Meet Dr. Ruth Alisha Hill of My Learning Partners in Downtown Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Ruth Alisha Hill.

Dr. Hill, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My journey began right around the time I turned ten years old. Really. Being the youngest of four, I was able to celebrate my teenage siblings’ successes and learn from their lessons. My sister and two brothers are all extremely talented and could create hairstyles, artwork, and build bikes that people would pay them money for despite the fact that they were teenagers. They are all good at what they do naturally. Watching them create something with their hands was like watching magic. On the other hand, I loved to read, write, and experiment and learn everything under the sun. However, I was frustrated not knowing what my talent was. I wanted to create something with my hands too. My Godmother taught me about the “Parable of the Talents”. She helped me embrace reading, writing, speaking, being a good listner, and learning as my talent. I had no idea why God would make me a lover of learning over something as cool and concrete as cosmetology, art, or engineering. But, I trusted my Godmother so I knew one day I would be able to use my learning to serve others. Like most people, I grew up hearing, “Keep your mind on them books. Get your education.” And like most people, I rarely ever heard why getting an education was so important.
Over the years, I’ve witnessed family members, close friends, and even students face the serious decision to stay in school or quit. Yet, we know that education is a means to an end. Having at least a high school diploma makes all the difference in our opportunities, successes, and failures. Having grown up in Adrian, Georgia, a rural poverty-stricken town where the average annual household income is around $24,000, I know firsthand how education can positively or negatively impact a community and an individual’s quality of life. I have a personal interest in developing others and providing students with academic and social support. I want to be the person I needed and who my sister and brothers needed as learners growing up against the odds. It’s my personal mission to inspire others and create opportunities for them to reach their full potential.

I have over 19 years of diverse teaching and leadership experience at the elementary, secondary, collegiate, and district levels. I have been the “teacher-lady” for family, friends, and strangers asking for advice on how to make school work for them. You see, school is tough for many people: students, parents, teachers, and leaders. And sometimes, tough can become too much so people are more apt to quit school than quit life. While serving as an innner-city school district leader and ministry leader in 2012, I began working more closely with educators, parents, and students who were having a tough time. I started a blog to offer strategies and support and then soon after, I founded My Learning Partners, LLC in 2013, in order to bring together families, schools, and community partners to give students the support they need to succeed in school and in life. In line with our mission to help students stay in school and graduate, we’ve provided staff development and program development for in and out of state districts and non-profits. In addition, in 2017, we started implementing after-school programs for disadvantaged at-risk kids who may have been undocumented, in foster care, a part of the juvenile justice system, or living in declining communities.

Teaching, leading, and learning is more than a career for me. While it is a business, My Learning Partners is more about making meaning than making money. It is a divine calling with divine responsibility. It is one of my life’s purposes and it’s the one that keeps me motivated and grounded.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Whew! Like life, some roads have been smooth, especially connections and support from network, yet there has been a few obstacles. As an entrepreneur, there is always the internal struggle taking risks. In 2017, I made a decision to focus on My Learning Partners full time. That experience taught me an undeniable truth – what you put your time and energy in will prosper. Remember the parable about the talents?! In less than eight months, I almost tripled my educator’s salary. I grinded day and night training teachers and leaders in out-of-state and metro-area school districts and designing programs for nonprofit organizations. At one point, I was the lead consultant, trainer, CEO, CFO, president of marketing and all other things edupreneur. That was the first obstacle, finding people I trusted to produce quality work and finding people who valued the brand and vision the same way I did. Fortunately, I was able to hire help, collaborate with others, and lean on my mentors.

In spite of the success, the risk of not getting the next contract or getting paid on time always played in the back of mind. For the most part, my personality and role as a mother demands that I play it safe. I’m a single mom with two growing young men, who are both very active. I had two things going on that presented themselves as internal obstacles: 1. the fear of one day not being able to make ends meet if the contracts stop coming in and 2. the fear of missing out on my boys’ milestones and extra-curricular activities. Yep, fear. I admit it. I got in my own head and in my own way. So when my first major client asked me to come on as full-time employee, I did not hesitate to start back working full time. Again, I absolutely love what I do; growing and developing others is my calling. However, my need for the stability of traditional employment has prevented me from being completely self-employed.

Nonetheless, balancing a full-time job and being an entrepreneur is doable. It takes organization, time-management, and simply respect for your employer and your own business. Before taking the job with the district, I sat down with my boss and explained that I would continue the work with My Learning Partners. We discussed upcoming time off, boundaries, and expectations on both ends. To this day, I remain transparent about time-off and the work I do with my clients. That works well. In addition, I manage my time outside of the workday well and I have a knowledgeable and trustworthy team. We get things done by prioritizing what matters most.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about My Learning Partners, LLC – what should we know?
My Learning Partners is an educational consulting firm that brings together families, schools, and community partners to ensure that students succeed in school and in life. We focus on building the capacity and collaboration of school and community partners. As a result, we achieve our goal by creating learning environments that prepare students to achieve in college, career, and life.

We take on practice-based and research-based approaches to teaching and learning models in order to administer high-quality professional development, curriculum development, and program development. We work with individual families, schools, universities, districts, businesses, and institutions to provide resources, professional learning and coaching services that improve achievement.

During this COVID-19 pandemic, we have hosted four free virtual EdCamps for teachers, administrators, parents, students, and the community at-large. Our virtual EdCamps provide a space where parents, teachers, and leaders can collaborate and learn from each other. They are able to share real life action-based experiences around parenting, teaching and learning. The time and space allows us to have real conversations and model skills, strategies, and activities that actually work to help students achieve and cope during this pandemic.

In addition, My Learning Partners formed the Virtual Education Collaborative, which helps TRiO programs across the nation convert to an online format and continue its mission to identify students from disadvantaged backgrounds and provide them with better opportunities for attending college. The Virtual Education Collaborative is a group of professional business owners, civic leaders, and educators who pull their resources, knowledge, and expertise together to provide training and learning for student service programs. So far, we have helped almost 300 student service programs tranisition to the virtual format.

Last but not least, My Learning Lab is one of the newest programs that we will begin offering this school year. My Learning Lab combines online learning and offline instruction in order to provide students withflexibility and personalized learning. Students will be able to work virutally or come in to our lab to access a computers with interenet and meet with an acadmeic coach for face-to-face instruction. Our goal is to help students reconnect with school, re-engage with learning, and recover credits for graduation.This program is ideal for parents and students in grades 6-12 who choose the distance learning or hybrid options offered by school districts this school year.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I cannot pinpoint a particular quality or characteristic. I do attribute success to my willingness to ask God to use my talents and actually allow him to guide me. I value integrity and so it’s nothing for me to turn down collaborative efforts if it presents itself as the opposite. I realize that “all money ain’t good money”.

But if I had to name characteristics, I would start with ambition. To be successful, you must have ambition. I believe that was my senior superlative for most-likely to succeed. My high school and college classmates have told me that I’m a “go-getter”. I honestly will pull an all-nighter and stay on lockdown all weekend if I have to simply “get it done” with quality.

What’s been most important to my success as both an employee and employer is that I have always remained a learner. I stay coachable and seek out mentors and partners who I can learn from each day.

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