Your dissertation coach connecting scholarship, story, and self

Dana A. Gathers, Ph.D (Dr. Dana) is an educator, researcher, and founder of Just Write Dissertation Coaching and Just Write Liberated. She helps Black women doctoral scholars overcome writing resistance and overwhelm to confidently complete their dissertations—without sacrificing their peace or purpose.

With 19 years in the field of education, Dr. Dana began her teaching career as a special education teacher in New York City public schools before becoming an adjunct and later as an assistant professor—experiences that shaped her deep understanding of the systemic barriers Black women face in academia.

Through her coaching programs, community writing spaces, and transformative workshops, she supports scholars in reclaiming their voice, trusting their brilliance, and writing in community. Her signature Just Write framework centers clarity, confidence, and care, grounded in the lived realities of Black women navigating the dissertation process and beyond.

Dr. Dana recently launched Just Write Liberated—a sacred writing sanctuary for Black writers, creatives, and scholars across disciplines. Rooted in rest, resistance, and joy, it offers communal writing experiences that honor Black intellectual labor while challenging the extractive demands of traditional writing spaces.

A former professor turned full-time entrepreneur, Dr. Dana remains committed to creating writing spaces where Black brilliance is protected, nurtured, and celebrated — and where writing flows from a space of being rooted in who we are and whose we are.