Tiera aka Dr. Tee (pending 2023) is an American educator, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. She was germinated in Chicago, Illinois in 1990 and proudly partakes in festivities associated with a 90s vibe. With familial ancestry in Mississippi, she sought to return to the south for an undergraduate experience post high school. Graduating from Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep in 2009, Tiera was within in the top 10% of her class. She was 1 of 2,000 Chicago Public School students to receive an academic scholarship from Siemens to attend an HBCU.

 

In 2013, Tiera graduated magna cum laude from Virginia State University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology. She then began her teaching career in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia teaching 2nd grade English Language Arts at an American private school. It was here that she developed an appreciation for organic food and the learned the importance of consuming healthy foods to improve overall health outcomes.  Upon returning to The States in mid 2014, Tiera underwent a period of re-acculturation, understanding what it meant for her to exist in America. She also felt she was met with a dominant culture that had a lack of concern for proper dieting and normalized wellness through prescription drugs.

 

In 2015, she joined Teach for America because she understood the impact she had on students and the power of a quality education from a qualified instructor.  Tiera received her Masters of Art in Teaching from Dominican University and became certified by the Illinois State Board of Educators. She has taught afterschool chess, engineering, 1st-2nd grade math/science, founded and taught an IB psychology program for 11th-12th, coached high school debate, volleyball, and track in and throughout Chicago and the surrounding areas.  In her years of teaching, she notes seeing how student’s lives were impacted by medical diagnosis ranging from depression and ADHD to narcolepsy.

 

Because of her experiences in Ethiopia, teaching, and personal/family health, Tiera decided to become a naturopathic doctor to provide meaningful solutions to help others, like her former students, and to present alternative options in healthcare/wellness. 

 

Mbiti states “whatever happens to the individual happens to the whole group, and whatever happens to the whole group happens to the individual. The individual can only say: “I am because we are; and since we are, therefore I am” (1970).