Leadership

When I came out as a queer Black teenage girl, my immediate family didn't know what to do with me. I was fortunate that a loving Black woman with little means took me in, because I now know the statistics of what happens to so many houseless Black girls: they get trafficked, abused, even murdered. 

Though my situation put me behind in my classes initially, I was the first person from my high school to go to Macalester College. As an undergrad, I became keenly aware of the systemic nature of poverty and how my life experiences were shaped by policy decisions that, in many ways, constrained the range of choices I had based on my identity and my community. I also saw in my textbooks how most research about Black women framed us as objects for study and blamed Black mothers for everything from low birth weight to crime to intergenerational poverty. 

I decided then that I wanted to learn how to create research that builds community power and equitable policy solutions. I earned a doctorate at the age of 28, while having two children and becoming an author. Traditional research would have predicted a different outcome for me, a Black queer teen compelled to leave her home to find the support that I needed. 

I share all this because I believe that authentic engagement is the root of change — and that engagement begins with ourselves. That’s why I have collaborated on projects that challenges narratives about power and leadership — and whose voice matters in shaping the policies and practices that create the opportunities or obstacles we face in our daily lives.