Emily Bloyd spent her early years navigating poverty, addiction, and repeated exclusion from school systems. While working in a Montessori classroom, she experienced an educational pedagogy built on trust, respect, and autonomy. She is now a credentialed Montessori educator, preschool director, and passionate advocate for accessibility to early Montessori education for all. Ms. Bloyd serves as Head of School at Pathways Early Learning Center, a non-profit, tuition-free, Montessori primary school that exclusively serves children and families that are unhoused. She has developed a model that challenges the gatekeeping and gentrification of Dr. Montessori’s method while proving that the Montessori method is a powerful educational approach when serving children facing systemic marginalization. Her digital platform Montessori Miss Emily reaches over 175,000 educators. Her writings highlighted on the The Montessori Mafia site have gained national attention for its unflinching analysis of how current educational policies force Montessori leaders and educators to make compromises that attenuate the strength of Montessori pedagogy.