Brandynicole Brooks-Harris

A Leader Leading Leaders

Dr. Brandynicole Brooks-Harris

(She, Her) is 38

While Dr. Brandynicole Brooks-Harris’ resume outlines her professional positions as a leader, it does not capture the depth and breadth of her passion for leadership. Her website introduces The Eban Leadership Network and Academy™ — a space providing Queer Women of Color with opportunities to enhance their leadership skills through in person and online instruction, discussion groups, reading circles, and The ELNA™ Speaker’s Bureau. Her published work, Black Single Mothers and the Child Welfare System: A Guide for Social Workers on Addressing Oppression, educates on the struggles faced by women in navigating the child welfare system. As a professor at the University of the District of Columbia, she leads by example.

As a clinical social worker, and now an academically trained leader, Brandynicole aligns social work and leadership. Social work is commonly defined as helping individuals, groups and communities to enhance or restore their capacity for social functioning and to create societal conditions favorable to their goals. Leadership is defined as the act of motivating individuals, group and communities to act towards achieving a common goal.  With every opportunity, Brandynicole promotes the growth and development of teams, colleagues and herself to ensure all are equipped with the knowledge, skills and self-awareness to effectively address obstacles head-on.

She has been able to realize her purpose through her professional positions as the director of learning and development with the DC Child and Family Services Agency, as the founder and CEO of the newly created Eban Consulting, LLC, and the recent conferral of a Ph.D. in organizational leadership. She utilizes the same skills and formal education to give back to the communities that support each of her identities as a Black lesbian woman. As a previous volunteer coordinator with the National Black Justice Coalition, as the previous Board Chair with Young Ladies of Tomorrow, Inc., as a previous board member with the Wanda Alston Foundation, as the previous director of program development with the Women’s Global Leadership Initiative, as well as the current national president of Kappa Xi Omega Sorority, Inc. and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Brandynicole volunteers her time to develop others and to give back to communities that have been her support.