Early childhood educator and photographer Kati Douglas and I talk about her career in the education field and what her first few years in leadership were like. We talk about what it’s like to deal with white supremacy as a biracial Black mom of Black kids with a Black partner. We also talk about how her struggle with postpartum depression catalyzed a radical career path change, and how she puts equity and justice at the center of all her work.

You can find Kati’s absolutely gorgeous photography at
xilophotography.com and @xilophotography on instagram.

Early childhood education, leadership in education,  San Francisco, Oakland, post-partum depression, self-care, mental health, parenting, photography, career path, career transitions, relationships, Black Lives Matter, institutional oppression in education, Black experience in parenting, making art, grief.

The wonderful Buen Dia Family School, serving preschoolers in the Mission in San Francisco. 

Kati’s principal at Flynn Elementary in San Francisco was Dr. Karling Aguilera-Fort, now a superintendent of schools in Southern California.

We talk in the episode about the acquittal of Treyvon Martin’s murderer, and about the murder of George Floyd, and the Black Lives Matter movement. Learn BLM herstory here.

Thank you to ALL my patrons for making this podcast happen, and for making it better! And a special shout out, as always, to my Failure and Redemption level patrons: Noah, Melissa, Marck, Lisa, Kurt, Kristina, Jen, Jeannie, Heather, Elyse, Liz, Eidell, Bonnie, Barry, and Amy, and to my Serendipity level patrons: Steve and Cyndi, Micharelle, Laurie, Kristi, Dorian, Brittany and Jodi.

You, too, can become a patron of the show at patreon.com/nextthingpod. Patrons now get billed only when I release an episode, so you won’t even get billed monthly! Set it and forget it, and I’ll give you a heads-up before you get charged. This is a one-person operation, and it’s made better with your support. Thank you.

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nextthingpodcast dot com
where you’ll find complete transcripts and detailed show notes for every episode, all the social links and subscribe buttons, and the archive of every episode. Stay tuned for some fun podcast schwag coming soon…

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“Zip dot Wav” sound effect in this episode by jackjames_tomknevitt, used under a CC BY 3.0 license, via freesound.org.

The banana peel is by Max Ronnersjö.
The theme and interstitial music are by Jon Schwartz. 

Thanks everybody. We’re so glad you tuned in.