Students.  Students are at the core of Traci’s why. Students are the reason she invests in educators. Guiding all of us to all leave a powerful imprint on students’ and parents’ hearts and minds to foster a perpetual thirst for students being passionate about learning is central to Traci’s work. 

Traci is particularly passionate about differentiating learning for all students.  She has a gift of reaching students who have a disconnect between their actions, intentions, and self-control. Designing unique and individualized learning paths for gifted learners, Traci strengthens parental relationships by “seeing” the gifted learner. 

She is also the voice behind Intelligogy The Podcast, a riveting and provocative podcast created to disrupt educational normalcy. The powerful conversations she holds on equity and racism leave listeners in a state of realization, awareness, and commitment, and call to action. Remote learning, rethinking SEL, and conversations with her son, a gifted learner, are simply captivating.

With a heart for giving back to the profession she loves, Traci serves on the Educator Preparation Board at Dallas Baptist University and is committed to partnering with new teachers to help them have repeat blockbuster years of building relationships, community, and excellence in teaching. Her classroom is known as a live learning environment in which teachers and administrators in and outside of her district routinely visit.

Traci challenges all of us to stretch beyond our perceived limitations. As she tells her story of turning butterflies into Betterflies, Traci ignites those around her to transform fear into an aggressive pursuit of dreams & goals. To that end, Traci recently joined the DBC, Inc. family to author her first book that innovatively unlocks the keys to finding the joy and happiness in and understanding the power of teaching and its impact on students’ lives and families.

Traci partners and collaborates with School Rubric, a dynamic international facilitator of professional development and engagement for educators.  From webinars to participating in recurring live shows broadcast across all social media platforms, Traci covers a broad array of topics including Creating a Learning Guide That Works, social-emotional learning, starting a podcast, mindfulness, and wellness name a few.

Traci has led numerous online chats, including Mastery Chat, Education Never Dies, Crazy PLN, and EDUGladiators with audiences of teachers, specialists, administrators, and superintendents.

Her heartwork lies with the Lead Like a Pirate chat (#LeadLAP). It’s a powerful story. Traci led her first #LeadLAP chat this summer, “Changing the Game by Shifting Our Language.” During the slow chat for the week on this topic, George Floyd, a black male, was senselessly murdered at the hands of law enforcement.

Traci felt compelled to shift the conversation to addressing racism and the need for change.  Beth Houf and Shelley Burgess were deeply committed to Traci’s request and equally committed to the need to do their part to dismantle systemic racism. Traci developed the Leading by Learning Series to provide a transformative journey for educators that would guide them through self-awareness, education, and action with the goal of helping educators feel empowered to build an anti-racist classroom, school, and district.

Knowing this journey would be painful, difficult, and long, she enlisted the help of Dawn Harris, Ed.S. Together, they have led the #LeadLap family through months of powerful learning experiences transforming educators who now have a fire to take action to tear down years of systemic racism and social injustice.  

Through this work, Dawn & Traci founded GritCrewEDU. GritCrewEDU ignites a transformation in education by shifting mindsets, changing perceptions, and creating strong alliances between faculty, parents, and community partners. GritCrewEDU engages educators in developing an awareness and understanding of antiracism to ensure equitable learning environments for all students. 

Together, Dawn and Traci are partnering with schools and districts to bring their powerful program to educators.

GritCrewEDU Equity Team Development Program (K-12)

This comprehensive program offers schools and districts the support and leadership to fully deliver a sustainable and transformational experience to students, staff, and communities. The programs and consultant services offered by GritCrewEDU are designed to dismantle racism and heighten racial awareness while focusing on anti-racism education.  Intensive supports, guidance, and leadership are provided to establish building or district-wide core equity teams and subcommittees. This lays the foundation for awareness, analysis, assessment, and improvement in alignment with the school or district’s mission, vision, and campus improvement plans.

Leading by Learning

Grit • Equity • Antiracism • Transformation

Dawn Harris & Traci Browder, Co-Founders of GritCrewEDU, ignite enlightenment and a thirst for awareness & understanding of systemic racism, social injustice, and microaggressions of marginalized and historically oppressed populations of our communities. In this powerfully engaging conversation, participants will begin to understand that not being racist is not enough.  Being advocates for equity, antiracist, celebrating, embracing, advocating for, and being allies to those historically marginalized and oppressed...this is more than simply not being racist. GritCrewEDU provides definitive clarity and evokes dynamic self-reflection in this powerful conversation.

Conversations on Equity & Race

It’s Our Every Day

Pain, purpose, and more pain are the fibers of intimate conversations Traci has with us on the realities of racism and its impact on her sons, husband, and herself. This is an intense series filled with full disclosure and transparency. Prepare to come to grips with privilege, bias, and how to move from guilt to being part of change. For the organization committed to fostering awareness, understanding, and growth for its staff.  Conversations guide staff to delve into the depths of their hearts, to look in the mirror, and to make commitments to own their learning for themselves, their families, and their students.

Powerful Parent Relationships

How to develop long-lasting relationships that go far beyond the school year? Traci defines the keys to moving beyond parent-teacher relationships to developing powerful parent relationships that turn the classroom, a school, a community into a family. 

Rethinking SEL

Traci sees through a different lens and it is extremely apparent when she challenges us to rethink SEL as we know it. Her comprehensive discussions cover the needs of students, staff, parents, and administrators, and will leave participants thinking outside the box to rethink SEL.

How to Have a No-Drama Team

Traci has been a team leader for many years. Her principal would always say she never had to worry about her team and her principal thus coined the term, No-Drama Team. Traci’s spirit of servant leadership and valuing others as key contributors are only a couple of the keys to the success of her team. Her team grew to be a selfless, driven, powerful, results and solution-oriented team. Traci shares the keys to effective team leadership for grade levels and campuses to be highly effective for each other, students, parents, and the community.

From Ideas to Outcomes

Betterflies

Traci shares passionate personal stories of turning butterflies into betterflies. The excitement on social media around Betterflies has been powerful. Find out how your campus, your district can go on a transformation journey, setting goals that you thought were not possible and having the courage, the passion, and the team to propel ideas to tangible results.  This is a session that is designed to help each individual in your organization become masters of their thinking and result-oriented.

Curriculum

I’ve Got This Curriculum, Now What?

The Curriculum Smorgasbord

Do fun, assessing, equity, rigor, differentiation, technology, collaboration, and curriculum go together? Traci thinks so and she shares her recipe in this fun-filled, engaging conversation.  Traci helps educators understand how to use the curriculum as a guide while ensuring students are equitably represented, and as the deliverer of content, we have an enjoyable experience.  

Where Are the Keys?

Searching for the keys to guide students to make phonological connections, become excited and passionate about reading, and embrace the challenge of learning how to read? Traci shares the joy and excitement of making learning how to read fun and engaging for our youngest learners.  Many of the tips and tricks resonate with older students, too.  

Webinars

Traci has facilitated webinars with international reach for School Rubric including, “Best Practices in Developing a Learning Guide that Works During COVID-19.” Educators who participated in this webinar indicate the structure of Traci’s learning guide is one they were eager to adopt for their own classrooms.  

Traci has also been an executive marketing manager of the City of Dallas’ Fair Park, a national historic landmark park that is home to the State Fair of Texas and numerous nationally registered buildings and museums. She regularly interfaced with international advertisers, tourism management, coordinators of major events, the music industry, planned mass strategic crisis and communications plans, and has extensive project management experience. 

Traci also has an extensive background with executive communications for a major financial institution and led Dallas-based communications for the nationally aired 9-11 Telethon. Crisis communications and crisis strategic planning is her strong suit.