In 2015, the SHRM Foundation awarded SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition scholarships to HR professionals from each of the five regions of the U.S.—the Northeast, Southeast, North Central, Southwest Central and the Pacific West. Jatisha Marsh was the southeast award recipient and attended the SHRM 2015 Annual Conference and Exposition.
Jatisha Marsh, SHRM-CP, is an Employee Performance Analyst for Atlanta Public Schools, and she is on a mission to change the achievement gap between low-income and affluent students in Atlanta.
Meet Jatisha:
The question that has driven my career for nearly the last nine years is, “who will speak for the children?” In 2006, I left a career in the corporate sector when I learned about the achievement gap between low-income students and more affluent students. I joined Teach for America and spent the next eight years teaching. 
My current position as a Performance Analyst allows me to impact change on a larger scale and ensure that students have the most effective teachers in their classrooms. I took a significant cut in salary to pursue a career in education; I have yet to earn as much as my first job after graduation. Once I started my education career, I felt inundated with negative messages regarding public education. I continually have to remind myself of my purpose, to ensure every child receives an excellent education. A few years into my career in education, Atlanta Public Schools, my employer, was rocked by a widely publicized cheating scandal. The former head of human resources admitted to wrongdoing. The district is in the process or rebuilding and regaining public trust. A scholarship will allow me to learn HR best practices that will help me ensure the district does not repeat past mistakes.
Steve Wynn, Wynn Las Vegas, stated, “Human Resources isn’t a thing we do. It’s the thing that runs our business.” I think this statement rings truest in the education sector. I am in the business of rallying people to develop college and career ready students. My career goal is to become a Chief Human Resource Officer for a school district or a college… common practice in one sector can be innovative in another. The conference is an opportunity to seek mentors outside of the education sector in order to bring innovation to the education sector.
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