Kim Frusciante (NC ’05)

Kim Frusciante is the Founder of Early Partners, an innovative non-profit early learning center aimed at scaling to a network of centers in New Orleans. She is a proud graduate of Newcomb College (Class of 2005), where she majored in Political Science and minored in Women’s Studies and International Development. She earned her Master’s in Education (Ed.M.) from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2022.

After beginning her career in education in Dallas, Texas as a high school Social Studies teacher, she had a strong desire to return to New Orleans and engage in educational reform. She returned to New Orleans as a founding teacher at Sci Academy and shortly thereafter became a founding instructional leader at G.W. Carver Collegiate Academy. During her tenure at Collegiate Academies, she was a teacher, Instructional Dean, Director of Curriculum & Instruction, and the Director of the Collegiate Academies Teacher Residency Program.

Following nearly a decade in high schools, Kim turned her attention to early childhood education to invest in the foundational years of brain development. During this time, she participated in programs through 4.0 Schools, New Schools Venture Fund, and Propeller before starting at Harvard.

While at Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), she used her coursework and network to build programming for Early Partners and participated in the HGSE Summer Educational Entrepreneurship Fellowship, as well as the Summer Venture Program through the Harvard Innovation Labs. Kim completed her Ed.M. in the School Leadership Program, served as the HGSE’s School Leadership Program’s Class Marshal, and had the great honor of delivering the Student Convocation Speech in 2022.

Kim is deeply passionate about educational equity, diverse schools, and women’s issues. Kim lives in New Orleans with her husband, Taylor Gilbert; their two children Edith and Andy; their bloodhound, Samantha; their cat, Boudin; and their chicken, Camilla.