The Exit Interview: A Podcast for Black Educators

The Exit Interview: A Podcast for Black Educators

The Exit Interview: A Podcast for Black Educators aims to document and honor the lived experiences of Black educators who have decided to leave the profession. Rooted in archival justice, the podcast elevates their stories as a powerful form of truth-telling, healing, and resistance. It serves as an oral history archive capturing the experiences of Black educators across the U.S. By highlighting Black voices and their reasons for leaving or staying, it ignites important conversations about wellness, racial battle fatigue, and what is needed to transform educational spaces into environments where Black educators can thrive.

Episodes

October 19, 2026 • 72 mins
What happens when you care deeply about education, but the personal cost becomes too great? Elisha Roberts, M.Ed didn't just want to change schools. She built one. 
From challenging traditional school practices to creating spaces where students had a voice in their own education, Elisha spent years pushing the boundaries of what was possible. But innovation came with resistance, institutional politics, and sacri...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Shani Dowellleft a business career for a seventh-grade math classroom, then left the classroom to build Possip a listening platform now used by over 1,000 schools in 35+ states. In this episode, she talks candidly about her non-traditional path into teaching, the reality of a two-teacher household on a $30K salary, recruiting at HBCUs, and why "contentedness" might be the most underrated wellness strategy for edu...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

In this special episode of The Exit Interview, Dr. Asia Lyons shares a milestone eight years in the making: the podcast's permanent archival at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the first podcast ever accepted into its collection.  She traces the story back to her own 2018 exit interview, the moment of relief that sparked th...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Stacie McClam went from being bused to "better" schools as a Black child in LA, to teaching across DC, Japan, Denver, and Kuwait, and what she found everywhere was the same broken system dressed up differently.


She became the "fix-up lady," repeatedly hired mid-year to salvage classrooms other teachers fled. She watche...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
S. Jae Ali, EdM, has taught in Charlotte, Chicago, China, and Brazil, and every classroom taught her something the next one couldn't fix. In this episode, the South Side Chicago native and former educator gets honest about the racism she faced in her teacher prep program, the mental health toll of toxic leadership, the thrill of watching struggling students soar, and why she ultimately walked away from the classroom. Fro...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Danica Moore, Ed.D.knew she was meant to teach before she even had a lesson plan, from sharpening skills with second graders at 10 years old to taking over her Sunday school class on a dare. With nearly 20 years in education, she's worn every hat: special ed teacher, ESL specialist, reading and math coach, equity facilitator, district office leader, and now founder of Fortified Educational Practices ...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
What happens when the system tells you that you "care too much"?
ForJamita Horton, Ed.D, that moment in a Milwaukee principal's office was the beginning of a decade-long journey of pressing reset on her classroom, her career, and ultimately herself.
In this episode of The Exit Interview, Dr. Horton takes us from Sunday school teacher's aide to kindergarten...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Dr. Nadia A. Bennettdoesn't just talk about leading; she's lived it, from an air mattress on the floor of a Philly apartment to founding her own national education consulting firm, When Brown Girls Lead.In this episode ofThe Exit Interview: A Podcast for Black Educators, I sit down with Dr. Nadia for a raw, spirit-filled conversation about what it actually takes to climb the...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Melissa Leonard-Goodlett, EdD. knew she was a diversity hire. She took the job anyway because she was also the most qualified person in the room.

In this episode of The Exit Interview, Dr. Melissa breaks down a career that went from dyslexic kid playing teacher with her siblings, to AP English instructor watching Black students pay for a high school education they never actually received, to burning out at a wealthy PWI where parent...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Kamye Hugleyis back, and this time, she's talking about what happens when you trade the classroom for the nonprofit world. Fan favorite Kamye returns to The Exit Interview to share her truth about making the leap from Black educator to nonprofit professional.

Spoiler: it wasn't the escape she imagined. From navigating workplace dysfunction to rediscovering her worth, Kamye breaks...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Her closing words? Joy chaser. And she means it.


Born in Anchorage, raised to become a lawyer, and fully resistant to the classroom, Jessica Reed-Thomas, Ed.D., fought off teaching for years. Then, a mentor, a university employee with good intuition and an air-conditioned education building at Temple University, ch...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Nye Trustybrings a candid, layered, and deeply necessary conversation about identity, belonging, and why representation without inclusion is just window dressing.
She's worn many names and even more hats: teacher, coach, doctoral student, and now nonprofit founder. In this episode, she gets raw about what it really means to show up fully in spaces that weren't built for you, including...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
March 31, 2026 • 68 mins

Kelly Mitchell's journey through education is a crash course in recognizing when systems are working exactly as designed...not for us. From stumbling into teaching via Craigslist after the 2009 recession, to middle school math teacher, to high school dean managing 350 students, to state workforce development, Kelly kept asking, "Who can fix this?"...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Kai Hamer's journey from aspiring rapper to special education teacher to parent engagement director is a love letter to the Bronx. Starting in shelters and after-school programs, she spent 10+ years teaching in her own neighborhood, collecting kids from behind soda machines, visiting grandmothers who couldn't leave home, and fighting for students ...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
This conversation is a testament to how classroom teaching can birth movements that extend far beyond what we could ever imagine.In this episode, Dr. Asia sits down withLatoya Turner, M.A., a Detroit-born educator, author, and filmmaker who spent 13 years in the classroom before pivoting to create Brown Hands Literacy, a nonprofit dedicated to educating children about HBCUs through books...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

What does it mean to be the only Black teacher at the table year after year?

In this powerful episode of The Exit Interview: A Podcast for Black Educators, Dr. Asia Lyons sits down with Monika Robinson, a former public school teacher, instructional coach, nonprofit leader, and founder of Reparations Ed, to unpack the quiet isol...

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
This episode withWhitney Tolliveris essential listening for educators at any stage of their career, administrators who wonder why they can't retain staff, and anyone who's ever sacrificed their well-being for a job that demands perfection over presence.In this powerful episode of the Exit interview,Whitneyshares her journey from enthusiastic first-grade teacher ...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
In this episode, Dr. Asia Lyons interviews Khiara Mills Mills, a licensed therapist and former school counselor, about her journey through education, mental health, and personal growth. Mills shares how setting boundaries became a cornerstone of her healing, both professionally and personally. She discusses the challenges of working in behavioral schools, the importance of self-care and core values, and how grief and resilience sha...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
In this episode, Dr. Asia welcomesJeanine L. Williams, PhD, a retired educator turned ancestral medicine woman, for a powerful conversation about liberation, sovereignty, and healing beyond academia. Dr. Williams shares her journey through higher education, the challenges of navigating oppressive systems, and the importance of community care and ancestral wisdom.Together, they discuss th...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
November 25, 2025 • 89 mins
In this episode, I sit down with educator and bibliophileKamye Hugleyto explore what happens when Black women in education refuse to stay quiet in the face of harm.Kamye traces her journey from her grandmothers urging to be a teacher, to a Teach For America placement that threw her from third grade to Head Start mid-year, to a Head Start classroom tucked in a portable with coyotes undern...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    The Bobby Bones Show

    Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.

    The Joe Rogan Experience

    The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.

  • Help
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • AdChoicesAd Choices