Reverend Doctor Yvette (pronounced “why”-vette) R. Blair-Lavallais is an ordained elder in The Methodist Church. She has served in pastoral ministry for almost 15 years in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, including the honor of having served as the first woman in the role of senior pastor at First Christian Methodist Church in the Red Bird area of Dallas.

A womanist public theologian and food justice strategist, she earned a Doctor of Ministry from Memphis Theological Seminary in May 2022. Her work focuses on the intersection of faith and food insecurity, displacement, and gentrification of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous peoples. As a result of her doctoral research project, “Reframing the Narrative of Food Insecurity: Creating a Faith-Based Policy that Addresses Food Apartheid in the Red Bird Community of Dallas,” she developed the Red Bird Food Policy Council to amplify the voices of those affected by food insecurity and to work toward equitable food justice solutions.

Dr. Yvette received the 2022 Juanita J. Craft Humanitarian Award for Visionary Leadership for her work at the intersection of faith and our foodways systems, and for creating a positive effect on civil rights and community transformation in Dallas by bringing national attention to food insecurity in Texas. The award was presented by The State Fair of Texas and named for Ms. Craft who tirelessly fought for civil rights, was the first African American woman to vote in Dallas County in a public election and helped integrate the State Fair of Texas.

Rev. Yvette is the author of the 2022 summer release, Scrimpin’ and Scrapin’: The Hardships and Hustle of Women and Food Insecurity in Texas Through a Womanist Theological Lens, which debuted as the #1 new release in Christian Liberation Theology on Amazon. The book highlights the often-overlooked narratives of women in Texas and includes statistical data, and resources. The book challenges the faith community to be ecclesial disruptors of systems that have caused harm and left many of our neighbors living in systems of food apartheid.

An international speaker on food and land justice issues through a theological framework, Dr. Blair-Lavallais has been a featured panelist for Bread For The World’s Global Advocacy Summit, Conversation with the White House, and she has presented her work on the systemic injustices of food insecurity at conferences including the Political Theology Network Conference at Union Theological Seminary in New York, Rural Women’s Studies Kitchen Table Talk to Global Forum at the University of Guelph in Canada, and the Garnett-Nabrit Lecture at American Baptist College. Her work has also been included in the United Nations Food Systems Summit.

An award-winning writer, Rev. Blair-Lavallais is a Public Voices Fellow of The Op Ed Project, a 2021 Engle Institute of Preaching fellow and a 2017 Black Theology and Leadership Institute fellow at Princeton Theological Seminary. She is also a 2018-2020 fellow of Vanderbilt Divinity School’s Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative cohort. She earned a Master of Theological Studies, and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2013 from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. She also holds a BA in Journalism from the University of North Texas in Denton.

Dr. Yvette was named “Person of the Year” in 2018 by Texas Metro News for courageously speaking out about the injustices that clergywomen face. She is featured in the award-winning film, Shatter the Silence, produced by WOW Films. Follow Rev. Yvette on IG @preachergirl716.

Learn more and connect with her at yvetteblair.com

Speaking Topics

Dismantling Systemic Injustice Through a Faith Lens - How do you see God at work in your life, in the community where you live and in the world? Is your faith limited to how you practice it in worship settings or do you live your faith out loud? This workshop looks at examining the Sacred Text through the lens of the marginalized, the least and last - and how the gospel calls us to respond to the callous ways that people are oppressed based on socio-economic status, gender and ethnicity. 

Getting Fed in a Food Desert -  Food insecurity is real and it affects more people than you think. While temporary solutions like food pantries are short-term responses, what are the long-term responses that we should consider? How do we craft the language to talk about advocacy, policies and calling the injustice what it really is ---food apartheid? This workshop helps to build that framework that leads to actionable implementation.

Land and Deed: God's Trust Fund - This workshop is specifically designed for faith-based leaders and examines the biblical mandates and responsibilities of what it means to be good stewards of the land that God has entrusted us to manage. What happens when the understanding of "dominion" is damaged? How does that lead to gentrification, famines and displacement? And how do we live into our role as stewards who care about our neighbors?