Meet Shawna Smith

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shawna Smith.

Hi Shawna, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers. 
I’ve always known that I had “the gift of gab.” However, about 25 years ago I worked for WMU in Kalamazoo. I was the Assistant Director of the King/Chavez/Parks Program. It was a pre-college program that was designed to exposed “at risk” 6th-12th grade students to college environments as well as what courses one needs to take in high school in order to be prepared for success in college. In my role, it was my job to prepare motivational speeches on this topic to 50-100 students twice a week. I was able to engage, entertain, and hold the attention of students and staff alike for 45 minutes at a time. My success with this job led me to believe that I had a shot at becoming a motivational speaker. Approximately four years into this job, our division was invited by the Admissions Department to present at an annual event called TAHONO Day, 

I begged our division VP to allow me to be the representative speaker for our department. She agreed. There were nearly 3,000 people there. I was a hit. Prior to this meeting, I had a conversation with a friend of mine who was already a motivational speaker. The advice she gave me was to speak for free and one day someone would see me and say, “name your price” The TAHONA DAY event was that day. I man from Detroit Public Schools invited me to speak to his 6th–8th graders, and that’s where I began my paid speaker career. Shawna Smith the individual became Shawna Speak. For 23 years, I did this business as a “side hustle”. However, after a world wind beginning to this year, I’ve decided to make the “main thing…THE MAIN THING”, meaning what I do best is my main job now. 

I’ve renamed the business a few weeks ago to Truth Speaks Consulting and filed for my LLC. So, these are exciting times. They are especially exciting in lue of the fact that I became extremely ill in October of 2019, with three infectious deceases as such I almost died. One of these deceases was an unknown virus; I was told it was similar to SARS but not quite. I was hospitalized for two months. I was a patient at three different hospital and hospital systems. It was the most scary, vulnerable time of my life. I’ve working on a book about the experience; however, the process of writing has been very triggering for me because many of my experiences have to do with negative attitudes held by medical professionals and systems towards Black woman. I wouldn’t have ever thought that was the case until I experienced it. 

I believe that something beautiful is going to come out of my experiences one day. In fact, this coming January, I’ll be speaking to Western Michigan University’s School of Nursing about these experiences. So, I hope to have some impact on the next generation of nurses. In the meantime, I am super thankful for life itself, and I am endeavoring to make the most of it. 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, not a smooth road at all. Becoming a paid speaker can be sort of like breaking into show businesses. Some of the very specific ups and downs have been things like: 

1. Being invited to speak and have the host cancel at the last minute.

2. Balancing my full-time work schedule with the side hustle.

3. Finding new clients

4. Focusing on a succinct message

5. Navigating when to go full-time into your business and when to stay on your full-time job

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Besides being a motivational speaker and trainer, I’m also a published author. I have written and published four books, and I have at least one more I intend to crank out before the year is over. Three out of the four can be found on Amazon under books by: Shawna R. Smith. I’m proud of all of them. Two of the books are for children. The one that is available on Amazon is called Grandma’s Favorite. It’s an autobiographical tale about an African American Grandma who is an avid gardener and has a habit of doting on her grandchildren by secretly telling each of them that they are her “favorite”. One of the siblings finds out her grandmother’s “big” secret and this causes some conflict, leaving the grandmother to explain herself. 

I also have a collection of poetry in a book called Poetic Expressions. My favorite poem from that collection is “Food for the Heart.” This poem is also about my grandmother and her love of cooking and its impact on the lives of our family. It, in many ways, is a tribute to her as an individual. Lastly, I have a book called Always the Bridesmaid…the Journey of a Single Black Christian Woman. In this book, I share very personal stories about dating from a “Black, Female, Christian” lens. 

The next book that I hope to finish within the next 30 days is called The A-Zs of Classroom Management, an Educators Guide to Successfully and Effectively Influencing a Classroom. This book is all about what I’ve learned about engaging students of all ages and development levels and what best practices look like in a classroom. Training and speaking about best practices as it relates to classroom management is one of the things I do in my business as well. 

I’m not sure whether what I’m about to makes me stand out, however, what’s unique about me as an author is that I do not subscribe to the notion that an author must stick to one genre. We are all multifaceted people, having multiple kinds of experiences at once or rather within the same period of time. For instance, while dating, I was raising my teenaged daughter and also teaching young children. I feel as if a person call tell a good story, that same person can write a book about their experiences. 

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
In terms of education and consulting in this arena, I do predict some very large shifts. Honestly, I think public education (PK–12th grade) as we know it is about to change drastically. The demand for teachers is at an all-time high, and the level of trust and community buy-in towards the public school system is at an all-time low. I see the need for my strategies being very much in demand in the months and years to come. 

Pricing:

• Pricing is negotiated client per client
• Generally speaking for a full-day training pricing would be $1,250–$2,500

Contact Info:

• Website: shawnaspeakstruth.com

Image Credits
Grace Photography