May 5, 2025
Episode 29: The Principal’s Journey with Dr. Rachel Edoho-Eket: Leading with Joy, Purpose, and Balance!
Fan Mail! Ever wonder what transforms a passionate educator into an exceptional leader? Dr. Rachel Edoho-Eket's journey from kindergarten teacher to Blue Ribbon School principal offers powerful insights for anyone navigating educational leadership. Growing up surrounded by educators—with a grandmother who served Baltimore City schools for over 30 years—Rachel developed an early love for the school environment. "I was one of those children that even when it was summer break, I was ready to co...
Ever wonder what transforms a passionate educator into an exceptional leader? Dr. Rachel Edoho-Eket's journey from kindergarten teacher to Blue Ribbon School principal offers powerful insights for anyone navigating educational leadership.
Growing up surrounded by educators—with a grandmother who served Baltimore City schools for over 30 years—Rachel developed an early love for the school environment. "I was one of those children that even when it was summer break, I was ready to come back," she recalls. This foundation laid the groundwork for her leadership philosophy centered on creating the same sense of belonging for every child she serves.
What makes Dr. Edoho-Eket's perspective particularly valuable is her ability to connect her classroom experience with administrative roles. "There's not a big difference between being a kindergarten teacher and a principal," she explains. "In both cases, we're ambassadors for the school." This insight helped her navigate the challenging transition from teaching to leadership, where she discovered the power of two simple questions: "How can I help you?" and "What can I do to improve?"
Her book, "The Principal's Journey: Navigating the Path to School Leadership," fills a unique gap in educational literature by focusing on how to become a leader rather than just functioning as one. From preparing your resume to mastering interviews and creating positive school culture, Dr. Edoho-Eket provides practical guidance for aspiring administrators. As she puts it, "You don't have to get ready if you stay ready."
Beyond the mechanics of career advancement, Dr. Edoho-Eket addresses the emotional core of educational leadership—finding joy in challenging times. Having begun her principalship during the pandemic, she understands the importance of highlighting positive achievements and maintaining perspective. Her message to fellow educators resonates deeply: "Everything we do matters. Every contribution we make has lasting impacts that we'll never know how far they extend."
Ready to elevate your leadership journey? Follow Dr. Rachel Edoho-Eket on social media and explore her resources at
https://bio.site/the_principals_journey
Connect with Dr. Rachel Edoho-Eket with Links Below:
Dr. Rachel Edoho-Eket Speaker Information:
Instagram: @the_principals_journey
Twitter: @racheledohoeket
Youtube: @racheledoho-eket
Linkedin: Dr. Rachel Edoho-Eket
Amazon: @dr.edoho-eket
Connect with Principal JL Click Here:
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01:57 - Introduction to Dr. Rachel Edoho-Eket
03:30 - Family Roots in Education
06:47 - From Teacher to Leader
12:25 - Mentorship and Career Advice
15:05 - The Principal's Journey Book
21:29 - Finding Joy in Educational Leadership
28:22 - Keep Showing Up
31:16 - Final Thoughts and Resources
WEBVTT
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I am thrilled to welcome Dr Rachel Edoho-Eket to the show.
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She is a respected principal, public speaker, author and the 2025 president of the Maryland Association of Elementary School Principals.
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With decades in education, she is known for her strong educational leadership, mentorship and passion for student success.
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Dr Edoho-E ket leads a national Blue Ribbon School in Maryland and also serves as an adjunct professor at McDaniel College, helping shape the next generation of school leaders.
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Her work, the Principal's Journey, offers practical guidance for educators stepping into leadership roles.
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Her work is grounded in building meaningful relationships and inspiring excellence at every level.
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Now let's get into the conversation with Dr Rachel Edoho-Eket.
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Hey, everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Educational Leadership Podcast with Principal JL.
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I am excited to have Dr Rachel Edoho-Eket in the house today for our episode.
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So welcome, Dr.
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Rachel, to the show.
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Thank you so much for having me.
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Jeff, I'm ready to get into this conversation today.
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All right, we're going to go ahead and we're going to dive right into it.
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It's a question I ask everybody what inspired you to pursue a career in education?
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Well, first of all, my family is a family of educators, so I've always known that I wanted to be a teacher.
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It's always been a part of my life.
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My parents definitely instilled the importance of having a good education and my brother and I and my grandmother was an educator in the Baltimore City public school system for over 30 years, so I grew up really watching her, helping her set up her classrooms.
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She also was a school librarian, so I would go into her elementary school and help her set up the library and doing the Dewey Decimal System as a young child and I really just loved the school environment.
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And then, as a student, I loved being in school.
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I was one of those children that even when it was summer break, I was ready to come back.
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I miss my friends, I miss my teachers.
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I wanted to be around the staff members.
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I absolutely adored my principal.
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Shout out to Mr Slakum, who was my kindergarten.
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He was my elementary school principal when I was growing up.
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We still are in contact today and he's someone who I really admire.
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So in my work as a principal I always try to think about how I felt as a child, how much I loved feeling welcomed in school and having that sense of belonging, and that's something that I'm passionate about providing all of the children that I serve in school as well.
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Awesome.
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That's really great to hear there's a lot of educators out there that kind of get inspired by the generation before.
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For me, I wasn't quite that lucky.
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I didn't have really anybody that was in education.
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I kind of found it through coaching and when I found my passion for coaching, then I found my passion for education.
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So I really love to hear everybody's unique uh stories when, how to get into, what got them going.
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So what did you have?
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Sorry to interrupt?
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Oh yeah, go ahead.
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Um, yeah, yeah, I've coached.
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You know I was a head football coach, head wrestling coach.
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I've coached track and the funny thing about track I was a throwers coach and I was not a thrower in high school, I was a long distance runner, so it was kind of one of those I was track as well.
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It's a great sport.
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One of my favorites.
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I enjoyed doing it but at the same time it was just one of those deals where they just needed someone to coach the throwers.
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They didn't have anybody and I just kind of learned up on it and actually it was a really great experience because I got to coach a lot of great kids in my experience from football wrestling into track, and so that was really where I started to like, go, hey, I want to become an educator because I get a coach Right.
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Like, go, hey, I want to become an educator because I get a coach right and that kind of built my you know leadership skills into you know, becoming a principal.
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Today, dr Rachel, you have had a dynamic career.
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You've been, you know, going from a teacher into instructional leader, assistant principal and now a principal of a national blue ribbon school.
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What are some of the key moments and lessons that help you shape your leadership style along the way?
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I'd love to hear kind of that transition from teacher into those different roles.
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Yeah.
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So I love being a teacher.
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That's number one.
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I was a kindergarten teacher in early childhood kindergarten first and second for half of my career, so I really enjoy the process of teaching children.
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I love working with colleagues, connecting with really strong educators, learning from people, and that has always been a part of my story and each role I found value in a different way.
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So definitely as a teacher I loved connecting with families.
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Oftentimes a kindergarten teacher is that child's first teacher, that ambassador to the school, and I always share with my early childhood colleagues.
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There's really not a big difference between being a kindergarten teacher and a principal.
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I know that that sounds ridiculous, but it's true.
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In both cases we're ambassadors for the school.
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We're welcoming families in, we're getting to know their children, we are taking that time that is needed to get to know the child's interests, things that can help motivate them.
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So that's a part of this work as a principal that I was also doing, you know, even as a teacher, and then I also really like to be authentic in the work that I'm doing.
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So when I transitioned from a kindergarten teacher into an assistant principal, that was a really hard transition for me.
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I really missed being around kids, kind of that closeness, of having a special connection with 25 kids.
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I didn't have that anymore.
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But what I learned in the role as an assistant principal you're everywhere, right, you're around the building, you have your hands in every single thing.
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You're working with bus drivers, you're working with custodial staff members, you're working with your principal, you're working with teachers, support staff.
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There you really get your hands on everyone, and so I love that process.
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I love building new relationships with people.
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I love figuring out where I could help.
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That's my favorite question how can I help you?
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What can I do to improve, right, improve, a situation?
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So just the two questions alone is how I built relationships as an assistant principal.
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Then I had an opportunity to continue to branch out a little bit, do some more systemic work, and that really set the foundation for the principalship.
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So, addition to the work that I was doing in my school at the time as an assistant principal, really that district level work really helped me to see even broader than the school.
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So when I transitioned into the principalship another big transition sitting in the principal seat is very different than sitting in the assistant principal seat, but in all of the transitions I've just found my way, I've connected with great mentors.
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I always ask people who have done the role how did they find success?
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So that I can also find success in the role and taking feedback.
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You've mentioned being a coach, jeff.
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I've been coached my whole life as a student athlete.
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I know the value of a coach, I know the value of a mentor, and so I try to be a really good listener when people are giving me feedback, so that I don't take it personally.
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I'm saying someone cares about me enough to give me feedback for me to improve.
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I appreciate that and I want to make the change, so that has helped me in each one of my levels.
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I'm still continuing to learn as I transition into president of the Maryland Association for Elementary School Principals.
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That's a new role that I'm taking on in 2025, and I'm extremely excited, hey.
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I really loved listening to and just hearing how I can, I could really relate to where, when you were a classroom teacher, really your world is that classroom right?
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And then when you branch out into the leadership, you're like going, oh, I have to think outside the classroom and more into more, like, hey, teachers and students.
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I think the one thing that really surprised me in the role of being a principal was how much you know, I work with the adults in the building and I still work with some of the students.
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It's not like I forget about them, but my goal is to help the adults become better so the students can get the education they deserve and become the best they can be.
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And then working with families and parents and things like that, that's just a whole other animal itself.
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So then you get into these leadership roles.
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Now you're thinking more broadly and then you're thinking about how does these things affect each other?
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And more broadly, and then you're thinking about how does these things affect each other so that I really can relate to that A lot of people can relate to, kind of that transition from teacher throughout these different leadership roles.
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One thing that stands out about your work is your deep commitment to mentorship and professional development.
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You kind of hit on that a little bit.
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Now you're not just a leading in your own school, but you're guiding, inspiring other leaders throughout your work as an adjunct professor at McDaniel College.
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What advice would you have for teachers who are considering to move into administration?
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Yeah well, jeff, you mentioned already, you know you really have to like people.
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You have to understand adult learners and you have to also understand children, and that's what's unique about our role as school leaders that we do work with everybody.
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We work with the superintendent, we work with community members, we work with parents, we work in my school.
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I have three year old children, so I work as children as young as three who are in preschool their first experience in school and their families, and so you really have to be a people person.
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So that's my first advice is to really make sure that you enjoy working with and alongside people.
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That's number one, and also just remembering that everything is a process.
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Nothing happens overnight, and I really found the value in looking at each of the stages of my career and finding value in each of them.
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They're all different roles, but what I found is they were all interconnected in many ways.
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There was leadership in every role, no matter if, at the time, I had a leadership title or not.
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I was leading.
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I was leading my classroom.
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I might have been leading my team as a high school student and as a as a division one college athlete, but all of those things had leadership embedded in them and so remembering who you are as a person authentically.
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What do you believe?
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You know that's another important part of advice is knowing what your beliefs are and staying firm in those, because this is a type of role you're going to hear from a lot of different people with a lot of different perspectives, and if you don't, if you're not centered in what your beliefs are and who you are as a person, you're going to be like going with the wind, and so it's really important that you stay centered on what your principles are and let those guide you as you're making decisions for your next levels of your career.
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Those are all great tips of advice, and actually those are things that I've learned throughout, you know, my career as a principal, because there's no, you know, quote unquote look to be a good administrator all the time, right, Especially like I started my role as a principal seven years ago, and so for me, I was looking for other ways to, not just within the networking that I've done with that the regional and the state level here in Nebraska but also, you know, just trying to find what else is out there, and so that kind of going to lead me into the next thing we're going to talk about is, let's talk about your book, the Principal's Journey Navigating the Path to School Leadership.
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What inspired you to write it and what did you hope readers can take away from it?
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Thank you, I have it right here.
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There you go.
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This is my book, and I really was inspired to write it because when I would go around my district and I would talk to aspiring leaders, they would say you know, rachel, I like what you're doing and I feel like I can do that too, but I don't know how to get through this process.
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I don't know how to get past the interview, this process.
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I don't know how to get past the interview.
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I don't even know how to get my recommendation letters in order so that I can get to an interview.
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So when I heard that enough times, I thought wouldn't it be nice to have all that information in one place, because most leadership books are written from the perspective when someone is already in the position.
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Right, you're a principal.
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Now what?
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You're an assistant principal?
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Here are some questions to consider for you as you're in the role.
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But very few leadership books were written a step back, which is how do you get to the role that you want?
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And so that's where my book fills an important void in the educational field and space that I really go through each of the steps in a very formulaic way.
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So first I start off by talking about what are the benefits and what are some of the challenges of being a school-based leader, because I think that that's important to start.
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It's important to know upfront here are some things that are going to challenge you, here are some things that you might find joy in, and if you finish reading chapter one and decide you still want to go to chapter two, then yes, let's talk about the process.
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So from there I talk about getting a mentor, the importance of having that mentor in your life.
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I have absolutely amazing mentors and have had them each leg of my life, and so my book kind of serves as a mentor in the absence of one.
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If someone did not have someone to tell them, here's your next step, try this next.
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My book does that.
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And so from there, I talk about interview questions, cover letters, how to create your resume.
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Keep it updated so that you don't have to get ready.
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You're already ready.
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You stay ready.
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That's really important.
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These are things that sometimes people say send me your resume, are you ready?
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Oh, no, I need a week or two to get things.
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No, you need to be ready.
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So I talk about that in the book having your resume ready at all times, because you don't know when the call is coming.
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And then when you interview we talk about interview questions.
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What are some answers you need to know?
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You know what are some things that help you along that process.
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And then, when you get the job, how do you create a positive school culture?
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Have difficult conversations, jeff, you and I talked about this.
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How do you have a work life balance?
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This is a big job.
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Being a school administrator is a big job, both APs, principals, district leaders.
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These are big jobs, and so my book really helps to make it plain for readers.
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The feedback that I've received is that people like the flow of the book.
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It's easy for them.
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I even have extensions from my book.
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I have a leadership course that people can take with a free copy of my book, called the Elevated Leadership Course.
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It has videos and live coaching sessions, so I really try to make it comprehensive for those who are ready to move into the position within one to two years.
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Awesome.
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Well, that's all great information.
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I wish this book existed when I was getting into it because I would have been probably soaking up this information because it was really.
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It was really a challenge to like, hey, you don't know what you don't know until you don't know it.
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In education or in leadership at times, I went from being a classroom teacher in 11 years going into the principalship, and it was really a journey to learn through.
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When I got an interview, it was just getting an interview was challenging enough.
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But then when I got an interview.
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How do I, you know, in a way, help people see me in that role for them, how do I help people see that I can do this job, and the experiences I have can relate and correlate to the duties and the position you're going to ask me to do, and so I think that's really important for people to have is this type of a book to know how to do that, and I really like it because I do have inspiring educational leaders that listen to this podcast, and if you're one of them I think of one right off the top of my head that I know listens to this podcast get this book.
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This will help you because you're going to become a brand new principal next year and you know who I'm talking about, and so really, I would encourage you to look up Dr Rachel's work, because this will be very helpful for you in your journey as a educational leader as you navigate that.
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So I want to put that plug in there for you, because I do know that for a fact that I do have some people that aren't principals yet, but they're going to become them, and so I'd really like to really highlight your work and have them maybe give you a follow and give your book a read to help them become, you know, the best principal they can be, because we didn't have this, I would say, five, six, seven years ago and there's more out there and I want people to have that opportunity to become, you know, even have a better start than we did, and so I think that's important and I think that's how we can grow our educators in the future as well.
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So thank you for sharing.
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That's really great information.
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Thank you, let's talk about in addition to being a school leader and author, you're also a keynote speaker, right, I think you just you did some speaking, you know, not too long ago, I know.
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So share your message with the audience across the country.
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What are the topics you're most passionate about and, when speaking to educators, what are the things you really highlight?
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So I really am passionate about finding joy in this role.
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This is a very, very hard time in education for teachers, for administrators, for district leaders, universities anyone who is in education.
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This is a tough time, and I'm saying that as someone who was a new principal during COVID-19.
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So that was six years ago.
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2019, 2020 was my first year as a principal and it almost broke me, and so I really like to think about how can we highlight the wonderful things that are going on in our schools, because, make note of it, every school has amazing things happening every single day.
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Children are learning every day.
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Children are making connections with their teachers every single day.
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Families are happy that their children are having great educational experiences in school, and we need to do a better job of highlighting that, because I think each school leader is in charge of, like, I would say, the mayor of the school the messaging right.
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So when we put out the great things that are happening, it's very hard for other people to say, oh, that's not happening in the schools.
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Nope, here are pictures, here are events.
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Go on our school website.
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So a part of my work is really about spreading the joy and when we do have the times when we're in low morale which we all do then what are some strategies that we can use to help improve that situation for teachers, for educators, for leaders?
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Because the main thing is we need people to show up every day on behalf of our children, and if everyone quits, then we don't have anybody to do this work.
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So part of my message is what can we do for ourselves?
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How can we have a balance in our life, a perspective that allows us to come back to this work and serve children every single day, to serve our students and our staff?
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So that's one thing I love to talk about is finding joy in the role.
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I also love to talk about that balance in our lives.
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Right, as you mentioned, I do do a lot of things in addition to being a full-time working principal.
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That's my first job and my most important job.
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But I'm also a wife, I'm also a mother, I have a speaking career, I am an author, I am taking on new leadership roles under the NAESP umbrella.
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So there are lots of things that I'm working on, that I'm interested in, and what I've learned through this whole process is that we can do many things Well.
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We don't have to be pigeonholed into one area you can definitely connect with people, find out what they're doing, figure out what you can contribute into the work.
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Even just starting there, what can I contribute into the work?
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You'd be surprised how much more work and opportunities come to you.
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And so that's what I've learned is really through that process of meeting people and adding value, that I've had more opportunities to do that more, and I love that.
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That has actually reinvigorated me and given me more energy to come back to do the work every single day.
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Oh man, you hit a lot of great things there.
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I love how you talk about finding the joy in the work.
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I know for me, I just love it.
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Like I wasn't someone that said I'm going to become an educator.
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I took the tenure out to finish my undergrad because of being in the military and, you know, working in a factory I learned through this one.
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I don't know if I want to do this.
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This wasn't my passion.
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But once I found coaching and found my passion in education, finding that joy is really important to think about.
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Even, I'll be honest, just this past week I had to sit there and think about why am I doing what?
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I'm doing great things that are happening in the role, because there's times where you just get beat down by.
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You know just outside circumstances that come into your building, that you have to take care of, and you know talking about having those difficult conversations and having to work with adults, not just the students.
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That can be stressful, that can be strenuous, that could be hard because you're going to have to have those difficult conversations with those staff members and that sometimes gets you defeated.
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So I love how you help people find the joy and keep staying invigorated and wanting to continue the mission, because I think that's really important piece.
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With people stepping away from education, how can you help them find the joy in what they do?
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Because people that get into education do it because they enjoy it.
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They want to help people.
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There's this common thread that I hear from each guest is I just enjoy it, I just love it.
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And being able to remind them of their, in a way, their why, but to remind them of their in a way, their why, but to remind them of that is really important.
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I think that's awesome that you're helping those people do that, because sometimes we need those reminders.
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So I appreciate the work they're doing on that and thank you for that.
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And I love the fact that you could talk about the different roles that you do helps you stay invigorated and passionate about what you do, because, I'll be honest, I've learned a lot by having guests on my show to where it's helped me stay, you know, engaged in, like you know what.
00:23:12.419 --> 00:23:28.586
There's some great things out there and I'm learning from these people and I'm bringing them back to my building and implementing some things that I've learned, and so that is the cool part about being able to branch out and work with people and connect at a different level.
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So, you know, thank you for that information.
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And you kind of touched on some things on that work-life balance.
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I think that's really important to have that understand that you have different hats and there's times to turn them off and turn them on and know what hat you're wearing at the time, so you can, you know, maintain being present with your family as well as present in your work.
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So thank you for sharing that information.
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You've had really an impressive career.
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You know you're clearly passionate about making a difference in education at all levels is what I'm hearing.
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You know you talk clearly passionate about making a difference in education at all levels is what I'm hearing.
00:24:03.894 --> 00:24:09.528
You know you talk about leadership, not just education leadership, but in the classroom and all different levels.
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You know, as we wrap up, what's one piece of advice you would like to leave for educational leaders out there that are listening to this episode.
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I would say keep doing the work.
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I know that that's a very basic message, but it's an important one.
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Everything that we do matters.
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You may not get an award, you may not have, you know, the news stations coming to your school every day and talking about these great things, but that doesn't make it any less important.
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Every contribution that we make to a teacher, every contribution we make to a staff member, anything that we can contribute to our families and to our students, has lasting impacts that we will never know how far they extend and that is what excites me about this work We'll never quite know.
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Every now and then we might have someone say thank you.
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We might have someone from our past to say you meant something to me.
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Every now and then we get those, which is beautiful, but ultimately we're here to serve, and so my advice is just to continue to do the work, no matter what is going on around you.
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Make sure that you are hyper focused on children, that you are hyper focused on your staff, that you are hyper-focused on your staff, that you're also focused on yourself, right, that you are doing that self-improvement, so that you can come back to this work every day and have a level of satisfaction in what you're doing, so I also just want to say thank you.
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I know that's not advice, but I do want to express my gratitude.
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This work is hard.
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This work is not easy.
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