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

About this episode

Dr. Nadia A. Bennett shares her journey and insights on climbing the educational ranks as a Black woman in a candid conversation with Dr. Asia Lyons.

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 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…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Asia Lyons

Guest: Dr. Nadia A. Bennett

Topics covered

• leadership
• Black women in education
• personal growth
• consulting
• educational challenges

Keywords

• leadership
• Black women
• education
• consulting
• psychological safety
• ambition
• self-preservation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: When Brown Girls Lead

Places: Philly, Howard

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