Jatnna Acosta

Founder and CEO of El Barrio Reads; Instructional Designer at Camino University

Jatnna Acosta is a bilingual educator and literacy specialist living in Charlotte, NC. She was born in the Dominican Republic, raised in Brooklyn, New York and has completed much of her postsecondary education in the Carolinas. Jatnna completed her undergraduate degree in Elementary Education from Wake Forest University, her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction under the Teacher Leadership track from Gardner-Webb University, and recently graduated with her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Urban Literacy from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her professional experience and research interests focus on multilingual education, Spanish as a World Language, English as a Second Language, multicultural literature, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, and teacher identity development. Jatnna is also the founder of El Barrio Reads, an online bookstore she will be launching soon, which magnifies historically excluded voices, identities, and experiences to influence the understanding and appreciation of diverse perspectives through multicultural literature. During her free time, Jatnna enjoys reading, taking walks with her dog Coalie, and spending time at coffee shops and bookstores with her younger sister Angelica.