Dr. Kristian Contreras (she/her) is a Black feminist dreamer and educator. Her work focuses on honoring the ways in which we’ve survived, created, loved, and learned despite the presumed deficits associated with our socio-political identities. As a long-time member of the National Women's Studies Association, she is proud to serve the organization as its Interim Executive Director.
Kristian’s experiences as a first-generation daughter of Caribbean immigrants and Scholastics Book Fair aficionado lay at the foundation of an ever-present curiosity – who holds the power in telling our stories? What is possible if we could do more than survive a world designed to keep us at its figurative bottom? How can we thrive beyond this assigned marginality? These questions fuel her commitments towards building feminist futures and permeated her academic journey. Kristian was the first in her entire family to graduate with her B.A in English Literature at the University of Delaware and is humbled to know that for many in her circle, she is the first Afro-Latina they know with a PhD (Syracuse University).
Kristian is the founding director of the Gay Johnson McDougall Center for Global Diversity and Inclusion at Agnes Scott College, former Title IX Coordinator for Students, and is proud of her collaborative work with equity-focused organizations like Parenting for Liberation and the Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Institute for Justice and Human Rights. Drawing from her years as a higher education administrator and skill as an equity and inclusion educator, Kristian merges social justice education, Black feminist fire, ancestral and communal blueprints, a love for art as activism, and Critical Race Theory’s power of storytelling to transform those curious daydreams into liberatory realities.
When she is not working or pretending to be an Ivy Park ambassador, Kristian can be found lost in a romance novel, investing in my eyebrow maintenance, or asking herself "What Would Janet Mock Do"? Kristian remains inspired by community building, the legacy of Black Women writers, the freedom of a library card, carnelian adornments, being in love, and surpassing the limitations often associated with marginality. You can learn more about her work here!