Kia Allah

Background

About Kia Allah

Kia Allah serves as Director of Youth Equity Programming with the Black and Belonging Collaborative where she develops projects which empower urban youth to be critical change agents in their communities. She is a former Spanish teacher, a graduate research assistant with the iScholar team, and current doctoral student in Educational Equity in the Department of Learning Sciences at North Carolina State University. Kia grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York. She is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, having received her bachelor’s degree in Spanish and a masters degree in Teaching Secondary Education. Her experience as a Spanish teacher in urban school districts in Richmond, VA and Durham, NC sparked her passion for uplifting the cultural identities of Black and Latinx students. As a doctoral student in the Educational Equity Program at North Carolina State University, her research interests include cultural identity, student belonging, culturally sustaining instructional practices, and student empowerment. Kia is an advocate for cultural inclusion within the classroom - especially for those who historically have been marginalized and made to feel invisible. She values the richness of experiences and perspectives that students bring into the classroom which are largely shaped by their cultural backgrounds.