12 Facts About Kaya Henderson

Kaya Henderson was born in 1970 in Mount Vernon, New York, and graduated from that city's public schools.

In 1992, Kaya Henderson joined Teach For America, and took a job teaching in the South Bronx in New York City.

Kaya Henderson was promoted to executive director of Teach for America in 1997, and relocated to Washington, DC In 2000, Kaya Henderson left Teach for America and joined the New Teacher Project as Vice President for Strategic Operations.

Kaya Henderson received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Georgetown University in 2012, and joined the university's board of directors in 2014.

Kaya Henderson was working for the New Teacher Project when Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of the DC public school system, tapped her in June 2007 to be Deputy Chancellor of the DCPS.

Kaya Henderson was censured in November 2016 for an ethics violation after her departure.

The ethics investigation into Kaya Henderson's actions began in May 2016, while she was still chancellor.

Kaya Henderson agreed to be censured; the Office of Government Ethics chose not to impose a fine.

Kaya Henderson defended her actions, noting that District law gives the chancellor the sole discretionary authority to approve out-of-boundary registrations and that she granted only a limited number of registrations and only when circumstances warranted it.

Kaya Henderson initially was interviewed by and modeled clothes for the plus-size retailer Eloquii as part of their series of interviews with high-achieving women.

Kaya Henderson modeled clothes a second time for them in late 2016.

In October 2017, Kaya Henderson was appointed a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Georgetown University.