Meet Branita Griffin Henson
Title: Senior Writer/Editor
Years at NEA: 38 years
Branita has been a part of the NEA family since May of 1986.
“I was a mere child!” she says.
And, over the decades, she has served and contributed in many, many ways, at one point single-handedly running the NEA Professional Library and sharing popular titles for educators, such as the NEA Checklist Series.
In 2012, she transferred to NEA’s Center for Great Public Schools, where today she works with policy analysts in the Teacher Quality department. Think of her as a muse, as a mentor, as an advisor and interpreter, and most of all, as a communications strategist.
“I’m all of those things because I think differently than [my colleagues],” she says. “The majority of them are academics, who have been in the classroom, and they’re single focused on individual areas of expertise. I’m looking at the big picture.”
As her colleagues develop tools and resources to improve the professional practices of NEA members, such as NEA’s blended learning classes for educators, count on Branita to ask: How do we roll this out? How do we scale it up? What is the return on investment?
“I’m eligible to retire and I’ve been here a minute, but as long as I like what I’m doing, and I do, as long as I enjoy working with my colleagues, and I do, and as long as I feel like my work and my word are respected—and they are—I’m not ready to go yet. I feel like I have some things to offer.”
Fun Facts about Branita
Mother, sisters, niece, nephew . . . Branita has a family full of teachers.
In 2012, when NEA underwent a large re-organization, full of voluntary exits and involuntary transfers, Branita was the first NEASO employee to be transferred—and she embraced the opportunity.
“Don’t be afraid of change,” she says. “I truly felt like I had been dropped in a foreign country and didn’t know the language, but I also felt I had the opportunity to learn new skills.”
