Credentials & Recognition
A Career Built on the Work
Ed.D. Educational Leadership — UNC Chapel Hill
Fulbright Leader for Global Schools (Finland, 2026)
Friends of Fulbright Finland Alumni Council (2026–2029)
Author — Rekindled: One Leader. One Fellowship. One Fire Relit.
Founder — EMBER Framework for School Leadership
Former Principal — Montessori, IB & Career-Magnet Schools
Director, Magnet & Choice Programming — Richland One
Federal Magnet Grant Director — nearly $30M awarded
Her Story
From the Classroom to Finland — and Back
Six Weeks Old to Doctoral Defense
Dr. Turner started in a daycare, then a preschool classroom, then taught in Winston-Salem and Chapel Hill, in a rural South Carolina district, and in Adult Education for Berkeley County. She has worked with learners at every stage, which is why she knows what actually changes outcomes and what only looks good on a professional development calendar.
Numbers People Said Could Not Move
She became an assistant principal and principal in Charleston County School District, then led two more schools in Richland County School District One, across Montessori, IB and career magnet models. Along the way she moved third grade reading scores in a Title I school up nearly 30 points in two years, and saw kindergartners who entered not ready for school reach grade level by first grade.
UNC Chapel Hill and Beyond
As a full-time doctoral student at UNC Chapel Hill, she taught in the School of Education while serving as a research assistant there and in the Office of Diversity. Most recently she served on a doctoral dissertation committee at the University of South Carolina.
The Nation’s First K–12 Aerospace Magnet Program
Today she directs Magnet and Choice Programs for Richland County School District One and serves as Project Director of the nation’s first K–12 aerospace magnet program, funded through the federal Magnet Schools Assistance Program. She mentors principals at all three levels and manages the district’s second $15 million federal grant, which means budgets, compliance, reporting and sustainability. She has built lasting partnerships with Boeing, American Airlines, NASA, the Chamber of Commerce, the Department of Workforce Development and the U.S. military.
Finland. Ten Days. Everything Changed.
Dr. Turner traveled to Finland as a Fulbright Leader for Global Schools. Ten days of school visits, professional conversations, and one unforgettable dip in the Baltic Sea gave her back something she didn't know she'd lost. She came home with a framework, a book, and a fire relit.
Fulbright Finland Alumni Council
Following her fellowship, Dr. Turner was appointed to the Friends of Fulbright Finland Alumni Council — helping shape the very exchange program that changed the course of her career, and ensuring more leaders have the chance to experience what she did.
Rekindled — The Book
The story of what Finland gave back, and the EMBER Framework she built from it. Five practices for leaders who are still capable, still respected, and still aware that something in them has gone quiet.
WHY THIS WORK
I've been that leader.
You already know the cost of losing a good leader. A principal who was thriving two years ago and is now just surviving. A director who still delivers but has quietly stopped fighting for anything beyond the next report. I could still run the meeting, present the data and hold the room, while the urgency and the reason I showed up in the first place went quiet. I don't think I'm the only leader who has sat in her car for one extra minute before walking in on a Monday morning.
In Finland, I found schools that treat leader renewal as infrastructure, not a perk, and the payoff shows up in retention and performance. I came home with a framework, not another initiative to add to your plate. That trip became Rekindled, and Rekindled became the EMBER Leadership Framework™ I now use in coaching, workshops and district partnerships.
I'm not a consultant who studied leadership from the outside. I've been the classroom teacher, the terrified new principal, and the district leader answering to a board while trying to keep my own people from burning out. EMBER was built with Black women leaders in mind first, on purpose, and I've watched it land just as hard for any leader who is capable, accomplished and quietly running on empty.
A depleted leader can't sustain a thriving school, no matter how strong the strategic plan is. If you're watching your best principals go quiet, I'd welcome the chance to talk about what a way back could look like for your district.
Dr. Teresa Turner
Explore a District PartnershipThe Framework
The EMBER Framework
Born from ten days in Finland, the EMBER Framework is Dr. Turner's answer to the question every leader eventually faces: What happened to me? It is not a checklist to finish — it is a cycle to return to. Five domains, five questions, one honest reckoning.
E
Embody
Are you embodying leadership, or performing it?
M
Make Room for Voice
Whose voice is missing from the decisions you're making?
B
Belonging
Have you built a space, or just occupied one?
E
Equity
For whom is this system a dead end?
R
Renewal
Are you — and your school — being restored?
Speaking & Keynotes
Bring Dr. Turner to Your School or District
Dr. Turner speaks from lived experience — not theory. Her keynotes and professional development sessions are built around the EMBER Framework and grounded in the real work of leading schools. She brings the same honesty to the stage that she brought to Finland: no performance, just presence.
Inquire About SpeakingTopics
The EMBER Framework for School Leadership
Rekindled: Leadership Renewal for Educators
Fulbright & Global Perspectives in Education
Equity-Centered Leadership in Practice
Building Belonging in Schools & Districts
Leading Through Burnout — and Beyond
"The leaders I most want to reach are the ones who are still showing up — still doing the work, still caring — but who have quietly stopped believing it matters. That's who this book is for. That's who I went to Finland for."
— Dr. Teresa Turner