Nicole Johnson
Creative Director & Founder @Harriet Tubman Effect
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WORK HISTORY
Creative Director & Founder @Harriet Tubman Effect
The Harriet Tubman Effect (HTE) is a behavior change mechanism placed within an organization to help dismantle systemically oppressive structures. Our Evergreen and Efficacy Fellows, Founders and Justice Advocates center this effort by reallocating wealth to Black and Brown DEI leaders and conducting participatory action research in their workplaces. Embedding the Harriet Tubman Effect within your organization is an unconventional business strategy. Organizations will be paired with a pod of rotating researchers and strategists committed to dismantling systemic oppression within your institution. Partnership can be renewed annually.The goal of each Harriet Tubman placement is to dismantle systemic oppression by developing pathways for empathy through participatory action research, artistry, social justice strategizing and organizational transformation curricula.Some of our clients are listed below: PASS OVER - August Wilson Theater Lincoln Center Theater Signature Theater Into the Woods - St James TheaterSweeney Todd- Lunt Fontanne TheaterIs This a Room - Lyceum Theater Dana H - Lyceum Theater A Christmas Carol - Golden Gate Theater Freestyle Love Supreme - Booth TheaterStrange Loop - Lyceum Theater MCCACT Seattle Baltimore Center StageThe PublicCasting Society of AmericaNew York Theater Workshop-Augsburg University University of Kansas New York University University of MichiganTulane University -FallonFOX Entertainment Professional Performing Arts SchoolLeadership Academy Harlem Renaissance We Engage in Prevention Awareness (WEPA)-We work in the following industries Higher EducationK-12Houses of WorshipTV and FilmBroadway and Regional Theater Corporate AmericaPublic Health
EDUCATION
NYU Gallatin
Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations
New York University
Master of Philosophy - MPhil, Educational Theater
New York University
Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
New York University
Master's Education Leadership, Politics and Advocacy
SKILLS
ABOUT NICOLE JOHNSON
Dr. Nicole Javanna Johnson is an educational theater scholar and multi-sensorial artist whose work explores how storytelling can dismantle systemic oppression in American workplaces. She received her PhD from New York University, where she studied educational theater and the neuroscience of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her doctoral research codifies tools from her DEIA facilitation practice, offering sustainable methodologies for professionals committed to equitable systems design.Through her doctoral research Nicole developing Playmaking, an emerging methodology rooted in organizational theory, embodied learning, and narrative strategy. Playmaking supports arts and culture leaders in understanding how institutional stories shape identity, decision-making, and systems—and how those stories can be intentionally restructured to support equitable practice and sustainable leadership. Through this work, Nicole develops tools, strategies, and curriculum models that help individuals and organizations diagnose power dynamics, redesign cultural systems, and strengthen communication practices that make repair possible over time.Nicole’s artistic and research-based work spans animation, fiction, comics, and participatory action research. As the Founder and Creative Director of the Harriet Tubman Effect—a human resource center and research institute—she leads initiatives that equip organizations with capacity-building tools, data-informed practices, and facilitated dialogue for systemic change. She is most known for her contributions to the theater industry, serving as a DEI leader on Broadway productions including Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, PASSOVER, and How to Dance in Ohio, as well as collaborations with Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Class Company, Baltimore Center Stage, Signature Theatre, New York City Center, and New York Theatre Workshop.Her creative projects, including Look Up Melvin, Lantern, and Tales of a Time Traveling Playmaker, reflect her commitment to merging scholarship with artistry. Centering emotional truth, nature, and ancestral wisdom, her work explores how creative resilience becomes a form of repair infrastructure for children, families, and communities.Nicole also serves as Co-Vice Chair of Alicia Keys’s nonprofit Kaleidoscope Dreams and as lead facilitator for Black Theatre United’s New Deal for the American Theatre.Harriet Tubman Effect: Human resource center and participatory action research institute for strategy and justice advocacy.Learn more at:
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