SustainED™
Social Emotional Support for Educators
Vision Statement
We envision a future where educators are valued, sustained, and supported as essential professionals shaping our children, our schools, and our society — where caring for those who do the work of care is recognized as a necessary condition for educational excellence.
Mission Statement
SustainED exists to transform how schools support educators by centering Social Emotional Support for Educators (SES) as a foundational framework for sustainable teaching and healthy school cultures.
Through research-informed tools, practices, and professional learning experiences, we help schools shift from burnout-driven systems to cultures that prioritize educator capacity, dignity, and long-term sustainability.
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We believe that when educators are supported as whole professionals, not measured solely by output or endurance, schools become stronger, retention improves, and students benefit from stable, thriving learning environments.
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Foundational Belief
When educators are sustained, everyone wins.
About the Founders | SustainED™
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....
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.
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As a doctoral student in psychology, Jo Ann’s research explores how early-career 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.
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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.