It has been over a decade since the world first learned the name Rachel Dolezal. Remember that viral video? The one where a local reporter in Spokane simply asked, "Are you African American?" and she froze, mumbled something about not understanding the question, and walked off-camera? It was the "transracial" moment heard 'round the world.
Today, she doesn’t even go by that name legally.
If you're wondering where is Rachel Dolezal now, the answer is a strange mix of Arizona suburbs, digital content creation, and a persistent refusal to fade into the background. She is now legally known as Nkechi Amare Diallo, a name she took in 2016 to try and escape the "Rachel" branding that made her unhirable. It didn't exactly work. Life in 2026 for the former NAACP leader looks nothing like the civil rights career she once envisioned.
The Arizona Teaching Scandal and OnlyFans
Living in Tucson, Arizona, Diallo (as she prefers) has spent the last few years trying to maintain a "normal" life. But "normal" is a relative term when your face is a meme.
In early 2024, she made headlines again for all the wrong reasons. She had managed to land a job as an after-school instructor and substitute teacher for the Catalina Foothills Unified School District. She was working with K-5 students, making about $19 an hour. Honestly, it seemed like a quiet, stable path for someone who had been practically radioactive in the job market for years.
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Then came the OnlyFans leak.
The school district found out she was posting "creative content" on the subscription platform. This wasn't just art—it included explicit photos. The district fired her almost immediately, citing a violation of their social media and ethics policies.
How She Makes Money in 2026
Since the teaching gig fell through, she’s leaned harder into the "hustle economy." She’s not just a person; she’s a brand, even if it's a controversial one.
- OnlyFans: Despite the scandal, she hasn't quit the platform. It remains one of her primary sources of income. She uses it to share "fitness" content, hair tutorials, and "intimate looks" into her life.
- Art Sales: She is a genuinely talented painter. You've got to give her that. She sells her work—often focused on Black identity and historical themes—through her personal website.
- Braiding and Styling: She still does hair. She’s been open about styling synthetic and natural hair for clients, a skill she’s used to supplement her income since the Spokane days.
- Personalized Shoutouts: You can find her on booking sites like MN2S, where she is available for brand campaigns and guest speaking.
It’s a precarious way to live. A few years back, she was even caught up in a welfare fraud case in Washington state, eventually reaching a settlement to avoid jail time. She had been receiving thousands in food stamps while also banking money from her memoir, In Full Color.
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The Identity That Won’t Quit
People often ask if she "still thinks she's Black."
The short answer is yes. In every interview she’s done—from The Real to Tamron Hall—she has doubled down. She acknowledges she was "born to white parents" but insists that her internal "lived experience" is that of a Black woman.
She hasn't changed her look, either. In 2026, she still wears the braids, the curls, and the bronzer. She lives with her family in Arizona and occasionally posts about the struggles of being "canceled" for nearly a decade. To her critics, she’s the ultimate example of white privilege—the ability to "choose" an identity that others are born into and oppressed for. To her few supporters, she’s a misunderstood figure navigating a "transracial" reality.
What Most People Get Wrong
Most people think she just disappeared or that she’s living off a secret fortune. Neither is true. She’s broke more often than not. She’s applied for hundreds of jobs under her new name, but in the age of Google, you can’t hide.
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Her son, Franklin, even appeared in a Netflix documentary (The Rachel Divide) expressing how exhausted he was by the spotlight his mother constantly invited. That’s the real story—a family trying to navigate the fallout of a mother who refuses to admit she was ever wrong.
Current Status and Where She’s Heading
As of mid-2026, Nkechi Diallo is still active on Instagram and OnlyFans. She lives a relatively secluded life in Tucson when she isn't "trending" for a new controversy. She hasn't been back in a traditional classroom since the Arizona firing.
If you’re looking for a takeaway from the saga of where Rachel Dolezal is now, it’s this: she is a permanent fixture of the "outrage economy."
What you can do next:
If you're interested in the ethics of her story, look into the 2018 documentary The Rachel Divide. It offers a much more nuanced, albeit uncomfortable, look at her domestic life and the impact her choices had on her children. You might also want to research the legal distinctions between "transgender" and "transracial" identities, as this is the academic debate she frequently tries to insert herself into.