Meet the Founder
Vanessa M. Talley, LCSW, is the founder of Black Feminist Social Work™ and a scholar-practitioner committed to advancing social work education, research, practice, and leadership by centering Black feminist thought.
Since 2013, she has served as a volunteer, clinician, educator, and advocate committed to culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and justice-centered social work.
Long before entering the profession, Vanessa witnessed the power of community organizing and grassroots leadership. Those early experiences, combined with years of clinical practice, led her to recognize a disconnect between the wisdom, lived experiences, and intellectual traditions of Black women and the theories most often taught in social work education.
That question became the foundation of Black Feminist Social Work™.
Today, Vanessa is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, psychotherapist, and Doctor of Social Work (DSW) student at the University of Kentucky. Her scholarship centers Black feminist thought, trauma, intersectionality, and the advancement of Black women’s knowledge within social work theory, education, research, policy, and practice.
Through research, writing, teaching, and collaboration, she is committed to advancing Black Feminist Social Work™ as an evolving body of scholarship that contributes to a more reflective, ethical, culturally responsive, and liberatory profession.
