UNtenurED

Yaa Yaa Whaley-Williams

🎙️ Our UNtenurED Pod is the unapologetic mic drop Black educators and leaders have been waiting for — a platform where lesson plans meet lived experience, and where the stories that don’t make it into faculty meetings finally get their shine. Hosted with heart, humor, and a whole lot of honesty, UNtenurED creates space for educators to speak their truth, build community, and spark change — because speaking your truth can never “go left,” when it’s your RIGHT! Each episode moves through three signature microsegments — “Deuces,” “Oh Hell No,” and “They Say, You Say” — allowing guests to toggle between moments of reflection and moments of levity, all in the spirit of keeping it UNfiltered, REAL, and deeply resonant with the rhythm of Black educator brilliance. It’s education. It’s liberation. It’s conversation that refuses to stay in the margins.

  1. UNleashED

    FEB 20

    UNleashED

    Episode 18 ~ Kleaver Cruz aka THE Dominican Diaspora Dreamer ! In this powerful and soul-centered conversation, we sit with Kleaver Cruz, author of The Black Joy Project, to explore Black joy not as a trend—but as a tool of resistance, a strategy for survival, and a declaration of power. Kleaver, a community organizer and founder of The Black Joy Project, has dedicated his work to uplifting stories that remind us that Black life is not solely defined by struggle—but by brilliance, creativity, tenderness, and triumph. Through their storytelling and organizing, they reframe joy as political, intentional, and deeply rooted in collective memory. Together, we unpack the power of language—how the words we use shape narratives, movements, and even our self-concept. We reflect on the hidden figures of the Black movement—the everyday organizers, cultural architects, artists, and elders whose names may not make headlines but whose impact reshapes generations. We talk Benito Bowl, tostones or maduro, their favorite word, whether they'd go a lifetime without travel or a lifetime without books....and MORE! This episode is an invitation to reimagine resistance. To understand that joy is not a distraction from the work—it is the work. That naming ourselves is power. That remembering our hidden figures is legacy. And that choosing joy, especially in the face of erasure, is one of the most radical acts available to us. Come for the insight. Stay for the affirmation. Leave remembering that Black joy is strategy, language is liberation, and our stories are sacred.

    1h 9m

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

🎙️ Our UNtenurED Pod is the unapologetic mic drop Black educators and leaders have been waiting for — a platform where lesson plans meet lived experience, and where the stories that don’t make it into faculty meetings finally get their shine. Hosted with heart, humor, and a whole lot of honesty, UNtenurED creates space for educators to speak their truth, build community, and spark change — because speaking your truth can never “go left,” when it’s your RIGHT! Each episode moves through three signature microsegments — “Deuces,” “Oh Hell No,” and “They Say, You Say” — allowing guests to toggle between moments of reflection and moments of levity, all in the spirit of keeping it UNfiltered, REAL, and deeply resonant with the rhythm of Black educator brilliance. It’s education. It’s liberation. It’s conversation that refuses to stay in the margins.