The Black Unicorn with Charmaine Mercer

Precious Stroud: Okay, alright. So, What’s your name?

Charmaine Mercer: My name is Charmaine Nicole Jackson Mercer. What is your industry? How would you describe it? Education policy and research, with a focus on K-12 issues. It’s mostly federal policy, with a little bit of state-facing policy. My work uses research and evidence from practice to inform federal and state legislative efforts.

Growing up, I had so many teachers and other adults who worked in schools, who cared about me and who saw things in me that even at times I couldn’t see myself. I credit what I have achieved and who I am today in large part to the excellent education and support I received from them. I mean, obviously my parents and my family were hugely influential in my life, but education was a big, big, big part of my life and I want other kids to be able to have access to the same types of educational opportunities that I did. So that’s why I do what I do; it’s what gets me up in the morning and keeps me up at night. Education had such a significant impact on my life; I feel like the work that I do is part of my life’s rent. It’s what I was put on Earth to do.

What would you say to your younger self today? 10-15 years ago?

I recall that earlier in my career, my opinions and ideals of how an American education should be seemed to differ from other people’s and I felt so foreign and often questioned my own thoughts. I would say to my younger self, “You will have opportunities for your ideals to be realized, so stay the course and stick with it, even though it’s really challenging sometimes.”