Meet the Founder

Antoinette Pruitt is an Alabama-licensed attorney, educator, and founder of Emerald Coast Education Institute. A Panama City native, she earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Florida and her Juris Doctor from Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama.

Antoinette’s passion for expanding access to education and career opportunities is deeply personal. Her mother left school in the ninth grade after becoming pregnant and had five children by age 22, while her father, who completed the sixth grade, was sentenced to 30 years in prison before Antoinette was born. Raised by a mother who worked as a janitor to support her family, Antoinette became a first-generation college graduate and went on to become the first in her family to attend law school and pursue graduate education.

Her journey taught her that talent and ambition are not always accompanied by access, exposure, or a roadmap. She created ECIC to help bridge that gap by giving students the guidance, mentorship, resources, and real-world exposure that can help turn an aspiration into an achievable path.

Today, Antoinette brings experience from both public service and the corporate sector to her work, with a goal of helping students not only imagine what is possible, but understand how to get there.