The Exit Interview: A Podcast for Black Educators

This episode is a masterclass in reclaiming purpose, honoring your calling, and choosing wholeness over hustle. If you’ve ever been called “too much” for simply doing what’s right—this one is for you.

In this episode of The Exit Interview: A Podcast for Black Educators, Dr. Asia Lyons sits down with transformational leader Dr. Mary Hemphill for a powerful conversation about the cost of caring deeply inside systems that weren’t built for us. From returning to teach in her childhood classroom to leading statewide academic reform, Dr. Hemphill shares how purpose, pressure, and policy collided in her journey—and how her exit became a path to liberation.

Together, they explore:

• The tension between being vigilant and being labeled a vigilante

• Why transformational Black educators are often placed in the most broken schools

• How systemic neglect and adult complicity show up in schools (especially for Black boys)

• The challenge of leading with vision when the system prefers silence

• What wellness actually looks like for Black women leaders in education