Mariah Rankine-Landers, Ed.M

Mariah Rankine-Landers, Ed.M (she/her) is a thought leader in the fields of human potential, education, liberatory practice and social change. Her work sits at the intersection of arts, culture, and education, where she has developed a research-based, love-centered pedagogy that activates transformational experiences, guiding individuals and organizations toward deeper coherence, creative courage, and purpose-driven impact. Mariah invites both practical and mystical processes that move systems toward equity, imagination, and enduring change.

As co-author of "Do Your Lessons Love Your Students: Creative Education for Social Change" alongside Jesa Brie Moreno, Mariah provides both manifesto and practical roadmap for educators seeking to create environments where students experience genuine belonging.

Her visionary approach weaves history, justice, and imagination into tangible change through workshops, speaking engagements, and curricular design that shifts the narratives shaping society.

The 2024 recipient of the Sandra Bowie Social Change Award through the National Guild, Mariah operates as a visionary builder whose presence challenges the status quo while inspiring action toward repair and collective flourishing

We use the creative process as a conduit to evolve.

Education

  • Master of Arts in Equity and Social Justice in Education from San Francisco State University

  • B.A. in Anthropology, UC Santa Cruz

  • Multiple Subject Teaching Credential

Certificates

  • Certificate in Arts Administration, Harvard Business School

  • National Arts Strategies Fellowship, Harvard Business School

  • Integrated Learning Specialist

Awards

  • Recipient of the 2024 National Guild Sandra Bowie Award for Social Change

  • Yerba Buena Center for the Arts 100 Honoree

  • Social Justice Teacher Award

Vision

Expanding and evolving the creative power that we each hold.

Purpose

Mariah Rankine-Landers' work activates human potential and facilitates liberatory learning across multiple industries. Through speaking engagements, workshops, thought leadership, and curricular design and development she shifts the narratives shaping society, inspiring action towards repair and social change.

What We Value

Love as Foundation

Love serves as the universal presence of meaningful existence, guiding how we connect with ourselves, others, and the world around us. Through conscious engagement with everyday experiences, this expansive love is honored.

Expanding & Learning

Embrace learning as a joyful journey to evolve and expand from the present set point, approaching the world with curiosity and creativity. Rooted in the profound, transcends limiting perspectives and celebrates the richness of diverse knowledge systems.

Collective Creation

Create in the awareness of the collective we. Through inquiry we actively seek joyful participation in shaping a world that reflects our highest potential and collective growth.

Mariah’s Archetypes

  • ARCHETYPE 1: MUSE

    The Muse awakens creative potential in others by translating complex worldly concepts into beautifully simple, accessible insights. Through optimism, trust, and natural charm, they create sacred partnerships that spark imagination and foster enlightenment in everyone they encounter.

  • ARCHETYPE 2: TEACHER | SAGE

    The Teacher-Sage serves as an intellectual guide who sees beyond current limitations to reveal expanded possibilities for others. As a social scientist of human potential, they illuminate pathways to growth through wisdom, knowledge, and their ability to perceive what lies beyond the present moment.

  • ARCHETYPE 3: ARTIST | CREATOR

    The Artist-Creator channels divine inspiration into tangible expressions that touch hearts and transform perspectives. Through their authentic creative process, they demonstrate the power of imagination made manifest, inspiring others to embrace their own creative essence.

  • ARCHETYPE 4: HEALER | MYSTIC

    The Healer creates quiet sanctuaries for transformation in everyday spaces where laughter mingles with deep wisdom. Through grounded compassion and artistic intuition, they guide others toward healing with gentle realism, understanding that magic lives in ordinary moments and authentic connection.

  • ARCHETYPE 5: EXPERIENCER | TRAVELER | EXPLORER

    The Experiencer embraces life through direct, embodied learning that transforms knowledge into lived wisdom. Like one who truly knows the desert by walking its sands, they demonstrate that authentic understanding comes through full engagement with life's experiences.

  • ARCHETYPE 6: ACTIVATOR

    The Activator serves as a powerful catalyst who sees and clearly reflects the deepest truth of who others are truly meant to become. Through their expansive visionary perspective and grounded coaching presence, they ignite profound transformation by helping people fully recognize and confidently step into their authentic power.

Mariah’s Journey

2017-2018

What was given:
The seedbed

In recent years I learned this fun fact: on my mother’s side, my family had so many teachers generation after generation that they were given a state award in Michigan.

I grew up inside the educator mindset with a grandmother who was the first woman principal in California’s Central Valley, and a mother who taught 3rd, 4th, and special education for over 35 years.

In my 20s I discovered that my father’s side were all pineapple farmers. Together, my lineage carries stories of growth: planting seeds, tending sprouts, and supporting the full expression of what a seed is meant to become. It has become a throughline in my understanding of how we, as humans, develop into our fullest potential.

2019- 2021

Formations

In recent years I learned this fun fact: on my mother’s side, my family had so many teachers generation after generation that they were given a state award in Michigan.

I grew up inside the educator mindset with a grandmother who was the first woman principal in California’s Central Valley, and a mother who taught 3rd, 4th, and special education for over 35 years.

In my 20s I discovered that my father’s side were all pineapple farmers. Together, my lineage carries stories of growth: planting seeds, tending sprouts, and supporting the full expression of what a seed is meant to become. It has become a throughline in my understanding of how we, as humans, develop into our fullest potential.

2017-2018

Awakenings

In the late aughts, I moved from Sacramento to the Bay Area. I left behind a KIPP-model school for a local arts-integrated school, and there my mind and soul made a profound leap. I was sent to Harvard’s Project Zero to study the Teaching for Understanding framework. It expanded my practice in unfathomable ways. My credentialing program had not taught me strong pedagogy, but here I encountered the Teaching for Understanding and frameworks that helped students pursue their own inquiries through creativity and the arts. Still, I noticed what was missing: equity and social change.

2019-2021

Stepping into Leadership

After 12 years as a classroom teacher, I was ready for the next horizon. I stepped into leadership through the Alameda County Office of Education’s Integrated Learning Specialist Program: first as an apprentice, then as a leader. I expanded our instructor team from 4 to 30 in just two years, guiding Bay Area schools and districts through rich programming in arts integration, arts assessment, and collaborative curriculum design. I led a four year USDOE grant supporting school transformation through the arts. Yet again, something was missing: a deep focus on equity and culturally responsive pedagogy.

2021- 2022

The Leap

By 2018, it was time to create what was missing. With my colleague Jessa Brie Moreno, I founded Studio Pathways to design a framework for culturally responsive teaching through the arts. Together we studied and collaborated with cultural and contemporary artists to create Do Your Lessons Love Your Students? Creative Education for Social Change, an arc of learning that became a Routledge publication in 2024.

2022 - 2023

Expanding Constellations

With Studio Pathways firmly established, my work began to expand into larger public and cultural arenas. I supported legacy and memory projects with world leaders such as the Honorable Barbara Lee, helping to shape archives, exhibitions, and public learning experiences that preserve political history while sparking civic imagination. I collaborated with thought leaders like Mia Birdsong to design collective processes that braid storytelling, justice, and vision for the future. Beyond education, I have advised cultural institutions, facilitated national convenings, and created frameworks for leaders and communities to confront inequity with imagination. This constellation of work has allowed me to stand at the intersections of art, politics, and social change. I’m building spaces where transformational learning and creativity seed action and vision for a world where everyone thrives.

2024- Beyond

The Horizon

What comes next? Perhaps our journeys intersect. Teaching has given me just about every skill under the sun.

If there is a knowledge gap, I know how to close it.

The essentials of every organization, company, leader, idea, and movement are the same: build community, sustain it with abundant thinking and resources, make meaning together, and hold a human-centered cosmic regard for one another.

As the future unfolds, I’m excited to participate and support a flourishing world alongside the talented amazing people like you.

I welcome opportunities to speak with your group, engage in creative design projects and help you build powerful learning opportunities for whatever your building next.

Let’s Connect

I welcome opportunities to share ideas, collaborate, or simply start a conversation.

Reach out and let’s see what we can create together.

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