Community, Calling & The Climb with Dr. Nadia A. Bennett

Community, Calling & The Climb with Dr. Nadia A. Bennett

Dr. Nadia A. Bennett [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadia-a-bennett-/] doesn't just talk about leading; she's lived it, from an air mattress on the floor of a Philly apartment to founding her own national education consulting firm, When Brown Girls Lead. In this episode of The Exit Interview: A Podcast for Black Educators [https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-exit-interview-a-podcast-for-black-educators/], I sit down with Dr. Nadia for a raw, spirit-filled conversation about what it actually takes to climb the educational ranks as a Black woman. Dr. Nadia shares the unlikely moments that shaped her path: a stranger's advice in a retail store, the loss of a beloved cousin, and a woman in a Howard cohort who looked her dead in the eyes and said, "You're called to this." She talks openly about the grief of leaving a school where she poured everything, the tokenism she faced as a charter superintendent, and why she walked away from a six-figure leadership role without a plan. This episode is just as much about what comes after the exit. Dr. Nadia breaks down how she built a thriving consulting firm powered largely by Black women, why psychological safety matters more than job security, and what she wishes someone had told her before she stepped into the principalship. If you've ever felt the tension between ambition and belonging, between sacrifice and self-preservation, this episode is for you. https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23blackeducatorsbewell&origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED

More Than A Diversity Hire with Dr. Melissa Leonard-Goodlett

Melissa Leonard-Goodlett, EdD. [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/#] knew she was a diversity hire. She took the job anyway because she was also the most qualified person in the room. In this episode of The Exit Interview, Dr. Melissa breaks down a career that went from dyslexic kid playing teacher with her siblings, to AP English instructor watching Black students pay for a high school education they never actually received, to burning out at a wealthy PWI where parent surveys went straight to HR and her principal never once stepped foot in her classroom. She saw the literacy crisis from both sides: underfunded schools pushing kids through, and affluent schools inflating grades to protect their reputation. Same problem. Different zip code. After years of microaggressions, invisibility, and hives she couldn't explain, she resigned. Now she's an educational consultant, reclaiming her why one new teacher at a time.

Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire with Kamye Hugley

Kamye Hugley [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamyehugley/] is back, and this time, she's talking about what happens when you trade the classroom for the nonprofit world. Fan favorite Kamye returns to The Exit Interview to share her truth about making the leap from Black educator to nonprofit professional. Spoiler: it wasn't the escape she imagined. From navigating workplace dysfunction to rediscovering her worth, Kamye breaks down how she transferred her teaching skills into a brand-new arena and what she wishes someone had told her before she made the jump. If you're a Black educator eyeing the nonprofit sector as your next move, this episode is your required listening.

Saying No To Unconditional Service with Dr. Jessica Reed-Thomas

Her closing words? Joy chaser. And she means it. Born in Anchorage, raised to become a lawyer, and fully resistant to the classroom, Jessica Reed-Thomas, Ed.D., fought off teaching for years. Then, a mentor, a university employee with good intuition and an air-conditioned education building at Temple University, changed everything. What followed was a 12+ year career spanning classroom teacher, technology integration specialist, service-learning coordinator, agriculture curriculum lead, and, eventually, assistant principal overseeing 2,700 students and nearly 500 IEPs in the School District of Philadelphia. But the real story is what it cost her. Dr. Thomas opens up about surviving on leftover event food, falling asleep in her guacamole, being physically injured on the job multiple times, and staying in toxic workplaces the same way you stay in a bad relationship until the people she was serving told her to leave. It was her students who said, " Go". It was her daughter who said, "Why do you keep going back?" And it was her own reflection on unconditional service as a false badge of honor that finally made it click. Now she's channeling 20 years of hard-won wisdom into consulting on educator wellness, running a youth entrepreneurship program out of Temple University, and building a vending machine curriculum that teaches algebra and financial literacy. Her five-part retention framework policy, practice, people, power, and accountability, is a blueprint every district should be reading.

"All Skinfolk Ain't Kinfolk" with Nye Trusty

Nye Trusty [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nyeshantrusty/] brings a candid, layered, and deeply necessary conversation about identity, belonging, and why representation without inclusion is just window dressing. She's worn many names and even more hats: teacher, coach, doctoral student, and now nonprofit founder. In this episode, she gets raw about what it really means to show up fully in spaces that weren't built for you, including what happened when Black leadership asked her to strip her classroom of its Blackness. From growing up in Far Rockaway, Queens, to teaching seventh graders in Baltimore and Louisiana, Nye's journey through education is one of resilience, demoralization, and ultimately, radical reinvention. She opens up about the moment she knew it was time to leave the classroom, not because she stopped loving her students, but because the system had worn her down to the point where she had nothing left to fight with. And she's honest about something the education world doesn't like to say out loud: sharing a skin tone doesn't mean sharing a vision. Black leadership can cause harm too, and pretending otherwise puts Black educators at risk. Now, through her nonprofit, The TitheWell, and their groundbreaking Tubman Project, a global fellowship that takes Black educational leaders to Ghana, Nye is building the spaces she never had.