Dr. Quintessa Hathaway had a fire lit in her youth to serve humanity and to use her gifts to lift the beloved community. For over twenty (20) years, she has journeyed the road as a public servant. The depth and breadth of her work has been as an educator, academician, author, civil rights marcher, and politician. 
 
She believes we are all charged to aggressively seek to break down the walls of bigotry, racism, ableism, and xenophobia through the process of teaching and learning. As a third (3rd) generation and distinguished educator for nearly two (2) decades, she has pursued that mission. Dr. Hathaway has taught and led in various capacities coast-to-coast in elementary and secondary education in both middle and high school in urban and suburban settings, alternative education, adult education, and a  former adjunct professor at a metropolitan Little Rock college and currently a non-teaching adjunct professor at her alma mater, Tennessee State University.

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Dr. Quintessa Hathaway is an advocate for education. Her personal foundation was laid in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (MNPS). She is an academic honors graduate of Glencliff Comprehensive High School in Nashville, Tennessee. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Political Science degree from The Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi; as well as a Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Curriculum and Instruction, Specialist in Education (Ed.S.) in Administration and Supervision, and Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership degrees from Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee. Her groundbreaking dissertation, The Common Core State Standards Initiative and the Achievement Gap, was an educational analysis of all fifty (50) states plus the District of Columbia and United States territories. Her research is steeped in scholarship and supports better policymaking, practicum, and pedagogy in its approach to curriculum implementation and shrinking the racial achievement gap.
 
Furthermore, Dr. Hathaway is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Lead Consultant of her self-titled organization, Q. Hathaway & Associates, LLC, a results-driven education and business consultancy and professional development provider. In that capacity, she is responsible for providing strategic, financial, and operational leadership with a team of consultants who have over sixty (60) years of combined expertise. Together, they bring transformative solutions and evidence-based strategies to schools, districts, colleges and universities, and business entities across the country.
 
Additionally, Dr. Hathaway is a published author, poet, has an active research agenda, and several works in manuscript that discuss equality, voting rights, and educational equity in America. For approximately eight (8) years, she wrote an international political and educational blog, A Talk With The Community. One of her bestselling and seminal books was born from and took its name in part after the blog. It captivated the hearts and minds of over two thousand two hundred (2,200) readers such as leading political and educational figures, think tanks, theologians, civil rights activists, national commentators, college and university presidents and educators, professionals, and informed citizens. It raised awareness on social justice and pressured officials both domestic and globally. She wrote on behalf of the blog to the United Nations (U.N.) on international affairs. One of her pieces was featured in the African American Voices Juneteenth 2018 edition for her stance taken on Libyan slavery. 
 
In 2013, she authored a children’s book titled, Boy Joe Down in the Country: A Sharecropping Story, a living commemoration to a fading class of people. It gave a snapshot of an agrarian system that began during the Radical Reconstruction years and lasted through the 1960s, and catapulted America into an economic machine. In 2015, she wrote Words from the Greats, Version 1.0, part one of a trilogy series highlighting ten (10) legendary leaders.  

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Dr. Hathaway has been marching for the cause of civil rights since the tender age of fifteen (15). The first (1st) was with the National Conference for Communities and Justice (NCCJ) in the annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. March in Nashville, Tennessee. More notably she participated in the March for Social Justice and Women in January 2017 and the Tax March in April 2017, both in Atlanta, Georgia. In January 2020, she marched with the Arkansas Democratic Black Caucus in the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Marade in Little Rock. In April 2023, she marched on the frontlines with Rev. Dr. William Barber, II of Repairers of the Breach in the Moral Monday campaign in Nashville against school shootings. In March 2023, she spoke on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol Building on the significance of the 1965 Bloody Sunday March from Selma to Montgomery, voter suppression, and education. In August 2023, she organized a march in Conway, Arkansas protesting police brutality and the death of one of her former students, Mr. Deitric Williams, Jr., while he was in their custody. 
 
Dr. Quintessa Hathaway is highly active in southern regional and national politics. At age twenty-two (22), she was a Democratic Candidate for the 105th Tennessee General Assembly (2007-2009) in the House of Representatives to serve District 53 (parts of South Nashville and Antioch). She made history being among the youngest and an African American woman to ever seek the state legislative seat. Throughout her political career, she has personally conducted voter registration across three states, Tennessee, Georgia, and Arkansas. Also, Dr. Hathaway has volunteered on many campaigns in local, state, and federal races.
 
She was the 2022 Democratic Nominee for the 118th United States Congress (2023-2025) for Arkansas’ Second District (AR-02). With the campaign slogan, “Let’s Take Central Arkansas Onward, Forward, Upward, and Outward,” she captured more votes than any other Democratic Nominee who ran in the four (4) congressional districts, as well as the largest percentage of votes compared to all Democratic candidates who ran statewide. Furthermore, in Winter 2025, she threw her name into the ring for Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairperson.
 
In February 2023, Dr. Hathaway filed an amicus brief supporting plaintiffs in Simpson et al. v. Thurston, a racial gerrymandering case against the “cracking” of Pulaski County in the Second Congressional District, in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas (Central Division). The case was appealed and decided in the United States Supreme Court during the 2023 term and remanded back to the lower court. 

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Dr. Hathaway is a member of several civic and social organizations. She is a praying, spiritual and philosophical woman. When she is not travelling for her consulting firm or leisure, she is home cooking savory meals, reading, writing, watching C-SPAN, having heartwarming and enthralling conversations, and public speaking. 
 
She has combined her knowledge of public policy and educational acumen to shine a light on the most pressing issues of our time. She has dedicated her life to championing reform and giving voice to the voiceless. Dr. Hathaway has built a brand and a record which she proudly stands upon. Her goal in life is to continue to beat the drum of change. Dr. Quintessa Hathaway believes her most important accomplishment is the support and encouragement of her family and friends.