In this special episode, I had the honor of welcoming Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz to the podcast to share about her personal journey in academia, her best-selling poetry book "Love from the Vortex", the love lessons she has learned from her past relationships, her evolving work around racial literacy development, and much more!  If you're a lover of love, this episode is tailor made for you!  To learn more about Dr. Sealey-Ruiz's work, you can visit her website at yolandasealeyruiz.com or follow her on Instagram (@yolie_sealeyruiz) and on Twitter (@RuizSealey).  

BIO: Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz is an award-winning Associate Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on racial literacy in teacher education, Black girl literacies, and Black and Latinx male high school students. A sought-after speaker on issues of race, culturally responsive pedagogy, and diversity, Sealey-Ruiz works with K-12 and higher education school communities to increase their racial literacy knowledge and move toward more equitable school experiences for their Black and Latinx students. Sealey-Ruiz appeared in Spike Lee’s “2 Fists Up: We Gon’ Be Alright”, a documentary about the Black Lives Matter movement and the campus protests at Mizzou. Her co-authored book [with Dr. Detra Price-Dennis] Advancing Racial Literacies in Teacher Education: Toward Activism for Equity in Digital Spaces will be published in April 2021.  Her first full-length collection of poetry Love from the Vortex & Other Poems (Kalediscope Vibrations LLC) was published in March, 2020, and her sophomore book of poetry, The Peace Chronicles will be released in Summer 2021.