I am Chandra Guinn a dynamic trainer, compelling speaker, highly sought-after consultant, a Black cultural curator, award-winning, university educator and administrator, personal and professional motivator and trusted advisor. I have 25 years’ experience in higher education and non-profit arenas. I have taught in private, public, community college and correctional institutions. I am an avid learner currently involved in learning more about mindfulness and mediation through Koru Mindfulness, advancing my understanding and use of the TOP (Technology of Participation) approach to facilitation and strategic planning and appreciating the intersections between race, mindfulness, and freedom through self-study. I design and deliver thought-provoking content especially as relates to racial equity, cultural fluency, and personal identity development. I take an intersectional approach to cultivating awareness and developing tactics for personal and social action. I am consulted by a broad range of individuals who value my willingness to speak truth, embrace empathy, utilize creativity, and encourage action in all ways always. I have a heart for service and currently serve on the board of the Durham Arts Council as well as the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice. As time and energy permits, I enjoy cultural outings, educational travel, spending time with family and friends, and pursing Interior Freedom.
“Seeing the relationship between my personal cause and the universal cause of freedom released me from a sense of isolation, helped me to rid myself of vestiges of shame over my racial history, and gave me an unequivocal understanding that equality of treatment was my birthright and not something to be earned. I would be no less afraid to challenge the system of racial segregation, but the heightened significance of my cause would impel me to act in spite of my fears.”
– Pauli Murray, Song in a Weary Throat
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Chandra Guinn is a dynamic trainer and facilitator that designs and delivers thought-provoking content especially as relates to racial equity, cultural fluency, and personal identity development. She draws upon decades of experience from the higher education and non-profit arenas and takes an intersectional approach to cultivating awareness and developing tactics for personal and social action. Chandra engages audiences interested in equity and justice for a variety of stakeholders.
Currently, Chandra directs the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture at Duke University. A position she has held since 2005. Prior to assuming this position, she worked as the program coordinator at the Institute of African American Research (IAAR) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also co-directed Bridges: A “Soft Skills” Training Program, was on-site commissioner for Midnight Basketball and researcher and instructor for the Durham Scholars Program, initiatives of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. Chandra is also an award-winning teacher, who has taught at UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University, Durham Technical Community College and the North Carolina Correctional Institute for Women.
Chandra has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA) with minors in African American Studies and Education. Following that experience, she completed a Master of Arts degree in Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC). Additionally, she completed the Certificate Program in Meeting and Event Planning at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte, NC), the Technology of Participation (ToP) Facilitation Methods training and is a KORU Mindfulness Teacher-in-Training.
In preparing for training and retreats, Chandra seeks to uncover interests and concerns, build coalitions and mediate toward a desired impact or outcome, helping participants navigate from where they are toward their desired goal. As a social justice advocate with a deep belief in the potential of all human beings, Chandra relishes opportunities for motivational speaking and individual coaching. With a vast array of experience and an impressive slate of intellectual interests gained along her path, Chandra wears many hats including curator, educator, administrator, activist, entrepreneur, and thinker and is sincerely interested in working with others to activate history for justice and utilize historical engagement as a catalyst for personal transformation. She is a native Mississippian who lived in Iowa & Maryland before making her home in North Carolina’s Research Triangle.
Chandra currently serves on the board of the Durham Arts Council as well as the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice. She enjoys cultural outings, educational travel, spending time with family and friends, and pursing Interior Freedom.