We caught up with the brilliant and insightful LaTonya Smith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

LaTonya, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

LaTonya Smith, affectionately known to her kids as “Sister or Miss LT”, is known for her love, passion and dedication of helping youth and children in finding their purpose in life; encouraging them to become the “best” in everything they do and always reach beyond what they cannot physically see. She teaches, develop, motivate, encourages and empowers our youth to become productive and successful adults in their lives, families and communities.

LaTonya grew up in Quincy, Florida and graduated from James A. Shanks High School. As a young adult, she did not have adequate college preparation and planning which lead to her wasting time taking classes that she did not need. From her grandparents, LaTonya learned about savings and buying land but did not know anything else about finances such as what was credit and credit scores; interest rates; investing; the cons of loans; and credit cards. She did not know how to buy a car or what to look for in buying a car. So, as a new young adult “I was lost and didn’t know it at the time”.
While in high school, LaTonya planned on becoming an educator after being a student of her high school English/Language teacher. However, this changed after she began attending Florida State University (FSU). There LaTonya met four professors: Dr. Debra Nelson-Gardell, Dr. C. Christy Baker, Dr. Brenda Jarmon and Dr. Maxine Jones, who were very inspirational and influential to her, putting her on the path to recognizing her passion and purpose of helping youth, children and families. “These ladies poured knowledge into me and my passion was awakened” states LaTonya. She also learned about Dr. Marian Wright Edelman of the Children Defense Fund during this time and at that moment she decided that she wanted to make a big difference in the lives of children, youth and young adults and leave a legacy for generations to come.

LaTonya began her career as an intern with the One Church, One Child Program of Florida and graduated from FSU with her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work. She has worked as a Healthy Start Social worker, School-Based Specialist, Transitional Youth Mental Health Counselor and a Juvenile Probation Officer. LaTonya currently works at a nonprofit organization as the Director of Grants and Contracts.

LaTonya is a Master Certified Life Coach, Certified Youth Coach and Certified Spiritual Life Coach. She is the recipient of the 2021 Community Excellence Award from the Midwife Lizzie Bell Ward Wilson Foundation.

LaTonya is an ordained pastor at Fire and Hammer International Training Center (Tallahassee, FL) and she has served as a youth pastor and leader at several ministries.

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.

LaTonya Smith, affectionately known to her kids as “Sister or Miss LT”, is known for her love, passion and dedication of helping youth and children in finding their purpose in life; encouraging them to become the “best” in everything they do and always reach beyond what they cannot physically see. She helps teach, develop, motivate, encourage and empower youth to become productive and successful adults in their lives, families and communities.

While in high school, LaTonya planned on becoming an educator after having Miss Shirlean Thomas as one of her teachers. However, this changed after she began attending Florida State University (FSU). There, LaTonya met four professors, who were very inspirational and influential to her, putting her on the path to recognizing her passion and purpose of helping youth, children and families. “These ladies poured knowledge into me and my passion was awakened” states LaTonya. She also learned about Dr. Marian Wright Edelman of the Children Defense Fund during this time and at that moment she decided that she wanted to make a big difference in the lives of children, youth and young adults.

LaTonya began her career as an intern with the One Church, One Child Program under the supervision of Mrs. Arie Sailor and graduated from FSU with her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work. After graduation, she worked as a Healthy Start Social worker, School-Based Specialist, Transitional Youth Mental Health Counselor and a Juvenile Probation Officer.
LaTonya is a Master Certified Life Coach, Certified Youth Coach and Certified Spiritual Life Coach. She is the recipient of the 2021 Community Excellence Award from the Midwife Lizzie Bell Ward Wilson Foundation.

Speak Life to Youth and Children-SLYC International was birthed out of LaTonya’s experiences growing up as a child to becoming a young adult. Our youth receives so much negativity regarding the things that will help them be successful in life. From bullying to neglect and abuse to just being misunderstood or ignored, speaking life is so much more important. Every negative word that a child hears about themselves must be countered by ten positive words in order to negate the impact of that negative one. There is power in words.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

SLYC officially started October 2019 and our workshops/classes were held in two local libraries in Villa Rica and Douglasville, GA. Then Covid 19 hit. We had to pivot quickly, learning about Zoom and YouTube and how to utilize it.
It took a little time, but we were able to have classes via online, recording and placing them on our YouTube channel.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

SLYC’s reputation has been built by our youth, kids, young adults their parents and the communities they serve. The youth and parents share about SLYC on their social media platforms, families, friends, and community as well as tell people they meet. We speak love and life to our children and that’s very evident when you see our website and social media platforms.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://slycinternational.com/
• Instagram: slycinternational
• Facebook: SLYC.International
• Linkedin: Speak Life to Youth and Children SLYC International
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/@speaklifetoyouthandchildre5888

Image Credits

Credit to all parents and youth.