Throughout her professional career, Kesha DeJarnett has always held a strong dedication to providing high-quality programs that ensure students are equipped with the knowledge and skills to choose and follow their own path.
Before joining the Holdsworth Center, Kesha led talent development at the Tennessee Department of Education. In this role she oversaw licensure, the model for educator and administrator professional development, strategies for recruitment and retention, and the approach to coaching for career and technical education (CTE) statewide. She led a team of eight regional consultants and targeted support to approximately 125 districts in the state.
Prior to that, she worked with The New Teacher Project in various roles focused on growing the key skills, knowledge and mindsets of new teachers working toward their teacher certification. This included developing and facilitating content, coaching teaching fellows toward mastery of lesson planning, lesson delivery and classroom management as well as managing a team of teacher development coaches to coach, facilitate staff training sessions and conduct formal observations and evaluations of fellows.
Kesha has also worked as an instructional coach observing and providing feedback to middle school teachers. She started her career as a seventh-grade English teacher in Tennessee.
Kesha holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Auburn University and a master’s degree in teaching from Belmont University.
She is a graduate of Autauga County Schools in Alabama, where she grew up on a farm growing vegetables and raising cattle. Kesha enjoys working out with Camp Gladiator and any recreational activity that gets her outdoors.