Dr. Eva Marie Shivers, J.D., Ph.D. is the founder and executive director of Indigo Cultural Center, a non-profit action research firm located in the stolen lands of Tohono O’odham and Hohokam (AKA: Phoenix, AZ).
She identifies as a bi-racial African American, able-bodied, cis-gendered woman and is the proud Mama of a beautiful African American, 11-year-old boy who is neuro-divergent. She is an action-based researcher and evaluator working at the crossroads of infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) and early care and education. She is a dancer/yoga practitioner, and practices embodied healing. Dr. Shivers is an equity harmonizer and healer (i.e., equity trainer and facilitator). Her professional work facilitating conversations about racial equity and early childhood is closely aligned with my spiritual life and deeply held convictions about humanity.
For the past 15 years, Dr. Shivers has been providing early childhood racial equity training and consultation to infant and early childhood community agencies and state departments around the country and have been a frequent keynote speaker at infant and early childhood mental health conferences around the country. For the past 22 years, she has provided child care research policy consultation to federal, state and local government agencies and administrators. Dr. Shivers has also provided early childhood racial equity policy consultation to several federal administrations – including the Obama and Biden administrations. She is a proud ZERO TO THREE Fellow (2005-2007) and was on faculty at the Harris Infant Mental Health Training Institute in Phoenix, AZ for seven years. For the past 5 years, she mostly serves the IECMH workforce around the country – including reflective supervisors and leaders, and specifically the IECMH consultation workforce.