In the back of an Ulta Beauty hair salon in Cedar Hill, Jaletta Williams bops her head to vibrant house music. The beats carry her over to a young girl sitting with aluminum foil tightly woven throughout her hair.

Earlier, she told Williams how fractions are ruining her life.

In Williams’s hands are a bag of M&Ms bought by the girl’s parents. On the styling station, she scatters the candy and groups corresponding colors providing the girl with a visual representation of how ratios really work.

Williams’s styling station frequently took on a second calling as a tutoring table as a hairstylist in 2008.

“We had customers from all over the community and I would ask kids ‘How are things going? How are your grades?” Williams said. “And I just found that there was a trend of ‘I’m struggling in math.’ I thought well if you don’t figure out these fractions, you’re going to struggle.”

During Williams’s time at Ulta, a customer named Avice Dodd changed her life’s trajectory.

Dodd was a special education teacher for Faith Family Academy in Oak Cliff when she met Williams.

“Mrs. Williams doesn’t know a stranger,” Dodd said. “She had a natural way of working with kids and making them feel comfortable.”

Dodd asked if she would ever consider education after seeing her teach at Ulta.

At first, Williams was hesitant. Dodd persisted.

According to Dodd, it took Williams months before looking into openings at Uplift Hampton, a charter school where Dodd worked.

“I felt like she had something that can’t be taught,” Dodd said, “And that’s the type of teachers we need.”

With no formal background in education, Williams substituted then made her way into teaching fifth grade math in 2010.

Her first experience in the classroom was not perfect by any means. In fact she describes the students she first taught as disobedient.

“In my first class, their teacher could not get control of anything,” Williams said. “These fifth graders just would not listen, and their teacher was getting emotional.”

However, Williams did not shy away from being herself.

“I asked the teacher to step out of the room and I told the kids straight up, ‘I’m new here and we’re cool right now, but if you guys keep doing what you’re doing, we’re not going to be cool,” Dodd said. “Then I saw all their eyes get really big. That’s just me being the older sister.”

Williams is the first of five children born to two teenage parents. She looks back on her childhood fondly and describes growing up as the third parent. When her parents worked long hours and needed help during weekdays, Williams stepped in.

“My siblings would probably say that I am bossy,” Williams said. “I had to make sure everybody was off the bus in the house and doing their homework.”

Her family dynamic influences her leadership. Williams continued being an older sister to others at Uplift Hampton. She would go on to teach STEM courses for eight years. In 2018, former Uplift Hampton assistant principal Onaje Harper stepped down from education and approached Williams to take over.

“He kept saying ‘we got to get you ready so you can take over when I leave,” Williams said. “I was like ‘oh no, I’m OK.’ And he said ‘oh no, you’re not.’”

According to Williams, Harper said she was already suited for the role. Respected by her peers, she helped students that were not in her class on a daily basis.

The only thing she needed to do was an advanced degree. So, from 2018- 2020 Williams worked on a master’s degree in education from Southern Methodist University.

Simultaneously, Uplift Mighty in Fort Worth needed a new administrative team. At the time, it was run by one person: current CHS assistant principal Anna Wanderski.

“I would ask my boss if I could go out and spend my morning to help Anna,” Williams said. “Little did I know, they were trying to piecemeal an administrative team to support her.”

The two met when Wanderski had an open seat next to her at a training session for school administrators. Williams sat down and in typical fashion struck up a conversation.

“I read her as super curious and ambitious about the profession in general,” Wanderski said. “It always came from a place of wanting to help and grow the next generation of kids.”

The two worked at Uplift Mighty for three years before Wanderski came to Coppell. When Colleen Lowry became CHS associate principal in January, Wanderski instantly envisioned Williams to fill in.

“I thought she was just going to be a fantastic cultural fit,” Wanderski said. “She just cares very deeply about making that positive impact on others around her.”

Williams strives to provide a safe space to whoever needs it.

“As somebody who grew up in a town with 600 people, every space that I am in on a consistent basis I see as a village,” Williams said. “At the end of the day, everybody is going to have an impact on this world and I want kids to know that I am a safe space.”

In every stage of her life, Williams has been the older sister. No matter what village she is in, her heart will continue to guide her.

“I believe she is a lover,” Wanderski said. “I don’t know how else to explain it.”

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