Posts

Celebrating an anniversary- The 10th anniversary of Life After Birth- A Memoir of Survival and Success as a Teenage Mother

10 Ways to Use the Life After Birth book to Help Teen Moms

When I published my memoir, Life After Birth: A Memoir of Survival and Success as a Teenage Mother, my number one goal was to help teen moms. I ultimately created a powerful, trauma-informed curriculum that promoted academic excellence and…
Netisha Burnett takes the lead as the Executive Director of the S.O. What! Foundation

New Leadership Feels SO Good

You never know where your dreams can take you. In 2011, I started my speaking business, S.O. What! LLC, and the next year I founded the S.O What! Foundation. I had no idea how hard it would be to lead and grow both organizations simultaneously.…
Joann Massey
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Joann Massey S.O. What! Success Story

People don’t have to support you.  That was very apparent to me as a young mother and even more apparent when it really got tough raising a teenager. But it also became painfully apparent when I became an entrepreneur. Then, someone,…
Frank Scott
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Mayor Frank Scott S.O. What! Success Story

Have you ever met someone and immediately thought, “He (or she) is going to do something pretty amazing one day.”? Well, as a college student, I met Frank Scott who was also a college student. But his poise and professionalism were different…
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Do you know the FIRST black graduate of the University of Memphis? – Luther McClellan

Luther McClellan is a blessing to our younger generation! Luther McClellan was one of the Memphis State Eight, who were the first African-American students admitted to Memphis State University in 1959.  He became the first African-American…
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A Focus on the Future After a Year of Loss and Lessons

2020 represents a lot of loss for me, as it does for many others. It also represents a year where I was reminded of just how creative, flexible, compassionate, and resourceful I can be and how the lessons from my past can help me focus on the…
Summer Owens and Miriam DeCosta Sugarman
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Becoming a Part of History- The Miriam DeCosta Sugarman Marker Dedication Ceremony

There are not many moments when you're invited to be a part of history. Last Monday, I had the honor of speaking on the program for a major moment in University of Memphis history. As part of the University of Memphis' initiatives to Eradicate…
Middle school students who used a successful character education curriculum

What Makes a Successful Character Education Curriculum

I don’t think anyone sets out to do or create anything without the goal of success. And that’s why it was my mission to create a successful character education curriculum. I had completely exposed myself and felt completely vulnerable…
The Six Pillars of character education taught as part of the unique curriculum for high school and middle school students

Six Pillars of Character Education

In my post So What is Character Education, I began to explore character education. A group of experts and educators came together in 1992 to develop the six pillars of character education. These six pillars of education were designed to help…