Dr. Nancy Dome's Blog

Renowned speaker, author, and coach, Dr. Nancy A. Dome co-founded Epoch Education in 2014 to provide leaders in education and business with accessible professional development to support equity efforts in pursuit of greater diversity, inclusion, and belonging.

Starting her career as a Child Care Worker, she has always had a strong desire to support those students most at risk. Realizing the education track would allow her greater flexibility and reach than the social services track, she re-educated to become a teacher and spent 10 years working in multiple capacities, ranging from classroom teacher, Mentor Teacher, and Teacher on Special Assignment, in the Juvenile Court and Community Schools in San Diego. Roles, which allowed her to train and support teachers in becoming more culturally competent educators for the diverse population they served.

Dr. Dome’s passion for education prompted her to obtain her doctorate in 2004, which allowed her to secure a tenure track faculty position at CSUSM in the College of Education. There she spent 7 years working with future teachers to build their capacity in the classroom with a social justice focus, building their awareness around the necessity of being culturally competent. During that time, Dr. Dome coordinated a College of Education program that sought to identify racially under-represented undergraduates and support them in becoming teachers to help diversify the workforce.

In 2008, Dr. Dome accepted a position with Pacific Educational Group as the Director of Online Programming where she developed online professional development opportunities for individual teachers and school districts. Realizing that online would provide a greater reach, she provided hundreds of educators with an interactive and transformative curriculum that challenged and inspired them to work as advocates for their underrepresented student populations.

Today Dr. Dome continues her important work as Founder/CEO of Epoch Education whose primary charge is to provide current, accessible and transforming Professional Development that helps school districts and educational agencies throughout the country navigate complex topics, build bridges, and work together for inclusive, impactful change. Dr Dome also works with businesses providing inspirational keynotes, individual and small group coaching sessions, and trainings on effective communication through Compassionate Dialogue throughout the US and in the UK.

Dr. Dome is the author of the bestselling book Let’s Talk About Race and Other Hard Things: A Framework for Having Conversations That Build Bridges, Strengthen Relationships, and Set Clear Boundaries that laid the foundation of Compassionate Dialogue as a mainstream strategy to support the development of strong workplace climates and cultures. In 2024, she published The Compassionate Dialogue Journey: A Workbook for Growth and Self-Discovery that provides a pathway for internal exploration by guiding readers through prompts and exercises designed to deepen their Compassionate Dialogue practice as a form of self-care.

When Nancy is not working, she spends much of her time in service to her community, gardening, and making memories with her loved ones.