Leadership and equity expert Baruti Kafele, better known as Principal Kafele, is a powerful speaker with an inspirational PD approach designed to drive educators toward their full potential. Since COVID first shut down schools in 2020, he has been asked countless times to fire up building leaders to continue leading their schools.

“You get them feeling like ‘You got this,’ and your students need you, and your staff needs you,” says Kafele, a former middle and high school principal. “But you remind them, you’ve got to make sure there’s harmony in your life, there’s balance, so you don’t lose sight of the fact that you’re not just that leader, you’re also a human being away from the school.”

He continues to stress authenticity and fervor as key traits for successful leaders. “If you allow certain situations, certain circumstances, certain politics, certain environments to undermine your being, then you’re going to be operating as something that would be a stranger to yourself if you saw it in a mirror,” he explains.