Sharon Robinson is the educational consultant for Major League Baseball. She manages Breaking Barriers: In Sports, In Life, a baseball-themed national character education curriculum that helps empower students to face obstacles in their lives. The program includes a national essay contest for students in grades 4-9 and throughout MLB’s RBI Program. Each year, thousands of students write an essay about how they used the values demonstrated by Jackie Robinson to overcome their challenges. Essay winners are celebrated in their schools and in Major League ballparks. Since 1997, the program has reached over 22 million students and 2.9 million educators.

Ms. Robinson is also the author of many works of fiction and nonfiction for children. In January 2016, her latest novel, The Hero Two Doors Down: The Unlikely Friendship between a Brooklyn boy and a Baseball Legend (Scholastic), was published. Sharon has written several widely praised books about her father, baseball legend Jackie Robinson, including Jackie’s Nine: Jackie Robinson’s Values to Live By, Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America, Jackie Robinson: American Hero (children’s biography), and picture books Testing the Ice, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, and Jackie’s Gift: A True Story of Christmas, Hanukkah, illustrated by EB Lewis. Sharon’s other books include: Safe at Home, Slam Dunk and, picture book Under The Same Sun, illustrated by AG Ford (a 2014 Parents’ Choice Award Winner).

Prior to joining MLB, Ms. Robinson had a 20-year career as a nurse-midwife and educator. She taught in such prestigious universities as Yale, Columbia, Howard, and Georgetown, and is Vice Chairman of the Jackie Robinson Foundation. Ms. Robinson received her Bachelor’s degree from Howard University and Master’s degree from Columbia University. She went on to earn a post-Master’s Certificate in Teaching from the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania and received honorary doctorates from: Fairfield University, Medaille, Dowling and Monmouth Colleges.