We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Valencia Hicks-Harris a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Valencia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Empower All was birthed during when we all were faced with the pandemic of COVID-19, Social Unrest, Educational & Racial disparities. At the time, I had recently stepped away from teaching to pursue my doctoral studies at NCSU in Educational Equity. While reading the powerful works of bell hooks, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Paulo Freire, and so many impactful scholars, it is like I woke up and knew I had to do something completely different to at least scratch the surface with assisting with the success of our black & brown youth. I had a friend ask me, What do you want to do when you complete your degree? I pondered for a few days, weeks, and months…when finally I realized that I wanted to pursue becoming a nonprofit leader. I knew that I did not want my dissertation to hang our in the “cloud” or to be printed & placed on a bookshelf rather I wanted it to be living and breathing. I also knew that advocacy work, nonprofit work, educational equity work, would be challenging and cannot be done alone, rather you need a team of people-kindred souls- who will join forces with you to bring the mission and vision to fruition. Therefore, I called on my people and asked them to join me in this radical way of fighting for our marginalized youth and fighting to heal humanity through empowerment. They all without hesitation said, we are ALL IN!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Valencia Hicks-Harris Bio: Valencia Harris is the President & Founder of Empower All, Inc. She is an educator that has taught both elementary and STEM education for over 12 years. Harris is doctoral candidate studying Educational Equity at North Carolina State University. Her educational and career experiences have fueled her drive to diversify the teacher pipeline, push culturally relevant pedagogy as standard, increase the presence of students of color in STEM, and create an equitable education for all students.

Education

PhD in Educational Equity, North Carolina State University (in progress)
Master of Arts in Teaching, Elementary Education, North Carolina State University
Master of Arts in Educational Leadership Research & Technology, North Carolina Central University
Bachelor of Arts in Communications & Public Relations, UNC-Greensboro

CERTIFICATIONS
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
Teacher License K-6
INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY077, endorsed with North Carolina
Department of Public Education

Recent Awards
TBJ 40 under 40 2022

PROFESSIONAL
ACTIVITY
• Wake County District PD presenter
• Equity Chair
• Goodmon Fellow
• NAGAP Member
• CRC Committee Member
• Meredith College Diversity Council
• Teacher of the Year~2016
• School Improvement Team Member
• Delta Sigma Theta, Incorporated Sorority
Member

Why do you do the work you are doing?

I was born into a family of educators. My eyes have always been wide open to the unparalleled possibilities within the classroom and the myriad ways in which schools and our educational system perpetuate racial inequality. During the first year of my doctoral program, a friend asked me where I wanted to land after schooling. I knew I wanted to empower students, families, teachers, and community shareholders to heal from the effects of racial inequity and claim their inner genius. This work is in my bones. I claim power from my ancestors whose lives were committed to social justice.

Describe your work in and with the community that has brought about a change that you are proud of. In your answer, share about your role, how you engaged with the community, what were the challenges, and what were the outcomes?

I have developed and implemented STEAM programs at two different Wake County Schools.
I have participated in the creation of equity teams within the Wake County district.
Apex Elementary (staff and student equity teams)
White Oak Elementary
Facilitated equity based conversations between the elementary, middle school, and high school feeder schools so there was consistency in policy and practice. I was committed to amplifying the voices of students.
I came up with the idea, implemented the teams and establish
Challenge – consistency, finding time, doing something that had never been done before.
Taboo Words – challenge with vocabulary that is essential to healing social wounds being banned.
Outcome – students were empowered, parents were connected and kept in touch, vertical alignment. Teachers were made aware of their implicit biases and received guidance in culturally sustaining practices

Empower All Incorporated is on a mission to empower all to be fully human via a holistic approach including but/not limited to:
Culturally Sustaining Curriculum
Social Emotional Learning/Mental Health Wellness and Therapeutic Approaches
“STEAM” (Science/Technology/Engineering/Arts/Math):
Increase the presence of students of color in STEM fields
Entrepreneurship

Advocate & Research:
Provide wellness checks (analysis), recommendations, and evaluation on school level that enable or hinder an equitable, inclusive climate in schools for all students and advocate for policies in an effort to dismantle systemic racism and promote educational equity.
Partnerships:
Cultivate and maintain meaningful, collaborative partnerships with schools, organizations, communities, parents, and students to maximize efforts and impacts for students, schools, and communities.
Capacity Building and Convening Stakeholders:
Cultivate and disseminate evidence-based resources, programming, and professional learning opportunities to build the capacity of teachers, administrators, policymakers, and other organizations and community leaders and shift mindsets to understand and improve inequities in our schools and communities
Outreach, Communications, and Dissemination:
Create, share, and disseminate Empower All Inc.’s equity-related work, as well as the efforts and products of partners and stakeholders to ensure access and increase and sustain momentum for equity-driven work and solutions

How’d you meet your business partner?

Upon the completion of my undergraduate degree in Communications/Public Relations, I was hired to work at Holly Grove ES as an instructional assistant in the Accelerated Learning Program. I ended up working in a school setting, which I had vowed I would never do because of witnessing the challenges of teaching in my mother’s classroom. I met Amanda West back then and I was able to witness her ability to authentically teach kindergarten students how to grow academically, socially, and emotionally. Years later, I completed my teaching certification and moved to being a 1st grade teacher back at Holly Grove ES. As a first grade teacher, I was not only able to teach on the same year-round track schedule as Amanda yet I was afforded the honor of teaching her oldest son. Teaching a colleagues child comes with a different type of pressure…and over that year the entire West family truly trusted me with teaching their son and we all witnessed his growth during that year. In subsequent years, Amanda brought Girls On the Run to our school. GOTR is a program for young girls in grades 3-5 to assist them with unlocking their inner star power while also being active, running. West and I were coaches and we grew closer as not only colleagues but as friends. We remained friends and I was able to witness her true commitment to education and her ability to see each child as individuals while collectively teaching them to celebrate their own identities. During 2020, when life was completely on pause and her children were still growing and seeking to understand the racial inequities and division in our society she had real conversations with them. Open and honest conversations that made tears come to my eyes because I was able to see firsthand that she was sincerely planting seeds in her children that our world truly needs. Planting seeds and laying a foundation that will truly heal humanity! Amanda is not only a friend, not only my co-founder… she is truly my sister and I am incredibly grateful for her!!

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

While in graduate school at Meredith College, I met Emily Wade. Going back to school after several years can be unnerving and slightly intimidating. As I entered the classroom, I was immediately drawn to sit beside Emily. She has such a warm and welcoming spirit that draws you in. As the semester went on, her conversations and rich discussions about educational inequities vividly showed me that her commitment to education. Over the years, we both dealt with real life challenges that bonded us in unspeakable ways. Our journey to motherhood was quite unique and eventful yet it provided us with an unbreakable bond. Emily is committed to cultural and linguistic justice which shedding light on its importance is so needed in our efforts to close academic/opportunity gaps. During 2020, Emily and I were able to reconnect, walk, and talk about the healing humanity needs. She shared with me how she had taken her husband and daughters to the George Floyd Memorial and how she felt compelled to do something. She wanted to put boots to the ground and get to work. Her passion, authenticity, heart, and soul spew out the emotion & fight needed to restore humanity. She is the feeler of the group and helps us to stay grounded, feel the feels, cry & laugh, and she truly resuscitates our hearts when the fight gets tough. I am proud to say, Emily Wade is truly my sister from another mother :)!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.empower-allinc.org
• Instagram: vhicksharris
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valencia-harris-8a4a4a212/
• Other: https://www.earfluence.com/show/stemedia-podcast-ebony-podcast-network/ https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ayGBetPigne6Ux4NHF90G https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/triangle-sandhills/news/2021/07/08/educator-pushes-for-equity-in-the-classroom-with-nonprofit- https://www.wral.com/nonprofit-s-summit-combines-hip-hop-mental-health-awareness-to-inspire-minority-students/20570768/ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coffee-chats-with-inspiring-women/id1553682151