Chasity Malatesta

Chasity Malatesta is an African-American woman, educator, and equity advocate. With more than two decades of service, she acquired skills in leadership, teamwork, and multicultural advising which she brings to bear in service of the community. While teaching and helping families navigate the education system, she began identifying patterns of invisible hurdles of inequity working against marginalized communities, including her students, their families, and herself. Chasity dedicated herself to working with and for them, listening and pushing for equitable strategies, and acting to enable student success. At her core, she believes we can build empathy through relationships, shared language, shared responsibility, and community partnerships.

Leveraging her experiences, Chasity is a trainer and facilitator certified by the Equity Literacy Institute to utilize case studies to help others gain entry points into equity as a means for building empathy and capacity for change. She explores cultural competence, actively holds space for difficult conversations, and calls people into the conversation, rather than calling people out. Her passion is to empower individuals to contradict oppression, mitigate harm, and advance social justice in their community.

A native Oregonian and little girl who found peace in nature and exploration, she saw no science teachers of color so she decided to be a teacher herself. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biology at Warner Pacific University and a Master of Arts in Teaching from George Fox University, with a focus on culturally responsive teaching. During her teaching career, Chasity worked with the College Board in various roles. She was an AP Consultant trainer for professional development and acted as an AP Reader to grade AP exams. She was also chosen to serve on Equity Strategies Committee to explore increasing access to AP classes for students of color and acted as the teacher representative on the College Board Science curriculum design team. Currently, she co-Chairs the Multicultural Advisory Council (MAC) for Bainbridge Island School District where she advised on the Race, Equity, and Identity Policy and contributed to the District Improvement Plan for the Equity, Anti-Racism, Inclusion, Diversity & Justice focus area. Chasity is a member of the Executive Board and inaugural DEI Committee at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA). She is the mother of three amazing boys, loves spending time with friends and family, is continually learning and unlearning, currently researching ways BIPOC women can hold space for healing and tries to find time for dancing, drumming, gardening, and still do science experiments.