Alumni Conversation Series: A TFA Alum’s Passion for Teaching and Music

At TFA, leadership development is foundational to the corps member experience. The leadership skills corps members acquire during their two-year commitment, have lifelong impacts on their careers. This was true for alum Miriam Owens (New York ‘08), who is the president and Chief Executive Officer of the People’s Music School in Chicago.  

The People’s Music School is Chicago’s oldest and largest, completely tuition-free music school, providing access to intensive, transformational music instruction to students who otherwise would not be able to afford it. The organization serves over 700 K-12 students in Chicago. Students receive more than four plus hours of music instruction every week, including instrumental instruction, ensemble instruction, and music theory. Miriam’s experience as a corps member shaped her journey as a leader working towards equitable educational opportunities for all children, including transformative, rigorous music instruction.

 A lifelong passion for learning 

Miriam is originally from San Antonio, Texas. As a child, she loved school, but as a teacher, she had to learn to think differently: “As a student, academics came easily to me, and I was a perfectionist. I found that mindset to be a liability as a teacher, because when something comes easily to you, you don’t always know how to teach it. You have to learn to break things down and not assume anything is intuitive.”

Miriam attended Harvard University, and after graduation, she joined the corps in Brooklyn as a fifth grade science at Achievement First Crown Heights Middle School. After two years in the classroom, she returned to Texas to work for Raise Your Hand Texas, where she was a Program Manager administering professional learning programs for public school principals. She then moved to Chicago to pursue her MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, hoping to gain private sector expertise to bring to bear on social sector challenges. She spent eight years at Mckinsey & Company, becoming an Associate Partner. Miriam joined People’s Music School as the Chief Operating Officer in 2021 and became the president and CEO in December 2022. 

Engaging with students, learning from teachers 

Miriam loved teaching science. The first lesson she ever taught was about scientific observations: specifically, observing a peanut on fire. Recalling that first lesson, Miriam says “I put on goggles, rolled up my sleeves, and put my hair back, showing all those important lab safety concepts. But then when I set the peanut on fire, the class went dead silent. As soon as it got snuffed, I asked the class what their observations were, and every single hand in the room shot up in the air. It was a blast”. 

Some days, though, were humbling in ways that remain with her. “I remember the first day my TFA coach came to videotape my lesson in the fall of my first year. I was in my colleague’s classroom that day- Ms. McKenna, the math teacher-because the students had math right after my class. It was a lab with thirty 5th graders, and I was under-planned. Students were off task, I had classroom management issues, and no constructive learning got done. The most remarkable thing, though, happened when it as time to transition. Everyone was bouncing off the walls, but Ms. McKenna calmly walked into the classroom, surveyed the scene, and started her opening procedure. Within thirty seconds, every child in that room was sitting at their desk in total silence, working on their math minute.”

That moment showed Miriam how much difference a single, skilled teacher could make in the lives of students, “You multiply the hour students spent in my class versus the hour students spent in Ms. McKenna’s class across the whole year, and the difference in learning is massive. And the only distinction is the teacher and their ability to engage the students.”

Phenomenal teaching and the People’s Music School

Over time, Miriam’s teaching capabilities grew, even beyond the classroom. “When I worked at McKinsey, people would ask me how being a teacher helped me as a consultant. So many ways! Every meeting has so much in common with a lesson. You need to plan the objective, the facilitation, the outcome. Instead of influencing a room of 10-year-olds, you're influencing a room full of adults.”

Now, she applies her deep respect for the art of teaching to the transformational work happening at The People’s Music School. “At People's, our students grow musically, socially, emotionally, and intellectually. Research shows that the kind of intensive music instruction that we provide has enormously positive effects on the brain, which then translate to lifelong impact. Research that I led when I was at McKinsey showed that having a learning mindset is even more predictive of academic achievement than socioeconomic status. Independent research has shown that our program provides a greater boost in growth mindset, even over and above other music education programs. That was one of the things that was most compelling to me about this organization before I joined.” 

The teaching experience Miriam gained through the corps made her strongly committed to “phenomenal teaching” as a core focus area for People’s. Phenomenal teaching leads to phenomenal outcomes: At one of The People’s Music School’s community sites in the Albany Park neighborhood at Hibbard Elementary, for example, teachers have shared that they can tell when there is a People’s student in their class, because students are more resilient, able to cope with failure, and show persistence. Beyond the classroom, People’s students have performed for Barack Obama and Hilary Hahn, and alongside Jeff Tweedy, Yo-Yo Ma, and Jimmy Chamberlin.

The biggest annual showcase of the school’s impact is coming up on June 3rd at Northeastern Illinois University at “Performapaloozathon,” the school’s all-out performance bash featuring every student in the school, with thousands of people in attendance. It will be the first time an event like this will happen in person since the pandemic. “All will be welcome to attend, because one of my favorite things about The People’s Music School is right there in the name. We are of, by, and for our people.” Find out more information at peoplesmusicschool.org.