Serena Kotch is a veteran public school teacher and teacher's union leader in the city of Buffalo’s inner ring. She served on the Board of Directors for New York State United Teachers and the National Education Association for 8 years honing her skills as an educational advocate and lobbyist. She spent the bulk of her long career in teaching working with various marginalized groups of students from high needs educational demographics and has spent decades lobbying on both the state and federal levels to fight for the rights and needs of students across the country.  Serena has gained a high level of expertise in human rights advocacy, labor rights advocacy via her work with the state and national teacher’s unions and has assisted in the promulgation of pro-public education and human rights based legislation on both the state and federal levels in order to improve educational outcomes for children everywhere. 

In her role as a teacher and a singer, Serena became aware of the great, positive impact music has on the lives of students and advocated tirelessly to keep music and art as a part of the mandated K-12 curriculum for NYS. She also advocated on a national level via lobbying and educational awareness campaigns to secure more federal funding for music and art in public schools. She brings extensive experience in comprehensive curriculum creation and the development of educational advocacy to the table and has dedicated her life to improving the lives of students across the nation via the expansion of inclusive educational opportunities.