2025 NCBS Presentation

In March 2025, I presented at the 2025 National Council for Black Studies Conference. My presentation shared the preliminary findings of my work leading two youth teams with the Black Girlhood Collaborative research team housed in the UF College of Education, led by Dr. Taryrn Brown. The presentation was titled "Girls on Fire: Youth-Engaged Educational Research on Black Girls' Joy and Wellbeing in Education."

BGC Youth Team

In 2024, I led the outreach and launch of the Black Girlhood Collaborative Youth Team. The youth team has now met three times, and will meet throughout the semester to engage in Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) focused on Black girls’ joy and wellbeing in educational contexts. I leaned on UC Berkeley’s YPAR Hub, the Black Girls S.O.A.R. Program and the SOLHOT program in developing my curriculum, and I received support from Dahlia Fabregat, a Master’s student in the UF College of Education’s School of Teaching and Learning. In 2025, we were accepted for our five high school team members to present their research on “Black Girls’ Joy and Wellbeing” at the American Education Research Association (AERA) conference in Denver, Colorado as part of the READY (Research Engagement and Development with Youth) program.

Girl Talk! Program

The Black Girlhood Collaborative (BGC) team started the “Girl Talk!” Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) Program in the fall of 2022 at Pace Center for Girls of Alachua County. The program incorporates research methods including critical reading and discussion, written reflection, arts-based expression, interviews and performance ethnography. I developed a reading-based curriculum with support from Dr. Taryrn Brown in the UF College of Education and other team members, and led the “Girl Talk!” program from the 2024-2025 Academic Year. We have now met for 16 weeks and are reading Girl on Fire.

Additional BGC Research

  • Afro-Latina College Student Testimonios

  • Place-Based Knowledge and Black Girls in Alternative Schools

  • Senior Honors Thesis in African American Studies titled “Girls on Fire: Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) and Arts-Based Approaches as Tools to Create Spaces for Freedom Dreaming and Understand Factors that Influence Black Girls’ Joy and Wellbeing in Educational Contexts”