Today we’d like to introduce you to Ayodele Harrison.
Hi Ayodele, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My career in education spans more than two decades. I was first introduced to teaching by my mother, Joy Harrison, a lifelong educator with Seattle Public Schools. Growing up in Seattle, I never thought I would become a teacher. As the son, nephew and younger brother of engineers, it is safe to say that engineering was in my future. After graduating from high school in 1996, I went on to Howard University to study Civil Engineering. While at Howard, I walked onto the football team and by the end of the spring semester, I earned a full athletic scholarship. I had no aspirations of playing in the NFL. Quite honestly, my plans after graduation were to get a job at an engineering firm and retire after 30 years, much like my dad and my uncles. In December of 2000, I graduated and secured a job working for a transportation engineering firm in Baltimore, MD. But that didn’t last long. Three months in, I realized that working at the firm wasn’t for me.
Luckily prior to graduating, following some strong advice from a professor, I applied to several graduate schools. In April of 2001, I was relieved to learn that I was awarded a full scholarship to the Master of Civil Engineering program at UC Berkeley. At this time, teaching still wasn’t on my radar. But that all changed in my 2nd semester of my graduate program. One of my study group mates suggested that I try teaching high school math in a summer pre-collegiate program on campus. I was not looking forward to interning at an engineering firm, so I decided to try my hand at teaching. I spent the entire summer of 2001 teaching. In the mornings, I taught Geometry to rising 10th graders. And in the afternoon, I taught a project-based engineering class to rising 5th graders. It was the hardest and most exhausting thing I have ever done. And I never felt so alive, creative and coming into alignment with my purpose. Needless to say, I was bit by the “teaching bug” and have been working in education ever since. I have had the fortune to teach and lead in public, private, and international school settings. One of many highlights in my career was teaching at an American school in Johannesburg, South Africa. From 2006 -2010, I taught high school math, immersed myself in the beautiful culture of Black South Africans, and travelled the world with some awesome colleagues.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, it has not been a smooth road. While I loved just about every minute of teaching and inspiring a generation of lifelong learners, I also experienced many challenges as a classroom teacher. Earlier, I mentioned that I ‘evolved away from the classroom’, but the truth is that I quit. Specifically, I decided not to renew my contract for the 2016-17 school year. After 15 years of serving as a classroom teacher, girls basketball coach, student advisor, diversity coordinator and simply being the “go-to” guy, I needed a break. I have two answers for why I quit. Ayodele back in 2016, would have told you that he quit because he saw few opportunities for professional growth and career advancement in leadership. Ayodele today tells a different story. Today, I share that I was professionally lonely, uninspired about my future within the profession, and exhausted from being misaligned with the ways in which my school thought it was best to serve students, families and my colleagues. While I was not pigeonholed into a disciplinarian role within my school, like many Black male educators are, I didn’t see a future in education that was appealing to me. Looking back, I realize that I needed help shaping that future, but didn’t know how to ask for it or feel comfortable asking.
Now as Director of BMEsTalk, I get to design and host professional learning communities for Black male educators. Communities that address the needs of Black male educators to feel seen, be heard and to inspire other Black men. Communities that center brotherhood, wellness and leadership. Communities where we can feel safe enough to be open, raw and unfiltered. Communities where we can strategically unpack cultural stigma, masculinity norms and white-dominant cultural norms so that we can be more effective leaders in our profession. I am thrilled to share that since 2021, we have directly supported over 200 Black male educators from Atlanta, GA to Dongguan, China.
As you know, we’re big fans of CommunityBuild Ventures. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
CommunityBuild Ventures (CBV) is a Black woman-led racial equity consulting firm. We lead bravely to support a free, liberated world. Natasha Harrison founded in 2011. She is the current President and CEO and is also my wife. CBV is proud to have worked with a variety of partners, ranging from large national foundations to Atlanta-based community-led organizations. Guided by the Adinkra symbol, “boa me na me mmoa wo”, which directly translates to “Help me and let me help you.”, we focus on developing a community that is rooted in soul-centered connections. We believe that helping all of us show up as authentic selves creates sustainable change.
CBV offers:
Premiere Learning – dynamic, experiential learning opportunities to deepen skills and competencies to lead racial equity.
Vanguard Consulting – racial equity-centered strategy and innovative initiatives that helps organizations understand, embrace and embody racial equity.
Coached 25 BIPOC-led organizations to support their success;
Strategized and consulted with over 20 organizations to define and operationalize racial equity;
Designed and led over 150 learning sessions that have impacted the lives of over 100,000 community residents, k-12 students, educators, and foundation and nonprofit professionals.
We are grateful to our partners: PEAK Grantmaking, Samuel S Fels Fund, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, Center for Civic Innovation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, City Year, and many more.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
In 2022, thanks to a generous grant from NewSchools Venture Fund, CBV launched an innovative 2-part leadership development model under BMEsTalk. The model includes a 4-day leadership development workshop and a 10-month facilitative leadership certification program. This was the first of its kind in Georgia. The model utilizes a cohort-based approach to enhance the social-emotional development of Black male educators, expand their exposure to high-quality professional development and increase their individual and collective leadership capacities. Now in our 2nd year of implementation, we continue to seek donations to ensure that every child has exposure to a Black male educator, fostering greater diversity AND inclusivity in our education system.
Donations can be made via this link: https://nafasifund.
Contact Info:
- Personal Linkedin: https://www.
linkedin.com/in/ ayodeleharrison/ - Company LinkedIn: https://www.
linkedin.com/company/ communitybuild-ventures-llc/ mycompany/?viewAsMember=true - BMEsTalk LinkedIn: https://www.
linkedin.com/showcase/ bmestalk/?viewAsMember=true
Image Credits
Anthony Hudson, The Visual Outlet – Facilitator – Ayodele copy, Ayodele Harrison and Anthony Lobban Kelly Klein – Ayodele (Casual) Headshot – HQ copy The remaining I took.
