Episode 73: In AWE of Jamilah Hud-Kirk–Connectors Series
Mrs. Jamilah A. Hud-Kirk has served an educator for over 20 years and currently serves as Principal of Fountain Elementary School in Clayton County Public Schools, one of the largest urban school districts in Metro Atlanta for the past 10 years. Fountain Elementary is a designated Title I School serving over 600 students in Grades PreK-5th grade. At Fountain Elementary Mrs. Hud-Kirk focuses on impacting her teachers’ instructional practices through identifying and providing high quality professional learning experiences that are innovative, practical and aligned with student achievement best practices. Through impacting instructional practices her student’s academic experiences are expanding beyond the traditional classroom walls as students are developing an understanding of social justice and how social justice impacts their school community. Before serving as Principal, Mrs. Hud-Kirk served as an Elementary Language Arts School Improvement specialist for Clayton County Public Schools.
Believing passionately in the power of education to positively affect communities, transform lives, and shape new visions for leading and learning in a globally competitive world is what drives Mrs. Hud-Kirk. Grounded in her earliest years as a classroom teacher and growing up in a home where her parents were active participants in the civil rights community, Mrs. Hud-Kirk also believes her own educational and family upbringing has shaped her ability to harvest a sense of pride and empowerment as she strives to create stronger communities while educating those who will one day lead them.
Mrs. Hud-Kirk’s educational endeavors also include classroom teaching experience and serving as an Assistant Principal at the elementary and middle school level. However, her greatest accomplishment includes being a wife of almost 20 years and mother to 4 boys and 1 girl ranging from 25 to 2 years of age. Being one of the most challenging and rewarding accomplishments yet, she has recently added one more “why” to her plate, empowering other female leaders to work on the work while creating balance in their own lives. Realizing that there is much to learn from her own experiences and those of other dynamic female leaders, she has recently created a blog and other social media platforms that are reflective of those golden nuggets. It is the desire and hope that other leaders who share similar experiences work/life balance will have a safe, honest platform in which to learn from and express their own personal journeys on how they manage to find harmony (or not) between their professional and personal lives.
From the first moment Jamilah and I connected, I was hooked! In this episode, she shares her experiences in education, which are vast and we talk about what leading during COVID 19 remotely is like in her context. Jamilah shares great insight for us about relationships, the challenge mitigating inequities, and her passion for building leaders. Jamilah will absolutely inspire you, friends. She is full of fire and grace, and I am so excited to share with you, Jamilah Hud-Kirk’s Connector Story.
Connect with Jamilah
Jamilah on Instagram
Jamilah on Facebook
