Her Story
About Natasha
My journey into education began in 2014 under the most challenging circumstances. I became a widow at age 29 when my husband passed away from fourth stage liver disease after an 18-month battle, leaving me alone with our five small children, the oldest was 9 and our youngest had just turned 2 years old. I had originally earned my degree in psychology and my master's in counseling, and had done some graduate work as an adjunct professor, but I was working at a community center doing counseling work. After my husband passed away, I needed to find work where I was off when my children were off and home when they were home, because the sole care fell on my shoulders. I started from the very bottom as a substitute teacher's aide, which was humbling given my education, but I was always raised that no matter what assignment you're given, you do the very best, no matter if you feel overqualified or underqualified. I worked as a teacher's aide for a few years with special needs kids, and then the district encouraged me to become a teacher. I went back to school again and got a second master's degree in secondary education, completing my student teaching in 2020 when COVID hit, which taught me to teach both face-to-face and virtually. Now I'm a special education teacher in the Ouachita Parish School System, serving as the veteran teacher for our department, and I work on our instructional leadership team. I just came back from the teacher leadership conference that the school board sent me to. From all of this, I was able to open my own Education Consulting Business where I give parenting classes and seminars, do scholarship research and college readiness connections, and provide tutoring. I've built a clientele that includes virtual and face-to-face clients in Louisiana, Atlanta, Texas, and Arkansas. My five children were my guinea pigs - all five graduated valedictorian of their high school class, never made a B from kindergarten through high school, and I've been able to send all of them to college. They were featured on the news as the '5 for 5.' Three are in post-graduate studies, two in med school, and one at Tulane College of Medicine studying anatomy. The older three have already gotten their first college degrees from University of South Carolina, Fisk, and Spelman. My youngest son just graduated in May with a full academic and athletic scholarship to Southern University, and I have one at Tuskegee University. I remarried in 2020 to a beautiful husband who is also an educator, and together we have a youngest daughter with cerebral palsy who is in a regular classroom and had a 4.0 this year in 6th grade.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Natasha
01What do you attribute your success to?
I was always raised that no matter what you're blessed with, no matter what assignment that you're given, you do the very best, no matter if you feel you're overqualified or underqualified. You do the best at whatever level you own, and that's how you're going to see growth. I started from the very bottom as a substitute teacher's aide, which was humbling given my education, but I did the very best at that level. I think it's important to have layers and to be transparent enough to show the layers of how you got there, because I'm not just some person that's on a podcast or a world-renowned writer. I had to start somewhere. I think influence comes when you are transparent enough to show the layers of how you got there, so you can help others to get there. You may see a layer of me where we're doing the podcast and building the brand, but you may also see a layer of me where you see me on the ground, in the dirt, digging those ditches to help get a project off the ground. I think it's important to have those layers to show how did I get here, so you can meet people where they are to help them grow.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
You don't have to be a valedictorian to be successful. You don't have to be the best. Be the authentic version of yourself. I work with students on writing their personal statements and finding their why. When you find your why, it gives you such motivation to keep working towards that goal. It's like a tunnel, but you don't see the light until you're toward the end of that tunnel, and if you know your why, that's what helps you to maneuver through that tunnel, because it is a lot of work, it is a lot of tedious tasks. But if you stay the course, there's always success at the end, in some form or fashion. If you do what you love, it's not considered work. You won't work a day in your life.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The thing I find most rewarding is that I'm able to help families not only decrease debt for college, but to watch their students' dreams come true. I get gratified knowing that I've helped someone, and I don't have to get the credit for it, but when I see them walk across that stage and see that they're going to go to college on their own merit, to the school they wanted to go to, and they did not become a financial burden. I've helped them decrease quite a bit of their debt to where they could actually go to the schools that they wanted to, or I've educated them on programs that they didn't know existed, and they were able to facilitate their passions. That's where the gratitude comes in. My motivation is definitely pouring into others, pouring into them something that they are able to drink. I think as an influential person, you have layers, and I think all those things contribute to your layers. I think it's important to have all those layers so that you can meet people where they are to help them grow.
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