External Affairs Director
Pronouns: she/her
Phone: 213.740.5860
E-mail: tabari@usc.edu
Dr. Kim Tabari has a passion for social justice and education. She holds a doctorate degree in Educational Leadership and has worked at a variety of institutions both public and private. Born in Guyana, South America, Kim has the lived experience of an immigrant who later became a U.S. citizen.
As the Organizational Development Director at the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI), Kim is part of the Executive Management Team and believes in the importance of maintaining relationships to bring about healing and transformation, especially during times of conflict. She leads the organizational development and racial justice work internally at ERI, works with external partners and faculty affiliates, and manages the ERI advisory committee. Prior to joining ERI, she facilitated conversations on racial, social, and healing justice topic areas. She is a trained facilitator working with both high school and college students in the past, and currently work with diverse stakeholders at USC and beyond. Kim presented at the Strength in Numbers: Uniting Immigration with Other Social Causes webinar hosted by The Immigrant Learning Center housed at George Mason University. Kim facilitated a successful USC Visions & Voices conversation with Daughters of the Movement in the middle of the pandemic and nation-wide racial justice uprisings. Dr. Tabari was an instrumental part of the USC REDI Taskforce led by Dr. Manuel Pastor and Felicia Washington in collaboration with over 50 dedicated students, staff and faculty.
Outside of working at USC, Kim’s most important role is being a mom to an amazing teenage boy, currently in High School. She is also very active in her local community, working primarily with the Long Beach school district to improve academic challenges of Black and other marginalized students.
Kim embodies healing justice and is a certified yoga instructor, facilitating over 50 online classes to her community on zoom during the 2021 pandemic year. She also has a regular Tai Chi practice, and other self-care modalities.