Maya Gwynn
For KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn with Black Perspectives IE, a show we learn about the amazing things members of the Black community are doing in the Inland Empire. My guest today is Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan, Chief Visionary Officer of the Youth Mentoring Action Network. So nice to meet you.
Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan
Nice to meet you as well. Thank you for having me.
Maya Gwynn
Of course, I couldn't wait to talk to you. I first became aware of your work beginning of August during the Freedom Dreaming: Re-Envisioning Education through Student Voice panel at the 2025 Policy Philanthropy Summit. I was really moved by the way you spoke about creating new systems of learning. And really moved as we were talking about before, about the teens who were so unfiltered and very honest about what was going on in high school. And I wanted to ask, as the Executive Director of the Youth Mentoring Action Network, when did you realize that traditional education systems wasn't built for all kids, especially black kids, marginalized kids, queer youth, and that something radically needed to change?
Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan
Almost immediately, yes, I actually was a high school English teacher before I started running the organization, and I had, like, a lot of sort of fantasy filled ideas about what education would look like. And then I got into the classroom, and there was a real reality around like, what you're actually able to do given the bureaucratic constraints of like, schools, the institution, like the different actors and stakeholders. You know, I think I almost immediately, in like my first probably five years of teaching, started looking for alternatives, started thinking about, what other spaces, theories, frameworks - what could get me to a place where youth voice could be centered authentically, where we could be more in partnership?
Maya Gwynn
Yeah, for a lot of my friends who are teachers, it's being excited and then being hit with the reality of like, how stuff is really run when there's so much red tape. And to that, when you think back of your own timeline as a student, if you had walked into the classroom day one of your education that was actually built with black students in mind, how do you think it would have changed your future?
Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan
So I'm 43 now, I think I would be so much further along if I didn't have to go on this long journey of figuring out who I was and where I came from and the power that I hold, I would be unstoppable right now. When you asked me, you know, like on day one, it kind of tugged at me like in my spirit, you know what I mean? Because it made me think of all the young folks who step into these spaces and all the elders, all the community folks who trust education systems to care for our babies, and like what it must feel like to give them over and then have the young folks proceed to go through the different experiences that they go through. I think if we radically reimagine education as a space that centered young people, centered the multiple identities that they come with and communities they come from, education will be so much more powerful.
Maya Gwynn
What do you think are the radical ways, the top two, that like come to your mind?
Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan
So when I think about centering voice and things, I mean an identity. I just think about, like, the classroom being a much more open space. I've been doing a lot right now, like with the death of D'Angelo, I put this lesson plan together because I was actually thinking about, what would I be teaching right now, like as an English teacher, because his loss, you know, really impacted me. His music impacted me growing up. And I was like, that's something as an elder, I would want to share with young folks like this is a guy who made this amazing contribution to black music. Here's all the ways that we should care about that. So I think about things like that, building a curriculum, building lesson plans, building classroom atmosphere. You know, building schools that are more open and inclusive to community. I think about like some of the basic ways that we even lay education out in the first place, that I would completely rethink.
Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan
So many members of Gen Z and Gen Alpha, which is crazy to say they're bold, creative and socially conscious. How do you see them redefining leadership from their perspective? And how does your organizations, I saw you have programs like youth ambassadors or out loud archives, help make sure their voices are truly heard and not just checked off.
Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan
I think it's about, A: adults ceding power, giving young people the space to figure it out, right, like they have all the ideas, but they don't necessarily have the life experience. I think for us in our organization, our real focus is about giving them those safe spaces to practice. Like, here's a space to try out your leadership and fail, and that'd be okay, right? Here's a space to try out your really cool, radical ideas and be okay with failing, and like knowing that the elders around you are gonna hold you through that process, right, walk you through that process, be there to help, pick you up, and then also help you, like, identify the really important lessons from either the successes or the failures.
Maya Gwynn
Definitely. My brother, he was a debater in high school, and he came home to my dad and told him that saving dolphins would stop racism. And my dad was like, I so support you. I don't know what you're talking about, but this is a safe space, and when you get older and you realize how crazy you sound, I'll be here. Like all these years later, it happened. But yeah, what's one lesson you've learned from the young people you've worked with that changed the way you see the world? And how does that lesson give you hope in this kind of bleak moment that we're in right now?
Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan
I think one of the most important lessons I've learned from young folks is forgiveness. I was actually thinking today about some of the thank yous that I wanted to give to young people, and one of the big thank yous was that that I'm so thankful that they didn't throw me away as an elder who has made so many mistakes and thought I knew all the things and was always right. Young people keep letting us try. So I'm just thankful that they have given me and given all of us chances to keep showing up for them and to keep walking alongside them and to be better elders.
Maya Gwynn
That's so true. And especially someone said that, like marginalized youth is the most experimented on too.
Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan
Yeah, and research, right? Like we use them to prop up our research and to make points about how things need to get better, and they don't necessarily turn into action. But to your point, yeah, it's valid.
Maya Gwynn
We're gonna move to our rapid-fire portion. I'm excited to hear your answers. If your work had a theme song, what would it be?
Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan
Oh, man, not a theme song. Meg the Stallion. The collab with her and Beyonce.
Maya Gwynn
Oh yeah, 'Savage Remix'. Yeah. If you have to teach a master class or give a TED Talk and a random skill, you have something other than what you do. What would it be?
Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan
Gardening. I'm really into gardening. I don't know if I could teach it, but I would try, because I really like it.
Maya Gwynn
What's your favorite? IE restaurant or landmark that reminds you of the Inland Empire?
Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan
Ooh, you’re asking good questions. Okay, so I'm just gonna go with restaurant, because I've eaten. The Quarter, Quarter in Claremont.
Maya Gwynn
Yeah, it's great. How can people keep up with your work and support what you're doing?
Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan
All the follows, so definitely yman.org. So that's- we say, Iman, but most folks see it as Y-man, yeah. So definitely want to follow that website and the socials are ymanstrong on Instagram for that, and then for me, I'm Dr. Torie everywhere. So like Dr. Torie on the internet, Dr. Torie on Instagram. And I'm also building Substack right now, which is really cool. So I'm writing leadership lessons on Substack, and I'm also building lesson plans for folks to download on Substack. That is Doctor Torie there too. So go follow that.
Maya Gwynn
I love that so many cool people are on Substack, you're there too. It was so great to talk to you. Thank you so much for being here.
Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan
Thank you. I'm so thankful that you had me.
Maya Gwynn
Dr. Tori Weiston-Serdan is Chief Visionary Officer at the Youth Mentoring Action Network. Find this segment and others at kvcrnews.org/bpie. Support for this segment comes from the Black Equity Fund at IECF, advancing racial equity and supporting long-term investments in black led organizations in Riverside and San Bernardino counties join us again next week for Black Perspectives IE. For KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn. Thank you.
