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My work is about ensuring Black women are able to tell our stories. Stories of excellence and struggle. I had to learn that my voice mattered. As a 15-year-old mom, I believed that parts of me did not matter. I had to learn that everything in me matters. The parts of me matter that I don't want people to see, the parts of me matter that people praise, the parts of me matter that keeps me grounded, and the parts of me matter that I hold sacred and private away from the eyes of the world. My intellect and my research matter. I matter and I am the only person that can tell that story.

Biography

The Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership Studies (CWGGL) is the only Black woman-focused women’s center in the nation. As the Assistant Director of CWGGL, Anjerrika Bean aims to build collaborative relationships across HBCUs to address the needs of Black women in the U.S. and abroad. She seeks innovative approaches and ideas for highlighting and providing space for Black women in academic and corporate environments, while continuing to inspire other HBCUs to open women centers that directly address  Black women’s concerns through research, community, and services. 

Prior to earning her PhD in Sociology and Criminology at Howard, she received a BS in Christian Leadership from the College of Biblical Studies in Houston, Texas and a MA in Sociology from Prairie View A&M University.  As a student at Howard,  Bean was a Frederick Douglass Fellow. After graduating, she became the Dr. Ralph Gomes Social Justice Post-Doctoral Fellow in the history department. This educational journey took true tenacity and grit, as there was no blueprint for Bean to follow; getting to the point of being able to tell her story, and the stories of other Black women, involved attending summer and night school as a fifteen-year-old mother, serving as a senior airman in the Airforce, and pursuing real estate and cosmetology licenses.   

Attending Howard University as a doctoral student inspired Bean. Watching her Black professors and deans embrace their race, gender, and identity reminded her that she could embrace all of herself too. Bean credits her mentors Dr. Terri Adams Fuller and Dr. Valethia Watkins with challenging her to re-center the lives of Black women. Through her work at CWGGL, Bean ensures that Black women have the space to tell their own stories. In this role, Bean is an integral part of the ecosystem of “intelligent, witty, and fly Black women” to which she attributes her humility and confidence.