Kayla Heard, Speaker

Kayla was born and raised in southeastern Louisiana, where she began experiencing racism at a very young age. Her awareness led her toward racial and social justice advocacy, primarily through education. Studying history, women and gender studies, and African and African American studies, Kayla has dedicated her life to the research and liberation of Black and other oppressed peoples. She is currently a doctoral student in the history department at the University of Kentucky, where she researches gender, race, resistance, and enslavement in the 18th and 19th centuries. Her goal is to create scholarship that challenges oppression and inequality. Kayla received a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with minors in African and African American studies and history and a master’s degree in Liberal Arts with minors in women and gender studies and African and African American studies from Louisiana State University. Kayla also completed coursework in Africana Studies at the University of Delaware. Kayla uses the pronouns she/her and they/them.