Q&A WITH CHIEF EQUITY OFFICER, LEISAN SMITH

QA

WITH Leisan Smith A Welcoming Space

Chief Equity Officer, Leisan Smith, discusses diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at CSG

Since joining CSG in January of 2021 as CSG’s Chief Equity Officer, Leisan Smith has hit the ground running, working with students in classrooms, talking to parents, faculty, staff, and alumnae via online Zoom discussions, and leading the charge of crafting an updated diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging statement that will help guide efforts to make our school as welcoming as possible for everyone in our community.

No stranger to the education realm, Leisan served as a school administrator for fifteen years in K-12 and university communities before joining us at CSG. She most recently served as Director of Student and Community Engagement at Bexley City Schools and prior to that served as the inaugural Director of the LGBTQ Center at the University of Cincinnati.

We sat down with Leisan to talk about what inspired her career trajectory and just why diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging work is so vital to a K-12 education.

What inspired you to pursue a career focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging? Leisan: I’ve always been an educator; all the work I’ve ever done has been related to education. But when I was an undergrad at the University of Cincinnati, I was introduced to their African American Culture and Resource Center. The University of Cincinnati is a large, predominantly white institution, and so the AACRC—which is what we call it—was like my home away from home. And so I participated in a lot of programming specific to retaining and supporting Black students. And then I had an opportunity to actually be a student worker there.

After I graduated, I think it was two years later, I went back to UC to get my masters, and I was a graduate student in the Women’s Center. So this time, I got to help lead some identity-based education in programming, as well as participate in it. And I think that those experiences really impacted me. Eventually, I had the opportunity to come back to UC again to work. I just fell in love with working with students, with supporting students, and feeling like I was helping them navigate barriers that they might have. And I love the education piece. I love being able to facilitate conversations with different groups of people, to get them to understand the role that they play helping others feel they are included and that they belong.

What accomplishment so far in your career are you most proud of, and why? Leisan: Because I’m such a loyal Bearcat, having had the opportunity to go back to the University of Cincinnati and work there is something I’m very proud of. I was actually the founder of the LGBTQ Center there. I was the first Director, and I started it from the ground up with the help of students. Students, most of whom were somehow connected to the Women’s Center, had pushed for an additional center. So to go back to my alma mater and to be able to lead that work is probably one of my proudest accomplishments.

What motivated you to work at CSG? Leisan: I grew up in Columbus, so I had heard great things about Columbus School for Girls. The year before my daughter Maleia was supposed to start kindergarten, my wife and I were looking at possibly buying a house in a specific neighborhood based on the school district. A few friends asked if we had considered CSG. I went to public schools. My mom was a retired public school teacher. But I finally told my wife that we should just go take the tour. We ended up loving it. We loved the things that the students were doing in the classrooms. The tour, of course, was led by a student—this was before the pandemic. We loved her excitement in sharing what they do here at CSG. And so we were really tempted to send our daughter here but ended up sending her elsewhere for kindergarten.

But when the opportunity came to possibly work here, I already knew it seemed like a great place in terms of what I saw of the community during my tour, and I already knew that the education that they were offering was great. And I would have the opportunity to come in as the First Chief Equity Officer and the first person who was full time and leading the school’s DEIB work. It just seemed like a natural progression of the work that I had currently been doing.

Now, my daughter is in first grade here this year, and she absolutely loves it. It’s been exciting to be able to see her most days in the hall or in the cafeteria and see how she has really blossomed this year—in terms of her confidence, in terms of even just the way she speaks and the things she thinks and talks about. It’s always fun to hear her say “My mommy is the Chief Equity Officer.” I’m not exactly sure she knows what that means, but it’s just been a great experience for us to have together. I love that. Why do you believe DEIB work is an integral part of education? Leisan: We live in a diverse world. And so our students need to know how to navigate that, not just here, but when they graduate. How do they do well in a global society? We have to know how to navigate across differences. We all come into this space with different experiences. A lot of those are based on our identities. And so I think that that’s important and something that shouldn’t be ignored. I think the other part that sometimes people don’t consider is that diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging work helps improve communication and critical thinking skills and really makes our students more well-rounded individuals. And it challenges stereotypes.

I also think DEIB work is important because while this space is much more diverse than it used to be, it is still a predominantly white institution. What does it look like for us to acknowledge that? What does it mean for Black and Brown students to be in this space, and to be supported and to thrive, and to know that they belong and have access to all of the same things that the rest of our students do? We have to be having those conversations. And we live in a country in a world where all of these ‘isms’ are still happening—we still have racism and homophobia and transphobia, and folks being persecuted because of their religious beliefs. Our students need to know how to navigate that and what it means to be an ally to someone who might be different from them.

What do you enjoy most about the opportunity to work directly with students? Leisan: They have so much passion for whatever it is that they’re working on. I recently had an opportunity to teach a session of a diversity course to students. Being able to hear that they are thinking about diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging, and being able to see the things that they’re passionate about, and the things that they want to see improved either for them or for other people in their class, their peers—it’s just great. I can’t do my work well unless I know what is going on with students. Being able to hear from them and work alongside them is so valuable. And then, of course, I feel like a proud parent when I see the end results. In February we hosted the MLK program, and students put so much time and energy into it. To see what a great program it turned out to be—those are always great moments.