The Stories We Save: The Exit Interview at the Schomburg

In this special episode of The Exit Interview, Dr. Asia Lyons shares a milestone eight years in the making: the podcast's permanent archival at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the first podcast ever accepted into its collection.  She traces the story back to her own 2018 exit interview, the moment of relief that sparked the idea to give other Black educators a chance to tell their truth.  Ninety-three episodes later, what began as a search for a simple narrative of racism and burnout revealed something far more layered: misogynoir, anti-Blackness, colorism, and the slow, hard-won return to joy and wellness after harm. Now, with the Schomburg preserving these testimonies as living historical record, Dr. Lyons introduces what's next: The Exit Interview Archive Project, an invitation to institutions and individuals to help carry Black educator stories further into the world.  As she puts it, the stories we save, save us.