EVEN ME

Dr. Kenya Johnson (she | her | hers),  is the co-founder of Full Circle Strategies LLC, a consulting firm specializing in helping organizations engage in anti-racist organizational change. As lead strategist at Full Circle, Dr. Johnson engages with a diverse group of organizational leaders and their staff who represent various sectors across the country. She co-facilitates skill-building training, provides coaching and leads a team of skilled facilitators who provide support to individuals committed to practicing race equity at the individual and organizational levels. Full Circle’s approach centers anti-racism, holistic wellness, liberation, solidarity, and love as core values that affect change. ​Dr. Johnson was trained in 2005 as an anti- racism facilitator through the Western States Center in Portland, Oregon and Race Forward in Chicago, Illinois. Her experience in being an anti-racist trainer contributes to her anti-racism scholarship. Dr. Johnson also has more than twenty years of teaching experience at the undergraduate and graduate levels in both sociology and social work. She has an extensive background as a mental health practitioner working in community and school-based settings. Her career also includes political engagement and community organizing work having facilitated  grassroots mobilization efforts that increased voter engagement, especially in communities of color. She has received numerous awards for her community activism work. It was a culmination of these experiences which led to the start of the Race Equity Leadership and Research Collective in 2020. This Houston based nonprofit founded by her and her sister, Dr. Kim Baker,  is also known as the RE Collective.  The RE Collective is dedicated to the advancement and leadership cultivation of Black, Indigenous, Latino/a, and other people of color through leadership, research, and advocacy. ​Dr. Johnson grew up in the Pine Lawn community in St. Louis county and graduated from Normandy High School. The juxtaposition of witnessing multiple forms of oppression while also being connected to the rich history of civil rights and black activism in St. Louis underscores her strong commitment to advancing  racial justice. Dr. Johnson’s educational background includes receiving her Bachelor’s in social work from University of Central Missouri, her Master's in Social Work from Saint Louis University, and  Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work at the University of Houston's Graduate College of Social Work.