After graduating from Kent State University with her degree in Pan African Studies, Lea Dotson started her professional career as a community organizer in her home town of Warren, Ohio. While involved in the work, she read the book, “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”, by Paulo Friere and it changed both her life and her career trajectory.  She narrowed her focus on the need for a paradigm of “Educating for Empowerment”, and shifted gears towards a career in education. She went back to school and graduated from The Ohio State University and worked her way into administration. 

While as a high school principal, she still found herself drawn to organizing both her school culture, curriculum, and students around issues of social justice as well as scholarship. Although she is very proud of what she was able to accomplish through a traditional model of education, she knows her strengths and passion still revolves around organizing and helping the youth utilize their own voice and talents in the fight on various fronts for social justice. She is excited to work to build the capacity of students most affected by climate injustice to engage in its eradication.