemen and the Illinois Affinity Group Network on separate occasions, this keynote gives district cabinet and executive leaders practical ways to build affinity work into large-scale strategy instead of treating it as an add-on.
Selected Keynotes & Panels
Educators of Color Leadership Symposium 2026
Looking to bring this work to your district or organization?
Engagements range from a single keynote to multi-year partnerships through ILM Consulting Group and its Affirming Schools model. Leadership professional learning, affinity group facilitation, and facilitator training sit under Affirming Schools. Executive leadership coaching is offered through ILM.