Dionne Aminata, Founder & CEO, MathTrust

I grew up seeing the world through a mathematical lens because my dad made sure of it. By the time I was 2, he had his PhD in Electrical Engineering, and my older sister and I were his students for life. Although it led to an impressive high school transcript full of honors and AP math courses, which helped me earn a spot at UCLA, I never found my voice as a student in the mathematics classroom. 

After graduating from UCLA in 2000, I became an elementary school teacher in South Los Angeles. I recognized early that trusting students to meet high academic expectations is hard but necessary for students' success. I saw how systemic racism in education and our unconscious biases get in the way of that trust, and I wanted to make a difference. 

Dionne Aminata has served over 23 years in education as a teacher, researcher, instructional coach, math content specialist, curriculum writer, and curriculum implementation specialist, and has taught at the elementary, middle school, undergraduate, and graduate levels.

As a Lead Author at Illustrative Mathematics (IM), Dionne led the work of embedding curricular supports for teachers implementing culturally responsive pedagogy. She successfully supported LAUSD’s IM K–5 Math pilot in 2020–21, and most recently served as IM’s Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives. In her latest position she oversaw research and outreach efforts to IM's community of users, and supported math leaders nation-wide to successfully implement IM K–12 Math.

Dionne has been a consultant with UnboundEd since 2016, supporting teachers and leaders to disrupt patterns of injustice in mathematics education through strong curriculum, deep content knowledge, and belief in students. In 2020, she launched MathTrust, a consulting firm dedicated to supporting educators to seek the brilliance of Black students and trust all students to do the math. In 2022, she became a Math Advisor to the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) Math Collaborative, a network of state math leaders dedicated to affecting change in systems and policies in order to promote mathematics as a subject for all students. In 2023, Dionne was appointed to the Board of Directors at the National Council for Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM) to help advance the organization’s mission to support, sustain, and inspire high quality mathematics teaching and learning by engaging and empowering math leaders. 

Dionne earned her undergraduate degree in Sociology and Business from UCLA, her MBA in Entrepreneurship and Marketing from Babson College, and her Masters in Math Education from CUNY Brooklyn College.