Today we’d like to introduce you to Dawne Washington.
Hi Dawne, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My story starts with my father, Dr. Jack Washington. He earned his doctorate and was still questioned about his qualifications because of his race. Even with the degree in hand, his belonging was treated as conditional. He responded by requiring that the world call him Doctor and he never stopped proving himself in spaces that were not built for him. I watched that my entire life and did not fully have the language for it until I wrote Glass House Conditioning.
I was a teen mom. I experienced homelessness while pursuing my undergraduate degree. I was managing a high risk pregnancy while trying to stay enrolled and stay alive in every sense of the word. People told me I would never earn a degree. I went on to earn one of the highest degrees in all of academia.
I earned my PhD in International Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and built Brown Girl’s Vision LLC from the ground up as an author, publisher, editor, international psychologist, and consultant. I spent years working directly with marginalized communities through child protective services and in restorative school settings. What I witnessed was systems that imposed harm rather than corrective measures. Children and families being processed by institutions that were never designed to heal them. That changed something in me. I decided I was going to be the voice for those who have been systematically oppressed rather than watch the cycle continue.
I have published seven books and created frameworks that name what so many people have lived but never been able to say out loud. Glass House Conditioning is my signature work and it asks one question. What does it cost you to belong in a space that was never designed for you?
Today I teach psychology and history at a charter school in Trenton, I am completing my final internship for a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, and I consult with institutions on cultural pedagogy and equitable access. I am also honored to be preserving and publishing three unpublished manuscripts left behind by my father.
Everything I build is for the person who was counted out before they ever got started. I was her. That has never left me.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has never been a smooth road. I do not think smooth roads build the kind of person I needed to become.
I was a teen mom navigating homelessness while enrolled in college and managing a high risk pregnancy at the same time. I was an EOF student. In my last semester I was failed while on bed rest completing my coursework despite my ADA accommodations. I was pregnant and already raising a five year old. Two weeks after giving birth with no stable housing I returned to school because I was determined to earn my bachelor’s degree. The system that was supposed to support students like me became one of the obstacles I had to overcome. People who should have believed in me did not. I was told a degree was not in my future. I kept going anyway.
Working in child protective services, in country experiences with NGOs in South Africa, Peru, and Jamaica as well as being in a restorative school setting showed me a different kind of obstacle. I watched families and children be failed by the very institutions that were supposed to protect them. That kind of harm does not leave you. It either breaks you or it gives you a mission. It gave me a mission.
Building Brown Girl’s Vision LLC as an independent author, editor, publisher, and consultant has come with every challenge you would expect when you are doing something that was not designed with you in mind. No blueprint. No safety net. Just vision and work ethic.
I lost my father while I was studying for my comprehensive exams, working on my dissertation, and working full time. I was raising my two sons alone while managing their active schedules. At the same time I became a foster parent for my young cousin who was failure to thrive due to neglect. That required multiple weekly doctors appointments and specialists on top of everything else I was carrying. Grief does not wait for a convenient time. I had to learn how to hold all of it at once and keep moving.
Every obstacle I have faced has shown up in my work. That is not an accident. I write and teach from the inside of these experiences not from a distance.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am an international psychologist, educator, author, editor, publisher, and consultant. I specialize in the psychology of conditioning, cultural pedagogy, and equitable access for marginalized communities. What I am known for is taking complex psychological and sociological concepts and making them accessible to the people who actually lived them.
My signature framework is Glass House Conditioning. It examines how systems condition marginalized people to regulate their behavior and earn belonging in spaces that were never designed for them. It has received unwavering support from some of the most respected scholars in the country including Dr. Cornel West. That still moves me every time I say it.
I teach psychology and history to young people at a charter school in Trenton while completing my Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and accumulating supervised clinical hours. I consult with institutions on cultural pedagogy and how to create environments where marginalized students and communities are not just present but fully supported.
What I am most proud of is that my work is not theoretical for the people who read it. I hear consistently from readers that my frameworks gave them language for experiences they had been carrying for years without words. That is the whole point. That is why I do this.
What sets me apart is that I did not study these experiences from the outside. I lived them. I was the student who was failed by the system. I was the mother who had nothing but refused to stop. I was the daughter watching her father prove his worth in rooms that questioned him. Everything I have built comes from that place. That is not something you can manufacture. Undeniable proof of lived experiences rather than textbook knowledge.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
There are several ways to connect with me and support the work.
If you are an institution, school, or organization looking to create more equitable and culturally informed environments I offer consulting and staff development workshops rooted in my Cultural Pedagogy frameworks. I work with educators, administrators, and teams who are ready to move beyond performative inclusion and do the real work. My areas of specialization include the positive psychology, psychology of conditioning, AI literacy, child development, the impact of microaggressions on young people, and how environmental influences shape behavior and identity.
If you are a speaker series, podcast, conference, or media outlet I welcome opportunities to speak on the psychology of conditioning, systemic oppression, Black maternal health, and the intersection of art and education. These are not just topics I research. They are conversations I have been living and leading for years.
If you are a reader you can find my books through Brown Girl’s Vision LLC. Glass House Conditioning is my signature work and the place I always recommend people start.
If you are an aspiring author or independent publisher I am also open to conversations about the publishing process and what it means to build something entirely your own.
You can connect with me at linktr.ee/Dawnewashingtonphd where you will find everything in one place. Follow my journey on social media and join a community of people who refuse to shrink.
The best form of support is always to read the work, share the work, and tell someone who needs it that it exists.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thebrowngirlsvision.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr_dawne_w
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-dawne-washington-phd-520777111
- Other: http://linktr.ee/Dawnewashingtonphd
