Tomi Okuyemi
RIDES Fellow
Tomi Okuyemi joins the Harvard Graduate School of Education as an Ed.M. student in the School Leadership Program and Saul Zaentz Early Childhood Education Fellow. Prior to her time at HGSE, she served for 8 years as an elementary school classroom teacher in Brooklyn, in both diverse and special-education inclusive settings. In addition to her work in the classroom, Tomi designed and lead workshops for educators and administrators on best practices for integrating anti-bias education into their schools. Tomi has also spent time as a teacher development coach, as well as helping progressive schools recruit teachers of color. Tomi’s experiences collaborating with faculty, students, and families in an integrated school is what drew her to the RIDES program. After the RIDES Leadership Fellowship, Tomi hopes to work at the district level to develop systems and programming that supports schools in their integration process, with the goal of fostering school communities that are truly inclusive. Tomi loves traveling and can often be found curled up with a good book or working on her next embroidery project! Tomi earned a Masters of Education in Childhood General and Special Education at Bank Street College in New York City, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Women’s Studies at Saint Louis University in Saint Louis, MO.