Nailah Abdul-Rahman

Director of Special Projects

nailah.abdul-rahman@readyct.org

Nailah joined ReadyCT to support the education-to-workforce pipeline that will positively affect the state’s economy. Her priority is to meet students, learn more about them, and help them to prepare for the futures they want through engagement with a range of learning opportunities. 

Nailah is a Connecticut native and a product of New Haven Public Schools. While in New Haven, she participated in various local programs – including L.E.A.P, Talented and Gifted, City Kids, The Dwight/Edgewood Project, Educational Center for the Arts, and Higher Heights – all of which helped to inform her leadership style. 

While attending Quinnipiac University (Hamden, CT), Nailah developed her passion for education and started a student organization to connect the resources at her college to the greater Connecticut community. She was largely motivated by the education/prison merry-go-round and recognized how education could be used as a tool to create better outcomes. Her teaching experience includes working as an elementary school teacher as part of Teach For America (Florida). While earning her master’s degree in education, leadership, politics, and advocacy (New York University), she led a research project connecting students with high level vocabulary in elementary schools across New York City. Nailah also worked for the New York City Department of Education supporting adult education initiatives across all five boroughs before joining the CT RISE Network to support on-track programming for freshman high school students. 

At ReadyCT, Nailah is excited about connecting education to business to help students understand why the K-12 experience is so important and how their decisions today will affect their futures tomorrow; she is most excited about being able to use her experience to be a change agent in Connecticut. 

Nailah is an entrepreneur with a lifestyle brand focused on mindset, family, and economics. She is also pursuing her interests in real estate. Nailah practices yoga and is learning more about the power of the mind.

“College may not be everyone’s choice, but we all have choices and those choices affect our futures. How do we better prepare students for the futures they want for themselves? How do we effectively expose youth to opportunities so that we actively prepare them to live their best lives and reach their full potential? ReadyCT is playing a huge role in what is at stake for students and our state. I believe ReadyCT has positioned itself strategically to advocate for students and help prepare them for meaningful careers and lives.”