Meet the Team
Yolanda Majors
Yolanda J. Majors, PhD, is an educator, researcher, designer, and founder/CEO of the Hurston Institute for Learning and Development (HILD). With a background in the social, cognitive, and developmental sciences and a PhD in education, Dr. Majors is an internationally-recognized expert in the fields of educational anthropology, linguistics, and literacy. Dr. Majors’ research takes an assets-based approach to teaching and learning using the Shoptalk, Cultural Modeling, and Equitable Local Learning Ecosystems frameworks to understand and intentionally support in-school and out-of-school-time learning environments. Dr. Majors’ team consists of researchers, educators, and community designers whose work centers the lived experiences of marginalized community members as agents of knowledge and promotes knowledge as a community asset. Dr. Majors’ scholarship has focused on adult, youth, and community learning. She is author of the book, Shoptalk: Lessons in Teaching from an African American Hair Salon and over two dozen articles and book chapters on social contexts for learning. After Dr. Majors became a tenured professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, her focus shifted to co-designing policies and practices for out-of-school-time spaces of learning for youth and adults. Her award-winning work has led to numerous nationally-based partnerships and, in 2019, the establishment of the Hurston Institute for Learning and Development in Minneapolis (HILD), which provides instructional design support, research and evaluation, and training and workshops for classroom and community educators, locally, nationally, and globally.
Teresa Green
Teresa Green, MSW, has been working with youth, young adults, and families in educational, therapeutic, and nonprofit settings for more than a decade. She has vast experience in program and project management, and she has created and led a host of workshops for youth and families. Teresa prides herself on providing a holistic approach in her work, all of which is centered around eliminating the achievement gap. Teresa brings this holistic approach to her work at HILD, whether supervising daily operations, developing programming, or analyzing practices to ensure exemplary performance.
Kristina Eng
Kristina Eng, is the Chief Business Officer at The Hurston Institute of Learning & Development (HILD). With over 20 years of managing small business and global corporate teams in the design, travel and higher ed. industries, she adds an experienced eye to Dr. Majors’ HILD team mission. Nearly a decade at the University of Minnesota overseeing operations at an educational tech lab brings a specialized understanding of supporting online pedagogy and digital literacy. “Between the opportunities we create and the chance experiences we encounter, ongoing education can connect us to our world and the people in it. By choosing to be a proponent for social justice, the lessons we learn and offer can enable us to become conscientious citizens.”
Alex Samuelson
M. Ed is the Senior Director of Learning K-12 for the Hurston Institute for Learning and Development (HILD). Her primary duties are to supervise the daily operations of HILD’s programming, educational, and research partnerships. She contributes to data-driven research and evaluations, child and youth developmental programming, and performance tracking and evaluations. Her background is in elementary education as a teacher as well as in social and emotional learning curriculum design. Alex has dedicated her education and teaching practices to culturally responsive pedagogies and prioritizing the voices of the global majority.