We were lucky to catch up with Dedrick Sims recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dedrick, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Along with taking care of clients, taking care of our team is one of the most important things we can do as leaders. Looking back on your journey, did you have a boss that was really great? Maybe you can tell us about that boss and what made them a wonderful person to work for?

For me, this person is one in the same. Terrance Mixon was my first principal as a teacher and eventually became my mentor. As a new teacher, Mr. Mixon helped guide my career with a personal touch. He always made time for his teachers, no matter how busy he was. He helped me navigate challenges and showed me how to properly celebrate my wins. Even after my tenure ended at his school, we have continued to stay connected. As the CEO of the Sims-Fayola Foundation, I even established a scholarship in Mr. Mixon’s name.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I started in education as a substitute teacher when I completed my military service as an Army officer. Before my military service, while in college, I tutored upperclassmen in a variety of subjects. Teaching was something that always came naturally to me. I really enjoyed seeing people “get it.” After completing my military service, I moved to Mobile, Alabama, to start my graduate program. While in school, I started teaching Biology, Anatomy & Physiology, and Chemistry at Williamson High School. I served students in the classroom for seven years before taking a one-year hiatus to work for Aventis Pharmaceuticals in some of Alabama’s rural parts. After becoming disgusted with how some of the physicians were taking advantage of the lack of education and access to quality healthcare of people of color in those rural areas, I vowed that I would go back to the education field and work relentlessly to educate young people of color on how they learn, how to access information, and how to think critically and reflectively about socio-political issues in their communities. I eventually moved into roles that carried more responsibility (administrative) and gave me opportunities for a more significant impact on students and their families and my fellow educators. At their request, I started to work with other educators on increasing their capacity to work with students of color, particularly young men and boys of color. So much so that I started my first consulting group, Zen Educational Consulting, to work with other schools and their staff on equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives. During this time, I wrote my first two books, Hardwired by Nature: What We as Educators Underestimate About Our Minority Students and The Dedrick Sims Reader. Our Hardwired by Nature: School/Program Design Through an Equity Lens is foundationally based on that book. Over the years, I have expanded the content and created seven comprehensive workshops that focus on equity and inclusion. We currently conduct these workshops around the country. We have impacted thousands of educators and other professionals working with students of color, emphasizing young men and boys of color. Eventually, my frustration with the lack of urgency and sometimes indifferent efforts of traditional education towards the improvement of education access and outcomes for students of color led me to start my own charter school for young men.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

As I mentioned in the previous question, my frustration with the lack of urgency and sometimes indifferent efforts of traditional education towards the improvement of education access and outcomes for students of color led me to move to Denver and start my own charter school for young men. The school, the Sims-Fayola International Academy, was approved in the fall of 2011 and opened in 2012 with 125 young men. Unfortunately, the school closed in 2015 due to several complex issues. However, because of the success and challenges of the Sims-Fayola International Academy effort, I have been able to assist other aspiring charter groups around the county to navigate the charter school development process as well as leaders of traditional schools in restructuring the learning experiences they were providing for the students they served, to include one in my hometown of Pine Bluff, AR and a more recent one in rural Louisiana. This now makes up the School Support pillar of the Sims-Fayola Foundation. We are currently working on other charter school projects in Michigan and Texas. I had the unfortunate experience of having a school I started having to close. That was heart-wrenching to watch because of how it impacted the young men, families, and teachers who believed in our mission. I was told long ago by a very wise mentor that “when you shoot for big goals like you have Dedrick, you will undoubtedly experience failures and shortfalls. But with big goals come big risks. You have to learn to push through the setbacks and challenges and stay true to your moral compass.” That turned out to be very accurate. The school closure is just one of the biggest challenges I’ve had. Still, there have definitely been many smaller ones that have really tested my resolve to ensure equitable learning experiences and access to students of color, particularly young men and boys of color.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing our audience has been to get current subscribers to share their stories of engagement with us. I’ve always thought that word-of-mouth advertising is the most powerful because it taps into people’s relationships with others who trust them. Another way I’ve grown our audience is to collect as many business cards as possible and enter them into our email database, giving them the option to opt-out. I also encourage our team to do the same. Because I meet so many people around the country, I always have new emails to enter!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dedricksims.com

Image Credits
All photos were taken with my iPhone.