We recently connected with Christina Golson and have shared our conversation below.

Christina , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

My life has been characterized by taking big risks in order to explore new possibilities for my life and livelihood. The first big risk I took was when I left everything I knew in my hometown, Chattanooga, TN in order to experience cultural immersion in Spain and become fluent in the Spanish language- which had always been a passion of mine since I was a young girl.

To understand the significance of this, it may help to understand my background a bit better. Born in Macon, Georgia and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I grew up navigating the alienation that came with being a young Black girl in a restrictive Southern setting. Each of the community centers of my youth–school, church, and my neighborhood–contained rules, traditions, and limited perspectives that kept me in a constant struggle to find and secure my voice and passion. Taking Spanish in high school, I realized that I not only had a high aptitude for internalizing Spanish language skills, but that this language also provided me with a means of world-building through which I could speak my truth and find my community. I followed this truth through my studies in college and graduate school, earning academic honors and ultimately living abroad in Spain for a total of 3 years.

After earning my MA in Spanish language and Literature at Saint Louis University’s campus in Madrid, Spain, I landed my first teaching job at a private school in Macon, GA where I taught Spanish 1 – 3 to high school students. There I gained my first 2 years of professional teaching experience. The next big risk I took was leaving this teaching position in 2017 to move to New York and teach Spanish to high school students in the South Bronx. I wanted to teach more kids that looked like me and live in a more culturally diverse community, which is what led me to seek out opportunities in NYC. It was a huge risk for 2 reasons. The first reason is that I left my job before it had been confirmed that I was hired at the school in the Bronx. The second reason is that I came to NYC with no family or friends to show me the way. I just trusted it would all work out as it did before when I moved to Spain- and apparently it has been working out because 6 years later, I am still here!

The most recent risk that I have taken was leaving my teaching job after 5 years in order to start my own business to teach people Spanish the way I want to teach it by centering the learning experience of people of color in my approach. I left this job with no back up plan other than fully committing to making my business profitable enough to provide me with livable wages while living in Downtown Brooklyn, NY. The only resources I have relied on since leaving my job in September of ’22 are the retirement funds I saved up while working there and decent credit that I worked hard to maintain throughout the years. I also invested over 7k in credit in services to help spread awareness about my brand, revamp my website and create a portfolio of visuals to help represent my brand. Each day I continue to work on my business instead of searching for another job feels like a risk, but I am still going and it is beginning to look promising the more I hold on to faith in my vision.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am a lifelong learner and lover of language and education. Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I grew up navigating the alienation that came with being a young Black girl in a restrictive Southern setting. Each of the community centers of my youth–school, church, and my neighborhood–contained rules, traditions, and limited perspectives that kept me in a constant struggle to find and secure my voice and passion. Taking Spanish in high school, I realized that I not only had a high aptitude for it, but that language also provided me with a means of world-building through which I could speak my truth and find my community. I followed this truth through my studies in college and graduate school, earning academic honors while immersing myself in my work and in programs throughout Spain. Upon returning to the states, I became an educator, teaching Spanish with the passion to provide it as a doorway for young people who search for something greater- just as I did. I spent time teaching in the South in Macon, Georgia, before moving to New York City to teach in the Bronx through a fellowship program. While growing professionally and personally in this experience, I learned hard lessons about the systemic failings of education and the limits that Black and Brown children and youth face when it comes to accessing language and culturally immersive experiences, even those who have Spanish-speaking heritage. Yaprendí was born out of my desire to create a special experience for learning Spanish and foreign languages through curriculum, engagement, and programming that centers diverse people.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

I am very much in the initial stages of building my audience on Instagram and TikTok. However, even though I do not have as many followers as I would like yet, Instagram has been the best source of new clients for me thus far, as all of my current and past clients have found my business through instagram posts I have created in order to spread awareness about my brand.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Posting consistently on Instagram and TikTok slowly but surely has helped me increase my clientele. With more investment in marketing and ad services on this platform, I believe I can begin to grow my clientele and eventually scale the business significantly as I learn and implement the next most important steps to take along my entrepreneurial journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: yaprendisociety.com
• Instagram: @yaprendi_society
• Other: @yaprendi on TikTok

Image Credits
Jamee Soderblom