LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Gigi Azam was nominated by an anonymous student.

Ms. Azam - a LifeChanger and former biochemist - has devoted her life to achieving excellence and giving back to her community, coworkers, students, and family. She embodies a good work ethic, hard work, and never quitting, no matter her challenges. Her life as a devoted daughter, mom, wife, biochemist, and educator is guided by Martin Luther King Jr's famous quote: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, rather where he during challenges and controversy." She has traveled the world, has dual citizenship of USA/ India, holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, and has now found her niche as a Texas educator with multiple certifications and licenses 

Ms. Azam loved science, pursued it doggedly in high school and college, and received her Ph.D. in Neurochemistry in 1992 from a prestigious university in India. Her research was published in several peer-reviewed and prominent journals, which led her to receive a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Max-Planck Institutes in Germany. Dr. Azam, who speaks two Indian languages and is fluent in German and English, worked as a bench scientist both in academia and industry settings in Germany and the United States. She conducted research in the field of signal transduction and biomolecules.

In 2002, she was a stay-at-home mom to her two beautiful baby boys. As she watched them grow and blossom and her busy-molecular-biologist husband was away due to work-related engagements, she decided to be an "available and present" parent to her two boys. She decided to switch careers and move into education.

In 2006, as both her boys began their K-5 education, she joined the Austin Independent School District (AISD) as a substitute teacher. For the next three years, she had been to many of the 131 elementary and secondary campuses in AISD and viewed her role as a classroom educator. As she completed her teacher certifications to fit in as both a general and special educator, she realized the challenges that educators of color like her faced in a field where there were inequities in hiring and "equal opportunity" was only a term that existed on paper. In 2009, along with substitute teaching, she worked as a science and math tutor and took up tutoring assignments at select campuses.

Ms. Azam landed her first full-time job at a charter school in Austin and taught science to grades 6-9. Despite the challenges of preparing four sets of lessons every week for the grades she taught, she did the labs and after-school enrichment programs. During the 2012-13 school year, she was hired back by AISD for a full-time position as a middle school teacher and taught all four core subjects. Last school year, she was placed by the district as a special education teacher at Crockett Early College High School, where she has been a case manager and credit recovery teacher. Following are some of the highlights of her tenure with the district:

• In addition to being general and special education-certified, she completed a two-year Leadership Pathway and is a trained/certified SEL Specialist.
• She is also certified in Restorative Practices, TBRI, and Mediation.
• She was the principal applicant for an Austin Ed Fund grant she recently received. The resources from this grant will go towards setting up a "Rewards Program" for her students who have good grades and attendance and demonstrate academic excellence.
• She is also one of ten Finalists for the NSHSS Claes Nobel educator award for 2022.
• She works tirelessly on sustainability to keep her Rewards program going for the next few years by writing additional grants and seeking funds.
• She works to build relationships with students and families, tutors every day during her lunch, and participates in after-school programs. 

As an educator with a distinguished rating in the AISD's educator appraisal system for the last several years, she has a warm, welcoming classroom that is inclusive and open to all students. As a special education teacher, she invests her time in "Child Find" efforts, has a sensory center in her classroom for Autistic students, and is happy to hand out healthy snacks to her students. Ms. Azam's overreaching teaching philosophy is: "All students can learn, grow, and become successful in their unique way if, as educators, we understand their individual needs and learning styles." She envisions a high school graduation rate of >98% in every school that proposes vocational training for all students unprepared for college, as well as advanced courses and college prep for 11th and 12th graders who are ready and want to go to college.