Dr. Regina Patton Stell can still remember the middle school teacher who first inspired her to teach: a “strikingly beautiful,” six-foot Black woman who drove a Mustang, loved to write and dressed immaculately. 

 

Dr. Stell has now known decades of leaving her own mark on students in classrooms and on school systems at large. For more than 30 years, she served as a special ed teacher-turned-principal and director, having been appointed the first Black assistant superintendent of her school district in Riverside, California. Later, she’d go on to hold a different office in Riverside as the president of its NAACP county branch, a position she still holds to this day.

 

What’s gotten her here, she says, is an unflagging sense of adventure, a hunger for autonomy and a knack for thriving under adverse circumstances. Combined, it all adds up to a spirit of perseverance that’s defined her life choices. 

 

“I’m at my best when I’m under adversity and in a corner, because I’m coming out swinging,” she says. “And I’m going to win. The best times in my life have been when I’ve done something you told me I couldn’t do.”

 

On this episode of the Still Winning podcast, Mikala hears from Dr. Stell about her origin story as a child of eight growing up in 1950s and 1960s Chicago, the impact she’s made in her career, and how she learned to become her own best cheerleader. 

 

What You’ll Learn:

• The advice Dr. Stell’s mother gave her that helped her pursue her doctorate degree while raising four kids
• Why having a “spiritual base” is a superpower, and what that’s looked like for her
• The morning routine that kicks her creativity into motion
• And much more!

 

Favorite Quote:

“You’ve got to have a vision and you’ve got to have a dream, or you’ll perish. That’s biblical.”

— Dr. Regina Patton Stell

 

How to Get Involved:

 

Connect with Dr. Stell: 

 

NAACP Riverside

 

[email protected]

 

Connect with Mikala:

 

Facebook