Hi, I’m Cierra!

I’m a social justice educator, writer, researcher, movement + meditation instructor, consultant, and speaker based in Washington, DC.

Welcome! I’m so glad you’re here.

The bottom line: My life’s work and heart’s work is dedicated to storytelling for social justice — using narrative change to disrupt the status quo and dismantle oppressive structures and systems. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been enraptured by stories — whether they be from pages in a book or the unspoken stories of the rhythmic contractions of choreography. I believe that with stories, we have the power to create fuller, deeper, and richer connections, and in turn, a more radically empathetic and just world.

I was born and raised in South Jersey and yes, I love Wawa. I always have twenty ideas swirling in my brain. I’m most at home in the middle of a thought-provoking conversation, under the bright lights on stage, on my yoga mat, or curled up with a fiction novel and my journal. I’m here to both take up space and create it. I believe truth-telling is one of the highest forms of love. Every day I wake up jazzed to learn more about the world around me and lean a little more into the fullness of who I was created to be.

The official line:

Dr. Cierra Morris (formerly Cierra Kaler-Jones) is the first-ever Executive Director of Rethinking Schools, a nonprofit publisher and advocacy organization dedicated to sustaining and strengthening public education through social justice teaching and education activism. I lead the organization’s programs, partnerships, communications, and fundraising, and I design and run programs for educators and organizers, including the Prentiss-Charney Fellowship, the Teach & Organize Series, and the Teach the Black Freedom Struggle online classes. I serve on the leadership team of the Zinn Education Project and on the Steering Committee of Black Lives Matter at School.

Before Rethinking Schools, I was the first Director of Storytelling at Communities for Just Schools Fund, a national funder collaborative, after serving as an Education Anew Fellow with Communities for Just Schools Fund and Teaching for Change. In that role, I built the organization’s communications function, supported more than 60 movement partner organizations with narrative power-building, and authored the 2020 report Reclaim Social-Emotional Learning in partnership with community partners. It led to invitations to speak with funders, school districts, the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, and state departments of education. I also founded two organizations of my own: Unlock Your Story, a storytelling and narrative strategy consultancy, and SOAR Center for Creative Liberation, whose flagship program, Black Girls S.O.A.R. (Scholarship, Organizing, Arts, Resistance), supports Black girls, gender expansive, and TGNC (transgender, non-conforming) young people in using art, research, and organizing to change their schools and communities.

I earned a Ph.D. in education from the University of Maryland – College Park in 2021. My dissertation explored how Black girls use arts-based practices (e.g. movement, music, hair) as mechanisms for identity construction and resistance through the co-creation of a healing-centered out-of-school space. I am a qualitative researcher and employ critical methodologies such as performance ethnography, youth participatory action research, and critical discourse analysis. I’ve presented my research at national conferences, including the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Critical Race Studies in Education (CRSEA), and the American Studies Association (ASA). I’ve given keynotes at the Data 4 Public Good Conference, the People’s Conference, and the Council for Exceptional Children’s 100th Anniversary convening, and I’ve been invited to share work on culturally affirming social-emotional learning with senior officials at the White House, the U.S. Department of Education, and the U.S. Department of Justice.

I am a proud graduate of Rutgers University and Douglass Residential College, where I earned a bachelor’s degree in social work with minors in women’s and gender studies and in critical and comparative race and ethnic studies. I also hold a master’s degree in education and human development, with a concentration in curriculum and instruction, from The George Washington University, a certificate in women’s leadership from The Institute for Women’s Leadership, and a certificate in global perspectives in education. In 2024, I completed the Georgetown University Certificate in Nonprofit Management.

Over the past decade, I’ve learned alongside preschoolers, K-12 students, college students, and adults. With my roots in dance and arts education, I’ve also taught classes on U.S. history, public policy, and social change & leadership. I currently teach REEL Education: Education Media Narratives (undergraduate level) at Georgetown University and previously taught Storytelling for Change (graduate level). I’ve also taught at George Mason University, co-taught a graduate-level course on the foundations of educational research at the University of Maryland, and written syllabi for pre-college courses at The George Washington University. I’ve led professional development for educators, administrators, and teacher unions across the country, such as the National Education Association, the New Jersey Education Association, Maryland State Educators Association, New York State United Teachers, District of Columbia Public Schools, Alexandria Public Schools, Howard County Public Schools, East Orange School District, Waterloo School District in Iowa, and teacher educators at Marymount University, as well as staff at Louisiana State University and Rutgers University, and more.

My writing has been featured in Rethinking Schools magazine, books, academic articles, and other outlets, such as my essay on Medium, “When SEL Is Used as Another Form of Policing,” which has been read more than 200,000 times. I’ve written chapters in Strong Black Girls: Reclaiming Schools in Their Own Image, Black Girl Civics: Expanding and Navigating the Boundaries of Civic Engagement, and Teaching Brilliant and Beautiful Black Girls. My academic work has appeared in Girlhood Studies, The Urban Review, Middle School Journal, and the Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity (JCSCORE). I’ve also been contracted to write research papers and briefs commissioned by the federal government, the National Geographic Society, and USAID, including a white paper on the state of education for Black girls for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans.

My work has been recognized with the Black Enterprise 40 Under 40 list for social impact (2022), the Voqal Fellowship (2025), the Monument Lab Fellowship (2025), the Hurston/Wright Writers Week Fellowship (2022), and a National Council of Teachers of English Research Foundation Grant (2023).

As a former professional dancer in the NBA and contemporary dance company, Capitol Movement, a fitness instructor, 200-hour trained yoga & meditation instructor, and dance educator, I use movement and art as a way to encourage others to take care of their minds, bodies, and souls throughout the process of sharing stories. I’ve choreographed for local companies, served as the Assistant Director of a youth dance company, and am a high school dance team coach. I’ve also had the opportunity to lead a guided meditation for Athleta.

When I’m not conducting research, writing, dancing, or leading workshops, I love to read, deepen my yoga practice, try out new recipes, travel and take road trips, eat ice cream (Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey, please!), and spend time in nature.