In 2018, Nicole Anderson became the Founder and CEO of Nicole Anderson and Associates Consulting, LLC. She locked arms with researchers, practitioners, and experts in the field to deliver a unique systemic approach to providing professional development services that serve the needs of educators around the state of California and nation. Ultimately, she and her team strive to build the capacity of educational leaders in order to close educational equity gaps seen in the school system.

In almost 25 years of service in education, Nicole has served as a developer and facilitator of professional learning services as well as an advocate for educational equity work in numerous ways around the nation. She recently held the position as the first Diversity and Equal Access Executive in the history of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) for almost four years. In this role, she led work focused on equity and diversity including the facilitation of statewide professional learning for ACSA leaders and state board, coordination of the California Equity Leadership Alliance, as well as the development of networks for administrators of diverse backgrounds. Her work also includes the development of a research team that provides research based content and conducts case studies of educational leaders around the state on their journey to closing educational equity gaps. As an ACSA member, she served as the Chair of ACSA’s Equity Committee (formerly called the EADS -Equity, Achievement, and Diversity for Success Committee) where she focused on leading the work of implementing a system that will effectively address the beliefs of ACSA around equity for students and leaders in California. Her work has truly carved a path for educational leaders to be empowered and equipped to build capacity to close educational equity gaps around the state, nation, and world.

As a practitioner, Nicole served as an Elementary Principal in Vallejo, California where she also held numerous positions as a site administrator for 10 years. This included High School Assistant Principal/Dean and Vice Principal in Vallejo City Unified School District. She was also a Leadership Teacher, Spanish Teacher and Activities Director for 6 years at Jesse M. Bethel High School in Vallejo, which is named after her grandfather. She follows in his footsteps as an advocate for equity and social justice for students of color as well as all historically marginalized groups.

In her current role as an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Consultant, she and team of Associates are successfully serving school boards, sites, districts, and county offices, in addition to superintendent search firms and education associations. The team also supports city and county government officials and staff while supporting the organizational development of executive leadership in multiple industries across the state of California and nation. Their systemic focus on safely and effectively supporting the work of their clients has been instrumental in “truly” ensuring that equity is realized for the success of all human beings, both personally and professionally!

Nicole’s journey continues to be possible with the support of her husband of 21 years, Derrick Anderson, their three children, Trinity (18), Dj (15) and Isaiah (9) and a host of family and friends!