RASHAWNDA WILLIAMS

Rashawnda Williams is an educator, poet, and writer and a native of Washington, D.C. She is an alumna of 826DC, a youth writing and tutoring center in Washington, D.C., where she first got her start in finding her voice as a young writer. She holds a BA in sociology from Skidmore College in upstate New York and an M.Ed. from Boston University with a focus in teaching and curriculum.

As a recent M.Ed. graduate and former classroom teacher, William's studies as an MA student and 7th grade history teacher have greatly informed the content and style of her writing. She enjoys the therapeutic aspects of writing and believes it is a way to articulate her feelings and her vision. Recently, Williams developed a new lens observing the world and gained a language to articulate how she navigates through society as a young, Black, queer woman.
Williams’s writing is a reflection of her identity, but it is also a call to action and a response against injustice. She cares deeply about justice and equity across different identity markers and is a passionate advocate of education and its intersection with social identities related to class, race, gender, ability, and sexuality. In 2017, she read poetry at the Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, MA for Amber Tamblyn's release of her first book, Any Man. In 2016, she had her first standalone poetry showcase at Poetic Vibe, a weekly poetry open mic event at Troy Kitchen in Albany, NY. 

Williams is currently a writer’s room coordinator for 826 Boston at the Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Williams hopes to continue working in education as an educator engaging young people. She is currently working on her first poetry chapbook.