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Marketa, Ph.D.

@dr.marketa

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Believer. | Tar Heel | 1908

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Naya: Uh do mood magic.
Naya’s Mother: Mood magic? Can you tell her [interviewer] what mood magic is?
Naya: Uh no I’m shy.
Naya’s Mother: How do you describe it?
Naya: Me? Oh uh…
Naya’s Mother: Or you can tell me, how do you describe it? What’s mood magic?
Naya: Mood magic is something when you go down and you close your eyes and you sprinkle pretend glitter on your head and swirl it around.
Naya’s Mother: Mhm. and then what happens?
Naya: I feel better.
Naya’s Mother: Yes, so mood magic is when we close our eyes and we take a breath, and we sprinkle some glitter on our heads, and then we change our mood. [soft laugh] Uh so that’s what you do when you feel sad.

Guided by PVEST and the Integrative Conceptual Model of Adaptive Racial/Ethnic and Emotion Socialization, the findings suggest that shared book reading can serve as a culturally affirming context in which Black girls actively narrate, interpret, and regulate emotionally significant experiences while caregivers provide supportive scaffolding.

When Black girls are provided supportive opportunities to share their emotional experiences, they demonstrate remarkable wisdom into their emotional worlds and the strategies they use to navigate them.

Visit https://www.mdpi.com/3042-6693/2/3/21 to read the open access pub or comment legacy & we will send you the link 💚

We’d love to know what you think 👇

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The happiest season spending weekends with Black girls, their parents, undergraduate & graduate students from schools across the United States (the @thehomeplacelab x @the_essence__lab x @thedreamcollab is truly incredible), and the most incredible collaborators!

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We are inviting you to consider allowing your child to participate in the Black Girlhood Mental Health Sisterhood Mini Summit, a half-day gathering created for Black girls ages 10–17. This summit is both a Black girl centered event and a research opportunity focused on understanding
and supporting Black girls’ mental health and well-being.

Summit Details

Dates: Saturday, June 27, 2026 or July 11, 2026
Time: 10 am - 1 pm
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Participants: Black girls ages 10–17
Meals: Breakfast and lunch will be provided

During the summit, participants will:
- Eat breakfast and engage in arts & crafts
- Participate in a facilitated focus group where they may share their thoughts and experiences related to mental health and how adults and peers can best support them
- Craft a novel Black girlhood mental health program
- Create Black Girl Joy bags, a creative activity focused on hopes, dreams, and joy

As part of this summit, data will be collected for research purposes (such as audio and video
recordings from group discussions and activities).

The purpose of this research is to better
understand Black girls’ perspectives on mental health and to help inform future programs, resources, and advocacy efforts that support Black girls.

Important Information for Parents and Caregivers:
-Your child’s participation in the research is completely voluntary.
- Participating children will receive $50.
- You must provide parental permission for your child to participate.
- Your child may choose not to answer any question and may stop participating at any time without any penalty.
All activities are designed to be age-appropriate, supportive, and affirming.
- Trained facilitators will lead all sessions with care and respect for participants’ well-being

DM @thehomeplacelab for more information!

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This week, @drlaurenmims moderated a panel with Homeplace faculty affiliates @dr.marketa (PI of @thedreamcollab) and @drgrantcm (Executive Director at Harvard’s CEPR) titled Enacting transformative change for Black children through research, policy and applied work: A panel discussion

Malcolm X stated that “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” This panel session showcased how Black women researchers, educators, and practitioners advance innovative, future focused educational research and policy that supports Black children’s futures. With a focus on Black children’s education from preschool through the college years, we discussed designing new research axioms, conducting data collection and analysis, disseminating research, and implementing policies that provide a passport to a brilliant future for Black youth. More specifically, we discussed creative research such as the design and piloting of a novel mother-daughter shared book reading activity (s/o to my angel Elisha for pioneering this work alongside me), and the piloting of novel research protocols that explore mental health knowledge (s/o to Heather and Dulce!), as well as how Black parents engage in activities that foster Black children’s enjoyment and engagement in science, technology, engineering and math (ok Dr. B!). We also discussed how the needle was moved for Black children through pioneering educational leadership (yesss Dr. C)!

We ended by sharing how researchers, policymakers, and practitioners across the world can enact transformative change for Black children through research, policy and applied work!

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What does my academia look like? Dancing in the streets of Paris before moderating a panel on the brilliance of Black children with my sister friends 💗

We have a 2026 publication titled “I choose joy” and it illustrates the role of joy as a protective process rooted in the strengths of Black families. In the publication, we craft a quilt detailing the role of joy. One important component, to me, is that the joy Black families describe is amidst sorrow and difficult moments in life. When we expand this definition of joy, it reminds us that joy is always a choice.

So won’t you choose joy with me? Happy Juneteenth weekend!

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Sometimes you have to pause and just be thankful to be in good company. Spring 2026 photo dump on kinship, mothering, and mentoring. So many more folks should be pictured but I’m going to improve on asking for pics 🤣

I think about people like @circledsquare5 and @regal_roby who I met at AERA and we just stayed in touch. No formal collaborations but they decided to care for me like a lil sis. So many stories like that behind these photos.

Enjoy 💛✨🫶🏾

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We are still floating after an incredible @sradolescence conference! There’s no place like @thehomeplacelab 💗

Best parts? Our littlest lab member Imani joining us! And… presenting Elisha’s first authored work & feeling spirit throughout the days!

Time for finals, graduation, and a summer of data collection!

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SRA 2026: Space to Thrive Black Girlhood in Developmental Science Pre Conference ✔️

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2025 DUMP 🥂✨

A year of transition and so many new beginnings. Lots of smiles, lots of tears, and constant learning. Stepping into this new year with gratitude for everything God has blessed me with and looking forward to what He has in store 🤍

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2025 Recap: calendar stacked, heart full, passport stamped 💫

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Before this year ends, I need to say thank you.

These photos capture a moment I will carry with me forever. When Dr. Williams and Justin called the young leaders I love onto the stage, and then invited everyone with a PhD to surround us with words, wisdom, and encouragement, I felt something settle in my spirit. A knowing. A remembering. A becoming.

I once saw Dr. Smith Lee share a photo of her graduating alongside her participatory action research co-investigators. That image stayed with me. This is my version of that moment.

A Black convening. Surrounded by brilliant Black minds. People who care deeply about Black communities being safe, healthy, and hopeful. People who choose service, care, rigor, and love together. I could not have asked for a better community to do this work alongside. Everyone on that stage, and everyone in the crowd, is my inspiration. I would choose a lifetime of service to you all, every time.

Some acknowledgements won’t see the light of day for a few more years, but sharing them this way felt right, because knowledge is communal, growth is collective, and none of us get here alone.

To my ancestors. To my living grandparents. To my family, related by blood, love, and commitment, who poured into me and believed in me before I could fully see myself: thank you. I pray more children know this kind of love. The kind that changes trajectories. The kind that changes the world.

Diane…your grandbaby is a doctor. And to my cousins, friends, and loved ones continuing to pursue higher education and their own callings: I see you. I’m cheering for you. And I’ll always hold the door open behind me.

This moment meant everything.

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Yalllllll - we are moving from a conference session to a daylong pre conference ahhhh!!!

We’re excited to announce that we’re hosting a preconference — “Space to Thrive: Researching Black Girls in Developmental Science” — at SRA 2026 focused on Black girlhood scholarship. *Students/Emerging Scholars — if you’d like to present your research with/about/for Black girls at the preconference, please submit your work to present! Abstracts are due January 9th, 2026

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd55kTLqZuWaaCezEzuAl9f_JMx-lR_x29xOiN4EnxWz8btSg/viewform

If you need the link messaged, feel free to comment below!

Yay!!!!!! See you there?!!

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