Today we’d like to introduce you to Tierra Stewart.
Tierra, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
In middle school when Katrina hit, what followed the natural disaster followed me forever. I saw my people not being prioritized in rescue efforts and being called refugees. I had my first awakening, I knew I wanted to be in service to my people because it didn’t seem like our pain and suffering were important to this country. I had one problem, I was deeply afraid to speak and to be heard.
I felt a powerful urge to speak but was afraid of my voice and being bullied by my peers for how I spoke. My first time having to speak in front of my peers was for an 8th grade assignment. I fled the room and cried in the bathroom. From that day forward, I was committed to conquering this fear by directly placing myself in any position possible requiring me to lead or speak. I would go on to become Class President and held leadership roles within numerous service clubs in High School.
Then I saw The Great Debaters, Black Students using their voice with such a force, and advocating on issues they believed in. I found what I wanted to do, and because I saw people who looked like me doing it, I knew that it was possible. I would go on to join the mocktail team and win Best Attorney three times consecutively at the district, regional, and state level. I organized community-wide service events supporting homeless youth, raising money, and organizing resources. I never imagined I would then be recognized by Representative Anne Gonzales of the Ohio state legislature as one of Ohio’s most exceptional young citizens and future leaders. I knew I wanted to advocate for my people, and I decided the best way to do that was to become an attorney.
I went to Ohio University to study political science. I had a deep passion for how I was going to serve my community. I was gravely disappointed by what was being taught in the classroom about power and leadership, opposite to my ideas and instincts of how to build and engage in community, and it didn’t help that I was the only Black person in all my classes, of less than %5 on the entire campus. This is what brought me to the DMV in the summer of 2013. I wanted to understand what was happening covertly in this Country, what they didn’t teach me in school, or what was not a part of the college curriculum.
D.C. is where I encountered a life-changing awakening, one that opened my eyes to the erasure of our stories and the hidden structural barriers that are in place. I realized the educational system intentionally worked to not include me or my ancestors, our interest, or liberation; that it is such a powerful tool of socialization. We are being positioned to assimilate as insubordinates into a eurocentric dominated culture, and are being taught to be obedient and compliant with the systems, to not question them, but to learn and participate in them with a set of standardized universal terms (i.e professionalism).
D.C. is where I experienced a community-centric approach to my development as a leader and youth development practitioner, a community-based education, being trained by real organizers and youth developers, and participating in community-based programs. The greatest decision I made for my leadership journey which is why I always bring a unique experience and approach to youth work and leadership, that’s transformative and people-and communal centric.
My work started with addressing the school-to-prison pipeline. I was designing comprehensive after-school programming and building community within some of the most under-resourced communities. I was working to engage administrations, students, parents, and the larger community. No one was able to fill programs in the way I was able to, and get parents engaged at the level that I did. This work earned me a 40 under 40 leadership award at the age of 26, the youngest recipient in the room. You can lead and do it transformatively at any age. While I was making an impact I was starting to feel discouraged in the work knowing that I wasn’t at the root of the problem, but rather at the results. I knew real change was at the roots.
Roots = Systems. How can I continue my work at the systems level? I was turned off from politics because of the corruption, and didn’t see where I fit in. We needed people with true integrity and rooted in the true essence of leadership. So that catapulted my time training young women for positions of political leadership. I then realized by going into the corrupt systems and trying to “change” them you are still perpetuating their ability to stay alive and operate. There has to be another way I can serve and make an impact. This is the journey I have been on. So I launched my organization LEAD THE WAY.
Through LEAD THE WAY I have been able to create an archive of resources and developed a curriculum that will help revolutionize how we work with youth, organize in community, and lead. LEAD THE WAY is my gift back to the community and to help those who want to take the same approach and journey in youth development and leadership as me. It’s how I am passing the baton to the next generation.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The biggest challenge has been shifting the despair of paid professionals into hope. You encounter so many who have given up on our communities and our youth. This country doesn’t see our youth as children, and only sees us as machines to perform a service. There is so much gatekeeping because everyone is in competition with each other and chasing the imagery of impact and not the actual libatory shift that can help transform a community or the life of youth.
They are in pursuit of a story and more money.
What I hope is that I am able to cross-collaborate with community-based organizations who have the same mission and we work collectively to build community and empower our youth. There is such a lack of funding for black organizations and leaders, and the bigger organizations, even those you personally invested time and brain power in, don’t cross-empower because they view you as a threat.
Plantation Capitalism within the Nonprofit industry is real, well, alive, and thriving. Not conforming to the performance of impact , but eing mission-driven, even when you are ignored, disregarded, and thrown away, may be one of the hardest pursuits of a people-communal-centric transformative leader or organization. You must stay the course regardless if they see you or try to scare you away.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about LEAD THE WAY?
LEAD THE WAY is putting the power back into the hands of the people by returning to community, investing in our Youth, and redefining what Leadership looks, sounds, and feels like. It’s time we disrupt structural barriers that are the root of injustices, inequities, economical inequality, and social misery.
We do this by prioritizing community care and healing while equipping and empowering individuals, organizations, and institutions with the knowledge and tools to champion systemic change through cultivating spirited, wholistic, brave, and transformational spaces that honor the humanity of all.
We design, train, and support the facilitation of spirited, brave, wholistic, and transformational spaces rooted in Groundbreaking Leadership.
Programs we would like to highlight: Youth educators Disrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline Project, where youth organizations Youth Development and Staff Capacity Building opportunities to advance the effectiveness of their programming, increase student engagement, and invest in staff.
Community Freedom Leaders Seminar, where we gather students on campuses and in their classrooms for an interactive experience. Participants learn how youth and Black women have been major drivers of social movements, learn about some of these hidden figures, and will identify how they will contribute to the collective way forward.
Sacred Spaces, is a free workshop tour where people will pause, reflect, and practice a deep sense of self-awareness and wholeness in order to renew the spirit and reground themselves. These are interactive and emotionally safeguarded environments, that use facilitation as a practice of freedom, and spirituality as the ground for growth.
What do you think about luck?
Faith is driving my journey.
I am on assignment from my creator and he has prepared a way for me; therefore, I don’t fear what’s ahead. I am leaning into every obstacle that is only going to shape and sharpen me, so that I may fulfill what was written in the will of land.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://letsleadtheway.org/
- Instagram: @letsleadtheway
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lets-lead-the-way/
