About Alexandra Pafilis Silverstein

Alexandra Pafilis Silverstein (she/her/ella) is the director of early childhood and strategy lead of DEAI initiatives at the Chicago Children's Museum. She is an anti-bias, anti-racist educator, content developer, consultant, and advocate for play equity. Her work centers and values the lives of BIPOC and ALAANA children and families to support healthy identity development. With over 25 years of experience in the field, she leads the development, implementation and evaluation of experiences offered to young children and their caregivers. She is grounded in culturally responsive and culturally sustainable pedagogy, with a strong foundation in progressive education, particularly influenced by principles and practices of the Reggio Emilia inspired approach to early childhood education. She oversees her museum's equity and social justice efforts to define, understand, and promote equity to eliminate opportunity gaps and systemically interrupt institutional bias. Along with a team of colleagues, she is charged with optimizing the museum's DEAI efforts in all aspects of museum life. A bilingual educator of Puerto Rican and Greek heritage, Pafilis is a skilled relationship builder, developing and nurturing partnerships and collaborations locally and nationwide. She is co-chair of the program committee for the Association of Children's Museums, the world's foremost professional society supporting and advocating on behalf of children's museums.