Ileana Valdes is an Instructional Coach with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Ileana has over 10 years of experience in education, corporate and school levels. Her personal values, leadership, and creativity give her the opportunity to grow and keep learning. She worked as an Administrative and Professional Development Coordinator in HMH’s office in Puerto Rico. Deeply in her heart, she wanted to teach in a classroom, so she moved to Illinois to teach in a dual language program to awesome fifth graders, then she moved back to Puerto Rico where she taught fourth-grade ELA, math, and science in a bilingual academy. She worked as well on some projects as an education consultant and higher education curriculum specialist. She is currently finishing her doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction. She loves what she does as an Instructional Coach because, in addition to supporting teachers and leaders to understand the HMH program, she motivates them to be better. She loves listening, helping people define their purpose, and being able to offer student-centered solutions. In her free time, she loves to travel, go to the beach, and spend time with her family and friends.