Education Equity Advocate, Leader, Researcher.
Equity, Justice, Diversity Facilitator.
COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIST.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER/Author.
I pride myself on marrying strong data with compelling narratives to tell stories that represent the voices of those who have traditionally been left out. Both my personal and professional backgrounds provide rich context for me to encourage others to challenge the way we traditionally think about issues of race and class. I'm particularly motivated by attacking the deficit narratives often projected onto people of color. I live for research and data, and often push for the disaggregation of data to tell complete stories of diverse populations.
I wrote a book, "Let's Stop Calling it an Achievement Gap," an adult coloring book/journal for educators, called "Radical Ideas for Educating Black Children," and am working on second book, in between articles and studies and volume chapters and reports I write around various topics in diversity, equity, and inclusion. I'm a frequent speaker and workshop facilitator on these topics as well, and I founded an organization, A Black Child Can, that brings all of my research, advocacy, and programmatic work in this space together.
I'm a professional member of the American Consortium for Equity in Education, an adviser for the Education Writers Association, and a member of/mentor for the National Association of Black Journalists. I'm currently serving on the inaugural City of Pflugerville Equity Commission, serve on a working panel around Democracy and Civic Engagement convened by the Kettering Foundation, and serve as an adviser for the American Council on Education's work on race in higher education. Locally, I also serve on our school district's gifted and talented advisory council and recently launched a district-wide Black parent organization to advocate for Black students no matter where they go to school. My bylines have appeared in The Atlantic, The Grio, Complex Magazine and a number of other national and local publications.
Big picture questions that guide my approach to work:
What I'm really good at:
What I'm really passionate about:
When I'm not working, I'm...
...serving on local civics committees (in addition to serving as secretary of the inaugural City of Pflugerville Equity Commission, I'm a member of the Black Leaders Collective, with a focus on education in Travis and Williamson Counties.); dancing around in my bar room to old jazz records; laughing uncontrollably with my children (I have one son and one daughter, and they're my favorite humans. I also have a cadre of nieces and nephews and other "babies"); letting my football or baseball teams stress me out; or escaping all of the above on a beach somewhere.
Bourbon lover. Music lover. HBCU alumna -- #BlackCollegesMatter. Sunset chaser. Inequity eraser. And above all else, I'm here to serve. (Shoutout to the dual mottos of my alma mater: "I'll Find a Way or Make One," and "Culture for Service.")
I wrote a book, "Let's Stop Calling it an Achievement Gap," an adult coloring book/journal for educators, called "Radical Ideas for Educating Black Children," and am working on second book, in between articles and studies and volume chapters and reports I write around various topics in diversity, equity, and inclusion. I'm a frequent speaker and workshop facilitator on these topics as well, and I founded an organization, A Black Child Can, that brings all of my research, advocacy, and programmatic work in this space together.
I'm a professional member of the American Consortium for Equity in Education, an adviser for the Education Writers Association, and a member of/mentor for the National Association of Black Journalists. I'm currently serving on the inaugural City of Pflugerville Equity Commission, serve on a working panel around Democracy and Civic Engagement convened by the Kettering Foundation, and serve as an adviser for the American Council on Education's work on race in higher education. Locally, I also serve on our school district's gifted and talented advisory council and recently launched a district-wide Black parent organization to advocate for Black students no matter where they go to school. My bylines have appeared in The Atlantic, The Grio, Complex Magazine and a number of other national and local publications.
Big picture questions that guide my approach to work:
- How can communications be leveraged as a tool to dismantle systemic injustice and pervasive inequities?
- How can I help to elevate the voices and work of those whose voices are traditionally silenced?
- How do communications and organizational structure play together, and in what ways does the existing organizational structure support or contradict the message we're looking to project?
What I'm really good at:
- Strategy and structure
- Communications, particularly comms strategy
- Advocacy (once upon a time, long ago, I trained lobbyists. Now I mostly just focus on messaging + support through research)
- Writing and research
- Branding and organizational strategy
- Public speaking and workshop facilitation
- Editing things (particularly editorial strategy + direction)
What I'm really passionate about:
- Education equity, and helping school leaders to identify better ways to serve Black, Brown, and Indigenous students
- Good, accurate, disaggregated data that allows for analysis of independent variables as causes of and factors in inequity
When I'm not working, I'm...
...serving on local civics committees (in addition to serving as secretary of the inaugural City of Pflugerville Equity Commission, I'm a member of the Black Leaders Collective, with a focus on education in Travis and Williamson Counties.); dancing around in my bar room to old jazz records; laughing uncontrollably with my children (I have one son and one daughter, and they're my favorite humans. I also have a cadre of nieces and nephews and other "babies"); letting my football or baseball teams stress me out; or escaping all of the above on a beach somewhere.
Bourbon lover. Music lover. HBCU alumna -- #BlackCollegesMatter. Sunset chaser. Inequity eraser. And above all else, I'm here to serve. (Shoutout to the dual mottos of my alma mater: "I'll Find a Way or Make One," and "Culture for Service.")
