Almost 20 years have passed since I first met Marta Baltodano. It was at a AAA conference, and we were involved in a CAE Works‐in‐Progress session. At that time, I learned that she had grown up in Nicaragua, had fought for human rights during and after the war years, and that she had earned a law degree from the Universidad Centro Americana in Managua. I thought, what a powerful layering of experience to be building upon years of human rights activism in an environment of terrible conflict and now creating herself anew as an educational scholar who weaves that past into a passion for research for educational justice. While much has changed in our social context, I still see the same person, unafraid to speak her truth and stand up for human rights. Baltodano refers to the early years in Nicaragua as the time when her identity as an advocate for social justice was honed, and her ideas about the power of education as a tool for change were awakened. She also says that because this identity was so strong, she “cannot imagine [her]self conducting research and being detached” (Baltodano, 2019). These words resonate in everything she says in her presidential address, reflecting a deep sense of history and continuity in her values.