Artika Renee Tyner Log 3

I understand my own leadership with greater depth as a result of the Fellowship. I have engaged in ongoing reflection and strategic planning. I have also been blessed with ancestral wisdom (shared by my community elders). I am on a journey of exploring what leadership means to me through a culturally specific and community-centric lens.

Leadership is more than a title, position, or exercise of power. Although often overlooked and undervalued, our youth shall lead us to a brighter future. While spending more time in the classroom, my life has been transformed. I listened intently to young scholars as they formulated ideas about the essence of community. This led to the creation of the Rondo anthology where youth and community elders worked together to define our Rondo history and values.

Leadership is constantly expanding and evolving. It is like a mighty wind in times of accelerated change. Yet, it is as gentle as a dove in times of reflection and stillness. I have experienced both during the Fellowship experience. My professional life has dramatically changed as I emerged from a 17-year career in higher education to my dream of becoming a social entrepreneur who works to build a strong and sustainable Black ecosystem. I can now see a clear vision for having a greater impact in my community. While I have enjoyed the stillness of pausing and reflecting, I started a new research project that had been lingering in my thoughts and echoing in my spirit for over a decade. As I began reading the materials, I could see my next professional chapter with great clarity and direction.

Leadership is an art and not a science. I was trained to be very analytical hence I am always researching and searching for answers to large-scale social justice challenges. I am well-versed in qualitative and quantitative research and analysis. I build case studies and identify evidence-based best practices. During the Fellowship, I decided to try something new by focusing on my creative side. As a result, I wrote a book about the Harlem Renaissance that challenged me to dig deeper and unleash my moral imagination. I started to dream about how to build vibrant and sustainable communities through arts-based community development. What emerged was beyond my wildest dreams, I was able to build partnerships with artists from around the world. I developed a strategic plan for using the arts to bring forth transformation in my hometown— Rondo. We are now building a Rondo Renaissance where the arts and humanities are supporting cultural preservation and legacy building.

Leadership is a team sport with no spectators allowed. I have learned the importance of everyone playing their position. We are all fearfully and wonderfully made with a unique set of gifts and talents. When we work together, we are unstoppable. I am reminded of the African proverb: “Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.”

Leadership is about impact. I have been reflecting on the responsibility of leaders to make a great impact and leave a legacy of change. This is a dire need in my community due to the disparities that we face in every quality of life indicator. Therefore, I decided to create a pathway to change.

Here is a recent reflection on my commitment to advancing equity in education and dismantling the school to prison pipeline: “What keeps me up at night is the staggering reality that over 5 million Black students in the United States are struggling with reading. In my own Rondo community, 75% of children who resemble me are not proficient readers and therefore four times more likely to drop out of school and 3.5 times more likely to fall into the school to prison pipeline. This underscores the critical need for our early intervention and strategic action.

The risks I anticipate are deeply entrenched in challenging the status quo with a sense of urgency. It involves confronting schools and literacy organizations to acknowledge the multifaceted nature of the issue beyond just the science of reading. Historical trauma, stemming from restrictions on learning and reading during slavery, has left lasting scars on our community’s relationship with education and reading. Limited access to formal schooling and public libraries during the era of Jim Crow further exacerbated these barriers, a reality that echoes in the lived experiences of my own parents and grandparents.

This issue is not confined to the past; it persists today, compounded by the fact that 80% of brain development occurs by age three, yet access to early childhood education remains limited for many Black children. Thus, there is a pressing need for healing and connection within the Black community, reframing education and reading as tools of cultural resilience and strength.

Navigating these obstacles will require bold action, unwavering determination, and a commitment to dismantling systemic barriers. However, the potential impact of fostering a community where every child has the opportunity to thrive academically and culturally far outweighs the challenges that lie ahead.”

In conclusion, I have learned that leadership is a lifelong journey of learning and growth. The lessons that I have learned will inform my strategies for building a vibrant and sustainable Black ecosystem in my Rondo community.