Elaine Townsend Utin – a proud Peruvian-American – is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of LatinxEd.

Through her roles, Elaine focuses on leadership and identity development for Southern Latinx leaders who are dedicated to creating a more inclusive and equitable education system in North Carolina. In addition to leading LatinxEd, she is an award-winning educator and serves as an Adjunct Professor at UNC School of Education.

Prior to LatinxEd, Elaine earned her B.A. in Middle Grades Education at UNC-Chapel Hill as a first-generation college student and a Gates Millennium Scholar. She then worked in South Korea as an elementary teacher via a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship Award. She received her Master’s in Education in Technology, Innovation, and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was awarded the 2016 HGSE Intellectual Contribution/Faculty Tribute Award. In 2018, Elaine was recognized on Forbes’s 30 Under 30: Education list for breaking down barriers to success for first-generation college students and expanding opportunity for immigrant families in North Carolina.