Meet Alicia Williams | Founder, Educator, & Visionary

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alicia Williams and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alicia, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
As a classroom teacher, I witnessed firsthand the school policies and injustices that are at the bedrock of inequity and systemic racism in education. Every day these policies manifested in higher suspension rates for Black and Brown students, white-washed curriculum, and educators who are ill-equipped to make their classrooms culturally responsive and equitable. I wanted to change that with Teach Woke.

I founded Teach Woke to create sustainable, engaging, and impactful DEI solutions for educators, schools, and organizations. We provide workshops, coaching, and curriculum to center and advance diversity, equity, and inclusion. Currently, the system does not work. Teach Woke reimagines and concretizes liberatory education. To date, our company has trained over 1,000 educators and impacted over 6,000 students across the country.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Teach Woke is a highly specialized and innovative education consulting company that offers very effective and impactful workshops, coaching, and student curriculum to schools and organizations to center and advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Our goal at Teach Woke is to provide our clients with engaging, sustainable, and customized DEI workshops and solutions to move from theory to practice. DEI is not a checkbox but must be the foundation of every aspect of one’s organization.

We are proud of the work we have accomplished thus far in just eight months since leaving the classroom. To date, our company has trained over 1,000 educators and impacted over 6,000 students across the country. This is just the beginning. Teach Woke will be a sustainable, legacy-leaving, multi-million dollar company one-day serving multiple cities and countries across the world.

The most important lesson I’ve learned along my journey is that “All I have is all I need.” As a proud Black-woman owned business enterprise there are times that I question if I have what it takes and if the work we do is truly making a difference. The answer: absolutely yes! When those thoughts of imposter syndrome come up, I remind myself that I was created for such a time as this and am fully equipped to lead my company and create the life I want.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am typically the person my friends ask for recommendations about restaurants and fun places to visit. There is no other city like Houston. We have food, culture, great weather, and all the vibes. The perfect itinerary for a week in Houston:

Some other exciting places that people have to check out:
Good Eats: Taste Kitchen, Lucille’s, Cool Runnings, El Meson, Ensemble, Daily Gather, Juliet, Diversion Cocktail, Bandista, Degust, Jeni’s Ice Cream
Outdoors: Houston Arboretum, Sawyer Yards Arts District, Third Ward Bike Tours, Miller Theater, Rooftop Cinema, Grafitti Park, Discovery. Green
Cool Places: Buffalo Cistern, City Center, Space Center Houston

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I am a woman of faith and know that every idea, every opportunity, and success of Teach Woke would not be possible without God, Secondly, I want to dedicate my shoutout to my students. I had the privilege of serving as their teacher for the past five years and they were the catalyst for why I started Teach Woke. Every day in my classroom I wanted my students to see their identities reflected in our lessons and the history we learned. Teaching young people how to be agents of social change, helping them develop their critical consciousness, and witnessing them tap into their own power against injustice was transformational for me and my students as demonstrated through our work together. Teaching was the most rewarding yet also the hardest work of my life. I am grateful for every student, caregiver, colleague, and community I’ve met along my journey to make me the educator and business leader I am today.

Website: https://teachwoke.com/

Instagram: @teachwoke

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia-williams-2a04b6a0/

Image Credits
Tye Visuals