Juliana Hoover Potash is the Senior Manager of Advocacy and Engagement for Ed Trust’s Southerners for Fair School Funding initiative. The goal of this work is to close opportunity gaps for students in the South by advancing more equitable ways of funding schools. In this role, Juliana builds regional partnerships, creates advocacy resources, and supports coalitions in Southern states.
Previously, Juliana worked at P3 Consulting, where she provided strategic support to education-focused foundations and nonprofit organizations in Tennessee. She also previously worked with the Ed Trust-Tennessee team as a P-12 policy fellow. During that fellowship, she launched a research project on Tennessee’s English Learners and supported the policy team during legislative session. Juliana has worked as a graduate fellow at the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) and helped the Public Education Foundation in Chattanooga improve an online college selection tool for Hamilton County students. As a graduate student, she also presented at a global competition hosted by the University of Oxford about systemic inequities in Nashville’s school system. Before moving to Nashville, Juliana worked as a social science researcher in the U.S. and in Malaysia.
Originally from North Carolina, she holds a bachelor’s degree in linguistics and Asian & Middle Eastern studies from Duke University and a master’s in education policy from Vanderbilt University.
What is your secret talent?
DIY Halloween costumes
What is your favorite thing to do outside of work?
Cooking – I love to share meals with friends and stay up late thinking of new recipes to try.
What drew you to education?
My parents grew up on opposite sides of the world, but both are first-generation college students. Seeing how education impacted my family in two short generations is the reason I believe education can change anyone’s life, no matter their background.
