Her Story
About Renata
Renata James began her career in education in 2001. She is currently an English teacher at a vo-Tech school, where she teaches 12th grade and 9th grade honors, and has been with the school district since February 2026 after six years with a capital school district in roles such as reading specialist, English teacher, and instructional coach. Since 2021, she has also served as an adjunct professor at DSU, an HBCU, teaching writing and African American Literature. James earned a degree in humanities with a focus in creative writing and English education from NYU and a master's in Education Studies with a focus in special education from Wilmington University. She previously ran her own tutoring company, Rising to Success Tutoring, and maintains a consulting business focused on problem-solving and networking. James attributes her success to her work ethic from both parents and her dedication, integrity, and desire to help others from her grandmother and mother. Her core values include open-mindedness, thoughtfulness, genuineness, humbleness, integrity, loyalty, patience, and respect, and she advises aspiring educators to constantly evolve through classroom experience, never stop learning or asking questions, and connect with people from diverse cultures and industries.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Renata
01What do you attribute your success to?
My work ethic comes from both my parents, but my dedication, integrity, and desire to help people sincerely come from my grandmother and my mother. My grandmother always instilled in me to stand up for things that bring people together, to work hard to help others. I never saw my mother walk past a homeless person without giving them something. One freezing day in New York City, we saw a homeless man barefoot in just shorts, and my mom made us run across traffic to buy him shoes, gloves, hat, scarf, socks, shirt, and take him to a pizzeria with money. We take care of people, and I feel I need to help others, stand up to do the right thing, lead by example, with dedication.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The biggest lesson will come from the classroom itself. There is some basis to what we need to do in academia, but the greatest lessons come from the classroom, and you have to always constantly evolve. Never stop learning, never stop asking questions, never stop trying to connect with people from different cultures and variations and even different industries. Those things help grow you as a person and help you have an open-mindedness in your classroom. You have to be hungry for knowledge yourself, and don't think because you have your own classroom learning stops. We should always be evolving as educators. Professional development is key to our accessibility to be great for our students.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Open-mindedness, thoughtfulness, genuineness, humbleness, integrity, loyalty, patience, respect. Integrity is key because it establishes who you are, especially in social services, education, social work. I believe in bringing people together versus separating them.
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