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Over a typical year, Valerie Gregory, associate dean of undergraduate admission at the University of Virginia, and her hardy team of admissions counselors take road trips across the commonwealth and the country, traveling as far as California, Texas, Illinois, Georgia and Connecticut and meeting with thousands of potential students of color and their families, as well as veterans, LGBTQ students and those from first-generation and low-income families.

Gregory hosts approximately 6,000 special visitors to Grounds for information sessions, panels and signature open-house events for African-American and Hispanic students and other underrepresented groups.

For almost 20 years, Gregory has dedicated not only her workdays, but also many nights and weekends to recruiting talented students to the University - and to staying in touch with them once they are here.

Dean of Admission Greg W. Roberts made the bold claim that Gregory "has done more to positively impact undergraduate student diversity than any individual at the University" in successfully nominating her for the 2019 John T. Casteen III Diversity-Equity-Inclusion Leadership Award, which she will receive at a luncheon on Friday.

The University's Office for Diversity and Equity established the award in 2010 to honor a member of the UVA community whose deep commitment and distinct passion for diversity includes the ability to create a setting in which the promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion is paramount.

Gregory's colleague, Associate Dean of Admission Lee Morgan Politis, said Gregory is responsible for no less than a culture shift on Grounds because of her work to make the UVA community more diverse.

"I count her as one of the most impactful, generous and energetic people I know," said Politis, who has worked with Gregory since late 1999. "I wish you could see her, day in and day out, working to attract diverse students to the University, and then welcoming them when they arrive, supporting them after they enroll. You would see someone you might think just returned from a vacation. Smiling, listening, incredibly gracious."

"She is one of the most impactful, generous and energetic people I know."

- Associate Dean of Admission Lee Morgan Politis

"The selection committee received a strong pool and record number of nominations this year," said Dr. Marcus Martin, vice president and chief officer for diversity and equity. "Dean Valerie Gregory was a standout, receiving high marks by the selection committee for her deep commitment, distinct passion and leadership in achieving a sustainable and quantifiable impact on diversity, equity and inclusion at the University and in the community."

Ryan Hargraves, who supervised Gregory when he worked in UVA admissions, said that she "has transferred her abilities to nurture and lead, which she used to be successful as a former teacher and principal in the area, to her two-decades-long career as a diversity leader at the University.

"She is truly concerned about the well-being of others and has been a tremendous edifier of students underrepresented in the higher education context," he wrote. "Her former students and staff have gone on to impact the University and the world as distinguished alumni and leaders in a broad range of industries."

She also has worked to create partnerships with education organizations, such as Questbridge and The Posse Foundation, which are devoted to boosting underrepresented students' access to higher education.

"As a result of her work, we have seen minority student enrollment reach record heights at UVA, and the increase in African-American and Hispanic students has doubled and tripled over the past 10-year period," Roberts said. He also credited Gregory as integral to the rising number of entering first-generation students, which has improved 28 percent over the last five years.

After the violent white supremacist "Unite the Right" rallies of August 2017, when many parents and students were concerned about Charlottesville's racial climate, "Valerie worked to reassure families and encouraged students to apply so they could join us and fight against intolerance and injustice," Roberts said. "Her message resonated with families and we enrolled more African-American students than any year in our history, and the yield [percentage of admitted students who chose to enroll] increased for African-American students from the previous year."

One quality of Gregory's has remained a constant over the years: her warmth as a mentor and mother away from home to UVA students. Hargraves said she took on that role by her own initiative, not because it's in her job description.

"She has, throughout the years, welcomed students to her office when they want to chat (or enjoy a piece of her award-worthy pound cake) and opened up her home for brunches and dinners so that these young people have an opportunity to bond with each other and collaborate as scholars," he said. "The University's elite retention rate of underrepresented students is due in great part to the warmth and community Valerie has provided during her time with us."

Brian Balogh, Compton Professor in UVA's Corcoran Department of History and the Miller Center, also shed light on her influence on Grounds over the years. Fifteen years ago, he and Gregory co-chaired the Culture of Diversity Committee that Balogh described as "a key component" of a University-wide Commission on Diversity and Equity convened by then-President John T. Casteen III.

The commission "led to a series of important reforms, including the establishment of a chief diversity officer for the University. Without Valerie's quiet-yet-forceful leadership, we would have accomplished far less," Balogh wrote in supporting her nomination. "She worked inside the commission and more broadly across a range of constituencies to ensure that a number of reforms were carried out.

"Beyond the chief diversity officer, we called for an informal way for students to report racial incidents - an early warning system that is still in place and that has served the University well. As impressive as Valerie's service during the commission's tenure was, it was her relentless follow-through after the commission was formerly disbanded that made the real difference. Years later, she was still fighting to ensure that good ideas were fully and effectively implemented."

Meanwhile, Politis isn't sure when Gregory stops working and has wondered where she gets her energy.

"I think she gets all that energy because she is deeply committed to supporting underrepresented and low-income students, and she is flat-out determined to make UVA the inclusive place it aspires to be," she said.

Gregory herself reveals the source of her dedication: the families. "Every time I am able to show the possibilities of coming to a school like UVA, especially when they think they can't, and they succeed in doing so, then I get the energy to keep going. These families that I have the honor of working with make it all worthwhile," she said.

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Longtime Admission Dean Valerie Gregory Honored for Diversity and Inclusion Efforts

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Over a typical year, Valerie Gregory, associate dean of undergraduate admission at the University of Virginia, and her hardy team of admissions counselors take road trips across the commonwealth and the country, traveling as far as California, Texas, Illinois, Georgia and Connecticut and meeting with thousands of potential students of color and their families, as well as veterans, LGBTQ students and those from first-generation and low-income families.

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National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)

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NAIS AC Powered by PechaKucha: Liza Talusan

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Dantley, M, E. & Tillman, L, C. (2010). Social justice and moral transformative leadership. In C. Marshall & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for Social Justice: Making Revolution in Education (2nd ed.) (pp. 19-34). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). (2018, June 22). Kimberlé Crenshaw: What is Intersectionality? [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViDtnfQ9FHc

National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). (2017, March 28). NAIS AC Powered by PechaKucha: Liza Talusan [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN0Uqs9GYrw

Scanlan, M. & Theoharis, G. (2015). Intersectionality in educational leadership. In G. Theoharis & M. Scanlan (Eds.), Leadership for increasingly diverse Schools (pp.1-10). New York, NY: Routledge.

Shields, C.M. (2010). Transformative leadership: Working for equity in diverse contexts. Educational Administration Quarterly, 46, 558-589.

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Valerie Gregory and Liza Talusan are two social justice warriors who have been truly impactful in helping me develop my social justice leadership philosophy and I am honored to consider them as part of my “community of practice.” They have shown me that my “learning is powerfully affected by those around [me] as well as by contextual influences” (Scanlan & Theoharis, 2015, p. 5). During her acceptance speech for the 2019 John T. Casteen III Diversity-Equity-Inclusion Leadership Award, Valerie explains that for her diversity means “I see you,” equity means “I embrace you,” and inclusion means “I stand next to you.” On the same note, Liza encourages educators to “think about the ways we can disrupt exclusion and actively include others” (National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), 2018, 6:17). Both of their statements resonate with my belief in creating an empowering environment and building a sense of belonging.

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Hayley Kiyoko and Kehlani: a conversation between two young queer icons

In her new video for "What I Need," Hayley Kiyoko shows up to Kehlani's doorstep in a beat-up yellow coupe and whisks her off into the unknown. The singers play two friends who are very much in love and striking out on their own for the first time, hoping to get away from their families, who aren't exactly ready to accept them for who they are. Directed by Kiyoko, the video packs an impressive number of twists and turns into its five-and-a-half-minute runtime, ending on a sweet scene of Kiyoko and Kehlani kissing by the side of the road. Already, the YouTube comments are packed with superlatives like, "I didn't think I could get any gayer but this made me 173727% even more gay,﻿" as well as heartfelt testimonies to how the video emboldened young people to come out to themselves, their friends, and their family.

As two openly queer women in pop, Hayley Kiyoko and Kehlani are forging ahead in relatively new territory. It's hard to imagine a video like this coming out a decade ago, when few mainstream artists were out and hardly any were making music explicitly concerning their sexuality. But Kiyoko and Kehlani see no reason to keep from being honest about who they are. They've seized upon a moment in which it's possible for them to tell their own stories on their own terms, and from the sound of it, the "What I Need" video is only the beginning of their cinematic work together.

Shortly after the video went live, Kiyoko and Kehlani hopped on the phone to interview each other about the thrilling and challenging process of shooting "What I Need," as well as how it feels to be looked up to by a growing legion of young queer fans. Read their chat below, and watch a behind-the-scenes video from their video shoot.

KEHLANI: What goes into directing a music video, and what was your creative process behind this video specifically?

HAYLEY KIYOKO: Every video is different depending on the theme and the emotion we want to evoke in the finished product. I always start with a color palette and build a mood board off of that. Of course, you run into logistics and problems. I'm very specific on every detail-nothing is overlooked. For example, the car in this video had to be the right color and the right type. It was so hard to find that I ended up buying it off of Craigslist. For this video, I also wanted to make sure that you connected to the story as well. Developing the character with you and making it feel true was a new and fun process.

Kehlani, what scene in the video were you most nervous to shoot?

KEHLANI: I was pretty nervous for the whole thing, given that I had never acted before. I did theater camp growing up but I never had an acting role on camera. And I hadn't really done any music videos that had dialogue. Surprisingly, I was least nervous for the kiss, because I felt like that was a comfortable space for me. But as far as the acting, the improv, I was like, "Oh shit, I've never done anything like this before. Hopefully my emotions come off how they're supposed to." I'm used to putting my emotions in songs.

KIYOKO: I remember when we rehearsed for the music video I was nervous for you. I was just like, "Alright girl, you've just got to improv. This is the scene, this is the situation. Action!" And you just went for it. How personal to you was the opening scene with the aunt character?

KEHLANI The most personal part about it was the fact that she was my aunt and not my mom, because I was raised by my aunt. My mom wasn't ever in my life. Before that scene morphed into the conversation that we caught on camera, there was a lot of conversation going back and forth with her saying, "You're going to be just like your mom." I was told that growing up. Thank God it didn't make it into the video because that would have been a separate conversation. We shot scenes way longer and had to cut them, and a lot of the dialogue that didn't make it into the video was actually more personal to me. My family was very accepting when I came out. They had actually been asking me if I liked girls my whole life. They were telling me before I'd even said anything that they knew.

KIYOKO: I feel like now you're in a new chapter of your life as an artist. You're openly queer and now you're working on your next album.

KEHLANI Yeah. I mean, I've been making music about women my whole career, but I never felt the need to write "she," necessarily. It wasn't in the forefront of my mind. But now I've seen how people reacted to my song "Honey," or when I've used the correct pronouns and put women in my music videos. Just seeing how much people felt like they needed that representation or how much it inspired them definitely encouraged me to step into this new phase of making music. I'm more aware that this isn't just my truth: it's something I can empower youth with, rather than just serve myself. It's definitely a new process that I'm excited to explore.

KIYOKO: Was it fun for you to get to do this video and this song with another gay artist?

KEHLANI I felt really amazing about working with another queer woman. People have this stigma about women in the industry really not fucking with each other. To some extent it's true, but every single queer person in the industry has this natural pull to each other, this natural incentive to really want to support and work with each other. It's been a blessing to not only meet you but work with you and build with you and make something that really inspired a lot of people.

Was it difficult to direct this video? And what did you enjoy about directing this video?

KIYOKO: What I loved about directing this video specifically was obviously working with you. I was definitely nervous to direct you because you and I are different, but we're very similar and we know what we want. I was worried about what our dynamic would be and how we were going to create together because we have such strong ideas and visions. That was the thing I was most nervous about. Obviously, the running and the jumping and all of that stuff made me feel like a superhero. It was really fun.

KEHLANI Can you please tell the people all the complications that we had?

KIYOKO: We would be here for hours. I'll spill the tea, as the youth say. After the first day of shooting, I went home and the hard drive that we were shooting on died and so we lost six hours of footage.

KEHLANI Because Mercury was in retrograde.

KIYOKO: Yeah, Mercury was in retrograde. And so we showed up to day 2 and I was like, "Kehlani, we have to reshoot six hours of footage in addition to shooting all of day 2." We shot that kissing scene three times. Also, Kehlani pulled her ankle because I made her run at six AM in the freezing cold. That was really traumatic and terrifying. I thought that I broke Kehlani and I was never going to see another day. I was like, "Great! This is going to be my legacy." There were a lot of challenges. We were also shooting in Ojai and the next day was all of the Ojai fires, which was devastating. A lot of what you see in the music video is not there anymore.

KEHLANI I remember it all vividly. Especially the ankle. How does it feel right now to be looked at by so many young people as what they're calling "the lesbian Jesus"? Low-key, you're the biggest queer woman doing what you're doing right now in music. How does pressure and responsibility feel, and how do you plan to uphold that?

KIYOKO: I've never felt pressure and responsibility only because I've always selfishly been focused on the art, and telling these stories about what I've experienced in my life. I think that it's exciting and inspiring that people are able to connect to these stories. People watch the opening scene of this video and go, "I remember my mom or my dad telling me those exact words." When I watch that opening scene, it really hits me, because I'm like, "Wow, I've heard that said to me." To be able to share that with other people is such a beautiful thing. I never really had that community growing up. I really just want to continue to focus on the art. I think that's my responsibility and that's where the pressure is: constantly putting out good work and being truthful and honest with everyone.

KEHLANI Bravo. We've been holding onto this music video since December. I had a whole tattoo on my hand that doesn't even exist anymore. I love that it came out right for Pride. I think the reception has been absolutely insane. I think we deserve a Netflix special. I think we deserve a short film. We're getting requests to continue the story, because the people want to know what happened to these characters after. Wherever that takes us, I hope that we get to expand this project. I think we have a lot more in store to do together. We have the same message and the same end goal. We're fighting the same fight. I definitely don't think this is a one-time thing.

KIYOKO: I think we deserve Best Kiss. I'm just going to put that out there as well.

KEHLANI Let's get it, VMAs!

KIYOKO: Let's just put that out in the atmosphere. For me, it's just so wonderful to work with an artist that I deeply respect in all aspects. Kehlani is just such a force. I am so honored to have been able to collaborate with her and to have her support too. I'm new to this game and it's just been so wonderful to be able to create with someone that I respect so much and who's going to go so far. I feel really lucky.

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Hayley Kiyoko and Kehlani: a conversation between two young queer icons

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Hayley Kiyoko and Kehlani: a conversation between two young queer icons In her new video for "What I Need," Hayley Kiyoko shows up to Kehlani's doorstep in a beat-up yellow coupe and whisks her off into the unknown.

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RUBY IBARRA FEAT. ROCKY RIVERA, KLASSY, & FAITH SANTILLA || US || PROD. BY NPHARED

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These three music artists – Ruby Ibarra, Hayley Kiyoko, and Kehlani – have contributed to my own social justice and identity development by reclaiming space in the music industry and being forms of representation for me. They give me the hope and energy to be my authentic self every day because I see myself represented in their songs and music videos. Ruby Ibarra is a Filipina rapper who intertwines Tagalog words and Philippine history and culture into her lyrics and music videos. Her music is “evidence of moral courage and activism” and challenges the stereotype that Asian women are quiet and docile (Shields, 2010, p. 562). Hayley Kiyoko and Kehlani are both music artists who identify as queer, women of color. Both Hayley and Kehlani’s work embody the “deconstruction and reconstruction of the knowledge frameworks that generate inequity” by using female pronouns in their lyrics and featuring women as love interests in their music videos (Shields, 2010, p. 562).

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As a college admission counselor, I am not only working in a field that is predominantly white and heteronormative, but I am also working on a team that recruits underrepresented students to a predominantly white, heteronormative (and wealthy) institution. I am “interrogat[ing] the policies and procedures that shape schools” by reclaiming space and being a form of representation for underrepresented students while “at the same time perpetu[ating] social inequalities and marginalization” due to the demographic makeup of the institution I work for (Dantley & Tillman, 2010, p. 31). By seeing someone like me in a professional setting, I hope that underrepresented students can also see themselves thriving in different communities after high school, whether they go straight to the work force or attend college.

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When I interviewed for my current job as a college admission counselor for diversity outreach, I was asked the common question, “What is your biggest weakness?” I shared that as a gender nonconforming Filipinx individual, I hold this fear in the back of my mind that prospective students and parents/families would choose not to apply to or attend the institution I work for because of my gender presentation or after sharing parts of my identity. In order to overcome this fear, I remind myself that being my authentic self is in itself a way of “articulat[ing] a counterhegemonic vision or narrative of hope” for students who may share or relate to identities similar to my own (Dantley & Tillman, 2010, p. 24).

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Reclaiming Space and Being a Form of Representation

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Reclaiming Space and Being a Form of Representation

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Because the theory of “intersectionality” is such an integral part of my social justice leadership philosophy and is often used and seen in social justice contexts, I include this video to give credit where it is due to Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the term, and to understand “that multiple forms of inequality or disadvantage sometimes compound themselves and create obstacles” (National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), 2018, 0:11).

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I believe that social justice leadership is about creating an empowering environment, especially for youth, where they can embrace “markers of difference” in both themselves and others (Dantley & Tillman, 2010, p. 24). I approach this in my everyday life by being unafraid and unapologetic of my authentic self and being transparent about my intersecting identities in order to then build a sense of belonging among youth and parents/family members with whom I work.