Dr. Taneshia H. Rachal began her career in education after graduating from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Teaching degree. She also holds a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from the University of Mary Washington and recently earned her Ed.D in Educational Leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr. Rachal has worked in the field of education for seventeen years. She taught English in two different high schools and a maximum security jail for boys. Dr. Rachal served as a high school Assistant Principal, and just started her first year as Principal of James Monroe High School in Fredericksburg, VA.

As a life-long educator, her true passion lies in providing educational reform for diverse student populations, critically examining curriculum, teaching, and learning processes, and increasing achievement and equity in schools.

When asked why she wanted to become a WELV Ambassador, Taneshia responded, “I had been intrigued by the concept and overall mission of WELV since I heard about it a few years ago. The idea of bonding together as women to inspire, motivate, support, and uplift one another truly speaks to my core values as a leader. I’ve been anxiously awaiting a way to become more involved in WELV. This opportunity was presented and I jumped at the chance!”

Taneshia was instrumental in the formation of WELV’s first affiliate group in Fredericksburg. Teneshia describes how the affiliate began:

“Everyone is always so busy that we rarely have time to really get to know one another and learn from one another. When I was an AP, I really wanted more interaction with the leaders in my division, but I was limited to the meetings that I was scheduled to attend (everyone can’t be out of the building at the same time, so we would rotate). This approach only provides access to half of the women. For some reason, in my opinion it seemed like the men had bonded so well, but the ladies had not. The idea to formalize a group here in Fredericksburg came to me while I served on a retreat planning committee. The committee loved the idea and we took off from that point. We call ourselves, WILd (Women in Leadership) and we join together for professional development activities, book talks, community service/outreach, school based service, etc. We have a powerful group of 15 female leaders in Fredericksburg and I have learned so much!

As a side note I’ll share that the men in our division liked the idea so much that they created their own group, MILD (Men in Leadership).”