Dr. Beauty

Dr. Tamiah Brevard-Rodriguez, widely known as Dr. Beauty, is a scholar, higher education leader, research model strategist, and organizational consultant whose work sits at the intersection of beauty/identity performing and institutional transformation via intentional community-based research models. Whether examining the lived experiences of Black women or designing large-scale research initiatives, her work centers one question: How do we build environments where people can fully thrive?

With more than 15 years of experience in higher education, Dr. Brevard-Rodriguez serves as Director of the Aresty Research Center for Undergraduates at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, where she leads one of New Jersey's largest undergraduate research ecosystems. She oversees research programs that serve hundreds of students annually, develops strategic partnerships across disciplines, and creates pathways that expand access to transformative research experiences for students across diverse backgrounds.

Beyond program administration, Dr. Brevard-Rodriguez is passionate about designing research ecosystems that bring together universities, community organizations, faculty, students, and industry partners around shared goals. Her expertise includes research program development, strategic planning, symposium and conference design, community-engaged research initiatives, faculty engagement, developing multi-level mentorship models, and building sustainable infrastructures that strengthen research culture and broaden participation.

Dr. Brevard-Rodriguez expertise includes developing new research initiatives, implementing undergraduate and community-based research programs, designing research symposiums and outreach programs, establishing collaborative networks, and designing systems that translate research into meaningful institutional and community impact. She believes that successful research ecosystems are built not only through funding and scholarship, but through intentional relationships, inclusive leadership, and opportunities that allow diverse voices to contribute to knowledge creation.

As Dr. Beauty, her scholarship examines beauty performativity, racialized/gender identity, and the lived experiences of Black girls and women navigating educational and professional spaces. Her doctoral research, The Beauty Performance of Black College Women, explores beauty as identity work, leadership practice, resistance, wellness, and social navigation within systems of power.

Across every aspect of her work, from research strategy and organizational consulting to public scholarship and speaking, Dr. Brevard-Rodriguez helps institutions build cultures where innovation, belonging, and excellence reinforce one another. Her mission is to create systems that not only generate knowledge, but also expand opportunity, strengthen communities, and transform lives.