Director of Equity and Inclusion
Brentwood School
Los Angeles, California
Photo by Ari Michelson
This is an excerpt from the NAIS Member Voices podcast.
Tell us about your role. How did you get here?
I was doing a master’s program in educational psychology. My dissertation was on exploring a sense of school belonging for African-Americans in predominantly white independent schools. I interviewed alumni of different schools in Los Angeles about their experiences. An adjunct professor who was head at a school in Los Angeles asked me to come work for him. I wasn’t interested in a position because I was already working. But I thought I would go, with the mindset that it’s a great opportunity to see how other schools function, thrive, and exist. I went purely for observation reasons, but when I arrived, there was a sense of purpose, promise, and opportunity that I had never seen before. It was very new to me, and I thought, I want to be part of this. That’s when I started teaching in independent schools.As soon as I completed my doctorate degree in educational leadership, the role of director of equity and inclusion at Brentwood came about (it didn’t previously exist). I read the job description, and I felt like it was written for me.
This is my third year at Brentwood, and I get to tell people that I’m the best director of equity and inclusion that Brentwood has ever had—and there’s a lot of discovering about what this role needs to be. I partner with others, understanding that it’s really about everyone on campus having a shared vision.
What has been most helpful to you in your role?
The opportunity to engage with others who have a similar role has been life-saving. We have a Los Angeles Diversity Practitioners Consortium that meets about every other month throughout the school year. We have a wonderful camaraderie, and it allows me to understand that my colleagues are not just my coworkers at Brentwood. I very much feel that those in the consortium are my colleagues, my support system. They are my go-to when I have questions. We share information and are constantly in contact. In this role, the overall desire is to champion diversity and inclusivity, and with that, we all want to help each other.What’s your communication style?
I’m incredibly collaborative, and I have always worked well with people. I like to interact with students and with adults, and that allows for me to build relationships, which is key in my role. I am reflective, which you may have noticed in the time it takes me to answer a question [laughs].I try to ask as many people as possible about things that will impact and affect them. I think it’s really important that I acknowledge I don’t have all the answers. But I can help get answers. I may be able to walk someone through a scenario or challenge that allows for them to come up with the next step.
I feel like I’ve been able to build trust, which is critical and also explains why in year three the job has been more effective. And I hope that’s a quality of who I am and my character. I want to be nonjudgmental. I want to be a good listener. I hope that’s reflected in my leadership style—who I am as a person is reflected in the way in which I care for and listen to those around me.
What pieces of advice have really stuck with you?
Ask for help when needed; ask for help when you don’t think you need it. I’ve also learned to take care of myself, and I’m still learning to take care of myself—physically, emotionally, spiritually, in every way.What’s the first thing you do when you arrive on campus?
I am a mom before I’m anything else. I have a graduate of independent school, and I have a son who is in high school here at Brentwood. Every day, I commute for an hour in the car with my teenage son, and it’s quality time. I’ve thought about moving closer, but it’s just been worth it to continue to drive. The conversations that we have in the car are priceless. He’s prepared; he knows that when we get into the car there are no headphones or devices or anything—his mother is going to want to talk to him. And that’s, I hope, an experience that we both will look back on pretty fondly.I journal every day. I keep track of things I’m grateful for. I keep track of things that I am working on, things I look forward to. I write prayer requests of things that I’m praying for. I feel like that keeps me grounded. I look back on journals over the years, and I recently looked back on an entry that I had written before I took this job. I had made a list of things that I could potentially want in a career. This job really met almost everything on that list—which again, if I hadn’t written down, I wouldn’t realize that this is what I was asking for—even before it came into existence.
Director of Equity and Inclusion Trina Moore-Southall speaks with students on campus at Brentwood School. Photo by Ari Michelson
What are you reading/listening to right now?
Everything. I’m an avid reader. I try my best to stay engaged with what’s happening in my children’s generation as well as in the world at large. I recently have been listening to The Laura Coates Show. She’s an African-American political analyst, a mother, an attorney, and a television host, and she sparks conversations for me throughout the day of not only what I speak to my own children about, but really about some of the conversations I have when I get to work. I appreciate her perspective and her vulnerability.I feel author Ta-Nehisi Coates is everything. I had the wonderful opportunity to experience the People of Color Conference last year with my son, who is the same age as Ta-Nehisi Coates’ son, and we sat there together as he spoke of his son. I can’t even describe the emotion and feeling as I held my son’s hand. I’m getting emotional thinking about it. It was just a really beautiful moment to think that a lot of his story is my story, and a lot of what he shared with his son and the world is so much of what I have shared.
What’s one thing about you that few people know?
I love to sing. I feel like it’s something that people don’t expect of me if they don’t know me. And then if they hear me sing, it makes sense that I do.If you had one more hour in your day, what would you do with it?
I would pray more. Prayer is part of my every day, and sometimes I feel rushed because it’s not something that I schedule. It’s not something that’s monitored, and there isn’t accountability with other people for that. So it’s easy to either skip or cut short if there are other things that people expect of me. But I’m better when I have more time in prayer.What are you most proud of?
I am most proud of my children. I look at them and the way in which they have blossomed and grown and come into their own in their teenage years. I am proud of the way that they think about things. I’m proud of their character, their commitment to be good people, and that they’re not helpless. If I do anything right in raising my children, when they leave my home, they’ll be able to do for themselves and do it in a way that is of good character and good morals. My incredible husband and I have laid the foundation from what we know how to do. They’re my greatest joy, and I’m so proud to be their mother.Listen to the full interview with Trina Moore-Southall on the NAIS Member Voices podcast. Download it now at iTunes, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher, or GooglePlay. Rate, review, and subscribe to a new episode each month.
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Correction: The print version of this article inaccurately stated the timeline for when Trina Moore-Southall considered Brentwood School’s director of equity and inclusion role. This online version has been updated. We regret the error.