She’s Been Through the Storm, and Now Helps Others Navigate It

The Rev. Dr. LaKeesha Walrond is the first Black woman to lead the New York Theological Seminary

Rev. Dr. LaKeesha Walrond, in her office in Upper Manhattan. Photography: Laurel Golio

In her fifth floor Upper Manhattan office, Rev. Dr. LaKeesha Walrond has come a long way from the seventh grader sent to an alternative school for fighting. “Girl you’ve got a good fight in you,” recalls the first Black woman to lead New York Theological Seminary (NYTS) of her younger self. “But you’ve got to redirect it in a way that’s gon keep you in school!” Her laugh, infectious and full of life, signals the internal work done to rise from the depths of anger, childhood molestation, and single motherhood to become a leading faith voice. “That fight that’s been in me since I was a child is the same fighting spirit that allows me to fight for the rights of women and children, for those who are invisible and voiceless,” she explains.

“If only we, as African American women, could remind ourselves every now and again that we have the blood of thrivers and survivors flowing in our veins.”

For Walrond, stepping into leadership at NYTS illustrates the power of God to reorder footsteps and craft bigger dreams. “I was minding my…