On Monday, April 28, 2025, at 6:00 p.m., Miss Be Haven, host of Classically Cultured, speaks with TaKiyah Wallace-McMillian, who is a visionary, creative educator, nonprofit leader, and best known as the founder of Brown Girls Do Ballet®—a groundbreaking organization dedicated to empowering girls of color to pursue ballet and other performing arts through representation, programming, and advocacy. What started in 2012 as a personal photography project, inspired by her search for diverse ballet programs in Dallas, Texas, has evolved into a global movement that provides annual scholarships, a national mentor network, and community arts programs designed to uplift and support young dancers and provide early exposure experiences to young children. A proud public school graduate, TaKiyah holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas and a Master’s degree from Texas Christian University. She also earned a certificate in Women’s Entrepreneurship from Cornell University and is currently a Young, Black, and Giving Back (YBGB) Fellow and a Do Good Institute Fellow at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy for NonProfit Management and Leadership. With over 18 years of experience as a gifted-education teacher, TaKiyah now channels her passion for storytelling, education, and advocacy into every platform she engages with. She is the founder and lead photographer of Some Sweet Photo, where she captures families, artists, and dancers with authenticity and warmth. TaKiyah is the author of The Color of Dance and Brown Girls Do Ballet: Celebrating Diverse Girls Taking Center Stage and the producer of the award-winning short documentary Dear Brown Girl. Her work has been featured on CBS Mornings, The Kelly Clarkson Show, Huffington Post, The Washington Post, Pointe Magazine, and at SXSW EDU. When she’s not writing, speaking, or mentoring the next generation of changemakers, she enjoys photographing families through Some Sweet Photo, spending time with her family in Dallas, or tending to her growing collection of houseplants.
