BIO

Dr. Farryn Slaton-Barkley, founder of Rising Scholars Collective, is a bilingual veteran educator, education consultant, and advocate with a career dedicated to empowering students and creating inclusive learning environments. A graduate of Cornell University, an Ivy League institute located in Ithaca, New York, she also holds a PhD from Clark Atlanta University, along with a master's degree from the Universidad de Granada (Spain) and Western New Mexico University. 

Her leadership is deeply shaped by her experience as a fellow in the New Leaders program, which emphasizes transformational leadership for equity and inclusion, guiding her work with both educators and students. She also has been influenced by her experiences of parenting children who were both gifted and disabled, a population known as twice exceptional, to help them navigate educational systems.

She served as a Parent Fellow with GeorgiaCAN for the 2024–2025 school year for Middle Georgia and through her company Rising Scholars Collective, has partnered to design and implement inclusive programming across Middle Georgia to include two school choice fairs for Middle Georgia in partnership with the Tubman African-American Museum, Middle Georgia State University and the National Association for School Choice. Her organization has also hosted two disability fairs for her region in partnership Centenary Church in Macon.

Committed to equity, resilience, and student empowerment, Dr. Slaton-Barkley, continues to drive meaningful impact in education through both direct teaching and systemic advocacy to include creating and empowering women eduprenuers to create learning spaces for children who need alternatives outside of traditional school systems.