Together we are committed to elevating the teaching profession
Team & Partners
We’re a small, passionate team of people working to amplify and uplift teachers and share their profound impact on society! Get to know us:
Collaborative Organizational Partners
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Plum Blossom Strategy is led by Dr. Rose Wan-Mui Chu. Dr. Chu has dedicated her professional life to the tireless pursuit of education equity and excellence. Rose is an experienced educator and consultant with a diverse professional portfolio centered on equity and justice, and advancing systems change. Her original engineering background and experience at Honeywell, coupled with her most honored role as a classroom teacher at Plymouth Youth Center and Minneapolis Public Schools, have continued to ground her life’s work in educational reform and transformation. She is professor emerita of Urban Education at Metropolitan State University, and a former assistant commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Education. Rose has been serving as a school board director at Roseville Area Schools since January 2020 and is a 2022 Bush Fellow.
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Collectivity is a management consulting & technology services cooperative that supports organizations in building operational capacity to accelerate mission, and effectively collaborate to deliver impact in the communities they serve. We work exclusively with foundations, nonprofits, local government, and communities leading collaborative initiatives around education, affordable housing, employment, transportation, health and wellness. Collectivity works closely with clients to integrate offerings when one solution may not meet all the needs of an organization.
Explore how to work with us.
Meet the Team
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Alex Liuzzi
Project Manager
Plum Blossom Strategy
"Our job is too difficult and too beautiful to do alone."
—Amelia Gambetti
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Amy Lyga
Education Content Specialist
Plum Blossom Strategy
“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”
—Arundhati Roy
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Anna Sibley
Consultant
Collectivity
“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”
—Albert Einstein
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Dr. Marci Levy-Maguire
Education Content Specialist
Plum Blossom Strategy
“As a classroom community, our capacity to generate excitement is deeply affected by our interest in one another, in hearing one another’s voices, in recognizing one another’s presence.”
—bell hooks, 1994
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Dr. Rose Wan-Mui Chu
Founder and Project Lead
Plum Blossom Strategy
"Our greatest contribution is to be sure there is a teacher in every classroom who cares that every student, every day learns and grows and feels like a real human being."
-Don Clifton
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Marlina Gonzalez
Media and Community Engagement Specialist
Plum Blossom Strategy
“Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.”
—MLK
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Melissa Anderson
Education Content Specialist
Amazeworks, Plum Blossom Strategy
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
—Frederick Douglass
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Rebecca Slaby
Education Content Specialist
Amazeworks, Plum Blossom Strategy
“Education is the foundation upon which we build our future.”
—Christine Gregoire
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Scott D. Cole
Principal Consultant
Collectivity
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but rather the lighting of a fire.”
—William Butler Yeats
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Seema Pothini
Education Content Specialist
Plum Blossom Strategy
“The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.”
—B.B. King
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Shehla Mushtaq
Principal Consultant
Collectivity
shehla.mushtaq@collectivity.coop
"Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher."
—Japanese proverb
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Sophia Reese
Consultant
Collectivity
sophie.reese@collectivity.coop
"Every child deserves a champion—an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be."
-Rita Pierson
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Zara Zanussi
Senior Consultant
Collectivity
zara.zanussi@collectivity.coop
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
—Nelson Mandela
Advisory Council
Phase 1
American Institutes for Research - Laura Checovich
Bloomington Public Schools - Jillian Stockmo-Chapman
Breakthrough Twin Cities - Josh Reimnitz
CAREI (University of MN) - Dr. Alyssa Parr
EdAllies - Josh Crosson
Education Evolving - Danyika Leonard
Educators for Excellence - Paula Cole
Generation Next - Joe Munich
Greater Twin Cities United Way - Liz Williams
Institute for Public Life and Work - Marie Strom
Intermediate District 287 - Tony Allen
Lake Country Service Cooperative - Troy Haugen
LDA Minnesota - Martha Moriarty
MACTE - Dr. Cari Macquire and Dr. Darell Stolle
MDE - Tyler Livingston
Metropolitan State University - John Olson
Minneapolis Public Schools - Dawn White
MN Agricultural Ed. Leadership Council - Kari Schwab
Minnesota FFA - Lavyne Rada
Minnesota Humanities Center - Kevin Lindsay
New American Development Center - Asad Aliweyd
NW Suburban Integration District - Ayenna Davis
Osseo Public Schools - Lisa Chang
Outside the Scope - Jennifer Davis
PELSB - Tyra Nelson-Reck
Proctor Public Schools - Kris Hagemeyer
Propel Nonprofits - Naima Farah
Proserva - Josh Thelemann
Saint Paul Public Schools - Danaya Franke
Science Museum of Minnesota - Joseph Adamji
ServeMinnesota - Dr. Sandy Pulles
Sourcewell - Christine Grams
Spring Grove Schools - Rachel Udstuen
St. Cloud State University - Gricel Escobedo
Tapestry Intergenerational Education Foundation -
Dr. Sally Baas
Teach For America Twin Cities - Mikisha Nation
TOCAIT Coalition - Rebecca Wade
UPLIFT Movement - Jonathan Jones
Youthprise - Libby Rau
Our Partners and Supporters
We’re grateful for the collaboration and partnership of the following organizations
Thank you to the Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB), the state agency that oversees the issuance and renewal of teacher licenses in the state of Minnesota, for support of the outreach campaign designed to elevate the teaching profession and actively recruit teachers, focusing specifically on individuals of color and of Indigenous descent.
Thank you to our design and marketing partners who brought this brand to life.
Pollen Studio is a media arts nonprofit that harnesses the power of narrative change to build towards a society that is free, just, and loving.
Dan Woychick is a designer and creative strategist with more than 30 years experience helping people tell compelling stories backed by incisive research and whip-smart strategy.
Background Stories is a certified women-owned infodesign consultancy that translates complex sustainability information into visual stories for non-expert audiences.