About Lead Liberated

L. Daneen Keaton founded Lead Liberated in 2021.  She founded their core program, the Antiracist Collective at Educate78 by leveraging her experiences as a coach and facilitator at the National Equity Project and as principal of César Chávez Public Charter School Capitol Hill Campus in Washington D.C.. She led the school in transforming its grading practices and improving school culture – changes that resulted in the largest graduating class in the school’s history. Prior to her time in D.C., she was a founding teacher and leader in two Bay Area high schools. Daneen holds a BA in secondary mathematics education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MA in Educational Leadership from CalState Hayward. She is a member of the New Leaders 2008 cohort. Most of what she has learned comes from years of listening to and collaborating with students, families, teachers, and colleagues.

Sabrina Moore, a Black female, is the Executive Director of 3Ls Academy. Sabrina currently works for Alameda County Office of Education as a Program Director of Systemic Instructional Review supporting and monitoring the SIR Report for Oakland Unified School District. Sabrina is an Oakland native and has served as Principal/Instructional Leader for TK-5 in Oakland Unified School District and is a former teacher. She has a strong desire to lead high-impact initiatives benefiting youth across Oakland, starting in the Sobrante Park community, and to transform outcomes one neighborhood at a time. She blazed a trail by founding and leading 3Ls Academy. As Executive Director for The Academy, she is responsible for designing program solutions that focus on technical, relational, social, and cultural aspects of complex change efforts focused on educational equity. In addition to providing leadership and organization development, she is program manager for this project.

Gia Truong is a leadership coach and facilitator with Lead Liberated. Prior to this role, Gia was a high school social studies teacher, an instructional coach, a middle school principal, a senior leader at Oakland Unified, and the CEO of Envision Education. It was at Envision where Gia first worked with Lead Liberated and quickly became a believer and supporter of the transformative power of the partnership. In her various leadership roles, she has learned that to improve results for students: leaders must be willing to do the “mirror” work and be willing to change; adults need to learn to collaborate productively across difference; and student and parent power have to be prioritized and amplified. Gia’s passion is in coaching leaders and leading effective teams in complex systems to maximize collective impact. She is a Pahara Education Fellow and a Leading for Equity Fellow with the National Equity Project. She is also a member of Education Leaders of Color, an organization dedicated to elevating the leadership, voices, and influence of people of color in education. She collaborates with other leaders to foster positive change on behalf of historically underserved students and families. Gia holds a MA from Brown University, a BA from San Francisco State University, and a teaching and administrative credential in California.

Rachel Garcia James is an operations geek who has more than 20-years experience building systems and processes to support teams for non-profit organizations. Rachel grew up in Los Angeles attending public schools in LAUSD and nearby districts. Experiencing the inequities first hand are part of what fuels her desire to ensure great schools for all students. Rachel started her career organizing high school and middle school youth around educational equity and justice issues in South Los Angeles with the Community Coalition. She earned a BA at Loyola Marymount University in Chicana/o Studies with a minor in Spanish Literature. Rachel currently lives in Seattle and enjoys travel, good food, and spending time with her friends and family all over the globe. 

Kristin Bijur is a leadership coach and facilitator with Lead Liberated. She comes to this role after working as a classroom teacher, a school leader, and while currently serving as a senior leader in a large school district. In her leadership roles, she learned and practiced the leadership skills necessary to implement systemic changes in assessment practices, collaborative structures, and school governance practices, resulting in sustained increases in the achievement of African American students. Deriving from that experience, she has developed and implemented models for leadership development in a large school district. Kristin holds a BA from Middlebury College in Vermont and teaching and administrator credentials in California. She is passionate about shared leadership, white people taking responsibility for racism, educators seeing brilliance in every student, and learning from and with colleagues of color. She is a lifelong learner and educator, committed to contributing to improved results for students and families long under-served by public school districts. Every child deserves highly effective and loving educators!

Anni Denzel joined the team at Lead Liberated as Director of Development in 2022. Prior to this role, Anni supported development efforts at Johns Hopkins University's Peabody Institute in Baltimore, and ZUMIX, a creative youth development organization in Boston. She specializes in supporting mission-driven organizations that focus on building a more equitable world and is an experienced fundraiser for the arts and youth education initiatives. She is honored to be trusted to steward Lead Liberated's mission of creating antiracist learning cultures where everyone thrives. Participating in this mission through partnership building is what Anni enjoys most about her role. She holds a BA in History from Skidmore College and an MBA from the University of Maryland Global Campus. She currently lives with her family in Japan.

Leon Lundie grew up in Bogalusa, Louisiana, a city about 50 miles north of New Orleans, Louisiana.  He was raised by two outstanding, loving, caring, and supportive women, his Grandmother and Mother.  These two women instilled in him the importance of hard work, integrity, and serving others. Education has always been Leon’s passion; however, his life-long purpose was developed and energized during his tenure at “The Southern University” in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He has spent the last 28 years in the Cherry Creek School District in Greenwood Village, Colorado as a Mathematics teacher, Dean of Students, Assistant to the Principal, Assistant principal, and finally the last 9 years as Principal of Overland High School (one of the most diverse schools in the state of Colorado).  During his tenure as principal, Overland High School increased the overall on-time graduation rate by 10% (from 78.9% to 89%), increased Advanced Placement (AP) pass rate from 44% to 62%, while increasing the number of tests taken, surpassing the state and global average.  Finally, Overland High School was selected by the Washington Post as one of America’s Most Challenging High Schools. After retirement from the Cherry Creek School District, he relocated to the Bay Area, and became Co-Principal at Lionel Wilson Prep in East Oakland for three years. Leon Lundie received his Bachelor’s Degree in Education from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  He obtained his Master’s Degree in Administration and Supervision from the University of Phoenix Colorado Campus.  Finally, in 2017 he received his Education Specialist Degree (EdS) in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Shayla Taylor is an innovative Operations Manager with experience in improving processes. Through her education and work experience, Shayla has developed strong data management, interpersonal, written and oral communication skills. Her values are based on a strong work ethic which is backed by a foundation of empathy and fortitude. She possesses a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from The University of California, Los Angeles. Born and raised in Berkeley California, Shayla strives to put her energy and focus on contributing to making the Bay Area flourish.