Our Team
Kyle R. Williams
Washington, DC
Chief Empowerment Officer
Kyle Williams is a leader. Whether leading his three sons into manhood, leading a community-based elementary school in Washington, D.C., leading the #1 youth basketball program in the country, or leading this incredible team at A Long Talk, he has always been a leader. Raised in Plainfield, NJ, the son of Artie B. and Jocelyn, is a child of Hip Hop and a servant of the community. As a professional educator, Kyle has amassed over 25 years teaching children and adults alike. Highlighted by his time at the Community Academy Public Charter school where, in 1998, he applied and interviewed to serve as a volunteer and was “coerced” into accepting a provisional teaching position instead. After six short years of service in the classroom and on the school’s leadership team, he would be appointed as the school’s third Academy Leader in 2004. Following his 17 year career at CAPCS, he began working with Discovery Education helping teachers and school leaders all over the country make the shift to becoming more technology savvy, 21st century educators. Change and progress through educational empowerment has always been at the heart of the work he has done. He brings that same focus and energy to the fight for social justice and racial reconciliation as the Chief Empowerment Officer and creator of "A Long Talk About The Uncomfortable Truth."
Kamal Carter is a scientist, an activist, an educator and a management consultant. Kamal brings more than 25 years of corporate development and growth strategy experience. He has held multiple global leadership positions at leading companies. What he is most proud of is walking away from millions of dollars to serve as a high school chemistry teacher at an inner city school in Atlanta. For more than a decade, Mr. Carter has pioneered innovative strategies in education. He co-wrote a script for a PBS science show which he also stars in. He has been a National Institute of Health (NIH) Research Fellow and a member of the State of Georgia Superintendent's Teachers Advisory Council. Kamal graduated from Hampton University with a Biology Pre-Med degree. He turned down two full scholarships to medical school to pursue his passion in business, community development, and science education. Kamal Carter is chairman of the board of Step Ahead Scholars, Inc., a nonprofit he co-founded 10 years ago whose mission is to eradicate college access inequality.
Kamal Carter
Atlanta, GA
President
Darcy Bourne is a professional athlete, an activist, and a student. A professional athlete in the GB and England Women’s Hockey Teams, and a previous student at Duke University, our UK Expansion Director, Darcy, offers a unique experience of living in both the UK and the US.
During the summer of 2020, a photograph of Darcy holding a sign asking “Why is Ending Racism a Debate?” was taken at the Black Lives Matter protests and shared virally, even by the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King, III. Since then she has relentlessly and courageously used her platform as an athlete and activist to educate and promote equality, diversity and inclusion, and is a role model for many. Darcy has extensive experience talking about Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and has spoken on multiple news channels, documentaries TV series, podcasts, the radio, at schools, and other major events. Her degree in Sociology from Nottingham University also facilitates her to speak on these matters.
She brings the experience of entrepreneurialism from her experience of co-founding the company, Beyond Our Game, a diversity initiative aimed at uniting and empowering student-athletes of color.
Whether it is on the field, on TV, on a panel, or in the classroom, Darcy has always been a leader, and is excited to take create a team to continue the incredible work “A Long Talk About The Uncomfortable Truth” has begun in the US.
Darcy Bourne
Esher, England, UK
Director, UK Expansion
Jocelyn Coleman Walton
Oak Bluffs, MA
Team Member
Jocelyn Coleman Walton was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. She received both a BS (Mathematics) in 1961 and an MA (Mathematics) in 1966 from Morgan State College (now University). Jocelyn began her teaching career at Douglass High School in Baltimore, Maryland. Her career in education has included roles as teacher, department supervisor, K-12 Math/Science Supervisor, and Director of Curriculum in varied school districts. In 1986, while serving as Mathematics Supervisor for Plainfield High School, in Plainfield, New Jersey, she recognized the importance of providing materials to help middle and high school students master state graduation requirements and she began co-authoring mathematics textbooks to meet that need. Jocelyn retired in 1993 after serving for thirty-two years as an educator/administrator and educational consultant in Maryland and New Jersey school districts. She recently authored an intimate and personal memoir entitled, The Place My Heart Calls Home. This intimate and personal memoir documents her family’s storied history from the busy streets of Roxbury, to the quiet roads and beaches of Martha's Vineyard. Jocelyn and her husband, Duncan, live on "The Island" on property that was purchased by her grandmother in the late 1940s. She is honored to be a part of this dynamic team.
Like her father, Wendy Douglas has always enjoyed talking to people, but more importantly is a good listener. Whether as a peer counselor while attending Hampton University or as a pharmaceutical rep for nearly 12 years, her focus has always been sharing information and meeting the needs of her clients. Later she worked for the federal government and honed her skills as a researcher and data collector. Learning the importance of making people feel at ease helped finesse her excellent rapport building skills. This came in handy with her last position as a sales and customer service rep for a top 50 pharmaceutical company, where she earned several customer service awards. When her brother Kyle shared the mission for "A Long Talk About the Uncomfortable Truth" she felt an urgency to come out of semi-retirement to help him with this important work.
Wendy W. Douglas
Boca Raton, FL
Team Member
Tanya Morgan is a career educator with over 20 years of experience in the public sector. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia and began her teaching career with District of Columbia Public Schools as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher. She then moved to the public charter school system as a Spanish language teacher and was an instrumental pioneer of the second largest public charter school in Washington, DC. Through exemplary teaching and dedication to the children, families, and the progress of the school and community, she earned the principalship of the early childhood building where she served as the Academy Leader for eight years. During that time, she was introduced to the Reggio Emilia Approach and has been an avid leader and supporter of innovative approaches to child-centered early education with a keen interest in outdoor/environmental education and sustainability. Mrs. Morgan went on to lead the Reggio Inspired Center at Friendship Armstrong for three years before moving on to seek further knowledge of early childhood best practices. She is in the process of earning her American Montessori Society teaching credential and currently serves as an Early Childhood Education Coordinator for the Lourie Center Head Start program in Prince George’s County, Maryland. She holds two Masters of Education in Curriculum Development and Instruction, and School Administration respectively. Alongside her husband, Tanya co-founded the non-profit organization, Freedom Factory, Inc., dedicated to empowering youth through mentorship, intellectual engagement, and athletic opportunities. She is also the CEO of her educational consulting business, Freedom Factory, LLC. She is the mother of five children, a villager, a collaborator, and a truth-seeker. Her motto: Always learning, always growing.
Tanya Morgan
Hyattville, MD
Team Member
Dr. La TaSha Levy
Seattle, Washington
Team Member
Team Member Dr. La TaSha Levy is a Black Studies scholar with more than 20 years of experience teaching Black history and culture to high school and college students. In 2018, she founded Black Star Rising, a Black history curricula and coaching enterprise that prepares educators, parents, and community members to teach African American history and culture despite limited opportunities for formal training in Black Studies.
In 2015, Dr. Levy taught one of the first college courses on #BlackLivesMatter and has since expanded resources for educators to understand and teach recent movements in historical context. She is a contributing author of the award-winning text, Understanding and Teaching the Civil Rights Movement, and her chapter, "Black Conservative Dissent," was published in The Black Intellectual Tradition: African American Thought in the Twentieth Century.
Dr. Levy earned a bachelor's degree in African American and African Studies from the University of Virginia, a master's in Africana Studies at Cornell University, and a Ph.D. in African American Studies from Northwestern University. She also has experience working in student affairs, having served as the director of the Luther P. Jackson Black Cultural Center at the University of Virginia.
Ed “Sweatt”
Harlem, NY
Team Member
Ed “Sweatt" has always been an outlier and a character to say the least. Being raised in Harlem, NY, during the 1980's, spending summers at camp with the children of the wealthiest 1%, Ed saw, earlier on and up close, the wealth disparity created by systemic racism and the benefits of being white and privileged in America.
After graduating from a renown boarding school in New England, Ed attended the University of Virginia, earning his Bachelor's in Sociology. . After University, Ed joined the Absolute Theater Company as a stage actor. While performing in "Off-Broadway" productions in theaters like “La Mama” and the “Black Box”, Ed moonlighted as a contract litigation paralegal, specializing in securities fraud litigation. In 2004, Ed would transition to the vendor side of the e-discovery/litigation support business. Leveraging his ability to establish rapport, find common ground and communicate value-add propositions, Ed would go on to earn numerous sales awards and promotions based on exceeding expectations and authentic leadership.
Ed built a lucrative book of business based on relationships, accountability and consistency. These days Ed lives in Woodbury, CT where he is a stay at home dad and caregiver to his magical, autistic daughter, Zoe.
Alexia Oduro
San Diego, CA
Team Member
Alexia Oduro graduated from San Diego State University (SDSU) in May of 2022 with her Bachelor's degree in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. During her time at SDSU, she served as an academic coach for Black second-year students at the Black Resource Center, created the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) committee for the SDSU National Student Speech, Language, and Hearing Association chapter and served as co-coordinator, she served on the board of directors of SDSU’s student government- Associated Students and Aztec Shops, and she served as the undergraduate advisor for the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences program’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) committee.
Her research experience includes being a research assistant for the Child Language Development, Disorders, and Disparities (ChiLD3) Lab at San Diego State University and the Black Lives Matter All the Time Collective, an organization that researches Black students' experiences at predominately white institutions to inform policy and practice in higher education.
Her published work includes “IMPACT: A Framework to Guide Campus Responses to Racial Incidents” in Diverse Issues in Higher Education, and “SDSU students should not have to hear offensive racial slurs from their teachers” in The San Diego Union-Tribune. Alexia is wrapping up her Master's Degree in Social Justice & Human Rights from Arizona State University and will graduate in Spring, 2024. Alexia is working towards a career in dismantling systemic racism through anti-racist efforts within higher education.