Mona Miao

Mona Miao is an analyst supporting the K-12 Systems team at Watershed Advisors, where she supports state education leaders in bridging policy priorities, strategy, and implementation to build systems that lead to meaningful outcome for students.

Raised in a low-income, immigrant family in Queens, NYC, Mona experienced firsthand how transformative strong school systems, great teachers, and meaningful learning experiences can be. Now, she has dedicated her career to empowering all young people with the resources, conditions, and opportunities to succeed.

Prior to joining Watershed, Mona managed the AmeriCorps Massachusetts Promise Fellowship at Northeastern University, where she led recruitment, data, and evaluation while supporting fellows and community partners in delivering programs for hundreds of youth across Massachusetts. Earlier in her career, Mona taught middle school science in Cambridge, MA, and directed summer programs for low-income and immigrant youth through the Harvard Phillips Brooks House Association.

Mona holds a B.A. in Cognitive Neuroscience and Evolutionary Psychology from Harvard College and an M.Ed. in Teacher Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is based in Cambridge, Mass., where she enjoys spending time with friends, family, and her two dogs. You can often find her getting bruised on a fencing strip, falling off a snowboard, eating good food, singing loudly in the car, staying up way too late reading, or pursuing a video/board game victory.