The people who tend the garden.

Dr. Joy Gomez Hicks

Senior Director of Academics

Blooming College Academies

Dr. Joy Gomez Hicks serves as Senior Director of Academics, bringing extensive experience in educational leadership, curriculum and instruction, school improvement, and student learning. Throughout her career, she has served as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, school principal, and district/network-level academic leader, supporting educators and students across diverse educational settings.

With a Doctorate in Education and a passion for creating meaningful learning experiences, she is committed to strengthening academic programs, supporting instructional excellence, and ensuring that students have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Her experience spans curriculum development, professional learning, instructional leadership, assessment, and program development.

As Senior Director of Academics, she is dedicated to advancing academic excellence while fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.

• Curriculum & Instruction
• Instructional Leadership
• School Improvement
• Assessment
• Professional Learning

Danielle E. Gary

Director of Social Services

Blooming College Academies

Danielle E. Gary is the Director of Social Services at Blooming College Academies. Danielle contributes more than a decade of experience providing direct services to youth.

Danielle's clinical work includes leading life skills groups, health education classes, crisis response, individual therapy, family therapy, and self-sufficiency planning. She uses evidence-based approaches to empower and educate youth. Her clinical approach helps youth process their emotions, cope with setbacks, and build resilience.

Danielle is an alumna of The City College of New York (CUNY) and John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY), earning degrees in Psychology and Forensic Mental Health Counseling, respectively.

• Individual & Family Therapy
• Crisis Response
• Life Skills Groups
• Health Education
• Self-Sufficiency Planning

Joanna Mayo

Director of Administration

Blooming Academies Foundation

Joanna Mayo serves as the Director of Administration for Blooming Academies Foundation (BAF), bringing a diverse background in administration, operations, finance, human resources, and organizational management.

At BAF, Joanna provides leadership across administration, operations, compliance, organizational planning, policy and procedure development, and employee processes. She works closely with leadership and organizational partners to build the systems and infrastructure needed to support BAF's programs, strengthen its operations, and facilitate sustainable growth.

Through her work at BAF, Joanna is committed to building the organizational foundation necessary to expand the Foundation's impact and create meaningful opportunities for students and families throughout Florida.

• Operations & Compliance
• Human Resources
• Finance
• Policy & Procedure
• Organizational Planning

Christian Lee

Director of IT and Finance

Blooming Academies Foundation

Christian Lee serves as Director of IT and Finance for Blooming Academies Foundation, where he built the organization's comprehensive multi-school financial model supporting its four-school charter network and leads its web and technology infrastructure.

He brings a background in education technology from his work at SchoolAI, where he helps K-12 districts bring tools into the classroom that save teachers time and allow them to reach every student individually. These tools give teachers full visibility into how their classroom is progressing, using dialogues with students to check understanding against learning benchmarks in real time.

Christian holds a B.S. in Business Management from Alabama State University, where he graduated Cum Laude and made the Dean's List while playing Defensive End for the football team on a combined athletic and academic scholarship.

During that same time, he founded a tutoring collective to help fellow students, particularly athletes, stay on top of their coursework, juggling practices, games, and travel while running the program.

• Financial Modeling
• Multi-School Budgeting
• Web & Technology Infrastructure
• Education Technology
• Systems & Data