2025 Instructors
Michelle B. Taylor, Ph.D. is an author, activist, public speaker, podcaster, and consultant. She is the founder of Sankofa Summer School and is committed to liberation through education and enlightenment. Dr. Taylor's research interests include Hip Hop culture, LGBTQ identity, African American cinema, gender equity, social work and mental health, and socioeconomic justice advocacy. She is an adjunct professor of race, gender, and media (film) and cohost of the podcast Black Girl Missing. Read more: https://www.sankofasummerschool.com/about
Vedia Barnett is a disabled Air Force veteran, an advocate for women veterans, and is a community organizer. She has a Master's degree from George Washington University in Women, Gender & Sexualities with an emphasis on Black women veterans’ health and mental wellbeing. After surviving a stroke in 2019, Vedia discovered the outdoors not just as a place of rest — but as a sanctuary for healing, reflection, and power. Nature became her refuge and her remedy, anchoring her recovery and reigniting her purpose. That personal transformation deepened her resolve to ensure other women veterans — especially Black women — could access that same healing. Vedia’s mission is to guide Black women veterans back to the outdoors, not just for recreation, but for restoration. She sees these spaces as part of our ancestral inheritance — sacred ground where we remember who we are, where we’ve come from, and what we deserve. Through her leadership, her organization, The Vet Space, invites Black women veterans to heal in nature, reclaim their stories, and take up space, boldly and joyfully. She is also one of the co-chairs of the Black Veteran Caucus at Common Defense, board member of Minority Veterans of America and a life member of Disabled American Veterans. As a two-time triathlete and two-time marathoner, Vedia finds joy in pushing her physical and mental boundaries through exploring the great outdoors. When she isn’t exploring a nearby trail, glamping or kayaking, Vedia is visiting wineries, brunching, or reading/writing historical fiction.
Leslie Mac is a Brooklyn-born, North Carolina-based activist, strategist, and writer who brings decades of experience organizing at the intersection of race, faith, and justice. A lifelong advocate for Black liberation, she is widely known for her work creating digital campaigns that center the most marginalized and amplify community-led solutions. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Essence, and on MSNBC. Leslie approaches organizing through a humanist and Afrocentric lens, building spaces that honor the full humanity of Black people—especially Black women. From defending reproductive freedom to holding space for joy and rest, her work is grounded in collective care and rooted in Black radical tradition. This marks her second year as a Sankofa Summer School instructor. Leslie brings a commitment to political education that informs action and builds power. She believes deeply in the role of cultural and historical awareness in collective liberation—and in creating learning experiences that leave participants better equipped to transform the world around them.
Nairobi Hilaire is a guerilla farmer, writer and archivist of the Black imagination. She was born in Los Angeles, California with matrilineal roots in the French West Indies and patrilineal roots in Lowcountry South Carolina. Her work illuminates the intimacy of witnessing and honors the courage and strategy it takes to live on in the face of external threats. She believes this perseverance is what’s most visible in her work and what is most needed in this world. Nairobi authors a microanthology series, the first installment of which is titled "Who Can Delineate This Bloodline If Not Me"
Miller (@thankyoumiller) is a Black trans educator, facilitator, and strategist with over 15 years of experience designing transformative learning spaces at the intersections of identity, leadership, and liberation. Known for their direct yet compassionate approach, Miller supports individuals and organizations in moving beyond performative inclusion toward lasting cultural change. Their work centers Black queer and trans ways of knowing, unlearning, and reimagining. From keynote stages to community workshops, Miller creates spaces where complexity is honored, accountability is practiced, and care is a collective responsibility. Whether guiding difficult conversations, designing curriculum, or coaching leaders, Miller is deeply committed to helping people—and the systems they navigate—move from intention to integrity. He is the founder of The Miller Consulting Group (The MCG), where he leads work focused on gender-expansive education, accountable leadership, and workplace repair.
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey—"Chilltown" to its natives—Lorena Candelario is a first-generation Dominican American and a proud Afro-Latina. She has relentlessly championed Black liberation in the Dominican Republic, confronting fierce pushback from both family and community to reclaim African pride in the motherland. Her article, "The Anti-Blackness in the Dominican Republic," exploded across the nation, earning widespread acclaim from historians. Lorena is currently completing a Master's in Public Health at William Paterson University, where her research tackles vaccine hesitancy. Concurrently, she dedicates her expertise to a nonprofit organization, working to improve the disparities in birthing outcomes for Black and Brown individuals.
Dr. Shanae S. Jefferies is a dynamic scholar-practitioner with a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of North Texas, where she also pursued interdisciplinary studies in Workforce Development, Learning Technology, and Sociolinguistics. She currently serves as a Sociology Professor at Collin College while leading full-time in the field of healthcare market research and strategic insights. With over a decade of experience in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Dr. Jefferies specializes in issues of social stratification and inequality—examining how systems of race, class, gender, age, and ability shape access to opportunity. Her research and professional work focus on naming’s relationship with workforce and labor discrimination, as well as qualitative methodologies that elevate lived experiences into actionable insights. Dr. Jefferies is also a passionate advocate for mental health, therapy, and mindfulness, bringing a holistic and empathetic perspective to her work in both academia and industry. Originally from the military base Fort Cavazos, Texas, she is deeply rooted in her community and dedicated to fostering inclusive, equitable environments wherever she leads. To learn more about Dr. Jefferies please visit her website at ShanaeShantel.com, connect on LinkedIn, or send an email to DrShanaeShantel@gmail.com.
Dr. Reynaldo Anderson currently serves as an Associate Professor of Africology and African American Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Reynaldo is currently the Executive Director and co-founder of the Black Speculative Arts Movement (BSAM), an international network of artists, intellectuals, creatives, and activists. He is the co-editor of the following anthologies and journals, Afrofuturism 2.0: The Rise of Astro-Blackness and The Black Speculative Arts Movement: Black Futurity, Art+Design (Lexington Books, 2015, 2019), Cosmic Underground: A Grimoire of Black Speculative Discontent (Cedar Grove Publishing, 2018), Black Lives, Black Politics, Black Futures, a special issue of TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies (2018), and When is Wakanda: Afrofuturism and Dark Speculative Futurity (The Journal of Futures Studies, 2019). Reynaldo served as a member of the curatorial council for Carnegie Hall’s Afrofuturism festival in 2022. He was recognized by the National Council of Black Studies with the 2025 Fanny Lou Hamer/ Kwame Nkrumah award for Academic Leadership and Service in the African world and is the author of the forthcoming book Afrofuturism and World Order with the Ohio State University Press. This is Dr. Anderson's second year with Sankofa Summer School
Ritchie Hall II, Ph.D., is a distinguished psychologist renowned for his dynamic clinical approach and unwavering dedication to mental health advocacy. As the founder and lead psychologist at Psychworks Clinic, he provides a haven for healing in Cincinnati and Oxford, Ohio. Specializing in dialectical behavioral therapy and motivational interviewing through a systems theory lens, Dr. Hall is an in-demand therapist and an empowering asset to his community. Dr. Hall earned his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Cincinnati, where he also received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. His research focuses on the impact of racism on mental health, Black men’s mental health, and dialectal behavioral therapy. He is the president of the Cincinnati Association of Black Psychologists and the founder of Cincinnati Black Therapists. Dr. Hall’s work extends beyond the clinic through frequent podcasts and panel appearances, including the "Ask Dr. Hall" segment on Cincinnati's Local Channel 12's Good Morning Cincinnati.
Naomi Washington-Leapheart, a daughter of Detroit, is an adjunct faculty member in the Theology and Religious Studies department at Villanova University. Most recently, Naomi was the Faith Outreach Director at the National LGBTQ Task Force. Prior to working at the Task Force, she was the suburban community organizer for POWER, a multi-faith, multi-racial network of congregations in Metro Philadelphia. She also served as Co-Pastor and Minister of Music at the Wisdom’s Table at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ. She is affiliated with the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries and the United Church of Christ, and earned the Master of Divinity degree from Lancaster Theological Seminary in 2016. Naomi delights in singing with the Philly Threshold Choir, a group whose mission is to bring audible comfort and kindness to people in hospice care. She is a board member of Roots of Justice, a collective of anti-racism trainers and organizers. In 2016, Naomi was invited to serve as a member of the Faith and Spiritual Affairs Advisory Board of the City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Disability Services, and in 2017, she was appointed by Mayor John Kenney to the Philadelphia Commission on LGBT Affairs. Naomi’s work is included in the volume,”From Generation to Generation: A Commemorative Collection of African American Millennial Sermons from the Festival of Preachers 2010-2015, a rare and unique compilation of what the nation’s most promising young African-American ministers are thinking and proclaiming about the Christian faith (Chalice Press, 2015).
Terrell Strayhorn is Professor of Education and Psychology at Virginia Union University, where he also serves as Associate Provost and Director of Research in the Center for the Study of Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs). He teaches/advises at colleges and universities across the nation and owns a fast-paced firm, Do Good Work Consulting, that partners with hundreds of schools, districts, colleges, and businesses each year for strategic planning, leadership coaching, training and more. Author of over 14 books and more than 200 academic publications, Strayhorn is a contributing writer for Entrepreneur, AllBusiness, and Psychology Today, to name a few. A member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and multi-hyphenate, Strayhorn proudly identifies as a blogger, entrepreneur, musician, preacher, public-speaker, podcaster, and father of two.