From Punk Roots to Global Impact: Meet Inspire Citizens Founder Aaron Moniz
Working and playing hard, IC founder Aaron Moniz aims to embody the spirt of wellness in both a physical and a vocational sense.
In a beautiful rendering of linguistic effectiveness, Japanese culture has given us the term ikigai. Through this conceptual lens, which incorporates iki (life) and kai (fruit or benefit), we find a satisfying example of this dynamic process at work in the life of Inspire Citizens founder, Aaron Moniz. Spend a little time with Aaron and you’ll probably agree that he is unreservedly all-in as he maximizes every single day to realize ideals that have enduring and far-reaching outcomes.
But without a scheduled Zoom call or an adjacent airplane seat, you might not get to appreciate the full picture of Aaron’s impact in the world of international education.
“Can we talk while I work out?” he asks.
“Sure,” I said.
And with an uncommon ability to throw plates while vision casting, Aaron describes the road ahead for educators who are advancing the frontier of world-changing pedagogical practices.
Equally at home in a packed conference centre or in a classroom, Aaron says, "We're teachers first."
Empathy and Action: A New Educational Paradigm
At the heart of Aaron’s approach lies an unwavering belief in the power of empathy and action at an operational level in education. He advocates for an approach that goes beyond traditional teaching methods, fostering a sense of purpose and global citizenship among students and educators alike.
"We're teachers first. We're not consultants pitching thoughts about systems," Aaron emphasizes. "We're people who care about kids and who care about other educators because we care about the world."
Aaron’s work involves collaborating closely with progressive international school teachers to co-create and implement strategies that make learning accessible for all students. By focusing on universal design for learning and inclusive practices, Aaron and his collaborative partners aim to reduce barriers and ensure that "all minds, no matter how they function, have access to one of the most important things in the world—education."
From Punk Roots to Educational Innovation
Aaron credits his days of exploring themes from the musical genre of punk rock as being foundational to his current passion for DEI and social justice
Aaron’s unconventional journey into education began at the age of nine when he discovered punk rock. The lyrics and ethos of this marginalized genre became foundational to his outlook as an emerging teen and would go on to influence his life in more sophisticated ways.
"A lot of my values around who I became as a person were developed through subcultural communities like punk," he recalls. "When I was encountering terms like homophobia, equality, and discrimination, I was being introduced to all these different concepts."
This early sensitization to social issues fueled his passion for advocacy and equal access, eventually leading him to pursue studies in political science and psychology. However, it was his realization that education could be a powerful tool for change that set him on his current path.
"My ideas around advocacy and human rights led me to explore the nature of rights for everybody to have access to education," Aaron says. "I wanted to use the potential of the mind of young people to make a difference."
The Birth of Inspire Citizens
An important collaboration with Steve Sostak at the International School of Beijing was a pivotal chapter in Aaron’s career. As co-teachers, they combined their passions—Aaron’s expertise in special education and inclusion with Steve’s focus on global citizenship.
"Steve and I met at the International School of Beijing. I was his learning support guy, and he was a humanities teacher," Aaron recounts. "We started infusing global citizenship and service projects into our own class with some amazing outcomes." To this day, international educators in east Asia still talk about the early development of the students-as-creators model at ISB under the inspirational leadership of Steve and Aaron.
Their innovative approaches attracted attention, leading to regional workshops and presentations that showcased their successful strategies. Recognizing a broader need, they co-founded Inspire Citizens with the mission to make global citizenship education an integral part of school curricula, not just an extracurricular activity.
"We saw all these other schools sending people to observe us," Moniz notes. "We decided to dedicate ourselves to making sure more people had greater access to innovation within their own school communities. That was the official start of Inspire Citizens."
Beyond the Workshop: Personalized Professional Development
Perhaps channeling a little of his punk-infused idealism, Aaron challenges the efficacy of traditional professional development models, particularly stand-alone workshops that often fail to produce lasting change.
"Two-day workshops in isolation are not going to turn into student outcomes," he asserts. "There's so much research that shows it's a faulty model."
Instead, Aaron champions a personalized, long-term approach that involves job-embedded coaching and continuous collaboration. By working alongside educators in their actual teaching environments, he helps them develop novel approaches, gather evidence, and refine practices based on student outcomes.
"It's about working with people to trial applicable strategies that yield student results and outcomes," Moniz explains. "By practicing that in a variety of contexts, it taught me a system—professional development and job-embedded coaching that actually transforms practice and helps to make a difference in kids."
Thriving in Three Key Settings
With a work life that is far, far out of the traditional box — in both scope and size — Aaron thrives across three primary settings, each contributing to his mission of transforming education.
“First, I love listening to educators, channeling their expertise, and overcoming roadblocks together," he shares. [See this related article about an exemplary IDU at ICS Zürich]
“Second, with some hesitation, I still love the relevance of big workshops as part of a bigger strategy of transformation in a school community. It’s a three- to five-year process and workshops are sometimes milestone markers that are powerful communal experiences,” Aaron says.
“Third, I really enjoy when I get to work with leadership and schoolwide stakeholders, and we get to have conversations that involve evidence collection to see if the approaches we've been implementing are yielding results," he explains. This deep dive into the technical side of innovative approaches truly supports the sustainability and validity of exciting changes happening at the forefront of education.
Uniting his past and present experiences, Aaron finds deep purpose in working with educational leaders to design the world of tomorrow in the classrooms of today.
The Transformative Power of Meaningful Work in Education
Despite facing personal and professional challenges, including the loss of his co-founder Steve Sostak, Aaron remains committed to the shared vision that first fueled his work with Steve. Aaron continues to drive Inspire Citizens forward, impacting thousands of students annually.
"Although Steve is no longer with us physically, the work he helped to create still impacts kids around the world," Aaron reflects. "Steve’s passion and commitment to making the world a better place literally outlives him."
Aaron’s journey underscores the transformative power of a life that is an embodiment of ikigai—a harmonious convergence of passion, mission, vocation, and profession. By blending empathy, action, and personalized support, he not only inspires educators but also equips them to inspire their students.
"Education should not be a mundane work experience," Aaron concludes. "It should be about capacity building, honoring progress, and doing it in service of kids. If we can live together in that space of celebration and progress, then we feel good. And that's what professional development should be."
Learn more about how to maximize the impact of your work in international education through collaborations with Inspire Citizens.