Lakeitha Sheffield Mitchell

I attribute my success to my life experiences. Growing up, it was not easy. My mother was a single mother with 3 kids, and we didn't have the best life or the best relationship. I always said I want more. I want to do more. I didn't want to struggle. I didn't want to bring my son into that, so I always strive for greatness. I always strive to give my son what I didn't have. I wanted him to have two parents, and even though his dad is wherever he's at, I did marry and he has my husband as a stepdad. I always just strive to offer better, greatness, and I try to instill that in my son as well. Even though he has his delays, I don't want him to feel that that's gonna hinder him. I always tell him to strive for greatness regardless.

Don't give up, because there have been so many times that I wanted to. After so many failed attempts, you'll be like, okay, I don't want to do this anymore, I can't do this anymore. I had that mindset. If it wasn't for my husband saying 'no, you can do this,' I would have given up. Having somebody there in your corner supporting you is so important. After taking the Praxis probably 9 times in math, I was like, I'm done. My husband was like, well, maybe that's a sign that you're supposed to do something else. What else did you enjoy in teaching? That's when I realized I liked the RTI, the intervention, the filling in the gaps. He suggested I try the SPED Praxis, and I took it the first time and passed it. Maybe that's where I'm supposed to be. Don't give up. Keep the faith, keep going, because if I had more people in my corner telling me that, I probably would have been a lot farther in life than where I'm at now. I'm just glad that I'm where I'm at. I could have been somewhere else, but I'm thankful for where I am today.

Respect is so important to me, and it goes both ways. People want you to respect them, but they don't give it, and I'm like, dude, that goes both ways. Honesty and hard work are crucial. Being confident in whatever you do is essential because I have learned over the years, if you're not confident, then it could just break you down and then you don't get nothing done. You gotta set goals and be confident about what you want to do. Being motivated is key because how you gonna go on a job and you're not motivated to do it, and then you're bringing out all this negative energy? I don't understand why people even show up or do the job if you're just gonna be a negative Nancy all day. I like to tell people, if I can come with lupus and do my job, you can come and do your job as well. I never know how I'm gonna feel or what kind of day I'm going to have, so if I can come and not complain, you can too. I'm one of those ones who won't sugarcoat it, and I'll just tell you like it is. I'm not a follower. If you put me in charge of something, I'm gonna do what I'm supposed to do. I'm gonna do the job.