elita layà

I am a Liberatory Learning Practitioner-Activist, DEI Consultant, and Educator with over a decade of experience designing anti-oppressive frameworks and curriculum, leading strategic equity initiatives, and fostering transformative leadership and organizational change. I have served as faculty at Saint Mary’s College of California and Claremont Graduate University, teaching courses in racial justice, critical pedagogy, and anti-oppressive counseling. As the Founder and Director of Twalo, I consult for schools, universities, and organizations committed to racial justice and systemic equity, conducting equity audits, facilitating transformative workshops, and developing strategic action plans.

My professional expertise includes strategic DEI initiatives, critical intercultural counseling, trauma-informed care, restorative justice, and social-emotional learning. My work bridges radical theory and liberatory practice, emphasizing systemic change through intersectional, Black feminist, and abolitionist frameworks.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Education – Claremont Graduate University (2023)

Dissertation: "I’ve Been Murdered": An Autoethnographic Narrative of the School-to-Death Nexus

• Developed the school-to-death nexus framework, exploring how educational institutions facilitate anti-Black violence and perpetuate systemic death-bound realities for Black students.
• Interrogated the necropolitical, carceral, and capitalistic power dynamics shaping Black students’ educational experiences.
• Proposed life-giving schools as an alternative, reimagining educational spaces as sites of liberation and transformation.

Master of Arts (M.A.) in Cultural Studies – Claremont Graduate University

Thesis: BGLP: An Afrotransfuturist Creation of Possibility and Praxis

• Conceptualized Afrotransfuturity, an intersection of Afrofuturism, transfuturism, Black feminist frameworks, and digital humanities to radically reimagine Black gender liberation.
• Founded the Black Gender Liberation Project (BGLP)—an open-access digital archive centering Black gender embodiment and radical disembodiment.
• Analyzed curation practices, archival structures, and the relationship between self-determination, subjecthood, and radical reimagining in digital humanities.

Master of Arts (M.A.) in Counseling Psychology – University of San Francisco

• Specialized in intercultural counseling, trauma-informed school counseling, restorative justice, social emotional learning, and social justice frameworks in mental health.
• Earned Pupil Personnel Services Credential and Associate Professional Clinical Counselor (APCC) licensure.

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Psychology & Sociology – California State University, Stanislaus

• Coursework focused on developmental psychology, criminology, deviance, and educational inequity. 
• Conducted research on sexual assualt prevention policies, inequities in access to school counseling professionals, and LGBTQ legislation.