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

Trae, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

The change to the educational system that I would implement is that we must make sure that our teachers are taken care of. Besides being teachers, they may have to be mothers or fathers to their students, counselors to parents and troubled students, paying out of their pockets for school supplies, must manage an IEP, and lack of support from the school system and parents. With all the things they must deal with, they still have to manage their own personal lives themselves. Teachers should be making at minimum $65,000 and should be getting paid at least once a week or twice. A teacher should never get paid once a month. That is ridiculous. The money that is coming from the lottery should also be used to fund teachers’ salaries.

In my book, “How to Climb the Mountain of Financial Aid,” I discuss planning for college. College is a business, so you must properly prepare. I would advise anyone to speak with a financial planner to discuss the 529 Plan and other ways to help save up for college. Please do not wait for a student (or your child) to be a senior in High School to have the discussion of what they want to do. Have those discussions before they are in High School so you can plan accordingly.

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

Trae D. Johnson is a native of Harlem, Georgia In 2019, he formed his publishing company, Campania Publishing, LLC; named after the community in which he grew up. On November 27, 2020, Trae will release his debut novel, “Family Scars.” It is a story of a man who lost his wife to cancer and now must pick up the pieces of his life and try to re-establish a relationship with his kids. In 2021, Trae released his first non-fiction book, “How to Climb the Mountain of Financial Aid.” We all know that financial aid can be intimidating. This book is a roadmap that can help students, parents, and even educators to understand the FAFSA, student loans, and the do’s and don’ts of college

With 11 years of experience in higher education, Trae is currently a financial aid counselor. He has a Master’s in Higher Education Administration from Georgia Southern University, a Master’s in Public Administration from Troy University, and a Bachelor’s in Management from Southern Polytechnic State University.

Trae has won numerous awards and has been recognized for his leadership and customer service. In 2015, he was honored by winning the Outstanding Staff of the year at his job, and winner of the National Action Network essay contest, which landed him a trip to Denver, Colorado.

Trae is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., and is a Registered Parliamentarian.

When Trae is not working on writing books, financial aid, or Sigma business, he enjoys spending time with his wife; LaToya Johnson, family, reading, rooting for the Atlanta Hawks, Braves, and Falcons, listening to music such as New Edition and Bobby Brown.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The best way to build your audience on social media is to first know who is your target audience. For example, if you write romance novels, it may not be smart to try to sell your books to a thriller and suspenseful audience. I’m not saying that thriller and suspense audiences would not like romance, but I’m saying that you need to know your target audience so you can market to them. Once you know your audience, know what groups they are a part of. Once you do your research on your audience, create flyers to promote and get their email addresses so you can create constant contact. Once you create your constant contact, you can send out information about your company and promote your products.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

What I believed helped me out in the market is being me and having great products. Oftentimes, when a person buys a product, they are buying it to support the person. My reputation and brand are positive and inspiring. In the market, you have to have great products that people can believe in. For my novel “Family Scars,” many people dealt with the loss of a loved one and tried to re-establish a relationship with family members. I was told by many people in my audience that they could relate to the story. “How to Climb the Mountain of Financial Aid,” I took my 11 years of financial aid and college life experience and put it in a book that can help and support high school students, first-generation college students, parents, and teachers. Both of these books can be purchased at www.traejohnson.com

Contact Info:

• Website: www.traejohnson.com
• Instagram: @ Author Trae D Johnson
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/365115977958353
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/traejohnson/

Image Credits
Credit Campania Publishing, LLC. Thank you to everyone that prayed for us and supported us.