Kiah Duggins
Kiah Duggins was born in Wichita Kansas to Dr. Maurice and Gwen Duggins, who taught her the importance of social justice by dedicating their lives to serving underserved communities in the education and healthcare fields. As a young African-American girl who participated in activities that many other African-Americans did not have access to, Kiah became passionate about fostering diversity by tearing down the inequitable barriers that many marginalized communities face. She attended Wichita Public Schools and graduated from the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme at Wichita High School East before attending Wichita State University as a Clay Barton Scholar. Kiah has expressed her passion for building more equitable communities during her time at Wichita State by serving as a White House intern for the First Lady’s Let Girls Learn initiative, analyzing disparate impact data and advocating for gender neutral restrooms as the Tilford Commission Student Diversity Task Force Chair, serving as a Clinton Global Initiative University campus representative, co-founding the Shocker Food Locker campus food pantry, co-founding the Wichita State Inspire outreach initiative, and becoming an Ambassador for Diversity and Inclusion.
Through her experiences as an underrepresented student in predominately white educational institutions, Kiah learned how the lack of social capital can be a formidable barrier to post-secondary academic success. She directed her energy to tearing down this barrier by founding The Princess Project, a college readiness program that seeks to empower underrepresented high school girls through relevant mentorship and community engagement. Kiah hopes that by building a network of educated young women of color and advocating for inclusive educational policies, more marginalized high school girls will successfully pursue higher education. In her TED Talk, Kiah invites listeners to get curious about the ways that society systemically prevents certain communities from gaining the social capital they need, and to think creatively about how to build powerful connections between these communities and the institutions that they seek access to.