Why The Exit Interview Exists
I wanted an exit interview. What grew from it became an archive.
I’m Dr. Asia Lyons, host and producer of The Exit Interview: A Podcast for Black Educators, a qualitative researcher, and founder of Liberated Educators Lab.
In 2018, I left teaching after experiencing a sustained period of racial harm in my school district. Teaching social justice had become a source of conflict with families and school leadership. The work I loved was taking a toll on my well-being and my family.
After leaving, I requested an exit interview with the superintendent. It took several emails, but we eventually met. I arrived with a list of experiences I wanted him to understand about the district and why Black educators were leaving. That conversation stayed with me. How many Black educators leave without anyone asking what happened? How many carry their experiences into the next chapter of their lives without an opportunity to tell their stories on their own terms?
Those questions became The Exit Interview.
A Place to Tell the Whole Story
The podcast brings together Black former educators for honest conversations about their journeys into education, the experiences that shaped their departures, and the lives they are building afterward. We talk about racial battle fatigue, workplace harm, family, identity, wellness, and the complexity of leaving work we once imagined doing for a lifetime. We also talk about joy, possibility, and the knowledge and creativity that move with us. Guests have left school and district employment, but their contributions continue in many forms, as entrepreneurs, artists, researchers, consultants, community builders, and people discovering what they want next.
Each conversation makes room for a person whose life extends beyond a job title or a departure.
Storykeeping and Archival Justice
Over time, I came to understand that I was building an archive. These conversations preserve Black educators’ knowledge: what they experienced, what they questioned, what they created, and what they want future generations to understand. Their voices hold histories that staffing numbers and retention reports cannot fully convey. The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, part of the New York Public Library, has accepted The Exit Interview for archival preservation, including existing and future episodes. It is the first podcast collection the Center has accepted.
That milestone extends the life of this work. It creates a future in which families, researchers, educators, and communities can encounter these voices long after an episode’s release.
Learn About the Schomburg CollectionThe Knowledge We Carry Forward
Listening to these stories has also shaped my research and public scholarship.
My doctoral research explored how racial battle fatigue affects Black educators and spills over into family life. Through Liberated Educators Lab, I bring research, storykeeping, and wellness into conversations about Black experiences within and beyond institutions.
Years of listening also informed The Migration of Black Genius, my framework for exploring how Black knowledge, creativity, and expertise move with people when they leave institutions and how that genius expands and takes root in new places.
The Exit Interview continues to ask what becomes possible after departure, while honoring everything a person carries into that next chapter.
Explore The Migration of Black Genius
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Whether you are considering your own departure, making sense of an experience, researching Black educator histories, or simply listening, you are welcome here.
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Be well,
Dr. Asia Lyons
Host & Producer, The Exit Interview: A Podcast for Black Educators
Founder, Liberated Educators Lab