April Montgomery is an artist and writer based between New York City and the Indiana woods.

The first in her family to go to college, she spent nearly three decades in education, teaching in Washington D.C., New York City, and Gary, Indiana, including fifteen years leading KIPP Chicago, where she built one of the city's highest performing school networks, launched the Whole Child Initiative, and founded the Children's Museum of Art and Social Justice.

In 2017 she presented the Children's Museum Peace Installation Book to Malala Yousafzai on behalf of the James Foley Legacy Foundation and played her grandmother's accordion at Jim's funeral.

A recipient of the Cartier Award for Excellence in Teaching and a 2025 Power of Women honoree, April is currently working on her first book and learning that the most important stories are the ones we've been afraid to tell.