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My investment in education and desire to become a university professor developed in response to the adversities I experienced in South Los Angeles public schools. As a first-generation college student in an academically underperforming high school, I regularly encountered culturally unresponsive pedagogies, gratuitous sexist epithets, and reductive discourse regarding my intellectual capacities. Each interaction imprinted shame on my dignity, and the collective effect struck powerfully against my humanity. Although I was one of few African American girl learners who managed to excel in this environment, the inequitable conditions I experienced fueled my decision to become an educator and social justice advocate across the P-20 pipeline.

I returned to my alma mater as an English teacher, weaving Women of Color feminist texts with digital tools and critical media to honor students’ cultural roots and challenge systems that label them “at-risk” and “underachievers.” Teaching in one of the most neglected public high schools in the nation sharpened my understanding of the layered struggles and possibilities educational leaders face. These experiences ground my university teaching, allowing me to offer informed support to school leaders and diverse graduate students working to transform themselves and their institutions.

This past year, I reimagined how doctoral students could engage with leadership and social justice by bringing podcasting and digital storytelling into my Humanizing Leadership Praxis course. I challenged myself to learn new tools like Google Sites and podcasting—not just to expand my own pedagogy, but to empower students to use media in ways that amplify their voices and their community members’ perspectives. What started as a mini-podcast assignment sparked something bigger: our doctoral students proposed and compelled me to launch the Humanizing Leadership Praxis Podcast, now publicly available on Spotify and set to be featured in the EdD Spring Newsletter. It’s a space where students invoke vulnerability, self-reflexivity, resistance, and reimagine leadership through liberatory lenses. I was honored to share our journey at SMC’s Staff and Faculty Symposium, encouraging colleagues to consider how creative, accessible technologies can help us teach and lead with passion and reify our purpose in the work.

Like many other Black women educators, I view teaching and learning as deeply political work. I strive to lead with humility and vulnerability, creating space for students to engage honestly and critically. Drawing from my (2022) concept of badassery, I also take bold pedagogical risks—to push learning beyond the surface and prepare students for the complex, often chaotic world they’re navigating. As Catholic educational doctrine reminds us, “our lives are ours to order”—a call to discipline, reflection, and a deep respect for ourselves, our students, and the broader world.

In all of my courses, I aim to bridge the gap between theory and practice by guiding students toward meaningful, justice-centered action. I challenge them to consider what it means to “show up as better humans in the world.” This requires critical self-reflection and a willingness to examine how their choices may contribute to harm—whether through exclusion, silence, or inaction. Rooted in the Lasallian and Black feminist traditions of ethical awareness, my pedagogy invites students to sit with discomfort, wrestle with their impact, and expand their capacity to lead with empathy, joy, and a stronger sense of social responsibility!

As a proud motherscholar, my time with family is sacred. It nourishes me, centers me, and I hold it close. When I’m not working, I choose to be present with the ones who ground me most. I’m completely obsessed with my kiddos, Lena and Raj. Watching them move through the world—at school, on the court, and the field—fills me up. I also treasure our one-on-one dates, which are quiet windows into their ever-changing lives. When the Bay blesses us with warm weather, my husband and I like to schlep the kids and head outside. We bike, we swim, we wander through our neighborhood, soaking up the joy that lives in movement and togetherness. These moments keep me sane and whole!

Favorite quote: “As you enter positions of trust and power, dream a little before you think.” ~Toni Morrison