Teacher and Leader Bios

Freddie Taylor

Founder and CEO of Urban Intellectuals and Sankofa Club

Visionary, entrepreneur and philanthropist; just a few words that describe, Freddie E. Taylor, founder and CEO of Urban Intellectuals(UI).

Spurred by the lack of Black history instruction that his sons received in grammar school, Freddie knew the onus was on him to create a new narrative of Black culture, and in 2009, UI was born.

Initially, UI was an online hub of Black media that now boasts over one million Facebook fans, a mobile app and its own social media network. Today, the company has several products, including the renowned Black History Flashcards. UI has aggressively taken a lead role in engaging, educating and empowering people who are curious and passionate about the African diaspora.

To date, over 300,000 Black History Flash Cards have been sold and featured in: Essence, HuffPost, CBS Chicago, Good Morning Washington, Milwaukee PBS and Sister Circle on TV One. Additionally, UI enjoyed a 2019 Black History Month collaboration with JetBlue featuring the flashcards in the JFK (NY) and Newark (NJ) airports.

Tameko Cohen

RPBC and Sankofa Club Community Leader

Tameko brings years of multifaceted entrepreneurial experience to the Sankofa Club. As the Sankofa Club Community Leader Tameko plays an integral role in the community; she keeps members up to date on current happenings to ensure that members feel informed and empowered.

Tameko is a natural-born leader and communicator with a passion for children and the arts. Before working at Sankofa, Tameko dedicated herself to several different professions and motherhood. 

Tameko was a dedicated singer, actress, and independent film producer. She then went on to be the owner in charge of operations at a French Bakery as well as a personal trainer before giving birth to her now seven-year-old daughter.

She attended Adelphi and Hofstra University.

Corri Bischer

Teacher

My name is Corri Bischer and I wear several hats with one purpose. My purpose is to inspire and encourage parents and educators to share their creativity and bring out the natural curiosity in our youth so they can become world problem solvers and leave an indelible impact in this earth. I have been in the field of education for 36 years from pre-school to college tutoring and have enjoyed every age. I strongly believe in Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence and my book, Igniting & Inspiring Life-Long Learners discusses this theory and how it needs to be more prevalent in our education system. My purpose has led me to become an author, a speaker, an entrepreneur, and learning how to dream and accomplish more than I could imagine. This is what I believe, creativity and guidance does for all of us and that is my goal to share that with all that will listen. I currently live in TN, but look forward to being able to travel and teach anywhere that I am called. You may reach me at [email protected] or call me direct at 423 320 3248.

Andreal Davis

Teacher

Andreal Davis is a wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, aunt and Statewide Culturally Responsive Practices Coordinator in Wisconsin. She is also CEO/Founder of Cultural Practices That Are Relevant, LLC. whose signature event is the annual Black History Education Conference held annually in Madison, Wisconsin for the past two years. She received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education in 1986 and a Master of Science Degree in Curriculum and Instruction in 1995 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also holds a Master of Science Degree in Educational Administration from Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin. Convinced of the importance of family and community in a child's education, Davis has been instrumental in forming family-school-community relationships ever since she began her teaching career in 1986. She has served in various capacities in the public education arena including formerly serving as an Elementary Educator, Title I Reading Instructor, Parent Involvement Coordinator, Instructional Resource Teacher for Cultural Relevance, Assistant Director of Equity and Family Involvement and the nation’s first Director of African American Student Achievement with the Madison Metropolitan School District in Madison, Wisconsin. She was also formerly co-director, for twelve years, along with her husband Arlington, of the African American Ethnic Academy, an academic and cultural enrichment program that convened on Saturday mornings. As a product of the research she did while serving as co-director at the African American Ethnic Academy she was propelled by her own three sons and countless other Black children across the country and devoted her life's work to researching and utilizing best practices and models around Culturally Responsive Practices that speak to the unique identities and world views of these children.  

Reflecting on her own educational experiences as a child and those she has had as a classroom teacher and mother, she has held deeply in her heart the people, purposes and passions that shaped and have had a profound effect on the educational leader she is today. Many of these experiences remain in her institutional memory and call her to create and share this work through creating the Black History Education Conference, publishing books, writing/creating curriculum and engaging in speaking opportunities across the nation. Included in her repertoire of tools and resources that she has created is a professional development model called Cultural Practices that are Relevant (CPR) that supports and strengthens Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching. Most recently she has published her first culturally responsive children’s book called, “Dreaming In Ethnic Melodies” that shares the hopes and dreams she continues to hold for her own three sons. She currently serves as Wisconsin's Culturally Responsive Practices Coordinator at the Wisconsin Response to Intervention Center. In that role she leads this work along with a team of colleagues, training practitioners across the state of Wisconsin and nationally from a model she co-created called the Model to Inform Culturally Responsive Practices that focuses on what it means to be culturally responsive starting with self and moving that work across an entire equitable multi-level system of support.

As a result of this work Andreal has received various awards. She was the recipient of the NBC 15 News Crystal Apple Award in 2000, UW-Madison Lois Gadd Nemec Distinguished Elementary Education Alumni Award in 2004, Order of the Eastern Star Mother Full of Grace in 2004, the Milken National Educator Award in 2004 and the YWCA woman of Distinction Award in 2013.

Gwendolyn W. Ebron

Teacher

Gwendolyn W. Ebron, M.Ed, has a bachelors degree in Journalism and a Masters of Education in Counseling, and has been a counselor for adults and children for over 34 years. Gwendolyn is also the President and CEO of G. S. E. Enterprise, Inc.

Gwendolyn developed the AfrIcan and African American History Studies curriculum for the former Wakisha Charter School and taught the course by immersing the students into the history of Africans and African Americans in a classroom decorated to represent an African Village. 

Through G. S. E. Enterprise, Inc., Gwendolyn has presented workshops; plays and interactive immersive experiences of African and African American History for schools; churches; Conferences; Colleges and Universities, and for the opening of the Visitors Center, the opening of The Constitution Center; the moving of the Liberty Bell; Welcome America and the July 4th Parade in Philadelphia, PA. Gwendolyn has produced, directed and  hosted a radio show called "Let's Talk It Over" and produced, directed, wrote and starred in a TV program for WYBE-TV called "Journey to Nubian World" - a show where she and three students went back in time to interact with historical Africans and African Americans.

Gwendolyn continues to infuse African and African American historical facts into her clinical counseling in schools with students who exhibit very difficult behavioral problems and the students have experienced excellent results of improved behavior.

Gwendolyn is a wife; a mother of four grown children, grandmother of five and a descendant of an amazing people and a glorious heritage.

Assata Moore

Teacher

Assata started teaching math and physics to elementary students at Sankofa Shule at the age of 18. Sankofa was an African-centered charter school in Lansing, MI that taught from an African pedagogy utilizing the teaching principles of the Dogon Philosophy. The walimu (teachers) at Sankofa held daily Indaba (serious
discussion) meetings to study the teachings and works of scholars like Dr. Maulana Karenga, Dr. Molefi Asante, Dr. Linda James-Myers, Dr. Harriette McAdoo, Dr. Asa Hilliard and others. The founder, Dr. Freya Rivers, was intentional about developing and nurturing her teachers through conferences and travel, including an annual trip
to Egypt that included students and parents.

In 2005, Assata started working with the Betty Shabazz International Charter School at their Sizemore and DuSable campuses as their mathematics chair. In 2009, she left for the University of Chicago to serve as a principal. Under her leadership, she incorporated an African-centered pedagogy and a Black Thought class for seniors where students studied the works of Dr. Maulana Karenga and Dr. Molefi Asante
amongst others.

Currently, she is working with Freddie Taylor of Urban Intellectuals to provide parents with Black Math Genius: An advanced mathematics program that introduces students to high level mathematics and the true origins of math - Africa. You can visit Sankofaclub.com/mathgenius for more information.

Assata started teaching at the age of eighteen! In her twenties she used her work ethic as leverage to become a partner of a restaurant in Lansing, MI. During this same time period she set a goal of retiring in her forties. In February of 2017, at the age of forty-one, she retired from her district level position at the University of Chicago's
Urban Education Institute. Prior to that position, Assata spent five years as a high school principal where she brought a school from red to green in terms of education, staff morale, and budget. As a teacher and principal, she traveled the world teaching other teachers how to teach mathematics, physics, and engineering in a fun and engaging way; effective leadership; and systems and strategies for running a successful school. She has a mathematics degree from Michigan State University where she also served as the program coordinator. In 2009, she was voted one of the top mathematics teachers in the state of Illinois. In 2005, she decided to invest in real estate alongside teaching. This would be her vehicle to retirement. In order to make this goal a reality, she first
accumulated several properties to bring in enough rental income to replace her six-figure salary. Afterwards, she started flipping single-family homes to sustain the standard of living she had become accustomed to.

After a few local speaking engagements and radio appearances, she realized there was a huge need for wealth building education. Realizing that more than sixty-five percent of Americans have less than one thousand dollars in savings, she made it her mission to help others gain financial freedom. Using her love of teaching and mathematics, she energetically shows participants "How to Get Their $H!T Together." She covers the major components needed to have mental and financial wealth: Savings, Health, Investments, and Time.

If you're looking for a speaker that can get the audience moving immediately, Assata Moore is that speaker. Her workshops and speaking engagements are what she calls, EduAction. You will be educated and you will put that learning into action. It's about building wealth y'all!