A volunteering experience at Scott Lane Elementary in Santa Clara, California inspired Dr. Cunningham to leave her Risk Analyst position at Hitachi Data Systems for a teaching career. She began her educational career in 1999 as a mathematics and science teacher in Oakland, California.

In 2001, Dr. Cunningham relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, working as a mathematics teacher in Fulton County Schools for three years before transitioning to Sequoyah Middle School in DeKalb County. Over a nine-year span, she served the Sequoyah community as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal. In her tenure as Principal, Sequoyah demonstrated significant increases in enrollment, civic and parental engagement, and academic performance. In August 2013, Sequoyah Middle School was recognized by the state of Georgia as a High Progress Reward School.

Dr. Cunningham transitioned to Druid Hills High School in the summer of 2013. Under her leadership, Druid Hills High achieved and sustained a two-digit increase in the CCRPI, Georgia’s report card, and made significant progress in increasing access to rigorous coursework for all students. In 2016, Dr. Cunningham was named DeKalb County School District Principal of the Year.

In 2017, Dr. Cunningham left DeKalb County School District to serve as the Director of Testing + Assessment for Atlanta Public Schools. Dr. Cunningham served as the system test coordinator for all national and state-mandated assessments and provided leadership and support to schools and central office personnel regarding district assessment processes, policies, and utilization. Under her leadership, Atlanta Public Schools transitioned to 100% online Georgia Milestones administrations for all district schools.

During the summer of 2019, Dr. Cunningham transitioned to serve as a High School Principal Coach. She coordinated and facilitated interventions and professional learning experiences to guide growth and development of new and turnaround school principals. Dr. Cunningham partnered with school leadership teams in developing school improvement plans, identifying opportunities to build leadership capacity, and providing support, feedback, and modeling of effective leadership practices.

Dr. Cunningham earned her Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Emory University. Both her Master's degree in Management and doctorate in Educational Policy Studies were earned at Georgia State University. Dr. Cunningham also serves as a adjunct professor and presenter at state and national conferences on research methods, ethics, data-informed leadership, organizational behavior, and building leadership capacity.

Dr. Cunningham is so excited to be at Cross Keys and working with a community she deeply respects and has been committed to supporting since her days at Sequoyah. In her spare time, Dr. Cunningham enjoys spending time with her husband and dogs, reading, traveling, watching sports, and eating out.