The Perkins Platform

Executive director of the newly created Office of Human Trafficking Prevention and Baton Rouge native, Dr. Dana R. Hunter, joins us for an important conversation on the impact of human trafficking on individuals and what the State of Louisiana is doing to fight it. In 2017, after serving in various leadership roles in academia and government, she was appointed by Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards as the Executive Director of the Governor’s Office Children’s Cabinet. In this role, she worked passionately to coordinate and align resources and policies to better outcomes for children in the state of Louisiana.  She worked closely with Governor Edwards and First Lady Donna Edwards to facilitate statewide anti-human trafficking efforts and the Human Trafficking Prevention Commission. This past year, Governor John Bel Edwards appointed Dr. Hunter to serve as Executive Director of the newly established Governor’s Office of Human Trafficking Prevention. The mission of this office is to prevent and combat human trafficking and to promote healing and justice for victims and survivors.  Additionally, the OHTP will take a lead role in creating a statewide cohesive care coordination model for victims regardless of their location and identity and a network of resources to aid in prevention. Tune in on Wednesday, May 4 @ 6pm EST!

Justice Shannon Frison joins us on Wednesday, April 27 @ 6pm EST to share some of her experiences overcoming bias. She was appointed to the Massachusetts Superior Court in March of 2013 at the age 42. She took that seat after serving for more than three years on the Boston Municipal Court, beginning her tenure on the bench at age 39. Before her appointment, Justice Frison practiced locally and abroad as owner of Frison Law Firm, P.C. Her practice focused on “blue collar” criminal law and military justice. Justice Frison Graduated from Hyde Park Career Academy and earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Government from Harvard University & Radcliffe College. She went on to receive her Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center. Justice Frison also holds the rank of Major in the United States Marine Corps, and is a Marine Corps Judge Advocate. She completed Officer Candidates School and accepted her commission in the U.S. Marine Corps and continued on to complete The Basic School and Naval Justice School. From 1997-2000 she was the prosecutor aboard Marine Corps Air Station New River in Jacksonville, North Carolina. In addition to serving the country and practicing law, she has served as a Guberman Teaching Fellow at Brandeis University for three years teaching “Introduction to Law,” as well as appearing as guest lecturer at Brandeis on military justice and military tribunals. Justice Frison is a jurist, a Major of Marines, and a mentor to new trial lawyers.

Dynamic speaker and transformational leader and educator, PJ Caposey, joins us to share his thoughts on how school leaders can build realistic optimism. PJ began his career as an award-winning teacher in the inner-city of Chicago and has subsequently led significant change in every administrative post he has held. He became a principal at the age of 28 and within three years was able to lead a small-town/rural school historically achieving near the bottom of its county to multiple national recognitions. After four years, he moved to his current district, Meridian CUSD 223, as superintendent and has led a similar turnaround leading to multiple national recognitions for multiple different efforts.PJ is also a best-selling author and has written 8 books for various publishers. His work and commentary has been featured on sites such as the Washington Post, NPR, CBS This Morning, ASCD, Edutopia, the Huffington Post, and was featured in a Global Leaders Forum thinkpiece alongside the likes of General Petraeus and General McChrystal. He works in the Education Department of two universities and in a myriad of capacities with the Illinois Principal's Association including Principal Coach and author of the first complete stack of MicroCredentials offered in Illinois. Tune in on Wednesday, April 20 @ 6pm EST!

Join us on Wednesday, April 13 @ 6pm EST for an informative conversation with Dr. Valerie Young, who is considered the foremost expert on impostor syndrome and co-founder of Impostor Syndrome Institute. In addition to speaking at over 100 universities in the US, Canada, Japan, Europe, and the UK including Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and Oxford, she’s spoken at such diverse organizations as Google,Pfizer, BP, Facebook, P&G, Intel, Boeing, Microsoft, and many more. And her work has been cited around the world including in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, and Science. Valerie earned her doctoral degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where she studied internal barriers to women’s achievement. Although her research subjects consisted of a racially diverse group of professional women, much of her original findings have proved directly applicable to anyone with impostor feelings. And her award-winning book The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Impostor Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It with Random House is now in six languages.

Author of The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better, Thatcher Wine, joins us to share his thoughts on Monotasking. The Twelve Monotasks grew out of Thatcher’s efforts to improve his own productivity and creativity, reduce stress, and be more connected to friends and family. He has long been an advocate for reading as a form of self-care and a means to build focus in the digital age, concepts that form part of the foundation of his book. He is also the Founder & CEO of Juniper Books, a twenty person company based in Boulder, Colorado, that produces beautiful book sets and libraries. While defending the place of printed books in our culture for the past twenty years, Thatcher has sought to reinvent their creative potential. Tune in on Wednesday, April 6 @ 6pm EST!

Join us on Wednesday, March 30 @ 6pm EST for a conversation with Professor Bradley Gorham, PhD, discussing his research and thoughts on how media impacts and influences diverse social groups. Dr. Gorham is Chair of the Communications Department, Director of the Media Studies master’s program, and Interim Director of Global Partnerships at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.  He earned a PhD in Mass Communication from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. His research focuses on how media impact our implicit biases around race and gender, and the subtle ways in which language reveals underlying stereotypes and intergroup bias. He is also a proponent of international education as a way to break down cultural barriers and to increase tolerance and inclusivity.

Join us on Wednesday, March 23 @ 6pm EST for an exciting panel of prominent educators and leaders, sharing their experience on how things are going in schools since the pandemic started. Our panelists include Heather Lechner, Kevin Parkinson, Lakeesha Ramdhanie and Melissa Sweazy.Heather Lechner is the Executive Director of Education for TFA. Her passion for equity is firmly rooted in a belief that all students should have access to a quality education that cultivates a love of learning through exploration and access to varied opportunities.Kevin Parkinson is the Principal of Midtown Public Charter School. He lives with his wife and three kids in Jackson, Mississippi, and is a graduate of Columbia University's Summer Principal Academy.Lakeesha Ramdhanie currently serves as the Head of Schools, Academics for KIPP Metro Atlanta Schools. When not serving the scholars of KIPP Metro Atlanta, Lakeesha loves traveling with her family and frequenting local festivals.Melissa Sweazy is the Principal of Esmeraldo Santiago School in Chicago, IL.  Melissa is a data-driven leader and is celebrated in Chicago as one of a few leaders who successfully use performance indicators to drive her decisions in her school.

Founding team member and former Chief Clinical Officer of Hurdle, a digital health platform for people of color, Dr. Rufus Tony Spann joins us to share his thoughts on overthinking. Currently, Dr. Spann is a member of the Forbes magazine Health Advisory board. He is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist, a Licensed Professional Counselor, yoga teacher, and a Reiki Master. He is the owner of a successful private practice, and he has assisted many therapists of color in receiving their independent licenses. Tune in on Wednesday, March 16 @ 6pm EST!

As Director of the Paulo Freire Institute at the UCLA Graduate School of Education, Dr. Carlos Alberto Torres, joins us to discuss his institute and the present-day relevance of the teaching and philosophy of Professor Freire. Dr. Torres is a professor of Social Sciences and Comparative Education and a political sociologist of education. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he did his undergraduate work in sociology at the Jesuit Universidad del Salvador, in Buenos Aires and holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University.  He has authored 40 books and more than 150 research articles, chapters in books, and entries in encyclopedias in several languages. He has participated in and presented papers and keynote addresses at numerous national and world congresses. His most recent book develops the connections between citizenship, democracy, and multiculturalism in education, with a comparative focus on Canada, the United States, and Latin America. His current research, in the political sociology of education, focuses on the cultural organizational contexts of learning and the tensions resulting from the dialectics of the global and the local in cultural creation in the social sciences in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Tune in on Wednesday, March 9 @ 6pm EST!

Join us on Wednesday, March 2 @ 6pm EST for an hour-long special conversation.  The first half hour will be with Kalyn Belsha to talk about what she is hearing from educators nationally about the history and political science lessons that are being cut short in fear of punishment for violating policies and laws regarding anti-racism lessons. Kalyn is a national education reporter for Chalkbeat based in Chicago. She previously covered education for The Chicago Reporter, Catalyst Chicago, and the suburban Chicago Tribune. She is a former Spencer Fellow in Education Reporting at Columbia University and has taught journalism at Loyola University Chicago. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University.  The 2nd half hour features educator, Dr. Winnie Williams-Hall to share her strategies for thoughtful, responsible conversations on difficult subjects. Williams-Hall is an author/researcher, mentor, restorative justice lead, equity advocate, former case manager and much more. She has and continues to dedicate her life to educating and advocating for youth for over 25 years. She began her career with Chicago Public Schools-CPS in 1996. She worked as a general education teacher before pursuing her real passion- supporting students with learning disabilities.  She has been a member of the Nicholson STEM Academy family for the last ten years+ and believes that middle school is her niche. Dr. Williams-Hall believes that continued education as well as professional development enhances teacher growth. It is for this reason that she decided to earn her doctoral degree in educational leadership with an emphasis on supporting diverse learners beyond high-school. Dr. Williams-Hall believes wholeheartedly in EQUITY and ADVOCACY! So, the work continues! Who says that teachers aren’t ‘SUPER HEROES?