Officially, I am a full tenured Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. I currently serve as the Senior Associate Vice President of the Sacramento State Placer Satellite Campus. Prior to this role, I was the Faculty Director of the Sac State doctoral program in Educational Leadership and spent 12 years at UC Davis as the Director of the Office of Research and Policy for Equity.

In 2008, I founded Sacramento Area Youth Speaks (SAYS), an award-winning literary arts organization that pairs community-based poet-mentor educators and teachers together to develop curriculum that reclaims and reimagines schooling. I’m the author of four books, as well as dozens of journal articles and book chapters.

Professionally, I am a steadfast solutionary who works at the intersections of theory and practice, policies and pedagogies. I firmly believe in learning as the soul of change and the need for healing justice in our cities and schools.

Personally, I am the proud mom of two wonderful children: my son, Tsadiku, and daughter, Adiyah. Tsadiku recently graduated from UC Berkeley and Adiyah is attending Yale as a sophomore. I love listening to music and game nights with family and friends—playing everything from dominoes to uno.