Akilah Richards is an accomplished entrepreneur, writer, and educator, widely recognized for her impactful work in parenting, leadership development, and self-directed education. She is the founder of Raising Free People Network, a social enterprise that strives to resolve the ways that unexamined experiences with bias and oppression disrupt families' and organization's capacity to sustain a culture of belonging. Akilah's unique unschooling and deschooling methodologies have helped numerous families, social profit organizations, and corporations in navigating and resolving issues of privilege and power that pertain to race, age, socio-economic class, and culture.

Akilah has co-founded Audio by Raising Free People Network and works as an Equity Consultant for Unschools, social profits, and homeschooling spaces. She has also hosted the widely celebrated podcast, Fare of the Free Child, with over 165 episodes that discuss issues related to parenting, personal leadership, and tools for liberation-centered communication and community.

In the Self-Directed Education movement, Akilah is renowned for her efforts to co-design working solutions for race and equity issues in social profit and local environments like co-ops and intentional learning collectives. She is also a founding member of the Alliance for Self-Directed Education, where she collaborates with local community leaders, educational entrepreneurs, researchers, and internationally recognized changemakers to increase access to non-coercive education models for all families.

Akilah's expertise in equity, leadership development, and self-directed education has led to appearances on NBC TV, NPR, CBC Radio, and print publications like Essence, Real Simple, Hold the Line, and Rosemary magazines. She has also authored the forthcoming book, Raising Free People, which is set to be published by PM Press in Fall 2020.