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SCHOLAR | COACH | MINDFULNESS GUIDE
Knowtorious PhD
Tia Sheree Gaynor, PhD (she/her) is an award-winning researcher and an established healing and justice coach, mindfulness and meditation guide, and scholar. All of her work builds upon decades of liberatory practice in community and is rooted in a desire and commitment to work alongside with people, communities, and organizations in ways that center humanization and for all people.
At its core, my work is driven by these 5 main principles:
People should not experience oppression in their lifetime.
Everyone should be able to access and live full and authentic lives, whatever this means for themselves.
Collective action facilitates collective liberation. Recognizing and acknowledging that we are all connected (people, land, nature, all living things) is required for the advancement of justice and freedom. Collective approaches, thus, require us to do the internal work of preparing ourselves to work in community.
We are all experts.
Expertise is not just about a degree, or which position someone holds. Rather, it is a collection of lived experiences that may, or may not, be supplemented with formal education. People, closest that to the issue, are experts!
Resistance is ongoing and not always boastful.
Engagement in healing and justice work occurs daily, sometimes in seemingly small, quiet, and even private acts.
There is no liberation without accountability.
We must all hold ourselves and each other accountable for the ways in which we cause harm by upholding existing systems of oppression. Burying our collective heads in the proverbial sand serves to maintain systems of oppression, not dismantle them.
Scholar.
I conduct research that, at its core, challenges existing ways of knowing and being. I am currently an associate professor conducting community-partnered research designed to elevate the often-silenced voices of people and communities of the Global Majority. Sitting at the nexus of mindfulness, public affairs, and leadership, my research explores healing pathways for people, policy, and organizations.
Coach.
A certified coach for healing and justice, I work with a wide range of coaching partners to support them in managing the harmful personal impacts associated with working within and living alongside harmful systems (transphobia, racism, sexism, patriarchy, anti-queer sentiment, etc.). I believe my coaching partners already have what they need to move through any and all situations, they just need a guide to help them see where the answers lie.
Mindfulness Guide.
My meditation and mindfulness offerings are designed to support learners in building the contemplative capacity necessary to slow down, reconnect with self, and heal from the harms of systemic oppression. Focusing on introspection and presence, contemplative practices help attendees better connect with themselves and their bodies so that they can arrive in the world whole and fully living in their own truth.
“Dr. Tia Sheree Gaynor radiates a unique blend of creativity, clarity, commitment and caring heart to the scholarship and teaching of mindfulness for inclusive, transformative leadership. She’s leads in supporting powerful, awareness-based impact in a changing world.” - Rhonda V. Magee, Professor Emerita, University of San Francisco School of Law and author of THE INNER WORK OF RACIAL JUSTICE”
Cowrie shells appear throughout this space as both symbol and story. In Yoruba divination practices, they are cast and read - each pattern carrying meaning, each arrangement offering insight. They remind us that what is scattered is not lost, but waiting to be understood. Across the African diaspora, our histories have been shaped by displacement, migration, and rupture - but also by resilience, continuity, and reassembly.
In my work, I hold space for that same process: helping individuals and communities make meaning from what they’ve carried, reconnect with what has been fragmented, and move toward a more grounded, intentional way of being. Like the shells, nothing here is random. There is wisdom in the pattern - and power in learning how to read it.
STAY GROUNDED
A gentle pause.
Receive reflections, healing practices, mindful insights, and updates on new offerings thoughtfully shared to support your journey inward.
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