PROJECT:  Create convivial spaces for Black girls and their mothers/caregivers in the form of virtual dinners used to cook and share intergenerational narratives, navigating through spaces of healing, health, and advocating for their unmet needs. The dinners will provide a deeper understanding of the intersectionalities of the lives of Black women while passing down vital messages necessary for survival in society.

Sonya Brooks is a PhD student in the Urban Schooling division at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. Her research interests lie at the intersections of education policy, law, and urban schools in an effort to design frameworks to build better educational trajectories for students, specifically Black girls.

Brooks is a passionate advocate for the health and well-being of girls in PK–12, the advisor for Beautiful Brown Girls — a community-based program in the Bay Area — and is the recipient for the 2021 Center for the Study of Women Black Feminism Initiative Award for her research on Black women and empowerment. After graduating from UCLA in 2019 with a bachelor’s in History and Brown University in 2021 with a master’s in Urban Education Policy, Brooks has been invited to speak about her work with Black girls and ways of dismantling the challenges they experience in academic and health care spaces. Currently, her areas of research include the historical importance of intergenerational narratives and storytelling and its impact on the health and well-being and educational opportunities for girls.

In her spare time, Brooks loves roller skating, reading, writing, and spending time with her children doing everything or nothing at all.