We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Atiyah Harmon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Atiyah below.

Atiyah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

Black Girls Love Math (BGLM) is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization that addresses racial and gender inequity in math. Through culturally responsive practices, we cultivate a positive math identity for those who identify as Black girls. BGLM uses a research-based approach to create a fun, encouraging, and culturally responsive space for Black girls to explore and discover math. Math careers and exploration have traditionally been unreachable for women, especially Black women. BGLM shifts that paradigm and builds the confidence in Black girls to pursue subjects and content that have always been within reach. The space created by BGLM will push girls to “nerd out” about mathematical concepts and participate in cooperative competitions, career mentoring, and deep mathematical inquiry. BGLM will exponentially increase the number of Black girls in STEM careers. Not all schools offer advanced placement (AP), and not all STEM careers need math majors but a deep math background to inspire courage to pursue STEM majors. Our girls will use their new math superpowers as a tool for community engagement and social justice.

In our programming, our girls are interested in STEM careers and deep math knowledge. In one of our weekend sessions, the girls shared that the math makes their brains “tickly” and they love it. As we discussed Black mathematicians, they all got so excited when talking about Katherine Johnson as one of their she-ros. Every week, we answer the question “Why do I need to learn this?” by highlighting women in STEM careers doing amazing work. The representation and exposure allows the girls to see different career pathways.

Atiyah, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

At an early age I had a strong love of math, including participating in a citywide math competition and early algebra exposure in elementary school. As I advanced through high school math, I had two negative experiences that dissuaded me from higher level mathematics, Additionally, I didn’t know what you could do with a degree if you loved math, outside of accounting. Fast forward, post college and graduate school I became a math teacher and absolutely loved it. I was able to connect with my students in a way that decreased their math anxiety and made math accessible to them. The relationships I developed with my students continue today. One of my most prideful moments is 2 of my students are volunteering with the organization and wanting to help support its mission.

The central idea around Black Girls Love Math is to challenge your beliefs on who and what a “math person” looks like. We encourage and inspire our girls to show up in their most authentic ways and dive deeply into the mathematics. The community we create with our girls is inspiring and motivating. Our organization and space exists to allow Black girls to feel safe and supported. The larger question is “Why isn’t that already happening?” The sense of belonging, affirmation and community is what inspires and keeps us going.

Atiyah Harmon is an education leader with two decades of experience teaching and leading in urban schools nationwide. A native of Philadelphia and proud Girard College alumnae, Atiyah holds an Advanced Master’s degree in Public School Building Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University. She received a Master of Science in Education in Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Development from University of Pennsylvania. Atiyah received a Bachelor of Science from The Pennsylvania State University.

Atiyah founded Black Girls Love Math on June 20, 2020, her mother’s birthday to honor the love and passion for education she instilled in Atiyah. While serving as Founder and Executive Director of Black Girls Love Math, Atiyah also coaches teachers and principals nationally on math curriculum, culturally responsive teaching and provides equity based math instruction teacher training. Atiyah has sat on several panels discussing the need for diversity in STEM fields, education equity, access and opportunity and developing healthy school environments. Atiyah began her education career as a member of the founding cohort of Philadelphia Teaching Fellows.

Prior to Black Girls Love Math, Atiyah served as Network Director of Math, Science and Assessment for Great Oaks Charter Schools – a network of charter schools in the Northeast Region supporting school leaders and teachers with math, science and data driven leadership and instruction for grades 6-12. Atiyah previously served as a charter school Principal in New York City, where students tripled their proficiency during her tenure. She has also served as an Assistant Principal and Director of Curriculum and Instruction in Philadelphia and Trenton. Atiyah taught Middle School Math for 8 years and achieved incredible gains with her students in both growth and proficiency.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

As a former principal and educator, I have the insight and perspective of what schools are looking for in after school programs. By leveraging my expertise of both administration and strong content knowledge I’m able to connect with my market – schools, families and students. Regardless of title, I will always identify as a teacher. This allows for the students, teachers and community to see my passion and that builds and sustains my reputation.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

We’re definitely still building our social media presence but over the past 2 months, we’ve grown our Instagram followers at a higher rate than previous engagements. When I started researching the business, the first thing I looked for was social media presence. The hashtag #blackgirlslovemath had fewer than 100 posts. That number excited and inspired me to increase the hashtag and create content and a bigger audience for the work. We created challenges to engage our current followers using the hashtag and our branded merchandise. This has created momentum for other Black women in STEM to use the hashtag. We have also used paid ads no more than $100 to create engagement with a targeted audience. This has led to organic sharing and saving of content. We continue to explore our different target audiences with the goal of increasing student followers on TikTok, family and beloved volunteers and supporters on Facebook and more teacher engagement on Instagram.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.blackgirlslovemath.org
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/blackgirlslovemath
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackgirlslovemath
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/black-girls-love-math
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/bglm416