Have you lived in the Memphis area your whole life?
Yes, I was born in Memphis. So I’ve lived here all my life, except for when I went away to college. At the University of Kansas in Kansas. Yeah, it was fine. And then I came back [to Memphis].
When you went to the University of Kansas, what did you study there?
I studied psychology. Psychology was my major with a minor in African-American Studies, but I love math. So it was just I was so interested in a lot of things. Originally I was a pre-med major, but then I fell in love with psychology, and so I switched my major.
What exactly do you do as director of belonging? What does your job entail?
It entails quite a bit mainly because I’m working with early childhood all the way to to seniors, and again, even branching out further to family, so parents, faculty and staff. So my goal this year is to really focus on programming for the early childhood all the way through 12th-grade students with different speakers and different activities. I also push into some classes sometimes to incorporate belonging into different lessons. And so mainly just being visible across campus and just supporting the girls, the faculty and staff and supporting the families in any way that I can. And mainly, again, just because this is already such a strong community, just making sure that people that are already here and people that may decide to come here feel like they belong.
Do you have any advice for St. Mary’s community about how to make people feel like they belong?
Yeah. I would say just being open-minded, actually seeing people for who they are, and recognizing that they can contribute just as much as you can contribute to the space to the environment that you’re in at that moment. Also recognizing the strengths of others, as well as your own. So when you recognize, first and foremost, your own strengths and what you can contribute, and then you get an opportunity, you open your eyes and you see that others [contribute], even though it may be a different way. Their contribution is just as important.
What does working towards belonging and equity mean to you?
So to me, that means helping in a school setting. Helping students, faculty and families just feel like they’re a part of the community. But also, bringing more awareness to things that will help people feel like they belong, so my students, families and faculty don’t feel so much pressure trying to figure out what they need to do to feel like they belong. So really, I feel like my role is to continue to make those connections between different types of people, like different races, socio-economic statuses, religions. There’s so many ways you can look at it, but understanding that we’re all one one big community.
What is your favorite thing about St. Mary’s community so far?
Just the family atmosphere. I’m really close to my family. I’m all about family. All through school, this was the type of environment that I was in, a family-type environment. And so it’s definitely a blessing to be able to work in an environment like that as an adult. That’s really what stood out. And then it made it even better once I was here and with all of the girls and I was like, Yeah, this is what I’m supposed to be.
What has been your favorite St. Mary’s school lunch so far?
Man, I don’t know. Every time I think I have a favorite one, then they hit me with another. Yesterday, we had fried chicken and macaroni. Yeah, that was like speaking my language. That was really good. So I don’t have a favorite so far, but I will say I’m quite impressed.
