We recently connected with Andrea Miller and have shared our conversation below.

Andrea, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was one of the most important lessons you learned in school? Why did that lesson stick with you?

If I master the art of communication – there is nothing that I cannot attain.

I have no idea, if students still learn how to write formal correspondence in elementary school but I certainly did as a 6th grader in my English class at Browns Mill Elementary. Before leaving class one day, my teacher instructed us to go home and identify one item/product that we enjoyed and one item/product with which we were displeased. For each item, we had to research the parent company, find a mailing address and bring them back within a week. I remember vividly that I chose the Chick-Fil-A Original Chicken sandwich for the item I enjoyed but I struggled to think of an item that I did not like. I eventually landed on a bottle of Mr. Clean cleaning solution. I had to recently clean my bathtub using the product and I just didn’t think I needed to be scrubbing as hard as I did :-) Finding the Chick-Fil-A address was fairly easy especially considering the headquarters were local and a quick look on the back of the Mr. Clean bottle helped me discover identify the parent company, Proctor and Gamble. With my assignment complete, I took the information to school.

The following week, we not only learned how to write a formal letter, we wrote a letter to each parent company of the items we identified expressing our approval or displeasure. Our grade would not only be determined by our completion but the extent to which we included detailed explanations to support our opinions and thoughts. After our letters were graded (I got an A of course), our teacher helped us to mail our letters. She said that if we received a reply we could bring it to school to share with the class. And you know what? I received a reply from both companies! I received a letter from Chick-fil-A thanking me for being a loyal customer with five free chicken sandwich coupons included. Proctor and Gamble apologized for the product not cleaning as I felt it should and a promise to work on improving the solution. In gratitude for bringing this concern to their attention, they included about three coupons for $3.00 off a Proctor and Gamble product. Imagine the joy on my mother’s face when I gave her those!

That experience was pivotal because I recognized almost immediately that if I mastered the skill of articulation (whether written or spoken), the doors of communication could be opened. Sure – neither company was obligated to respond much less to give me anything at all; but I would not ever know for sure if I had not written and sent correspondence professionally communicating my thoughts. The assignment empowered me in a way that still impacts how I approach my work today. As a K-12 STEM Instructional Coach for an Atlanta city school, a large part of my role is to attract, maintain and retain partnerships and resources for our STEM initiative. Whether verbal or written, I have been able to successfully communicate the needs of our students with the clarity and confidence that promotes action. But I also encourage the instructional faculty to craft learning experiences such as this one, that mimics real world exchanges and interactions. It is easy to criticize the younger generation’s ability to communicate but if we are honest, the reason we are more equipped is because we quite simply had more practice. The technology of today’s world changes the dynamics of communication even though it is more accessible so as educators we have to create the conditions that give students the opportunity to develop in this way.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

“I could tell you everything I do but I might do more.  I hate boxes and am equal parts academic and artist. I am just as intrigued about the process as I am about the outcome. I analyze problems from angles that others find awkward and enjoy creating something where nothing once existed.  I find it easy to connect seemingly different ideas and tend to see clarity where complexity exists. I love to teach. That’s the short version.”

You’ll never find a more faithful soul than a child. I truly believe that we are all at our most creative when we are in our youth because we don’t know enough to even dare consider that anything and everything isn’t possible. Then we grow up. And go to school.​

Throughout my 16 year tenure in K-12 education I can admit that one of the beautiful benefits of working in this space is being able to have backdoor access to the creativity that exists in the mind of youth. But I have to also admit that it has given me a front row seat to how traditional schooling and school leadership pickpockets this creativity on a daily basis. Education should not only teach students just enough to actualize the seemingly impossible but create the conditions for teachers to do this as well. However the system unfortunately places more limits on what both think is possible instead of freeing them. My mission at this time is to join both like-minded and committed folk in rewriting this narrative.

As a first generation Jamaican-American, a respect for two things were paramount in my household: education and art. As a child, I owned more books than toys but I also was encouraged to engage in anything requiring creativity and imagination. So it should have been no surprise that after working only one year in corporate, I felt restricted and sought a bit of creative freedom by becoming an educator. I spent the next six years teaching in a traditional public high school and one year in the nonprofit space before returning to public school education, supporting teachers in an Atlanta high school. I have discovered in every role that unfortunately the high stakes nature of education beats the creativity out of leaders, teachers and students alike because everyone spends most of their time trying not to fail… And for a creative that it stifling.

Thankfully, I have been able to cultivate my creativity in my current role and professional undertakings. As a STEM/STEAM Instructional Coach in Atlanta Public Schools, I lead the school’s efforts to provide a quality STEM/STEAM education that prepares students to engage and thrive in today’s world. This requires me to oversee a number of processes including but not limited to curriculum development, teacher professional development and community partnership cultivation. what students learn, how they learn and with whom we partner to help them learn.

In my work, I have noticed that although a considerable amount of public and private resources have been allocated to address the country’s overall need to improve access to a high quality K-12 STEM education, the return on investment has been dismal. Furthermore, members of the K-12 STEM ecosystem (K-12 schools/districts, STEM program providers, post-secondary institutions, industry, government and funding entities) do not operate synergistically resulting in efforts having incremental impact on students when the demand for STEM expertise is growing exponentially. In response to what I witness daily, I started Twelve12 Group | Consulting, a boutique strategy firm that helps organizations build K-12 STEM career pipelines for historically underrepresented students of color by improving the capacity of and synergy between organizations in the K-12 STEM ecosystem.

Equal parts academic and artist, I find inspiration for my work in a variety of ways and at any time. I generate ideas easily and often but in fragments. I frequently run across brain dumped ideas typed on my phone, written on random sticky notes, scribbled in journals and pages of my Bible. I love books, listening to podcasts and watching videos about the creative process of others. I listen to every kind of music from righteous to ratchet and often doodle in meetings to process complex information. I am at my peak level of creativity extremely early in the morning before much of the world wakes and have a love/hate relationship with discipline. Although I love days that plan themselves – I have learned to build a bit more structure into my days to help me to be more productive.

And believe it or not – this all allows me to do what I do exceptionally well :-)

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I am best known for bringing a high level of self-awareness to my work and promoting creative strategies that disrupt traditional approaches to K-12 STEM education. Much of what I do is grounded in curiosity and observation. I watch, listen and ask questions in order to bring value, perspective and ingenuity to any project. It is not out of the ordinary to find me at spaces that an educator may not traditionally occupy but in my opinion, are the spaces where they should certainly be such chamber of commerce meetings and tech industry events. Regardless of the undertaking, my goal is always to root my professional work in transparency, integrity, the willingness to explore every possibility and push every boundary.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I am always reading or listening to books (oftentimes up to five or six at a time), but here a few that have impacted me greatly:

The Alchemist – I listen to this book 2-3 times each year and each time I hear something different. This book has always reinforced the importance of focusing on your own journey and being unafraid to try, seek and sometimes fail. The greatest successes or on the other side of failure.

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron – “Creativity is a spiritual issue. Any progress is made by leaps of faith, some small and some large.” Aside from the practical prompts that help to build and revive a creative mind, Julia’s assertion that creativity cannot exist separate from a greater Power is paramount for me. If what I can accomplish is only relegated to what I am able to do with my two hands – I am severely limited. But once I consider what I can do in partnership with God…anything is possible.

The Speed of Trust + Multipliers – Most leaders struggle to manage teams effectively because a) they struggle to creating, cultivate and maintain high trust environments and b) they do not know how to leverage the talents and genius of those on their teams. These books have always been great reference texts for managing teams.

I also listen to a fair amount of podcasts including The Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast, Trapital and Land of the Giants. I often look to seemingly unrelated industries for ideas regarding creativity, entrepreneurialism and management and encourage those looking to improve their leadership to do the same!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/andreapmills
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreapmiller/