She Who Learns

alicia nance, PhD (Founder & Chief Equity Officer)

alicia nance, Ph.D. is a proud southern diasporic Black, queer descendant of enslaved peoples who fought for freedom in the Global South. A somatic abolitionist, memory worker, storyteller, racial justice and equity strategist, anti-oppression educator, cultural organiser, critical lover, and disrupter, alicia’s work focuses on making spaces worthy of communities at the margin - Black liberation and sovereignty through earth-, birth-, spirit-, and youth- work as an herbalist, doula, farmer, facilitator, teacher, and coach. alicia is a daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, friend, and the wildest dreams of her ancestors, who believes, “She who learns, teaches.” Her work in education is rooted in her family’s legacy as educators, organisers, and revolutionaries who leveraged education to uplift and prove what’s possible in their communities. Antiracist and culturally sustaining education, student and community voice, and the healthy racial identity development of students have always been at the centre of alicia’s work in education.

For more than 20 years, alicia has fought for the liberation of Black, immigrant, queer, trans, indigenous people, and people of colour through her involvement in racial, reproductive, transformative, language, and economic justice movements. Her work as a strategist and organiser has allowed her to work with communities to hold charter schools and management organisations accountable; elevate the voices and needs of Black immigrants; decrease food insecurity and address food apartheid; highlight the needs of youth in and aging out of foster care; co-create eviction and bail funds for Black women and femmes; defend sex worker rights and HIV positive women advocacy; aid the protection of Black farmers’ land; increase awareness of and interventions for gentrification; eradicate intimate partner violence; and co-conspire with Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth-led movements dedicated to ending gun violence and advancing policies that help communities most harmed by the criminal justice system.

alicia specialises in co-creating liberatory spaces in schools and communities by focusing on our relationship to land, space and place through community organising and sustaining, responsive and healing-centred pedagogy and practices, including decolonisation, disruptive and distributive leadership, curricula transformation, professional development, teacher coaching, situational appropriateness, and responsive family and community engagement.   With 20 years of professional experience in a wide range of PS-20 educational settings, alicia has served as a school leader; instructional coach; department and grade level chair; Special Education Coordinator; program manager; and classroom teacher focusing on culturally sustaining and responsive literacy and numeracy, and exceptional and culturally and linguistically diverse learners.

Through her work with schools, alicia provides workshops, training, and in and out-of-school time support to increase the efficacy of teachers, school leaders, youth workers, and parents and families in communities of colour. alicia continues to conduct research, write, lecture, mentor, coach, advocate, and organise to develop more socially just, equitable, and inclusive spaces for our children. She is currently designing a community freedom farm and school focused on liberatory, antiracist practices to achieve Black liberation and self-determination through the validation and affirmation of students and communities of colour, arming them with the tools to critically analyse and dismantle systems of oppression and fully realise their greatness.

alicia holds advanced degrees from Louisiana State University and George Washington University in Curriculum and Instruction, English, Africana Studies, Special Education, Women’s and Gender Studies, Curriculum Theory, and Ethnic and Cultural Studies. She has been a Soul Fire Farm BIPoC FIRE facilitator, Farm School Program for Visiting Schools Fellow, Deeper Learning Equity Fellow, High Tech High Graduate School of Education New Schools Creation Fellow, and 4.0 Schools Wave 4 Tiny Fellow.

When she is not supporting the work of young people and organising in her communities, alicia loves to spend time with her (current and former) students; volunteer; mentor; read voraciously; leverage the healing power of art, food, and music; find ways to raise her vibration and increase #blackgirlmagic and #blackboyjoy; run ultra-marathons and triathlons; travel and connect stories; play retro video games; dance, laugh, cook, spend time with family and friends; root for the underdog; garden and farm; find time to feel soil between her toes and underneath her nails; spend moments at the beach with salt on her skin; and love on her two dogs.

Email address: alicia@shewholearns.org