The presentation conceptualizes teacher leadership as “the means by which credible teachers exercise formal or informal influence over supervisors, colleagues, and members of the school community through collaborative relationships that improve teaching and learning practices” (Author, 2012). The purpose is to explore three themes drawn from a review of recent teacher leadership literature and to illustrate these themes using empirical evidence from a study of a teacher leadership development program in Florida The themes are: (1) Teacher leaders have backgrounds as accomplished teachers, which demonstrates their expertise and has the potential to give them credibility under the right conditions; (2) Teacher leadership is often centered on a vision of leadership built on influence and interaction, rather than power and authority; and (3) Effective professional development leads to teacher leadership leads to effective professional development – when properly supported. The review included only empirical evidence of teacher leadership work published since York-Barr and Duke’s (2004) review. The interview study involved 29 PreK to 3rd grade teachers enrolled in a teacher leadership graduate program. Data presented will include the empirical evidence in the reviewed articles and transcripts of 29 semi-structured interviews.