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Brittany Jones
Executive Director, Founder, & Youth Life Coach
My name is Brittany Jones, preferably known as Bella, and I am the wonderful Executive Director, Founder, and Youth Life Coach of Uplifting Queens Academy. I am a native of Memphis, TN where I graduated from Hillcrest High School in 2008 and Remington College as a Medical Assistant in 2009. I am currently a full-time medical professional, a mother of two amazing children, and an advocate for my Autistic son.
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My voice is my greatest superpower. Not only am I an advocate for my children, I also use my voice and knowledge to advocate for all children who cannot yet do so for themselves. For example, in 2019 I created a petition concerning school-aged children struggling with the Eureka Math Curriculum. In addition to creating a petition, I spoke during a school board meeting to further express concern about children having difficulty mastering the lessons and concepts associated with the new curriculum. Shortly after, I joined The Memphis Lift Movement which is a parents’ movement to build widespread demand for high quality schools and radical changes in public education to disrupt systemic educational inequities through choice and healthy competition. To continue, we traveled to Pittsburgh to speak with presidential candidates on the changes we, as parents, demand for our children’s education.
In 2020, I earned a certificate for the “Child Protection” course offered by Harvard University. During the following year, I earned another certificate offered by Curtin University which centered on improving mental health and suicide prevention in young adults. Through the use of social media, I share and post topics related to children’s rights, education, and mental health in order to spread knowledge and awareness.
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My passion and love for children as well as their future heavily influenced my decision to establish Uplifting Queens Academy. I care strongly about making deeper connections with young girls as well as leaving a lasting impact on their lives. I plan to use my welcoming and nurturing gifts to ensure the youth feel valued, seen, heard, and understood. I am committed to supporting them in difficult times and what is a more difficult time than now? This fellowship is geared toward meeting young girls where they are and teaching them how to confidently navigate and grow through life with a healthy, stable mind.
Bridgett Davenport
Co-Founder & Youth Mental Coach
I am Bridgett Davenport and I serve Uplifting Queens Academy as the Co-Founder and Youth Mental Health Coach. I graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2018 with a B.S. in Psychology with a concentration in social sciences. My passion to serve others has always been child and family centered. Over the years, I have seen and heard many of the challenges children endure personally and those endured as a family. As an adult it is not always an easy task making sense of one’s own thoughts, feelings, and the overall woes of life. I know as an adolescent this can be even more frustrating, confusing, and ultimately take a serious toll on their mental health.
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Furthermore, lacking knowledge on how to express what is going on internally or attempting to communicate your mental concerns only to have them invalidated makes things even more burdensome. As U.Q.A’s Youth Mental Health Coach, I aim to provide young ladies with the tools necessary to be aware of their mental health, to healthily manage and communicate their emotions, and be sensitive to that of others. I hope to impart skills and concepts that will be beneficial beyond adolescence into adulthood such as effective communication, accepting and understanding differing perspectives, and addressing intrapersonal as well as certain interpersonal challenges in a more positive way. It is also imperative that I help them develop a healthy self-perception, practice new ways of thinking, advocate for themselves and learn how to grow through life's inevitable trials.