About the Founders |
SustainED™ was co-founded by Jo Ann Leah Ashby and Musheerah Nisreen Gill, two educators whose professional and lived experiences have made clear that educator burnout is not an individual failure, but a systems issue requiring thoughtful, sustainable solutions. Together, Jo Ann and Musheerah bring decades of experience working in public education, supporting students and educators in high-pressure school environments. Both have witnessed how schools often rely on personal resilience while overlooking the emotional, relational, and structural conditions that shape educators’ capacity to remain effective and well. Their shared work is rooted in the belief that caring for educators is not a luxury, but a professional responsibility and a necessary condition for healthy school communities. SustainED was created at the intersection of lived experience, research, and practical innovation. Drawing on their backgrounds as practitioners and advocates, the founders developed Social Emotional Support for Educators (SES) as a framework that centers dignity, capacity, and sustainability, moving schools away from burnout-driven cultures and toward systems of support that allow educators to thrive. Jo Ann and Musheerah founded SustainED not to offer quick fixes or performative wellness, but to provide schools with tools, language, and structures that honor the complexity of teaching and the humanity of those who do the work. Their partnership is grounded in shared values, mutual respect, and a commitment to building solutions that are honest, actionable, and deeply aligned with the realities of educators’ lives.
Musheerah Gill, Co-Founder | SustainED™
Musheerah Gill is an experienced educator, writer, and language specialist with over 24 years of experience teaching English at the high school level. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from The College of New Jersey and holds both a Teacher of English certification and an ESL certification. She also earned a Master’s degree in Writing Studies, deepening her expertise in communication, curriculum design, and instructional practice.
​
Ms. Gill began her teaching career in 2001 and has worked extensively with diverse student populations. She is currently an ESL teacher at Hillside High School, where she supports multilingual learners in developing academic language and confidence. Her long-standing classroom experience informs her broader work with schools and educators.
​
Like many educators, Ms. Gill has experienced periods of burnout throughout her career. With the support of trusted colleagues and intentional self-care practices, she has been able to restore and sustain her professional energy. These experiences have shaped her understanding of both the resilience educators demonstrate and the limitations of relying solely on individual solutions.
​
As a result, Ms. Gill advocates for systemic change in schools by centering social-emotional support for educators as a foundation for sustainable teaching and healthy school cultures. She is committed to shifting schools away from burnout-driven models toward support cultures that prioritize educator capacity, dignity, and long-term sustainability. Her work emphasizes supporting educators as professionals through structures and practices that allow them to thrive over time.
​
Through her leadership and advocacy, Musheerah Gill advances a vision of schools where educator well-being is essential, professional expertise is respected, and sustainable teaching practices lead to stronger, healthier learning communities.
Jo Ann Ashby,
Co-Founder | SustainED™
Jo Ann’s professional journey has been shaped by years of teaching in high-needs school environments where emotional labor, chronic stress, and burnout are often normalized. Through both lived experience and research, she has seen firsthand how schools frequently rely on individual resilience while failing to address the systemic conditions that deplete educators over time. Her work is grounded in the belief that supporting educators is not a matter of motivation or endurance, but of dignity, capacity, and organizational responsibility.
​
As a doctoral student in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Jo Ann’s research explores how teachers experience professional relationships and school culture, with particular attention to the emotional and relational dynamics that shape trust, belonging, and sustainability in educational spaces. This research directly informs SustainED’s framework for Social Emotional Support for Educators (SES), ensuring the work is both evidence-informed and rooted in real classroom realities.
​
Jo Ann co-founded SustainED to help schools move beyond performative wellness and toward meaningful, practical systems of support for educators. She brings a unique blend of practitioner insight, research literacy, and deep respect for the lived experiences of teachers, believing that when educators are supported as whole professionals, schools become healthier places for everyone.
​SustainED™ | Social Emotional Support for Educators© 2026 SUSTAINED – Social Emotional Support for Educators LLC. All rights reserved.