Today we’d like to introduce you to Katherine Lebron.
Katherine, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My mother, who left everything behind in the Dominican Republic in search of better opportunities in the U.S., would always tell me, “Yo no soy rica. No te puedo dejar una herencia monetaria. La herencia que si te puedo dejar es la de tu educación y eso nadie te lo puede quitar.” This loosely translates to, “I am not rich. I cannot leave your wealth. The inheritance that I can give you is your education; something no one can take from you.”
Growing up in Boston, I attended a dual language school called the Rafael Hernandez, where I was taught by many teachers who looked like me and shared a similar upbringing. Much of the curriculum, particularly the art one, reflected, honored and celebrated my family’s cultural heritage and my bi-cultural identity. I can recall feeling proud of who I was – a Dominican-American kid with two languages growing inside of her who loved to learn and perform for others.
The relationship to my Dominican ancestry and heritage were deepened and further complicated in High School when I took Spanish for Native Speakers – where I learned about transnational and bi-cultural identities and how they’re shaped as well as the U.S. and European Imperialism, Colonization and their long-lasting impacts on people’s histories, governments, and lives. It was the first time that I learned real history – not the whitewashed version that supports and upholds white supremacy and colonial ideologies. This class opened my eyes to understand the importance of studying history from multiple perspectives and to use the information I learned to educate and mobilize others for a change. I felt seen, validated, and affirmed as an individual and as part of a collective. That class sparked something in me – an insatiable thirst for knowledge and the need to catalyze change.
After graduating from Smith College, I started teaching at an elementary school in Washington Heights, NYC. During my fifth year at this school, I worked as a Social Action Teacher and School Culture Coach. With my students’ educational, cultural and racial backgrounds in mind, I developed a culturally responsive and social justice based curriculum for elementary students. I wanted my students to act as agents of change for their communities. I quickly realized how impactful this work is and decided to broaden my reach beyond the classroom.
I started The Radical Maestra, an online platform that provides anti-racist and culturally responsive educational resources for teachers, students and families, and community members.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The road to where I am today has been rife with challenges and hard lessons. As diverse as Boston in, I grew up in segregated areas, among only Black and Brown folks. When I got to college, the reality that I was a cash-poor, Brown girl hit me hard and I became starkly aware of how “different” I was in a sea of mostly privileged, White women. For the first month of college, I was scared to participate in classes because I didn’t feel prepared enough, smart enough, good enough… enough. Although I ended up loving my college experience because of the community I was able to cultivate there, it was still tainted by racist experiences, ignorant assumptions, and feelings of never fully belonging. After college, I moved to a brand new city, where life is more fast-paced and you’re constantly having to hustle to make ends meet. I ended up resigning from a school that I loved working at because the principal was racist and failed to examine her discriminatory hiring and promotional practices, despite me making her aware of them. However, this was a blessing in disguise, because it allowed me to reflect on my own passions and talents, which led me to start The Radical Maestra.
The Radical Maestra – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
At The Radical Maestra, we provide educational resources, curriculum, and workshops to educators, students, families, and community members as a means to foster positive racial identity, dismantle racism, and other systemic inequities in education. We envision learning spaces grounded in ANTI-RACISM, FREEDOM, and CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, where students are at the center and educators facilitate meaningful learning experiences with, by and for them. I truly believe that anti-racist and culturally responsive work starts by transforming individuals, so I am most proud of working with students and new teachers. I had a great time facilitating a workshop on toxic masculinity with a group of newly arrived Dominican boys because we don’t have these kinds of conversations with young people and the more we start doing so at a young age, the better the position they will be to make this world a better place in the future. What sets me apart from other consultants are my lived experiences, my positionality as a Dominican-American woman born and raised in Boston, and that I have worked with a gamut of people with different backgrounds.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success looks different for everyone. For me, I feel successful when I plant a seed in someone’s head and get them to look differently at an issue than they did before. I feel successful when people follow and amplify my work so that it spreads and reaches more people. The goal is to aid people in using education to make systemic changes that move us towards an equitable society, so if I spark a conversation about the need for anti-racist training, if I get a student to organize a protest for a cause they care deeply about, if I get a family to advocate on behalf of children’s learning needs – these are all steps to success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.theradicalmaestra.com
- Email: theradicalmaestra@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theradicalmaestra/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Radical-Maestra
- Other: https://linkedin.com/in/katherinelebron/
Image Credit:
Ev Martinez (@xicanayork)
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
