Reimagining School for Girls: Rooted in Wellness, Identity, and Brilliance
At Solace Rose Innovation Academy, we create a sanctuary where girls grow, lead, and bloom. Our year-round K–8 model is built on academic excellence and solace (emotional safety and cultural affirmation). We blend STEAM learning with leadership development and wellness practices, helping every girl discover her voice and her brilliance.
We believe brilliance is nurtured, leadership is intentional, and joy is foundational.
Here, girls don’t just learn to succeed. They learn to lead, serve, and transform their world.
To cultivate confident, compassionate, and future‑ready young women who think critically, create boldly, and lead with care.
Mission
We envision a world where every girl thrives in learning spaces that celebrate who she is and prepare her to shape what comes next. At Solace Rose Innovation Academy, brilliance is nurtured, leadership is intentional, and joy is foundational. Our girls don’t just learn to succeed; they learn to lead, serve, and transform their communities and the world.
Vision
What Makes Us Different
Solace Rose is not school as usual.
This is school as it should be.
At Solace Rose Innovation Academy, we ensure every girl has access to:
Academic excellence rooted in STEAM and inquiry
Identity-affirming, culturally grounded learning.
A safe, joyful, restorative culture.
Our model centers whole-child development, leadership, and wellness rooted in legacy, helping girls recognize that their brilliance is protected, nurtured, and grounded in self-knowledge so they can flourish in any path they choose.
Together, we will cultivate a generation of young women who innovate boldly, speak truth with confidence, and lead with brilliance and grace.
We are building with and for the community. Solace Rose is guided by a growing board of committed leaders.
Meet Our Founder
Chéla S. Wallace
“Creating a school where every girl is known, challenged, and empowered to lead.”
Message From Our Founder
Welcome to Solace Rose Innovation Academy.
Thank you for taking the time to learn about our school and the vision that inspires it.
Throughout my career—as a teacher, school leader, STEM strategist, researcher, and consultant—I have had the privilege of working alongside thousands of students and educators across the country and around the world. No matter where I have served, one truth has remained constant: every girl possesses extraordinary brilliance. Yet too many girls grow up in environments where they are overlooked, underestimated, or never given the opportunity to discover the fullness of who they can become.
Solace Rose was created to change that.
The name of our school tells our story.
Rose honors my late grandmother, Rosetta, whose life continues to inspire mine. Although I only had the privilege of knowing her during the first three years of my life, her legacy shaped my future in profound ways. Losing her to breast cancer sparked the scientific curiosity that would eventually lead me into STEM education, research, and a lifelong commitment to expanding opportunities for girls. Her life reminds me that one person's legacy can inspire generations.
Solace means comfort in difficult places.
That is exactly what we are building.
We envision a school where every girl feels safe enough to take risks, confident enough to find her voice, and supported enough to become her fullest self. A place where she is seen, heard, valued, and empowered every single day. A place where belonging is not an initiative—it is part of our culture.
At Solace Rose Innovation Academy, we believe that when girls experience safety, joy, challenge, and love together, they flourish. They discover their gifts. They develop resilience. They learn to lead with courage, compassion, and conviction. They don't simply achieve—they bloom into the brilliance that has always existed within them.
Our commitment extends beyond academics. We are preparing young women who will become innovators, scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, engineers, educators, and community leaders. We are nurturing girls who understand that their voices matter, their ideas have value, and their leadership can transform communities.
This vision is bigger than one school. It is a movement built alongside families, educators, community partners, and supporters who believe that investing in girls changes the trajectory of generations.
As we prepare to open our doors, I invite you to become part of this journey. Whether you join us as a family, volunteer, mentor, partner, donor, or advocate, you are helping build a community where every girl has the opportunity to bloom.
Thank you for believing in our vision. I cannot wait to welcome you to the Solace Rose family and watch the next generation of girls flourish into their brilliance.
With gratitude,
Chéla S. Wallace
Founder & Executive Director
Solace Rose Innovation Academy
About Our Founder
Chéla S. Wallace is an educator, STEM strategist, researcher, and school founder with nearly two decades of experience designing innovative learning experiences and advancing educational excellence for students across the United States and internationally.
As the inaugural STEM Director for one of the largest charter school networks in New York City, Chéla led STEM initiatives serving more than 8,000 students. Her work included integrating robotics, engineering, data science, curriculum design, educator development, and grant-funded innovation to expand access to high-quality STEM learning.
Beyond the classroom, Chéla has served as a national education consultant, partnering with schools, districts, and nonprofit organizations across Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, and North Carolina. She has supported organizations in instructional improvement, STEM innovation, strategic planning, leadership development, and the design of equitable learning systems that improve teaching and student outcomes.
Her commitment to expanding opportunities for girls extends beyond the United States. In 2021, Chéla led an international team of educators from around the world in developing the academic model for an all-girls boarding school in Sierra Leone. The collaborative effort contributed to the successful opening of the school in 2025. She has also provided STEM program advisement to an all-girls school in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, helping strengthen educational opportunities for girls through innovative STEM programming.
Chéla is currently a Distinguished Chancellor Fellow at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University while pursuing her Ph.D. in Applied Science and Technology. Her research explores how innovation, equitable learning environments, and data-informed practices can expand STEM opportunities for Black and Brown girls and prepare them to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
Through Solace Rose Innovation Academy, Chéla is bringing together nearly twenty years of experience as an educator, consultant, researcher, and school designer to create the school she has long envisioned—a place where every girl is known, challenged, celebrated, and equipped to lead with confidence, curiosity, and purpose. Her work is guided by one enduring belief: every girl deserves an education that recognizes her brilliance, nurtures her potential, and prepares her to change the world.
Leadership & Recognition
Leadership
Founder & Executive Director, Solace Rose Innovation Academy
Great Schools North Carolina Founder Fellow
Distinguished Chancellor Fellow, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (2026–Present), supporting the completion of her Ph.D. in Applied Science and Technology
National education consultant supporting schools, districts, and nonprofit organizations in STEM innovation, instructional improvement, leadership development, and strategic planning across Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, and North Carolina
Former Inaugural STEM Director for one of New York City's largest charter school networks, leading STEM initiatives serving more than 8,000 students
Global Impact
Led an international team of educators in developing the academic model for an all-girls boarding school in Sierra Leone, contributing to the school's successful opening in 2025
Provided STEM program advisement for an all-girls school in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Honors & Recognition
Selected to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Global Policy Network Expert Roster in Artificial Intelligence (2025)
2024 Changing Lives Award Recipient
2023 White House Fellows Regional Finalist
Education
Ph.D. Student, Applied Science and Technology, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
M.A., Education Policy, Teachers College, Columbia University
M.Ed., Curriculum and Instruction, Our Lady of the Lake University
B.A., Chemistry (Biological Chemistry), University of Virginia
