Barbara Douglas-Lindo

Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your career trajectory. How have you gotten to where you are today? 

My name is Barbara Douglas-Lindo. I am an alumni of Uncommon Charter High School and Uncommon Kings Middle School. I attended the University of Rochester for undergrad and graduated in 2019. I then received my masters in education from Relay Graduate School of Education, while teaching at Kings Middle School. It was a big step for me to go back home, go back to my stomping grounds, and just teach. I’ve always been interested in education and teaching. But my personal life experiences pushed me in the direction to explore psychology. During my fifth year as a teacher at Kings, I applied for a doctoral program at Columbia University and am now in my second year at Teachers College, in Columbia pursuing my doctorate in school psychology. Pursuing my doctorate requires a lot of research and my research goals are very personal to me. I am highly focused on the impact school systems have on Black and Brown children and their success. 

Q: What other things are you involved in? And why is this work so important to you? 

I have built a nonprofit organization called the Women’s Leadership Alliance Incorporated, which is an organization that aims to build and foster 3 key components, sisterhood, mentorship and academic excellence. We focus on Black and Brown girls primarily, but we’re not exclusive to just Black and Brown girls. We’re open to anybody who identifies as a woman to simply help foster those three components in our middle school and high school girls, as they look ahead to college and beyond. I am so passionate about this because I understand, as a Black girl, especially growing up in Brooklyn, New York and coming from families that are immigrants to this country, what it looks like and how important it is for us to have support, what it looks like for us to actually have people who don’t just say they care about our success, but who are invested in our success, who actually guides us along the way from start to finish.

I had the opportunity to lead WLA for a couple of years while I was working at Kings and it helped ground a lot of our young girls in that community, while also providing them with opportunities to continue to excel in school, but also build their leadership skills, and provide them with more leadership opportunities. 

Q: What keeps you going? 

Knowing where I come from: so whether it is growing up in Brooklyn, whether it is having family that are immigrants, or whether it is being in spaces I know we are not welcome in. We are not committed to being in a space of impoverishment, or in a space of inequity. We’re not committed to that, and I think about my ancestors, and I think about the people who came before me. My ancestors come from greatness. My history surpasses slavery and doesn’t start there. But given what’s happening in our country, it shows me that I have no other option but to make it. And despite the obstacle, despite being the only Black person in my cohort, I am able to connect with those that come after me, and provide guidance, encouragement, and give advice. I want to provide reassurance for them to know that they can do it, that’s what keeps me going.

I push myself to be able to gain the knowledge, gain the access, and gain the resources to be able to give to those who don’t come from spaces where it’s already given. I’m not just doing it for me. I’m not just doing it for my ancestors. I’m doing it for the little 5- 6 year old girls who know they want to be a doctor one day, but they’re growing up in a space where people are telling them she can’t make it, where people are telling them the best that they can do is a four year education. That’s why I’m doing it. 

Q: What is one piece of advice you would like to leave our community with? 

A lot of people say its not about where you come from, its about where you end, but I disagree. Where you come from is ingrained in you. That is the foundation of who you are. But now you have the resources, tools, and the access to grow from your foundation and to build upon it. You are the pioneer of your future. Nobody else. You are the pioneer of your future. You may not like where you start, but I promise you, where you start is not where you will always end. It is your responsibility to take advantage of what you have, and be able to elevate, elevate, elevate, until you get to where you have always dreamed of. 

Q: What impact did Uncommon have on you? 

Uncommon helped to set a foundation for my investment in my education, my investment in myself, and my investment in making the world around me a better place. Uncommon helped solidify my expertise in a lot of different ways that I didn’t really know at the time. Signing up to be a leader helped provide me with tools that are helping me excel in my program now and to stand out amongst a lot of applicants.