Leading While Female Conference - Illuminated Collective

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Sketch Artist Notes

By Daniela Arriaga (click image to view all sketches)

Opening

Meditation by Andrea Arriaga Video

Artist Monologue

Meet the Authors

On March 20, 2021 the Authors of Leading While Female and other dynamic female leaders offered conversations and stories through keynotes and breakout sessions designed to help educational leaders of all genders confront and close the gender equity gap.

Welcome from the Authors Video

Dr. Trudy T. Arriaga

Dr. Trudy T. Arriaga served the Ventura Unified School District for 14 years as the first female superintendent. She began her career as a bilingual paraeducator and enjoyed 40 years of service in education as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, director, superintendent and university instructor at all levels. Trudy retired as superintendent in July 2015 and was honored by the naming of the VUSD District Office, The VUSD Trudy Tuttle Arriaga Education Service Center. She is currently on the Cal Lutheran University faculty as the Associate Dean of Equity and Outreach in the Graduate School of Education. Trudy is the co-author of Opening Doors: An Implementation Template for Cultural Proficiency and Leading While Female: A Culturally Proficient Response to Gender Equity. It has been her privilege to assist educational institutions and organizations throughout the United States through keynote speeches, workshops, leadership and equity institutes and online professional development to build a culturally proficient and inclusive organization for each and every one. Trudy can be contacted at trudyarriaga73@gmail.com

Dr. Stacie L. Stanley

Dr. Stacie L. Stanley, is the Co-Author of Leading While Female: A Culturally Proficient Response for Gender Equity. She is a fierce advocate for ensuring women (especially women of color) are able to move into executive leadership roles. Stacie also serves as an Associate Superintendent in the southwest metro of the Twin Cities in MN. Dr. Stanley has served in a variety of education roles including math teacher, school principal, & director of curriculum, assessment and instruction. She earned a doctorate degree from Bethel University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she researched the impact of intercultural development on K-6 administrative leadership practice. Stacie is a Senior Training Associate at the Center for Culturally Proficient Educational Practice, and graduate school adjunct faculty at Bethel University in Minnesota. She lives with her husband, and enjoys being an empty nester, power walking, and spending time with their grandchildren. Stacie can be reached at staciestanley@gmail.com

Dr. Delores B. Lindsey

Dr. Delores B. Lindsey, retired as Associate Professor of Education at California State University, San Marcos, CA, but did not retire from the education profession. She helps educational leaders examine their organizations’ policies and practices, and their individual beliefs and values about cross-cultural communication. Her message focuses on socially just educational practices, culturally proficient leadership practices, and diversity as an asset to be nurtured. Her favorite reflective question is: Are we who we say we are? Delores and husband Randall, her favorite Sage/Corwin author, continue to co-write about the application of the four Tools of Cultural Proficiency. They enjoy working together with school districts to guide school leaders on their journey toward equity and socially just practices. Her most recent publication is a Corwin Best seller, Leading while female: A Culturally proficient response for gender equity, 2020 with co-authors, Trudy Arriaga and Stacie Stanley. Delores can be reached at dblindsey@aol.com

Download Schedule

College and University Student Body Leaders

Danielle Geathers

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Danielle Geathers was born and raised in Miami, Florida and is currently a junior at MIT studying Mechanical Engineering. In May, she was elected President for the MIT Undergraduate Association, making her the first Black woman to serve in this role. She is also the founder and director of Talented Ten, a program designed to increase the matriculation of Black women to MIT. As a sophomore, she served as the Officer on Diversity and chair of the Community and Diversity Committee. In high school, Danielle was the founder of her school’s Black Student Union and awarded the Coca Cola, Burger King, Foot Locker, and Women and Girls in Soccer scholarships. Danielle aspires to be a patent lawyer and plans to attend law school after graduation.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-geathers-53b02a167

Instagram: 2danielle.g_

Email: geathers@mit.edu

Rachel Howell

Howard University

Rachel Howell is a senior Political Science major and Philosophy minor. Rachel serves as the 60th President of the Howard University Student Association (HUSA), where she advocates for approximately 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. A proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Alpha Chapter Rachel holds an extensive resume of service, being the former Deputy Chief of Staff of HUSA and Vice President of the College of Arts & Science Student Council. Rachel has been a staunch and consistent advocate for HBCUs on and off campus, serving as an Undergraduate Assistant in the Howard University Department of External Affairs, interning with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), and the late Honorable Congressman John Lewis.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-howell-4bb63915a/

Email: rachel.howell@bison.howard.edu

Tatiana Ivy Moise

Wellesley College

Tatiana Ivy Moise is currently a full-time Senior student at Wellesley College, pursuing two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies. She is formally trained in and adept at research and oral communication; passionate about creating truthful and entertaining content, whether that be written, audio, or video; and fascinated by the power of popular culture and social media. It is her goal to become an influential addition to the Entertainment, Communications and/or Broadcast Media industries.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tatianaivy/

Email: tmoise@wellesley.edu

Naomi Riley

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Naomi Riley is a 4th year majoring in Political Science minoring in Chicano Studies and African American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. This year she has the honor of serving as UCLA’s Student Body President and the Undergraduate Chair of the UC Council of Student Body Presidents. She was born and raised in the greater Los Angeles area. Naomi has used her experiences to help her become the leader she is today. She is deeply passionate about social justice issues and commits herself daily to find ways to advocate for her communities. Naomi aspires to take the work she is doing now and apply it along her journey to become a civil rights attorney and educator.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomi-riley/

Email: usacprez@gmail.com

Moderated by

Dr. Darline Robles

Professor of Clinical Education at USC Rossier School of Education

California Lutheran University

Co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund, jazz singer, and fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government

LaTosha Brown is an award-winning community organizer, philanthropic consultant, jazz singer and political strategist with over twenty years of experience working in the non-profit and philanthropy sectors on a wide variety of issues related to social justice, economic development, leadership development, wealth creation and civil rights.

She is the co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund, a power building southern based civic engagement organization that played an instrumental role in the 2017 Alabama U.S. Senate race.

Ms. Brown is also principal owner of TruthSpeaks Consulting, Inc., a professional facilitation and philanthropy advisory consulting business based in Atlanta, GA. For more than 25 years, she has served as a consultant and advisor for individual donors, various public foundations and private donors. Former Director of a funder working group of Neighborhood Funders Group (NFG). GSP is comprised of Southern and national funders committed to improving the outcomes, conditions, and opportunities for those who are least well off socially, economically, and politically in the South. Click here to read her full bio.

Breakout Sessions

Expand sections to learn more and view materials and videos from the conference.

Creating Pipelines & Pathways - Increasing Female Executive Leadership by Strengthening Intercultural Relationships

Dr. Melissa Krull and Dr. Stacie Stanley

Link to Presenter Biographies

Link to Presentation Slides

Have you ever walked away from an intercultural interaction shaking your head and wondering what just happened? Research indicates that women also serve as barriers toward increasing the number of females (especially females of color) in the Educational Leadership C-Suite. Rather than pointing out our crooked crowns, we need to lift one another up! Participants attending this session will leave with specific ideas for how women of all races can partner to advance the leadership careers of one another.

Males as Allies

Dr. Delores B. Lindsey (moderator), Mr. Willie Adams, Dr. Frank Hernandez and Dr. Randall B. Lindsey

Link to Presenter Biographies

Link to video of Presentation

Panel members will provide definitions and descriptions for mentoring and coaching female educational leaders. These male allies will share examples of what it means to have opportunities and responsibilities for action at every level to counter and disrupt biases and realities of gender inequities.

The Power of Networks & Sponsors

Dr. Christina Bemboom (moderator), Dr. Rhoda Mhiripiri-Reed, Dr. Julie Vitale and Dr. Avis Williams

Link to Presenter Biographies

Link to Presentation Slides

We’ve all heard of the good old boys club, but what does that mean for Female Executive Leadership? Securing a position in the C-Suite requires women to expand their networks and build a cadre of sponsors. Participants in this session will develop an understanding of the “why” for networking and hear from acting female Superintendents from across the U.S. about ways they have built influential networks to support their superintendency journey.

Lifting Ourselves Up and Taking Ourselves Beyond

Dr. Shana Henry and Dr. Trudy Arriaga

Link to Presenters Biographies

Link to Presentation Slides

Link to Recording of the Session

Examine, confront and overcome the barriers to career development for women. This session will assist us to remove the barriers and end the biases that hold women back. The power of our personal narratives will propel us to shift from the pitfalls that women leaders encounter on their career path to the support factors that help us to overcome the barriers to career attainment and beyond. It’s about time….it’s our time!

Leading While Female Icon Recognition

Link to Video

Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson

Hannah-Beth Jackson is a former California legislator, practicing attorney, educator and small business owner. From 2012 to 2020, she served in the State Senate, representing nearly one million residents in the 19th Senate District, which includes Santa Barbara County and western Ventura County. From 1998 to 2004, she represented the 35th State Assembly District.

During her legislative career, Hannah-Beth served as Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and received national recognition as a champion for women’s equality. The Huffington Post identified her as one of 11 women in the United States “blazing new trails” in American politics and she was described as “the state senator shifting California’s workplace culture” by The New York Times.

Hannah-Beth is the author of the California Fair Pay Act, landmark legislation that strengthens the state’s equal pay law, and Senate Bill 826, the first law in the nation that requires publicly-held corporations to include women on their board of directors. She is a joint author of legislation that created the nation’s first affirmative consent standard (“Yes Means Yes”) for the state’s college and university campuses.Hannah-Beth is also the author of Senate Bill 188, blocking efforts to expand oil development off the California coast. She has been a leading advocate in the fight against climate change and a strong supporter of developing clean energy sources.

Among Hannah-Beth’s other legislative accomplishments are laws to improve California’s wildfire preparedness and response, reduce gun violence, expand services for aging Californians, and support military veterans struggling with mental illness and drug addiction. She is an outspoken advocate for Internet privacy protection and women’s reproductive rights. She helped establish Santa Barbara Shelter Services for Women (now known as Domestic Violence Solutions) and Santa Barbara’s Women Against Gun Violence (now known as Coalition Against Gun Violence). She is also a founding member and Past President of the Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee and Santa Barbara Women Lawyers.

Dr. Bernadeia Johnson

Dr. Bernadeia H. Johnson, is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at Minnesota State University, Mankato (MNSU) at Edina and former Superintendent to Minneapolis Public Schools, and Deputy Superintendent in Memphis City Schools. Prior to entering education, Dr. Johnson was a financial analyst for US Bank. She currently teaches, and conducts research dedicated to understanding the lived experiences of African American school and District leaders.She serves on local and national boards to promote education as a public good.

Impact Statement: I am a community leader with expertise in education and success in collaborating with diverse communities, businesses, and foundations to engage and support education as a public good.

Dr. Thelma Meléndez

Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana, Ph.D., is a retired Superintendent who successfully served in Pomona, Santa Ana, and Inglewood in California. As a Superintendent, she oversaw the educational programs and operations of her school districts. Dr. Meléndez brings a wealth of experience from her 38-year career in education, from a bilingual first-grade teacher in Montebello Unified School District, to the Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education in the Obama Administration. The American Association of School Administrators named her the California Superintendent of the Year in 2009.

Prior to her position in Inglewood, Dr. Meléndez served as the Chief Executive Officer in the Office of Educational Services for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). As the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Meléndez was responsible for the administrative oversight of multiple educational and business services for the over 1,000 schools of LAUSD. As the principal advisor to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, she helped to develop the Blueprint for Reform and led the office as it administered billions of dollars in grant funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. She also served as the Senior Education Advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.