Lakecia Brown

I would say most of my success comes from a lot of lived experiences. Coming into education as my second career and being a cosmetologist taught me so much that transfers to education. I tell people all the time, you bring some of those same skill sets into education. You tend to be a counselor, you tend to be a sounding board, you tend to be a doctor on call, a travel agent, all the things when people sit in your chair. I learned how to listen, and I always talk about learning to be reflective. It's a lot of skill sets that you learn from other professions and lived experiences that really make you an effective educator and able to support other educators along the way.

I would say, one, be flexible. Two, be organized. Three, provide yourself with some grace. And always, always be willing to learn, and always be willing to ask for help when needed.

I think the biggest challenge right now would be budgeting and the whole monetary piece that comes with the job. People are not always valuing the profession as a whole, so I think those would be the two major challenges. One of the opportunities would be that people always think that leadership in education comes from going from the classroom to being an administrator or going to the central office, when there are other avenues for leadership in education. There are advanced teaching roles, becoming mentors in your building - there are other opportunities to lead that will get you through the process and give you experience, because everybody doesn't want to be an administrator. The skill sets that teachers have that they gain from teaching are also very applicable to other professions like human resources courses in companies. All those soft skills that you have as a teacher are easily transferable to other professions.

My faith is important. Family is very important to me. And I would say, purpose. One of the things people always talk about is knowing your why, and your purpose, to me, is more important, because that will drive anything else that you have to do. If you love what you do and you find purpose in it, then it helps center you back when you have those frustrated moments. I think people walk in their purpose a lot and don't realize that that's what they're really doing. Your purpose is not necessarily what you do, it's how people respond to what you do.