KAT LING (she/they)
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
As Chief Executive Officer, Kat leads the organization and team to actualize Moonshot’s mission and long-term strategic plan, as well as manages fundraising, external partnerships, and new initiatives. Kat joined Moonshot in 2019 as Chief of Staff, later serving as Chief Program Officer where she facilitated the Moonshot Fellowship for Cohorts 3 and 4, including a re-design of the Fellowship into a virtual format in the pandemic. Kat became CEO in November 2021, after serving as Interim CEO.
Prior to Moonshot, Kat was a Managing Director of Alumni at Teach For America - Greater Delta, where she led a team responsible for supporting a cross-state 500+ alumni network. Their additional prior experiences include coaching 50+ educators in southeast Arkansas, designing and facilitating training on culturally relevant pedagogy, racial equity, and multicultural leadership for 100+ educators and a 15-person staff, and managing teams responsible for district partnerships, licensure, hiring, and teacher placement. Kat served as a Leadership Team Member and Board Chair of the national Asian American Pacific Islander Resource Group and was a founding member and Board Chair for GLSEN Arkansas.
She graduated from Cornell University magna cum laude with a major in English and a minor in Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies. She has a Master’s in Public Service through the University of Arkansas - Clinton School of Public Service. Kat is a member of Leadership Denver Class of 2022 and serves on the Denver Mayor’s LGBTQ Commission and several local school boards.
DARANEE TENG (she/her)
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF STRATEGY & IMPACT
As Managing Director of Strategy & Impact, Daranee leads the strategy, design, implementation, and evaluation of Moonshot’s innovative programming for education entrepreneurs. She brings over 17 years of experience in educational nonprofits to the team. Previously, Daranee managed qualitative research and evaluation efforts on a national scale as Director of Program Learning for OneGoal, a program supporting over 13,000 first-generation students across the United States. Prior to that role, she lived and worked in Guatemala as a consultant for MAIA Colegio Impacto, a nonprofit school designed to prepare indigenous Maya girls for community, national, and global leadership. Daranee was also a Program Director for Colorado I Have a Dream Foundation, where she supported a dedicated cohort of first-generation students in North Denver over the course of 10 years, from third grade to high school graduation.
She is a Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP) Nonprofit Impact Fellowship Graduate, a board member of Colorado Dragon Boat, and sits on the City & County of Denver’s Asian American Pacific Islander Commission. Daranee received a BA in Spanish Language & Literature and a BS in Journalism from Appalachian State University. She also earned an MA in Educational Policy & Practice from the University of Colorado Boulder, where she examined issues of race, class, gender, and equity in education.
AMANDA GONZALES (she/her)
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF SCHOOLS & PROGRAMS
As Managing Director of Schools & Programs, Amanda serves as a key strategic partner and the lead for Moonshot’s programs, including the Residency initiatives. She is a Cohort 2 and School Launcher Residency alumna. Born and raised in Denver, Amanda’s passion for youth advocacy and social change has been her north star in her 26 years of work with teens in the education and community organization fields. Her drive is rooted in the indigenous Nahuatl word tiahui, which roughly means to move, change, or go forward. With the belief that education can get one out of their situation, her commitment to empowerment and movement has always been focused on young people of color in Denver and Adams counties.
Over the past 26 years, she has served in roles and fields including high school principal and middle school administrator, gang outreach and violence response, field-based mental health, youth mentoring, program development, and teaching across all middle & high school content areas. Her true passion is special education law, where she specializes in serving teens with affective needs and significant mental health disabilities. A first-generation college graduate and child of a Displaced Aurarian, Amanda holds a B.A. from MSU Denver in Special Education and Linguistically Diverse Education and an M.A. from the University of Northern Colorado in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and Special Education Administration. Her Doctoral research (in progress) interests include families as systems within school models, school discipline practices of Black and Indigenous students of color, and teaching in third spaces. She is the founder of Ollin Educational Consulting and the Co-Founder and former Director of Cultivation at Be The Change Community School. She serves as adjunct faculty at the University of Northern Colorado and Metropolitan State University of Denver and was recently named the 2022 Educational Leader of the Year by the Colorado Association of Bilingual Educators for her advocacy for bilingual students and families.
JUSTIN TENEYCK (he/him)
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
As Program Director, Justin leads the Fellowship, Program Residency, and Moonshot’s alumni services and strategy. Justin believes deeply that education must be a site of radical, personal and communal transformation, which simultaneously cultivates opportunities for learning, exploration and experience while fighting against the historical injustices and harms caused to marginalized peoples. His professional journey in education, working within and advocating for community began in 2014, but his spirit of activism was shaped in the early '90s when his mom received her medical assistant certification. Working at the Boulder Valley Women's Health Center, Justin saw his mom go to work amidst weekly protesting and bomb threats to ensure accessible reproductive healthcare for women and femmes. This, coupled with his experience as a poor, Black boy in Boulder (county), birthed a passion to support the holistic wellbeing of communities and people on the margins.
After engaging with feminist and critical consciousness frameworks as an Ethnic Studies major at CU-Boulder, Justin went to the University of Denver, receiving a master's in Higher Education with an emphasis on Diversity and Higher Learning. During his time as a graduate student, Justin began working as the Student Life Director at College Track. He has served as the Senior Director of Postsecondary at the I Have A Dream Foundation of Boulder County and as a Student Success Manager at Guild Education. From 2019 to 2022, Justin was a member of the joint CU-Boulder/UC-Irvine, Co-ATTEND research team, collaborating with DPS teachers and community advocates to re-humanize mathematics education using a participatory approach. Justin has facilitated training on identity development, systems of oppression, and culturally relevant student and community engagement for educators.
ALEXANDRA “ALEX” CHAVEZ (she/her)
FINANCE & OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
As the Finance & Operations Director, Alex leads Moonshot’s finance, liability, HR, operations, and communications work. She joined the Moonshot team in 2020. Prior Moonshot, Alex was the Manager of Accounting, Payroll, and Public Grants at a public charter school network, where she was responsible for developing and maintaining strong financial and operational systems for 200+ employees across four locations. Alex’s additional experience includes serving as the Loan Servicing Manager for a local Denver non-profit organization dedicated to increasing affordable housing opportunities for low-income individuals and families through down-payment assistance loans.
Alex was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. She attended Regis University as a first generation college student, where she studied accounting and economics. She graduated in 2015 with a Master of Science in Accounting. She also holds an Associates Professional in Human Resources certification (aPHR).