Shanon “Woo” Williams-Zou

(She/Her/Hers)

wwilliamszou@nationalequityproject.org

Director, Living Labs for High School Reinvention

Shannon “Woo" Williams-Zou has served as an educator and youth advocate in the San Francisco Bay Area for almost 30 years. Her experiences with racism growing up inspired her to explore multiple pathways toward promoting love, healing, and social justice by improving learning experiences with and for young people from oppressed and marginalized communities who are hurt by systemic oppression. She studied law and became an attorney with the hope of transforming oppressive systems from the inside out, but ultimately decided that education was the best avenue to accomplish this goal. 

After serving a classroom teacher, instructional coach, and school principal, she wanted to work towards liberation and belonging in education on a broader systemic level, beyond the four walls of a school building. 

Now, she is blessed to continue her commitment to love, healing, and justice through her work with the National Equity Project and as a lecturer with the Principal Leadership Institute in UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education.

Woo earned her B.A. in English and Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley, her J.D. from UC Law San Francisco, and her administrative credential and M.A. in Education from UC Berkeley.