“Growing up… it was always a unicorn if one year you had a Black teacher.”

Latoshia Martin

Elementary School Teacher, Author

“We have to break down each layer to get back to the basics”

Latoshia Martin grew up in Miami, FL, in a family of Black educators, so it was a no brainer for her to become a teacher. She majored in Education and got her Masters degree in Early Education. She began teaching at a Tier 1 school – schools with mostly Black and Hispanic children, less funding, more students per classroom, and in low income neighborhoods. Some days, she sat in her car after work to debrief and talk herself through. She learned the importance of choosing the right school for your first year and in finding a support circle. 

“Being an author, you can bring up the future with your own personal goals and show that it can be done.”

Now 15 years in the game, Latoshia has seen a lot of change. She’s seen her students grow. She’s also seen more responsibility shifted onto educators with larger class sizes and less funding. She’s taught children who weren’t able to count, read, write nor comprehend at their grade level. As a new author, she’s written a childrens’ book promoting literacy, business acumen, self-love and representation for younger students, entitled “Black Boy Be You!” She’s creating solutions, an example and also a family business. She is a unicorn.

For more information on Latoshia Martin’s book, “Black Boy Be You!”, you can go to her website, www.martinchildrensbooks.com, or find her app, “Black Boy Be You!”, on Google Play.