Sheresa Boone Blanchard, Ph.D. is the Senior Education Researcher/Technical Assistance Specialist at the Center for Learning and Development/SRI Education. Her research and teaching focus on family/community engagement, inclusion, families of color, assessment, and improving teacher preparation competencies through lenses of intersectionality, equity, and social justice. Her scholarly interests emerged from over 20 years of experience as a teacher, practitioner and consultant in early childhood, special education, and early intervention. Dr. Blanchard currently serves as co-chair of the Division for Early Childhood’s Inclusion, Equity, and Social Justice Committee and serves as a commissioner for the North Carolina Child Care Commission as well as other state and local level initiatives and boards. In Fall 2020, she was appointed to the ECU Rural Education Institute as an Associate Faculty member to sharpen her research focus on the strengths and needs in rural education and early intervention.