Keiyonna Dubashi is a highly experienced educator with more than 16 years of experience in the field of education. She is a National Board Certified teacher and has a strong background in elementary education and administration. After teaching for over a decade, Dubashi joined the non-profit sector where she has been actively involved in creating professional development programs that focus on culturally responsive teaching for teachers across rural eastern North Carolina. Her most recent work is centered around her role as the Founder and Executive Director of Profound Ladies. She is a proud mother of two sons - Naim and Waseem, and currently resides with her family in Raleigh, North Carolina.
In January 2021, Ms. Dubashi and Anna Almore published a story on Education NC’s essential education news website (ednc.org). In her article, Ms. Dubashi discusses the vision of Profound Ladies, a new women of color education advocacy organization in North Carolina. Profound Ladies, founded in 2020, “equips women of color educators with the mentorship, training, leadership, and career development needed to shift the educational landscape from the ground up.” NC’s student population is predominantly black, indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) yet the racial makeup of the teacher workforce is 80% white. Having teachers of color provides identity and hope to the majority BIPOC student population because they can see themselves in teachers who look like them. BIPOC students relate better to people who look like them, offering the students hope that they, too, can access a path to becoming college-educated teachers themselves.
Profound Ladies is a supportive network that provides care and dignity to BIPOC teachers who work primarily in rural districts. These teachers often face “workplace toxicity, microaggressions, overt racism, racialized trauma, and disrespect” which could potentially push them to leave the teaching field. The organization is inspired by Anna Julia Cooper, who fought for the "undisputed dignity" of women of color over 100 years ago. Profound Ladies continues this fight for the dignity of BIPOC women and girls, hoping that its empowerment will bring positive change in the world.
Click on this link to learn more about the Profound Ladies' Spreading the Love tour. https://www.ednc.org/profound-ladies-spread-the-love-tour/
https://www.ednc.org/perspective-supporting-bipoc-women-in-the-classroom-profound-ladies/
