Alexis Hullaby
Alexis Hullaby is a dedicated educator with 10 years of experience in the field and a lifelong passion for teaching that began in second grade, when she first recognized education as her calling. She currently serves as a High School Seminar Instructor at Lead Academy, a role she has held for the past four years. Alexis holds a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and Teaching from Kansas State University and has built a career grounded in instructional excellence, student development, and educational leadership. In addition to her classroom responsibilities, she serves as both content lead and grade-level chair, guiding curriculum alignment and supporting fellow educators across all 9th grade content areas to ensure consistency, clarity, and academic success.
Alexis’s teaching practice is centered on college and career preparedness, equipping students with the tools they need to plan for life beyond high school. She actively supports students in exploring internships, college camps, scholarship opportunities, job pathways, and military school options. A key part of her role involves ongoing research and coordination to connect students with meaningful post-secondary opportunities that align with their goals and interests. Her professional journey reflects a wide range of experiences across education and beyond, including teaching 6th and 7th grade in Arizona, working in a highly intensive special education program, and briefly exploring the corporate sector in Oklahoma before returning fully to education. Earlier in her career, she began as a servant leader intern with Freedom Schools during high school and continued throughout college, reinforcing her long-standing commitment to youth development and service.
Beyond the classroom, Alexis is deeply involved in athletics and educational leadership. She coaches both girls and boys volleyball and previously coached girls basketball, using sports as a platform to build discipline, teamwork, and confidence in students. She is also an active contributor with the Tennessee Volleyball Association, where she is one of the founding members working to establish boys volleyball programs across Nashville-area schools, helping expand access and build new opportunities for student-athletes. Alexis is now focused on expanding her impact beyond individual classrooms and is pursuing a path toward educational consulting and instructional coaching. Her goal is to support teacher success and development, with the belief that strong educators are essential to meaningful and lasting student achievement.
• Kansas State University - BEEd
• Tennessee Volleyball Association
• No Teachers Left Behind
• Freedom Schools
• Tennessee Volleyball Association Boys Programs
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to passion and purpose. I have known since second grade that I wanted to become a teacher. I still have projector sheets from my second and third grade teachers because I told myself I was going to use them when I became a teacher one day. That early clarity about my calling has driven my commitment to making an impact in the classroom and beyond. I genuinely believe you have to want to be in education to be successful and to create more successful people, because that's literally our only goal. When you're genuinely happy with the craft, you just get through the challenges, and it's not as bad because you know that's a part of it. Wanting to be there is the most important part.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I received came from Michael Laureano, who was the first person to really take me under his wing. He told me, 'I know you got it, I see it in you, don't change anything, be the teacher you wanted to be.' That advice gave me the confidence to stay true to myself and my teaching style. From that moment on, we became best friends, and we literally talk all the time. He's about 20 years older than me, but somehow we became the best of friends, and his mentorship has been invaluable throughout my career.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice to young women entering education is that you genuinely have to want to be here. This should be approached as a meaningful career where you can have a lasting impact, not just a job to get to the next stage of life. There is a space for you no matter who you are, and there is a classroom that fits you. Because education is based on the person that's in the room, you are going to be met with somebody who enjoys you and sees you for who you are as an educator. It's a great career to go into because you do actually have impact on the world, and it's a lasting impact. You don't feel it in the moment sometimes, but it always comes back to you. Always. But you have to be genuinely happy with the craft to get through the challenges, because there are so many other things you have to deal with that will never be on a job description. When you're genuinely committed, you just know that's a part of it, and it's okay.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest opportunity in education right now is that there is a space for you no matter who you are, and there is a classroom that fits you. Because education is based on the person that's in the room, you are going to be met with somebody who enjoys you and sees you for who you are as an educator. It's a great career to go into because you do actually have impact on the world, and it's a lasting impact. You don't feel it in the moment sometimes, but it always comes back to you. Always. The biggest challenge is that people don't believe they have an impact in the classroom, and we are looking at education as just a job and not a career field. Education is now turning into something people think they can just do to get to the next stage of life, when genuinely you have to want to be here to be successful and to create more successful people. I think we're kind of losing the importance behind that because of the declining value of educators. There are so many other things you have to deal with that will never be on a job description, but when you're genuinely happy with the craft, you just get through it and it's not as bad.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are purpose, impact, and authenticity. I genuinely believe that you are as strong as your team, you are as strong as the village around you, and a big part of my path in life has been surrounding myself with people that are like-minded, people that have the same dreams, aspirations, or just trajectory and ideas of their life that I have. We all should be goal-oriented, but oftentimes people have goals and don't work towards them - it's just a figment or an idea. I like to be around people who create ideas and then follow through with them. I want to be able to build with a network of women, or even just people, who genuinely want to expand themselves. In my work, I believe in being fully committed to education and making a lasting difference in students' lives rather than viewing teaching as just a job. I also value spending time with my family, including my young daughter who is always with me - she's like my mini-manager and even has a volleyball shirt. I play volleyball on two different teams on the weekends, and I'm essentially always with my daughter and the students who really matter, the ones that are my Velcro babies.