Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to LaTezeon Humphrey-Balentine. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi LaTezeon, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

My passion has always been to support our youth in any way possible. If I had to give myself a title outside of being an educator, I would say I am a student advocate. Seeing them succeed is a part of my daily Why. I have always wanted to be a business owner and I knew I wanted it to involved education, students, and success. There are so many talented student athletes that do not have the proper guidance to help them achieve their goals of getting an education and pursuing their athletic talents. My job is to help students, both athletic and non-athletic to have a proper plan in place so they can see their visions and plans evolve. There was young man who was extremely talented in football, enough to where he could have had a NFL career, but he did not have the right people in his corner to prepare him for life after high school. He did attend college to play football, but unfortunately, he did not see his path all the way through and he did not continue to play football or even graduate from any college. Another young man who was talented in both football and baseball was giving the option to join the minor leagues to play baseball straight out of high school or go to a Junior College to play football, The young man did not have the opportunity to accomplish either of the options because he did not have the proper guidance in his corner. Knowing these young men’s stories have helped me to see what my true vision is in life. I want to be that someone guiding students in the direction of their dreams, guiding them in the path that they see fit to go in to accomplish what makes them filled with happiness and purpose. Starting a successful business is not easy, but when you are passionate about the services you can provide, it makes the risk worth it.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is LaTezeon Humphrey Balentine and I am a mother to three boys.I have been an educator for 10 years. I graduated from Alcorn State University with both my bachelors and masters in education. My experiences include teaching on both the elementary and secondary levels. I am currently pursuing my certification as a life coach.  It includes services such as: ACT prep, college searches, applications, financial aid, scholarships, and growth plan. It is truly a passion of mine to assist students to succeed in their endeavors. I believe my accountability, active listening, and growth mindset helps set me apart from others. I am most proud of two young ladies I helped get into college on full scholarships. It is still my highest honor so far on this journey. I would want potential clients, followers, and fans to know that I am genuine and I love to support others as much as I possible can. I do hope that one day Bright Butterfly, LLC will be something I can do as my full-time service to others. My next goal is to be able to offer coaching sessions to my clients.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Owning a business is not easy. In an unrealistic world, you can start a business, have plenty of clientele and make money right away. That is not the case. Being in a small town in an underprivilege state, business does not overflow. It could be because of lack of exposure. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to be featured in Canvas Rebel to hopefully generate some notability.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I have a decent following on social media. I can remember back in 2019 when I only had 238 followers on Twitter, now I have over 16K. My advice is to find you a niche of people you have the same interest with and start following them. Make sure you have a picture and a nice bio with just enough information you are comfortable with sharing. Always follow back those you feel comfortable following. An easy way to grow followers, is to do a giveaway for something simple like a $5 coffee.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @LHBLovesEdu
• Facebook: LaTezeon Humphrey Balentine
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/latezeon-humphrey-balentine-9875a91a6/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/LHBLovesEdu
• Youtube: https://t.co/be6mlk5qS1

Image Credits
Cedric Tillman