Dr. Renae Bryant's career is a master class in never forgetting where you started. She began as a bilingual instructional assistant — sitting next to multilingual learners, watching firsthand what happens when a child's first language is treated as an asset instead of a deficit. Decades later, she leads a seven-county charter network across Southern California, sits on the faculty at Cal State Fullerton, and is one of the most respected voices in CALSA.