It was all a dream.... This will be filed under the best. news. ever: I've been selected as the next Elementary School Principal of Achievement First North Brooklyn Prep.  *hits the dougie* This promotion comes after 10+ years in the game as a school leader and as a school teacher. After years and years of helping kids fall in love with reading by making reading fund and magical for them.  After years and years of leading teams with top test scores in the entire state (some years in the top 20, some years in the top 10, and some years in the top 5 for various tests). Where this led ..read more

So often when the world listens to women, it leaves Black women out of the conversation, and so often, our voices go unheard.  Even though we have amazing things to contribute.  This week, there was an attempt to fix that. Popular white celebrity women muted themselves and handed over their Instagram accounts to popular influencers, activists, writers, and total bosses.  All women. All Black.  This was for a campaign called #ShareTheMicNow.  When I first heard of the campaign, I was all kinds of excited because, at a time like this, the world needs to hear from ..read more

Dapper Dudes Aiden has several nerf guns. Matter of fact, he went through back-to-back-to-back Christmases and birthdays where that’s all he requested. And that’s all he got. He’s not allowed to play with any of them outside. He’s also not allowed to play with water guns outside. Matter of fact, he’s never even owned a water gun. I’ve always refused to buy them for him and refused to allow people to gift them to him. Why? Because I’m afraid that, if he had one, he'd want to do play with it outside, and police officers will see him with the water gun, mistake it for a real one, and shoot ..read more

blazer & sequin mini-skirt: Express | blouse: Target Now we sip champagne when we thirsty. (#BigUpToBiggie) I celebrated my 35th birthday a couple weeks ago, and honestly, I'm still coming down off the high of the celebration. I felt the love at home when I woke up to the couch filled with purple balloons (my favorite color -- details matter), a card from HEB, and Apple Air Pods. I felt the love at work when my co-workers decorated my office and had all 400+ students surprise me at Community Circle with a cheer in my honor. Later that day, my co-workers surprised me with lunch and red ..read more

Last weekend, I ran the Shape Women's Half-Marathon. Yeah, you read that right. I laced up my New Balance kicks, secured my bib, and ran around Central Park. Twice. And then some. It was the longest distance I've ever run. (My previous longest run was nearly 10 miles.) Miles 1-7 were good and smooth. I was in a groove and, at an average pace of 10'0"/mi, I felt like Super Woman. Then it got hot. And hard. And as it got hard, I started to think lots of thoughts. (Yes, some of them were about quitting.) So... here are 13 life thoughts about running 13.1 miles. 1. The people who say things ..read more