
Cambium Learning Group CEO and COO Receive Industry-Wide Recognition for Exceptional Leadership in EdTech
'It's a privilege to work alongside Ashley at the helm of an organization that strives every day to make a positive impact on the education community,' said Akinsanya-Rose. 'Ashley leads Cambium with compassion, grace and an unwavering commitment to innovation to address students' and teachers' most critical needs.'
Both Andersen Zantop and Akinsanya-Rose lead with intention and cultivate an innovative organization that anticipates the future needs of the K-12 education community while addressing the real-world challenges educators and students face today.
'Since Kemi joined as COO in 2022, she has brought a wealth of wisdom to our organization, and her impact is felt across the entire Cambium employee community,' said Andersen Zantop. 'I am grateful for Kemi's leadership and the amazing work of our teams, who strive tirelessly through dynamic challenges and exciting opportunities to maintain an unshakable focus on delivering high-efficacy solutions to students, educators and families.'
Cambium now serves more than 30M teachers and students in 96% of U.S. school districts and more than 170 countries. It delivers impact through every aspect of its organization, with each brand focusing on helping specific audiences address unique K-12 education challenges. To celebrate this impact and recognize this dedication to purpose, Cambium has released "This Is Cambium," a new brand anthem.
To learn more about EdTech Chronicle's Best in Education Awards, visit: https://edtechchronicle.com/edtech-chronicle-announces-2024-best-in-education-winners/
For more information about the selection process and other Cambium recognitions at the EdTech Digest Awards, visit: https://www.edtechdigest.com/2025-finalists-winners/
About Cambium Learning Group
Cambium Learning Group is the education essentials company, providing award-winning education technology and services for K-12 educators and students. With an intentional collection of respected global brands, Cambium serves as a leader, helping millions of educators and students feel more seen, valued, and supported every day. In everything it does, the company focuses on the elements that are most essential to the success of education, delivering simpler, more certain solutions that make a meaningful difference right now.
To learn more, visit www.cambiumlearning.com or follow Cambium on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X. The Cambium family of brands includes: Cambium Assessment, Lexia, Learning A-Z, ExploreLearning, and Time4Learning.
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Business of Fashion
30-07-2025
- Business of Fashion
Can Deodorant Be a Luxury Product?
For decades, the number one prestige body product in the US has not been a pricey cellulite lotion or an ultraluxe bath oil, but a deodorant that was minted in 1994. Donna Karan's Cashmere Mist deodorant was invented to flank the brand's flagship white flower and musk scent before becoming a star all its own. Parent company Interparfums confirmed to The Business of Beauty that it still tops the charts according to Circana data. Proponents liken the smell to warm sheets or upscale baby shampoo. Navya Dev, a New York-based nose and founder of the custom perfumery Creature, doesn't wear perfume herself, but wears perfumed deodorants. She appreciates Cashmere Mist and other fine fragrance deodorants for their lowkey sillage. 'People will smell deodorant on me and they're like, 'You smell so good right now.' And I'm like, that's fascinating, because all I'm wearing is deodorant,'' Dev said. Today, the inclusion of fine fragrance in body care products, but especially deodorants, are table stakes as brands seek to value-pack their products with experiences. As trends like perfume layering gain traction in the global West, 'brands are reimagining body care as a fragrance-first category,' said Aishwarya Rajpara, a consultant at market research firm Euromonitor, pointing to a new guard of 'high-quality, complex fragrance compositions that rival traditional perfumes.' Spray deodorants are increasingly functioning as "fine fragrance mists," according to Papatui's Jenna Fagnan, driving demand. (BoF Team) Full-body spray has become the world's preferred deodorant format, selling more than roll-ons, sticks, creams and wipes combined — in no small part thanks to their resemblance to atomised fragrances. By 2026, the global deodorant market is forecasted to be worth $29 billion, according to Euromonitor, but much of this growth is being driven by the prestige segment, sales of which grew 24 percent in 2024, compared to 1 percent for mass formulas, said Circana. Few brands embody the Cashmere Mist effect like minimalist bodycare label Salt and Stone, a Sephora darling whose stick deodorant has become the best-selling product in its category on Amazon. In scents like Rose and Oud, it costs $20. Founder Nima Jalali, a pro snowboarder with an entrepreneurial streak, created the brand in 2017 as an upscale alternative to an unattractive category, and also contracted DSM-Firmenich to help develop a core scent collection. 'It was shocking to look at what was out there and how much I wanted to hide it away in my cabinet once I bought it,' Jalali said. 'Everything that I was seeing from the mass brands was very drugstore smelling — like 'mountain air.'' He shook his head. Elevating the Essential It sounds simple in theory: Mix a $10 speed stick with a drop of $200 perfume and upsell the customer. In practice, fusing deodorant and fine fragrance is a delicate and laborious alchemy, with its first ingredient being investment. Companies at every level and price point will partner with fragrance houses, from Burberry to Bath and Body Works, to imbue their products with 'elevating' scent experiences. A more recent phenomenon sees mass brands partnering with certain noses known for indie successes, like perfumer Frank Voelkl, who has earned an unlikely bit of celebrity for his creation of Le Labo's now-ubiquitous Santal 33. 'It's like using a fine fragrance mist at the same time,' said Jenna Fagnan, the co-founder of Dwyane 'the Rock' Johnson's personal care brand Papatui. (Johnson is, she said, a fine fragrance freak.) When it came to formulating its deodorant range, Fagnan and Johnson tapped Dsm-Firmenich, alongside Voelkl, to create scents like Sandalwood Suede. Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson's personal care line Papatui features deodorants with fragrances cooked up by Frank Voelkl, the creator of Le Labo Santal 33. (Golden Hours) While Papatui's Fagnan did not describe the cost of Voelkl's collaboration, she said it was more than they expected. 'We were a little naive to think that you could easily use fine fragrance and have something affordable,' Fagnan explained, citing the cost of high-quality perfume oil in particular. Fagnan said it cut into their margins but was a worthy investment to get customers hooked. Each and Every, founded in 2019 by Lauren Lovelady, reintroduced their line of deodorants this year with scents like Sunday Morning and Eternal Summer, created with essential oils in partnership with fragrance houses; the text on their new sleek black packaging revolves around the scent name, as on a perfume bottle. 'You can elevate this simple daily ritual into something that feels luxurious,' said Lovelady, who was inspired by how brands like Supergoop and Vacation used texture and scent, respectively, to turn sunscreen into a beauty staple. Scent Overload The ubiquity of ultraluxe scents like Baccarat Rouge 540, and the countless dupes they've spawned across the price spectrum, have no doubt stoked demand for inventions like vetiver or oud deodorant. But fine fragrance's descent to the least sexy of personal care categories feels irreversible. After the armpit, where else could perfume possibly go? Strong demand for hair perfumes, hand lotions and body soaps indicate that the infusion is far from over. But fine fragrance fatigue is already beginning to set in, as surges in sales and social media content conspire to make these scents ubiquitous — cheapening them in the process. Analysts predict sales to soften in the US as price hikes and a 15 percent tariff on goods imported from Europe take effect. Perfumer Dev thinks, optimistically, that more niche formulations will help brands (and shoppers) continue the fragrance conversation, sustaining sales in the process. 'People are so willing to get niche about every step of their style,' Dev said. She should know: Dev recently became the in-house perfumer for indie bodycare label Soft Services, where she's building a long runway of scent launches. Though the brand originally debuted without fragrances — to show shoppers that it was more geared toward solutions than sensuality — founder Rebecca Zhou said that it has since become a priority. (It's also become a priority at Sephora, where Soft Services sits in the bodycare section alongside Sol de Janeiro, Touchland and Salt and Stone.) After contacting fragrance houses like DSM-Firmenich and Givaudan, she decided to hire Dev to quicken the product development process. 'Now in one day we'll make 12 fragrances, and we can iterate on one of them three times,' Zhou said. 'We want scents that are unique and stick in your mind,' she continued. 'But you know, at the end of the day, we're not a niche fragrance brand. We need something that people can connect to at mass.' Sign up to The Business of Beauty newsletter, your complimentary, must-read source for the day's most important beauty and wellness news and analysis.


NBC News
29-07-2025
- NBC News
Real estate developers say affordable housing could soon become more profitable
Whether it's in the for-sale or rental market, the affordable housing crisis is only getting worse. There is simply not enough supply, especially in the apartment market, where developers have said it's just too expensive to put up quality, low-income housing. They cite rising costs for land, materials and labor, as well as increasingly restrictive zoning regulations. So-called NIMBYism (an acronym for 'not in my backyard'), is also on the rise, with residents fighting affordable housing in their neighborhoods, where home values have soared in the past five years. 'This is a tough time, I think. All of real estate is being challenged by higher interest rates and by higher construction costs, and, by the way, the building department requirements and all the frictions that are making real estate difficult,' said Jonathan Rose, founder and CEO of the Jonathan Rose Companies, a real estate planning, development and investment firm. 'But there's also a lot of support, and our job is to weave the pathway in between the complexities, the challenges and the opportunities and find the pathway through,' he said. Developers like Rose just got some more of that support from the recently passed tax and spending bill. It expanded the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, by increasing the amount of credits available and lowering the financing requirements. Specifically, the legislation permanently increased the 9% credit allocation to states by 12%. Developers sell these credits to investors in order to help finance their projects. 'It's a big boost for the creation of more affordable housing. In fact, the United States has a shortage of about 10 million units. This won't solve the whole 10 million unit problem, but it'll be a big help,' said Rose, adding that he sees a growing opportunity for investors in the space. Affordable housing advocates applauded the bill's passage, saying that the LIHTC remains the nation's most effective tool for building and preserving affordable rental housing. 'This legislation delivers a significant expansion of the credit by incorporating key elements of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, aimed at boosting the supply of rental homes across urban, rural and tribal communities,' said David Dworkin, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference, in a release. Dworkin pointed both to the expansion of the credit as well as changes to another tax credit for developers that would make it easier to qualify for the benefit. 'Together, these changes are expected to produce or preserve more than 1 million additional affordable rental homes between 2026 and 2035,' Dworkin said. There does appear to be strong investor demand in the affordable space, both in new development and renovation. The Jonathan Rose Company recently closed a $660 million impact fund, 'dedicated to acquiring, preserving, and enhancing affordable and mixed-income multifamily housing in high-demand urban markets across the United States,' according to a release. Rose said he is seeing increased interest in housing-related investments from family offices and foundations. There is, however, a new wrench in the works. The Trump administration has proposed a $27 billion cut in federal rental assistance programs for low-income tenants. That is reportedly already causing some lenders to pull back. The cut would need to be approved by Congress, and Rose notes that the House has had longstanding bipartisan support for funding affordable housing. To his point, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs announced Friday it is moving forward on new bipartisan legislation to expand housing supply and address affordability. The package includes removing regulatory barriers to housing development and providing funds for communities that are building more housing that can be used for water and sewer infrastructure. The legislation, however, is aimed more at making for-sale housing more affordable and less at helping build more low-income rental housing. And even still, the new tax incentives for rentals won't help NIMBYism, which appears to be rising right along with home values. Even mixed-use buildings, which have a small percentage of units designated as affordable, are seeing pushback from neighbors concerned that any such housing will damage current and future home values. Even before its expansion, the LIHTC gave developers incentives for more mixed-income buildings, with certain units designated for affordable housing and others at higher price points. Rose said this type of higher-quality, better designed, greener developments benefit owners in the long run by lowering operating and capital costs. 'One of the reasons why communities oppose affordable housing is because a lot of affordable housing — it was built in the '60s, '70s and early '80s — was cheap and ugly, and I wouldn't want it in my neighborhood either,' said Rose. 'We're deeply committed to creating beautiful buildings.'


CNBC
29-07-2025
- CNBC
Real estate developers say affordable housing could soon become more profitable
Whether it's in the for-sale or rental market, the affordable housing crisis is only getting worse. There is simply not enough supply, especially in the apartment market, where developers have said it's just too expensive to put up quality, low-income housing. They cite rising costs for land, materials and labor, as well as increasingly restrictive zoning regulations. So-called NIMBYism (an acronym for "not in my backyard"), is also on the rise, with residents fighting affordable housing in their neighborhoods, where home values have soared in the past five years. "This is a tough time, I think. All of real estate is being challenged by higher interest rates and by higher construction costs, and, by the way, the building department requirements and all the frictions that are making real estate difficult," said Jonathan Rose, founder and CEO of the Jonathan Rose Companies, a real estate planning, development and investment firm. "But there's also a lot of support, and our job is to weave the pathway in between the complexities, the challenges and the opportunities and find the pathway through," he said. CNBC's Property Play with Diana Olick covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, delivered weekly to your inbox. Subscribe here to get access today. Developers like Rose just got some more of that support from the recently passed tax and spending bill. It expanded the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, by increasing the amount of credits available and lowering the financing requirements. Specifically, the legislation permanently increased the 9% credit allocation to states by 12%. Developers sell these credits to investors in order to help finance their projects. "It's a big boost for the creation of more affordable housing. In fact, the United States has a shortage of about 10 million units. This won't solve the whole 10 million unit problem, but it'll be a big help," said Rose, adding that he sees a growing opportunity for investors in the space. Affordable housing advocates applauded the bill's passage, saying that the LIHTC remains the nation's most effective tool for building and preserving affordable rental housing. "This legislation delivers a significant expansion of the credit by incorporating key elements of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, aimed at boosting the supply of rental homes across urban, rural and tribal communities," said David Dworkin, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference, in a release. Dworkin pointed both to the expansion of the credit as well as changes to another tax credit for developers that would make it easier to qualify for the benefit. "Together, these changes are expected to produce or preserve more than 1 million additional affordable rental homes between 2026 and 2035," Dworkin said. There does appear to be strong investor demand in the affordable space, both in new development and renovation. The Jonathan Rose Company recently closed a $660 million impact fund, "dedicated to acquiring, preserving, and enhancing affordable and mixed-income multifamily housing in high-demand urban markets across the United States," according to a release. Rose said he is seeing increased interest in housing-related investments from family offices and foundations. There is, however, a new wrench in the works. The Trump administration has proposed a $27 billion cut in federal rental assistance programs for low-income tenants. That is reportedly already causing some lenders to pull back. The cut would need to be approved by Congress, and Rose notes that the House has had longstanding bipartisan support for funding affordable housing. To his point, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs announced Friday it is moving forward on new bipartisan legislation to expand housing supply and address affordability. The package includes removing regulatory barriers to housing development and providing funds for communities that are building more housing that can be used for water and sewer infrastructure. The legislation, however, is aimed more at making for-sale housing more affordable and less at helping build more low-income rental housing. And even still, the new tax incentives for rentals won't help NIMBYism, which appears to be rising right along with home values. Even mixed-use buildings, which have a small percentage of units designated as affordable, are seeing pushback from neighbors concerned that any such housing will damage current and future home values. Even before its expansion, the LIHTC gave developers incentives for more mixed-income buildings, with certain units designated for affordable housing and others at higher price points. Rose said this type of higher-quality, better designed, greener developments benefit owners in the long run by lowering operating and capital costs. "One of the reasons why communities oppose affordable housing is because a lot of affordable housing – it was built in the '60s, '70s and early '80s – was cheap and ugly, and I wouldn't want it in my neighborhood either," said Rose. "We're deeply committed to creating beautiful buildings."