Faculty Spotlight: Autumn Cloud-Ingram

By Abby Leyson

Autumn joined Westover’s community in July as the Director of the Rasin Center for Global Justice. After graduating with a Bachelors in Social Work, Autumn began her professional career as a birth doula with a focus on maternal health. Autumn would work with first-time parents in hospitals and through home-based programs.

She holds a Masters of Social Work from Fordham University, and became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. After working with families for seven years, she was drawn to working outside the walls of her office, schools, and families’ homes by becoming more involved in macro-level diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) work.

Since then, she has strategized and facilitated DEI initiatives in corporate and academic settings, with clients ranging from MIT to LEGO. Her speciality in strategic planning is creating lasting equitable change with measurable results.

In her new role at Westover, she is excited to bring both her skills and passion to our community. 

Get to know Autumn in her own words:

What is your role? My role is the Director of the Rasin Center for Global Justice. Our center is lovingly known as the heart of the school, and is where a majority of the school's social justice initiatives stem from. Specifically, the Center has four components that comprise these initiatives; diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, environmental sustainability, service learning, and global programs. 

What are your goals for the year? My goals this year will be split into two parts. My focus for the first half of the year will be to get to know the community, and more specifically, their experience of DEIB at Westover. I will do this in many ways, such as meeting with all students by grade, holding community conversations with families, meeting with staff individually, and much more.

After I have had the opportunity to hear about the schools strengths and areas of growth relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion, I will then focus the second half of the year developing a strategic plan to move not only the Rasin Center but the entire community forward in this most important work.

What is your favorite color? I LOVE color. Come visit the Rasin Center and you will see this is true! My two favorite colors are purple and turquoise.

How would you describe your aesthetic? I would describe my aesthetic as mid-century modern meeting bohemian.

What is the highlight of your year so far? This would definitely be all of the wonderful human beings who live and work here; students and staff. I am really excited to come to work each day just to connect with everyone on a human level. 

What is a book you would recommend to the Westover community? As a school DEIB leader, I highly recommend two books: Fix Injustice, NOT Kids by Paul Gorski and Cultivating Genius by Dr. Gholdy Muhammad

What is a topic you could talk about for hours? Much of the community now knows I was a birth doula for years and am still very much involved in maternal healthcare. If you ever need to distract me, this is the topic!