Darnese Yvette Daniels (she/her/hers)
Racial Justice Strategist & Coach (Consultant)

Darnese Y. Daniels (she/her/hers) identifies as a Black woman in a Black body descending from formerly enslaved and first nation peoples in the low country of South Carolina, USA. She has spent the last 25+ years of her life as a servant-leader in faith-based, non-profit and public educational spaces. Darnese is deliberate about discovering what liberation can look like for herself and those that look like her in the land of ancestral trauma and resilience. She confronts the complexity of holding both Black Liberation Theology, rooted in her faith as a Christian and the learning/unlearning African spirituality and indigeneity’s beauty, strength and diversity. Darnese believes, at her core, that healing-liberation can happen when Black folx begin to reconnect with their bodies and all the history it holds, while learning our factual histories stolen, hidden and contorted- truths that amplifies our brilliance and animates our infinite possibility. 

From Creative Arts and Academic Support Center founder and director, Brooklyn-based High School Peer Collaborative teacher to Anti-Racist/Anti-Oppressive Educator Administrator and founder of a listening, healing and liberatory space for Black women who lead, Darnese has been on an intentional journey to live in true congruence with her expanding beliefs and values. It is through all of these various roles that Darnese has curates, created and cultivated spiritually, racially and socio-emotionally conscious, supportive, and healing spaces for educational, corporate, and not-for-profit organizations. She assesses equity gaps in internal processes, disrupt systems of oppression, and designs learning experiences around racial identity, bias and healing-liberation. Darnese works with leaders to help shift organizational culture by collaborating with key organizational influencers and the communities harmed by oppressive organizational practices. She actively seeks ways to disrupt anti-blackness in herself first—then others—in order to elevate joy, love and center repair and rest.

Darnese holds a Master’s in Progressive Leadership from Bank Street School of Education, a Master’s in Education for Teaching English and Communication to grades 7-12 from St. John’s University, and studied Musical Theatre at Howard University and English/Theatre Arts at New Jersey City University, to earn her Bachelor of Arts degree.