Meet Chioma Chi-CHI! Amaechi | Educator, Artist & Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chioma Chi-CHI! Amaechi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chioma Chi-CHI!, what matters most to you?
Be flexible, have fun and make a difference. Life is short and we spend too much time trying to separate ourselves from others then we do understanding our commonalities. People are not going to be or do as we need or expect. So, staying flexible is key to maintaining my sanity and happiness. Hence, I don’t typically do things that I’m not proud of or that won’t make me happy. If I find myself doing so, it’s unlikely to persist longterm. Finally, while I’m here on this planet I’m going to make a difference. Otherwise, I’m wasting my time and I’m not one to waste time

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I am a 33 year old African American female who was born and raised in San Francisco, California. I have a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley in African American studies and a minor in Education with an emphasis on urban education polices. I have my elementary teaching certificate from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. I also have a M.A. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in Education Leadership and Policy along with my Administration Certificate. My last role was as an Assistant Principal of Humanities. Here, I spent a lot of time putting out fires and I really wanted to create opportunities for kids in my city. I know that our students are struggling with literacy, the data shows it. I know that the school system was not going to solve this problem, as it was not developed to meet each students individual needs. Or, to give students without a special education or English language learning label accommodations for a learning gap created by systemic oppression or gaps within the education system.

A challenge that I faced in my career was in my first year as an assistant principal. I was organizing a writing initiative to support students with essay writing for the state test. We found that there was a group of students who semi understood the process and were able engage in the lessons and improve their writing. However, there was a large group of students who were giving blank stares. It felt like no matter what we did their writing wasn’t improving. My first step was to analyze the problem to understand the results. I came to the conclusion that our students weren’t writing because they weren’t able to read. The following year, we planned to add an additional focus on reading in the first half of the year and writing in the second half. As we were assessing students, we learned that we had a group of students who did not know their alphabet sounds. They were in the 6th – 8th grade, going to high school, some were not in special ed, and some were not English language learners. Hence, some of them were not getting any accommodations or pull out support to address their needs. Hence, they were in classrooms where they did not have the tools needed to decode the words in front of them, let alone spell new words. Due to this being a middle school, we did not have curriculum that taught foundational phonics skills, those were K-2 learning standards. So, I reach out to our neighboring partner elementary school to receive curriculum from teachers who were seeing success in phonics development. I worked in partnership with our English Language (EL) teacher and our Special Education (SpEd) teacher to begin implementing this curriculum with our students. However, there were so many students that required these lessons, I needed to begin teaching again. Or, students who did not have English language or special ed accommodations would not get the support they needed. Before my program was cut short, 100% of students who engaged in these lessons were showing drastic improvement in their ability to decode text simply because they had developed their phonetic awareness. However, so much work is still needed to be done to get students on grade level and because these are K-2 learning standards, every year they are less and less likely to receive the information needed to close these gap.

This experience shaped my entrepreneurial spirit andartistry because it pushed me to understand the importance of being conscious and understanding what it will take to be and develop a conscious artist. I see how the work I was doing to support student literacy will have a direct impact on how they think and how they think has a direct impact on how they express themselves, and that expression will be communicated through their words and their visual arts. I want to make sure that the work that I put out pushes people to think critically and I want to make sure that I push future artists to also think critically as they are learning and growing.

I believe that we should take some of this responsibility away from our failing education system. I want to create spaces for the San Francisco Bay Area community to develop literacy through the arts while developing entrepreneurial skills with todays’ technologies to promote storytelling. The long-term goal is to create a space that is focused on literacy and production. To use technology and in-person sessions to close the literacy gap and produce original work from communities that are often silenced. For example through the creation of comics, books, poems, journalism, songwriting which are all also accompanied by visual arts.

As an artist myself, I believe that what we produce is a direct reflection of what we experience and consume. However, people now, are consuming a lot more information than they’re able to critically analyze and verify. With the growing literacy gap, there is an even bigger deficit in the foundational skills required to decode, comprehend and analyze information before one can then write in response to the information received. As a result, we are going to see an increased number of functionally illiterate citizens, in the United States. ChiOlOgy Productions, leading with literacy equity, authentic creativity, and making a difference in mind; will build a future where our community is better positioned to productively utilize today and tomorrow’s technology rather than being misled, reliant or replace by technology.

To begin ChiOlOgy Productions, I want to start by setting the example and producing my own work. I’m an educator by trade but I’m also a singer, songwriter and photographer with the aspirations of developing my own music videos. The premise of ChiOlOgy Productions is to produce work that represents or expresses your inner self/your inner God, this requires you to understand or study your inner self/ your inner God. Hence the name, ChiOlOgy; the study of one’s god. I see myself as a conscious artist, and I want to put out work that pushes people to think critically about the decisions that we make as a society.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If you’re visiting San Francisco, Iwould first stop over by McLaren Park in Visitation Valley to Drew’s barbecue. He is a local pit master that has the best barbecue in the city, coming out of his backyard! He’s right across the street from Coffman Pool, so you can take a swim or hike in the park before you grab some grub. I would replace my ribs with Drew’s ribs if I had the chance.

I would also go to El Rio in the mission very friendly space, both indoor and outdoor. It’s always a vibe and they are always putting on engaging events and supporting young artists. If you wanna grab a show, I would go over to The Oasis SF where they have Broadway caliber shows year round and the best drag performances at night. I recently watched them do a rendition of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. It was a beautiful site to see an all BIPOC cast.

Lastly, if you want to grab drinks, go over to Martuni’s and get their blueberry lemon drop martini. They have fresh blueberries in them and I by the time you eat them they’re both sweet and saturated in vodka. Yummy and affordable. Heads up, this is a piano lounge so you can jump on the mic and sing a tune or enjoy the amazing artists that visit, and I do mean amazing… like broadway musical amazing.

If you go to any of these places, tell them a beautiful chocolate queen by the name of Chi Chi sent you!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I was born and raised low income in San Francisco to immigrant parents who did not understand the politics of the United States. As one of seven children, they tried their best, but it was really the community that raised me to become who I am today. Growing up, I was born tongue-tied. I didn’t understand the difference between English and my native tongue Igbo, I didn’t know how to read until the fourth grade and I was consistently getting into trouble because I was a divergent thinker and learner. I was fortunate that throughout my experience in San Francisco Unified School District, SFUSD I came across educators, who stopped to give me a chance to shine. From my pullout teacher, Ms. Flores at Visitation Valley elementary school who taught me how to read, she recognized that I was tongue-tied and advocated for my surgery, then proceeded to re-teach me how to speak once I receive the surgery. She later encouraged me to work towards honor classes, which I was able to join in my fifth grade year. Mr. Braye, at Visitation Valley middle school, my band teacher, who was the first person to tell me that I could sing and encouraged me to keep trying. To my Teacher Academy teachers at Abraham Lincoln high school, Ms. Wright and Ms. Ziegler, who fostered my curiosity in education politics and its impact on urban communities. They introduced me to the nonprofit, Teach For Amaerica, which propelled me into education. Finally, my high school Track and Field coach Gerald Woods, who was a lawyer in the city that volunteered his time to not only coach me, but mentor me, parent me, protect me, discipline me, encourage me, support me, and love me. I was often told that I would end up in jail or found dead in a ditch somewhere, but that has not happened because of the community that continues to hold me up. We’re currently in a time where education is being scrutinized, and rightfully so, but I like to say that it’s the system that’s broken not the people. There are people in our education system who are putting in the work to support our community and I want give them a shout out for supporting me. Thank you.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chi0l0gy/profilecard/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chioma-m-amaechi-230137123/

Image Credits
@ Cornelius Washington photography @rachel.z.photography @chi0l0gy.productions