Carly Martell

Carly grew up in Seattle, Washington, attending five different types of schools between kindergarten and 12th grade in a persistent search for meaningful learning experiences. She later attended Global College (now LIU Global), studying full time in Central America and South Africa and earning a BA in Global Studies with a concentration in Photographic Activism in 2012.

She went on to graduate school at Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa, where she earned a Master’s degree in Journalism and Media Studies, researching the intersection of social movement theory and alternative media. Carly is currently pursuing her EdD at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (online) in the Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership program, where her research focuses on the systemic conditions necessary to embody Indian Education for All as a daily practice.

Across her work, Carly is driven by a belief that youth storytelling and community-based media are not extracurricular, but essential sites of learning, identity formation, and collective imagination.