Marla Hatrak, Ph.D., has a Master’s in Early Childhood Education with a Specialization in Public Policy and Advocacy and a PhD in Educational Policy, Leadership, & Management. A lifelong advocate, she has always been involved with local, state, and national activities advocating for signed language acquisition and English literacy for all deaf children. She was a co-founder of Alliance for Language and Literacy for Deaf Children (ALL for Deaf Children) to host monthly book readings and holiday parties. As Chair of Policy and Advocacy Committee for California Association of the Deaf (CAD), she was co-editor for the 2017 report, The Road to Kindergarten Readiness: Language Policy for Deaf Children Ages 0-5 and a 2021 report, Re-Thinking Auditory Deprivation. More recently, she is a Fellow with the Zero-to-Three organization. Today, she remains dedicated to ensuring that deaf babies have access to both American Sign Language and English literacy so they are kindergarten-ready.