The Exit Interview: A Podcast for Black Educators

What happens when you care deeply about education, but the personal cost becomes too great? Elisha Roberts, M.Ed didn't just want to change schools. She built one.  From challenging traditional school practices to creating spaces where students had a voice in their own education, Elisha spent years pushing the boundaries of what was possible. But innovation came with resistance, institutional...

Shani Dowell left a business career for a seventh-grade math classroom, then left the classroom to build Possip a listening platform now used by over 1,000 schools in 35+ states. In this episode, she talks candidly about her non-traditional path into teaching, the reality of a two-teacher household on a $30K salary, recruiting at HBCUs, and why "contentedness" might be the most underrated wellness...

In this special episode of The Exit Interview, Dr. Asia Lyons shares a milestone eight years in the making: the podcast's permanent archival at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the first podcast ever accepted into its collection.  She traces the story back to her own 2018 exit interview, the moment of relief that sparked the idea to give other Black educators a chance to te...

Stacie McClam went from being bused to "better" schools as a Black child in LA, to teaching across DC, Japan, Denver, and Kuwait, and what she found everywhere was the same broken system dressed up differently. She became the "fix-up lady," repeatedly hired mid-year to salvage classrooms other teachers fled. She watched Black and Latino kids get pushed through grades without learning to read, saw...

S. Jae Ali, EdM, has taught in Charlotte, Chicago, China, and Brazil, and every classroom taught her something the next one couldn't fix. In this episode, the South Side Chicago native and former educator gets honest about the racism she faced in her teacher prep program, the mental health toll of toxic leadership, the thrill of watching struggling students soar, and why she ultimately walked...

Danica Moore, Ed. D. knew she was meant to teach before she even had a lesson plan, from sharpening skills with second graders at 10 years old to taking over her Sunday school class on a dare. With nearly 20 years in education, she's worn every hat: special ed teacher, ESL specialist, reading and math coach, equity facilitator, district office leader, and now founder of Fortified Educational Pract...

What happens when the system tells you that you "care too much"? For Jamita Horton, Ed. D , that moment in a Milwaukee principal's office was the beginning of a decade-long journey of pressing reset on her classroom, her career, and ultimately herself. In this episode of The Exit Interview, Dr. Horton takes us from Sunday school teacher's aide to kindergarten teacher to assistant principal, unpack...

Dr. 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 , I sit down with Dr. Nadia for a raw, spirit-filled conversation about what it actually takes to climb the educational ranks...

Melissa Leonard-Goodlett, EdD. 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 burni...

Kamye Hugley 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 tra...

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, t...

Nye Trusty 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 happen...

Kelly Mitchell's journey through education is a crash course in recognizing when systems are working exactly as designed...not for us. From stumbling into teaching via Craigslist after the 2009 recession, to middle school math teacher, to high school dean managing 350 students, to state workforce development, Kelly kept asking, "Who can fix this?" only to realize the system kept saying, "Not us."...

Kai Hamer's journey from aspiring rapper to special education teacher to parent engagement director is a love letter to the Bronx. Starting in shelters and after-school programs, she spent 10+ years teaching in her own neighborhood, collecting kids from behind soda machines, visiting grandmothers who couldn't leave home, and fighting for students whose gifts didn't show up on standardized tests. B...

This conversation is a testament to how classroom teaching can birth movements that extend far beyond what we could ever imagine. In this episode, Dr. Asia sits down with Latoya Turner, M.A. , a Detroit-born educator, author, and filmmaker who spent 13 years in the classroom before pivoting to create Brown Hands Literacy, a nonprofit dedicated to educating children about HBCUs through books, films...

What does it mean to be the only Black teacher at the table year after year? In this powerful episode of The Exit Interview: A Podcast for Black Educators , Dr. Asia Lyons sits down with Monika Robinson, a former public school teacher, instructional coach, nonprofit leader, and founder of Reparations Ed, to unpack the quiet isolation many Black educators experience in predominantly white and subur...

This episode with Whitney Tolliver is essential listening for educators at any stage of their career, administrators who wonder why they can't retain staff, and anyone who's ever sacrificed their well-being for a job that demands perfection over presence. In this powerful episode of the Exit interview, Whitney shares her journey from enthusiastic first-grade teacher to assistant principal and ulti...

In this episode, Dr. Asia Lyons interviews Khiara Mills Mills, a licensed therapist and former school counselor, about her journey through education, mental health, and personal growth. Mills shares how setting boundaries became a cornerstone of her healing, both professionally and personally. She discusses the challenges of working in behavioral schools, the importance of self-care and core value...

In this episode, Dr. Asia welcomes Jeanine L. Williams, PhD , a retired educator turned ancestral medicine woman, for a powerful conversation about liberation, sovereignty, and healing beyond academia. Dr. Williams shares her journey through higher education, the challenges of navigating oppressive systems, and the importance of community care and ancestral wisdom. Together, they discuss the need...

In this episode, I sit down with educator and bibliophile Kamye Hugley to explore what happens when Black women in education refuse to stay quiet in the face of harm. Kamye traces her journey from her grandmothers urging to be a teacher, to a Teach For America placement that threw her from third grade to Head Start mid-year, to a Head Start classroom tucked in a portable with coyotes underneath an...

In this powerful episode of The Exit Interview, Dr. Ashlee Saddler shares her journey from mental health professional to educational leader, and the unique challenges she faced as a Black woman in predominantly white school systems. Dr. Saddler opens up about the emotional and physical toll of leadership, including her battle with breast cancera diagnosis she links to the relentless stress and sel...

I n this impactful episode of  The Exit Interview: A Podcast for Black Educators , Oakland educator  Whitney Redd  discusses how her experience in after-school programs, youth shelters, and mental health settings has shaped her approach to teachingcombining heart, structure, and intentionality. After being diagnosed with ADHD, Whitney redefined discipline as creating  joyful st...

In this heartfelt and inspiring episode of The Exit Interview: A Podcast for Black Educators , Dr. Asia sits down with Dr. Franita Nita Ware,  educator, author, and the brilliant mind behind Warm Demander Teachers . Together, they trace Dr. Wares unexpected journey from substitute teacher to scholar, exploring the purpose, joy, and community that fueled her path. Dr. Ware shares how being inv...

In this episode of The Exit Interview: A Podcast for Black Educators , Dr. Asia sits down with Candice Renee Person , a 20-year veteran educator, organizer, writer, and soon-to-be digital nomad. Candice shares a deeply layered journey that spans classrooms in New York City, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Virginia, and beyondeach chapter shaped by resilience, grief, discovery, and a fierce commitment to...

From publish or perish to learn to liberate, Dr. Lance Bennett shares how he reimagined higher ed to serve actual people. We unpack the community care roots of his model (yes, the Black church is a blueprint), the role of therapy and mentorship in big career shifts, and why being well can mean picking Option B or C over the plan you wrote. Come for the origin story of The Peoples Institute for the...