Today we’d like to introduce you to Almitra Berry.
Hi Almitra, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’m a native Californian, born and raised in Stockton, a Central Valley town. I attended public schools K-12 before going on to receive my bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis. I majored in political science with every intention of a career as a staffer. It only took one election cycle for me to realize that I’d be job-hunting every two-to-four years and that maybe wasn’t the best for stability.
My mom was an educator, so she demanded I get a teaching credential before I could move home after college and live for free – even if it was just until I got on my feet. Education was not the path I first chose, but one I defaulted to about five years later. I fell in love with teaching. I just didn’t like the bureaucracy. I’m opinionated, and had a little trouble keeping my opinions to myself, particularly when it had anything to do with providing an equitable education for the children of color and low wealth in the school I taught at.
I left the classroom to work the educational publishing industry as a consultant. Then, in 2013, I moved to Houston since I was managing a team across 19 states, from Alaska to Alabama. Living in a Central Valley town on the West Coast that didn’t have an airport just didn’t work.
Why Houston? After 11 years of working across 44 states, Canada, and the Caribbean, I had a pretty good idea of a good place to call home should I ever decide to leave California. More than just the two airports and the ability to get up in the morning, fly to Alaska for a meeting, and then fly home to sleep in my own bed all within 24 hours, I liked the culture, the ability to have a social life, all the things that come with big city living, and an opportunity to live downtown, right in the middle of it all!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has never been an easy road. My father was killed when I was seven. My mother raised us, making a choice to remain a single parent. Going to college as an undergrad meant working part time while attending full time, plus taking out loans. Nothing was ever handed to me. Not a job, nor a promotion. I worked. Hard! I attended grad school after a divorce while raising two children and working a career that required me to travel 80% of the time.
Still, I managed to complete my doctorate and publish my first book in the same year, 2010. In spite of multiple attempts to secure a different role with my employer, I was held in the spot they preferred to have me. I watched lesser-qualified people promoted until I reached a tipping point. I left for another position, only to be laid off when the company changed ownership. That’s when I decided it was time to strike out on my own.
The COVID closures of schools nationwide was a huge disruptor. As a boutique business in a very niche market, it was impossible to get capital, so I made a number of changes to the way I did business. I created a system to do the work I would normally do face-to-face via a platform and remote support. I did a lot of webinars and remote training. I focused on research and writing for education companies, not just providing professional learning and support for schools.
In spite of being a historically underutilized business, I’ve found that the resources provided to Texas and Houston HUBs does not extend to my sector. No one said it would be easy, but I’ve learned throughout my life that no one is going to hand out opportunities to a Black woman. We have to create them, and then make it work for us.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
People always ask what I do and it’s hard to put into an elevator speech. I suppose you could say I’m a bit of a Black Renaissance woman. I’m the CEO of my own boutique educational consulting firm. Sometimes, we’re working directly with school systems on their equity initiatives – doing audits and providing professional learning workshops on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Sometimes I’m providing professional learning on the science of reading and teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Sometimes I’m developing or reviewing content for various educational publishing companies. I do a lot of talking at conferences, workshops and keynotes and sitting on the occasional panel of experts.
I’m what some in education refer to as an equity warrior. In fact, that’s my hashtag (#EquityWarrior). I specialize in taking educators down the pathway to cultural awareness, to a culturally relevant pragmatism that regards the culturally and linguistically diverse learner as a child who brings to school a divergent order of reality as compared to white, middle-class America. I think it’s critical, that for every child to receive an appropriate education, that educators examine the efficacy of their methods and the choices they make about the curriculum.
What sets me apart from others is having expertise in teaching and learning as well as business. I’ve been in the classroom. I’ve trained educators, and I’ve sold products and services. I know all sides of the K-12 teaching and learning industry. And more than anything else, I’m guided solely by an ethic to do what is right for children. I’m proud of that.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
There’s a long list of things I wish I knew when I was first starting out. But honestly, I’m doing something I could never have done had I not had the lived, professional, and academic experiences I had.
I often joke that I wish I had known about all the industries related to education before I went to college – or even during college. But I think of my life as a pathway, and where I am has been shaped by so many things that have happened along the way. I couldn’t do what I do had I not had all those experiences.
I tell others to find their passion. I can continue to do what I’m doing because I love what I do. I love seeing systems change for the better, how that improves life opportunities for our K-12 learners. I don’t call it work. And it’s more than a profession. Yes, I run a small business, but it’s almost a calling.
Pricing:
- Keynotes (in-person) $8000
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.alberryconsulting.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/almitraberry
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/almitraberry
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTFl7B4gSP4nqZ3bw7v4H4w
Image Credits
Taren Marsaw
Christina Pipkin
