Janelle Naomi Rouse is an educator, speaker, and artist born in Washington, D.C. Her work as an education consultant is focused on liberating the minds of members of the African Diaspora through decolonizing education, self empowerment for liberation, critical and creative thinking about the world.
As an educator, Rouse uses her knowledge gained in her Bachelors of Psychology and a Masters in the Art of Teaching to develop learning environments that are both culturally responsive, sustaining, and empowering. She began teaching in pre-schools in and around Washington, DC and in 2015 she began work in New York City Charter Schools as an elementary school instructor.
After completing the Critically Conscious Educators Rising Series (CCER) through New York University, Rouse began to present at multiple conferences and events. In the past few years, her curriculums, presentations and art center on the African educational experience in America. Through each of her consulting practices, Rouse has helped to better inform educators on how to approach education from a liberatory and empowering space.
Some of Rouse’s presentations and speaking engagements include “Network to Networth”, and “The Absence of the Black Educator” at Columbia University, and the Decolonizing Education Conference amongst a host of others about art, education and African-Diasporic learning. In the Fall of 2021, she joined the Center for Racial Justice in Education (CRJE), formerly known as Border Crossers, in 2020 as a part-time facilitator and trained educators and organizations about “Talking About Race” and “Unconscious Bias”. During the 2022-2023 School Year, Rouse developed a curriculum for Inspiring Minds NYC, a nonprofit that partners with high schools to develop and empower youth voices. Most recently, in Spring of 2023, she has become a consultant for LAIRP (Los Angeles Institute for Restorative Practices) and developed a workshop for youth entitled “Oppressive Language: The N Word Restorative Justice Experience”.
Rouse has continued her work as an educator, a facilitator, and a life-long learner through exploring creativity, traditional African ideologies, and right brain research to build culturally relevant learning environments that are supportive of youth developing a strong sense of self that allows them to actively participate in transforming the condition of their communities through the liberation of their minds and understanding of historical experiences.