From Roots to Branches | Dr. Latoya Dixon on Leadership, Legacy, & Family

This episode marks the launch of From Roots to Branches, a new series within The Dap and A Hug Podcast focused on family legacy, leadership, purpose, and the stories that shape future generations.

For Episode 1, I sit down with my cousin, Dr. Latoya Dixon.

Dr. Dixon currently serves as the Assistant Superintendent of Student Services and Administration for Fort Mill School District and brings more than 26 years of experience in education as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, district administrator, state education leader, and public information officer.

In this conversation, we discuss family legacy, leadership, public education, resilience, mentorship, community impact, and the responsibility of investing in future generations.

Connect with Dr. Latoya Dixon:

Website:
https://www.latoyadixon5.com

Leadership With Latoya Podcast (Spotify):
https://open.spotify.com/show/5dSdb4ykKHhE0Uc9E31jyC?si=dP-0sC4vQMKhhFpDmt8_hw

Leadership With Latoya Podcast (Apple Podcasts):
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-with-latoya-podcast/id1223802266

Book:
Burned Out, Beaten Up, & Fighting Back: A Call to Action for America's Public Educators

Amazon:
https://a.co/d/04tvDVQo

Instagram:
@latoya_dixon5

Facebook:
Latoya Dixon

The Dap and A Hug Podcast

Instagram:
@thedapandahugpodcast

Produced by Lyrikal Miracle LLC

Peace and Love at The Dap and A Hug

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:00

Deep roots are not met by the frost. J R R token.

SPEAKER_03 0:05

I love that. What do you know about that? I know a little bit about it. I used to teach uh middle school English, so I recognize a good quote from a book when I hear it.

SPEAKER_05 0:14

I love the Lord of the Rings.

SPEAKER_03 0:15

Yeah, it's a great story. It's the story of life.

SPEAKER_06 0:18

Yeah, I was I've been thinking a lot, cuz. And um, we got a lot of family doing some good things out here in the community. I'm honored to say that this will be the first episode of my series, From Roots to Branches.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

I'm glad to be here.

SPEAKER_06 0:35

I don't have any memories, Harley. I mean, I remember your face. Yeah. But I wasn't around the Chisholm side of the family as much growing up.

SPEAKER_03 0:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 0:41

What are your like reflections on that?

SPEAKER_03 0:43

Well, uh, I remember you clearly, and I am uh seven years older than you, so that's probably partly why you don't remember me. But I remember your sister, your brother, of course, your father, my mother's brother, and your mom. And uh we do have a lot of great people in our family. The Chisholms have deep, deep roots in this area. They've been in Rock Hill since before Reconstruction. And we are come from a line of people. When we walk in a room, someone can look at us and say, Are you a Chisholm? Everybody knows the Chisholms. Everybody knows them. So I'm very proud to represent our family and all that I do to try to keep a legacy going uh for all the great things people did before us, and of course, those who will come after us.

SPEAKER_06 1:36

Right. Real quick, I want to give a special shout out to both our mothers. There's one thing we have in common as well. Our mother's name is Linda.

SPEAKER_03 1:42

Shout out, mom. I got on my shirt made with the love, strength, and resilience of my mom, because that is the truth. Shout out to both of our moms. That's right, they're both named Linda.

SPEAKER_06 1:55

Absolutely. So uh back to the roots, right? And a little bit of our history as far as our lineage. Uh Willie Mason Chisholm. When I say that name, what comes to mind?

SPEAKER_03 2:06

He was a genius, uh, a philanthropist. He spoke five languages, he was well educated, he did so much for the community in Rock Hill. He actually put in the waterline that went down Crawford Road several years ago. The news did a story on him because he was uh a very important part of this community. If you Google his name, you can learn more about him. And it was it's incredible, I think, that here we are. How many generations later?

SPEAKER_06 2:38

Carrying a torch, baby.

SPEAKER_03 2:39

Talking about him. 100%.

SPEAKER_06 2:44

Yeah. And he bought buses, right, to go pick up certain students that were uh that didn't have access to transportation to get to him to and from uh Emmett Scott specifically.

SPEAKER_03 2:52

Yes, he did.

SPEAKER_06 2:52

Brother Wally Cathcourt can vouch for that. Yes, he did. 100%.

SPEAKER_03 2:56

Yes, he did. He did so much for the community. Um, it's amazing to me how everything sort of comes full circle. How what's in our genes and the things we do in our life, we are literally building a legacy every day. And sometimes what we are building, the fruit of that, will not be seen in our lifetime. You and I may never see the fruit of what we have done in our lives, but years from now, our ancestors down the road will benefit from everything that we're doing right now.

SPEAKER_06 3:32

That's the that's the mindset we gotta have. I didn't start thinking like that till recently.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

It's true though. It's very true.

SPEAKER_06 3:38

It's almost like I'm living in revelations.

SPEAKER_03 3:41

Yeah, I mean, you live off of the prayers that were prayed before you were ever born.

unknown 3:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:47

You know, I know I am so grateful for my life for everything that I've experienced, accomplished, been through, and I know I am benefiting from the prayers of our grandmother, who was born in 1919. Died in 2007, and she loved all of her grandchildren, especially the boys. It was it was more girls than boys, but she she loved all of her grandchildren. So I recognize that you know everything we do comes full circle.

SPEAKER_06 4:20

It really does. And it's an I don't even feel like it's a weight to carry that. It's not even a load. It's it's it's I'm honored to have the responsibility and to thank God now I'm ready to take it on and day by day, podcast by podcast, conversation by conversation, help somebody.

SPEAKER_03 4:42

That's right. Step by step.

SPEAKER_06 4:44

Step by step. Um you're a doctor, right?

SPEAKER_03 4:48

Yes, I am.

SPEAKER_06 4:49

Oh, that's awesome. That's powerful. I didn't even know that till recently. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_03 4:52

I earned my PhD 12 years ago from the University of South Carolina.

SPEAKER_06 4:56

Wait, wait, time I'm talking about before the title in the career. Who were you?

SPEAKER_03 4:59

Uh, well, I've always been me. I mean, to you and to my family, I'm Nikki. Uh, to the people who I know from the work I've done in education, I'm LaToya or Dr. Dixon. But I've always been me. I've always been a genuine person. I like to help people. Um I believe in grinding hard, work hard, going after your goals. If you got a dream, chase it.

SPEAKER_05 5:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

You got a dream, chase it. And uh I am so thankful for just every experience I've had that's brought me to this moment right now. I mean, I'm just I just see myself as a regular person going about my life every day, trying to help somebody along the way.

SPEAKER_06 5:45

You're just optimizing your time in a very helpful way for the community. And thank you. On behalf of the community, I'm thanking you. And as your first cousin, I'm thank you as well.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

Well, I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_06 5:55

We need to have a family reunion soon, are we?

SPEAKER_03 5:56

Yeah, we do.

SPEAKER_06 5:58

Talk about trying to organize that for real. I'm serious.

SPEAKER_03 5:59

Yeah, seriously. We need we need to do a cousin reunion.

SPEAKER_06 6:02

Yeah, we need to connect because we got some people doing some powerful things out here. I got some uh I'm gonna we're gonna transition to something a little different right here. Take a look at these pictures I brought here, cousin. Oh boy, I came across these yesterday at my folks' house.

SPEAKER_03 6:13

Oh boy. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_06 6:17

What was going on right there?

SPEAKER_03 6:18

Uh that looks like me and Dewey. And I'm sure I'm trying to tell him something.

SPEAKER_06 6:24

Who was we at though? Oh, y'all. I don't even know if I was in.

SPEAKER_03 6:27

I think we was, we must have been. It looks like Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_06 6:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:31

I think that's Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_06 6:33

Lacey in there somewhere.

SPEAKER_03 6:34

I think that's Thanksgiving. That's Uncle Johnny and Uncle Dusty and me in the middle.

SPEAKER_06 6:38

Yup.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

Oh, wow. Yep, there's Lacey and Audrey and Dewey. And I think that's my sister Tanya.

SPEAKER_06 6:46

Yeah, I could post it on the video.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_06 6:49

Post-production act.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

Oh, that's Tasha and Toya.

SPEAKER_06 6:51

Yeah, yeah. What's up with y'all? Oh, we need to get them on. We need to need an audio podcast.

SPEAKER_03 6:56

Oh my god. My both my sisters, Lacey, Miriam. Oh, I gotta pose cuz. Check it out.

SPEAKER_04 7:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:06

I'm rocking that Clemson shirt.

SPEAKER_04 7:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

This is a long time ago. I was so young, man. That's what sucked.

SPEAKER_06 7:13

I had to bring those in.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

That's crazy. Yeah, you gotta post those.

SPEAKER_06 7:17

I will.

SPEAKER_03 7:18

That's wild. You didn't bring any of you.

SPEAKER_06 7:21

Well, I mean, I'm right here. They can sit me on camera. I mean I couldn't find anything like me and you though.

SPEAKER_03 7:25

The young Darrow.

SPEAKER_06 7:26

Oh, I might post. Oh man, like I got some, I found some good stuff. I found one picture of my grandma and your my mama's mama. Like, I was might be two, three years old. She was holding me.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:37

I found some good pictures.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:38

I kind of, you know, poetically uh include those over the course of the next couple months, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

That would be good.

SPEAKER_06 7:47

We're gonna talk about your journey. So you mentioned that you're you have a doctorate, right?

SPEAKER_03 7:53

I do.

SPEAKER_06 7:54

Let's go ahead and talk about your journey today.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

Well, uh I always liked school, but when I graduated from Clemson in 1999, I started teaching at Rawls Road Middle School. I had no idea I would ever earn a PhD. I wanted to be a teacher. I coached girls' volleyball and basketball. And I I loved teaching school. Still to this day, teaching is my favorite job of all time. I'm so proud of so many students that I, you know, had the privilege and honor of serving. And while I was teaching, my principal came to me one day and she was like, you know, you really should think about getting your master's degree in school administration. You would make a great school administrator. So I did. I got a master's degree in school administration and finished that and took about a year off and went back to school at the urging of my superintendent at the time. She was like, you know, you really gotta go get a doctorate. You you got a bright future in this field. So I went back to school and earned my EDS and my PhD from the University of South Carolina. Now I am so proud of that, but I will tell you, it is the most challenging, hardest, difficult, rigorous academic thing I've ever accomplished in my life. It was a real test of endurance. I started that process with 30, 30 people. I think eight of us actually earned our PhDs.

SPEAKER_06 9:26

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 9:27

And it was really about not quitting. It was really about not giving up, locking in, being dedicated and committed. And uh it was hard, but I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I did it. I learned a lot about what it means to not give up, tenacity, have grit, bounce back, resilience.

SPEAKER_06 9:52

That's you sound like you were talking about jujitsu. Yeah you know how previously he was asking me what was difficult about it, how I got into it. All of those things are connected with jujitsu, especially resilience.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 10:03

Learning about yourself.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:05

You're gonna get knocked down.

SPEAKER_06 10:07

Yeah, and learning mistakes, learning about your mistakes every day. We we've been doing that since we were kids. We're all adults when we're kids at the end of the day, because we're still making mistakes. Yeah, we're still learning every day. I'm learning more now than I did in the past, even Clemson. You know, I wanted to talk about that climpson thing because something happened. Like, hold on. So I was trying to figure out where I want to go to school. Matter of fact, to be honest with you, Clemson was the only place I even applied for. Really? I was gonna, I'm lazy. I was gonna apply for South Carolina, but I had to write an essay. I was like, I'm too lazy, so I'm just gonna put my hopes and dreams up in the effort that just Clemson. Wow. Um, and I wanted to apply for College of Charleston, but I ain't gonna say what happened with that. Um, but so did somebody in our family go for engineering?

SPEAKER_03 10:53

Yeah, my sister.

unknown 10:54

Right.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

Yeah, both my sisters are Clemson graduates.

SPEAKER_06 10:56

See, that's why that's one of the reasons why my mom and them kind of directed me towards Clemson as far as being an engineer. Yeah. Because I didn't really know what I wanted to do other than be a marine biologist, but I was kind of talked out of that. I said that before. Mama still loves you though. She knows we be laughing about that. Um but she was like, Yeah, your cousins went to Clemson, they got engineers, and they got that's where the money is. So that's the that's like the direction that I went. Like, very, I'm not gonna say misguided, I just didn't really have like a specific thing that I was hungry for that I wanted. Yeah, because other than marine biologists, I didn't know what I wanted to do. So I just went in engineering, then I switched majors because I sucked at uh chemistry, right?

SPEAKER_02 11:39

It's hard.

SPEAKER_06 11:40

So I was like, I'm just gonna be business management and whatever. I can do biology. I can, you know.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 11:46

I'm way better at biology. But um, but yeah, like so something happened. Um, you know, I I battled alcoholism and it really took off in Clemson like partying a lot. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. What did you do to stay disciplined? Did you not have that bug? Is that what it was? Or you just were like your mental focus and you know, was it part of your upbringing? Because Aunt Linda was a single mother, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Yeah, correct.

SPEAKER_06 12:12

Also, I want to say I had both my mom and daddy, and I took a way different path, obviously. And kudos to your mama, my Aunt Linda.

SPEAKER_03 12:19

My mama is that's powerful. My mama the goat, man. My mama the goat. My mama was like, it goes like this God, yes, family, school, and that is how I have always lived my life. God, family, school. And so I knew that to get from point A to point B for what I wanted, the one pathway was school. School was gonna get me there. Now, shout out to my sisters, Tyane and Alisa, who, you know, they paved the way before me. So I had two examples in front of me already, and I saw what they had done, and I wanted to do that too. So that was inspirational. But what really got me locked in in Clemson was purpose.

SPEAKER_06 13:07

Yeah, that's the word I was looking for early. I didn't have a purpose, because of that's the word I was looking for.

SPEAKER_03 13:11

It's purpose. So I knew I was one of the few people, few of my friends, and even my college roommates and apartment mates who are my best friends of 31 years to this day. Nice. I'm still tight with them.

SPEAKER_04 13:25

Good.

SPEAKER_03 13:26

Shout out to my A1 Day ones, Leah, Sandy, Carol. Y'all know what it is. Uh, those are the girls I live with, but to this day, I was one of the few people in our group. I kept my major the same the whole time. I was an English secondary education major. I wanted to be a teacher. I had great teachers. When I was in elementary school, in middle school, high school, my third-grade teacher is the GOAT for real. My third grade teacher and I, we still keep in touch.

unknown 13:53

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

She sends me, she just sent me a card, congratulating me on my job in Fort Mill. And uh, she's always sending me something, a book, you know, a quote, something to just encourage me. And I just knew I wanted to be a teacher because I had teachers that made a difference in my life that really pushed me. I could I had a little streak of laziness too. I mean, I could do just a enough and get by. Yeah, but if I had the right teacher, I would push harder. And so I knew how important that was to me. So my purpose, I knew what my purpose was, I knew what I was going for. I was real clear about that, and I think that really helped me stay on track. I think that helped me stay on track. Now, don't get me wrong, I had a good time in college. Yeah, I had a great time. I won a stand-up comedy contest.

unknown 14:41

What?

SPEAKER_03 14:42

In Tilman Auditorium. I won a stand-up comedy contest. I joined the greatest sorority in the world. Shout out to Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, along with my sisters, and I was in a rap group called Microphone Militants. And I graduated in four years with my degree, with a job. I've always been a very focused, disciplined person. When I when I put my mind to something, my mama used to call it strong will when I was little, but when I set my mind to something, like that's what I'm doing. I'm locked in. Um and I stay on that because to me, the difference is people who give up too soon and people who decide to keep going.

SPEAKER_06 15:28

Well articulated. I didn't, I didn't, I'll I'm blown away because I didn't know she was a she did stand-up comedy, and also may I please say congratulations on you won a contest.

SPEAKER_03 15:38

Yeah, $250. Yeah, microphone militants, me and three other guys.

SPEAKER_06 15:44

Okay. You still do any uh open mics comedy-wise?

SPEAKER_03 15:47

I don't do any comedy open mics, but I've been known to have a good sense of humor. I've had it since I was in school. That's the one call I would get home just one time, because my mama she didn't play that. I would add joy and laughter and humor to the classroom. And uh I still very much love all kinds of music, rap music included.

SPEAKER_06 16:08

Right. Have you uh you ever written a book?

SPEAKER_03 16:11

Yes, I have written a book. I wrote a book back in 2018.

SPEAKER_06 16:14

What's the name of it?

SPEAKER_03 16:15

Burned Out, Beaten Up, Fighting Back, A Call to Action for America's Public Educators.

SPEAKER_06 16:20

And how can people access it?

SPEAKER_03 16:21

They can find it on Amazon.

SPEAKER_06 16:22

Okay now.

SPEAKER_03 16:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:25

This is wild. And I love that I'm learning this as we go.

unknown 16:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:29

I mean, it can't it don't get no more organic than that. I'm gonna talk to you after after the podcast because I'm gonna write a book. Well, I told you that already. Yeah, yeah, we'll we'll talk. And I'm gonna do some short films and stuff like that, maybe like an actual movie one day.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:42

Specifically about the demons that come through them tablets.

SPEAKER_03 16:45

Oh, yeah, for real. For real.

SPEAKER_06 16:48

There's something to that. It is. Yeah. Clemson was wild. Clemson was wild. I had some good times, got some good connections. I'm still connected to some people down there.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_06 16:57

You know what I'm saying? Shot the uh D1 automotive, my boy uh Matthew Jordan Drauss. He sells boats down there. Okay. He's located in Seneca, and uh he has a shop in Greenville as well, I think.

SPEAKER_03 17:07

You still pull for the Tigers?

SPEAKER_06 17:09

Um, yes, I guess. No, not really. Yes, I guess. No, not really. Nah, nah, nah, nah. This is how I look at it. Like, if Clemson plays in South Carolina, I'm not like all into it like that. I mean, I'm like, I'm like, what I'm saying is if like a if a player on South Carolina make an outstanding play, I'm gonna give him his kudos, his respect, and some love. I ain't gonna be like, uh uh, like I'm not that type of fan.

SPEAKER_03 17:32

No, no, no, me neither.

SPEAKER_06 17:33

I mean But I'm not gonna be mad if South Carolina beat Clemson. That's the type of fan that I am. I respect every individual out there on that, you know, that put the cleats on and all that.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

But I mean, I do too. I mean, I'm a huge South Carolina women's game cop basketball fan.

SPEAKER_05 17:48

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 17:49

I mean, I have mad respect for Don Staley. I grew up watching her play at Winter Coliseum in the ACC tournament uh when she played for the University of Virginia. However, when it's football season, yeah, it's all in, baby.

SPEAKER_06 18:03

Yeah, I gotta. I'm an eagle at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_03 18:07

I know. You know, that's where I saw you at the Pascal.

SPEAKER_06 18:10

Oh, how crazy was that? When did you, when did you like can you can you talk to the people about your experience, like what you were doing there, and then like you when you first watched me?

SPEAKER_03 18:19

Well, true story, my friend Matthew Smith, Matt and I have been friends since the seventh grade. He reached out and was like, he knows how much I love the game. He was like, hey, I got floor seats, I got a ticket. Do you want to come watch the game with me? I was like, sure. So I went and watched the game with him, his wife, his daughter. So I was uh, we were walking in to sit down. I saw you. You had a camera strapped on and a backpack. And I was like, that's my cousin. He was like, for real? I was like, yeah, that's my cousin right there. So I figured you was there doing something with your podcast, taking pictures, something.

SPEAKER_06 18:57

Listen, I'm 41 years old. I don't mind, I don't pay my dues in certain areas of my professional journey. And uh thank you so much to the athletic director for Winthrop University. Okay, he gave me immediate access. Now, picture me six foot five, sitting on the baseline. You know, I was I was like Indian style. I'm sorry, yeah, crisscross applesauce. I mean no disrespect to nobody. And I I was so sore the next two days. Every time that it would do a timeout, I would hop up and walk over there, kind of stretch a little bit, get a sip of water, whatever. But I'm gonna tell you, I'll never do that again. Like I said, I don't mind paying my dues, but that's not good for my back. Like and the only way I was able to even survive that was because of you know doing jujitsu and stuff like that, being able to breathe and hold my posture, and like because it was, it was, it was it was tough. Yeah, I felt some real pain. I felt some real pain.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

It's a lot of legs.

SPEAKER_06 19:54

I felt some pain in my life, believe me, but that right there.

SPEAKER_03 19:57

It's a lot of legs to fold up. Six foot five.

SPEAKER_06 20:01

My back was sort of but yeah, by the way, humbly, very humbly. I'm gonna say garbage. The pictures were garbage.

SPEAKER_02 20:08

Were they?

SPEAKER_06 20:09

Yeah, what happened? I I mean he was getting it was I didn't have my uh shutter speed up high enough.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

Oh, gosh.

SPEAKER_06 20:14

I didn't have my settings right. Okay, it was an opportunity, yeah. But uh, I learned from it, that's the main thing. And I'm I'm gonna get back with my man's, and you know, I'm gonna come back out there and do some stuff like that. Yeah. I'm gonna get you know the athletes that uh that play fiend sports over there, uh, Winter?

SPEAKER_02 20:31

No.

SPEAKER_06 20:32

I'm trying to get some uh athletes on too, but uh you know it's funny. The one dude, so that that evening I had saw somebody getting out of a van. He was like, he had crutches. And come to find out he was a basketball player. Okay. You remember his? I can't remember his name, I'm not even gonna look it up. But uh he was cool. I met his mom and everything, held it open for him.

SPEAKER_04 20:52

He followed me on IG, and then so I was like, Yeah, I got a podcast, I'm gonna get you, I'm gonna get everybody on, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER_06 20:57

Fast forward, you know, like a month or so, if not longer later. I asked him people to do the podcast. He didn't reply. A couple weeks later, he posted something about his transferring somewhere.

SPEAKER_03 21:07

Oh, wow, for real? Well, you know, that's how it is. That's cool.

SPEAKER_06 21:09

I mean, no, no, no. But I think it'll be an interesting podcast, though. Oh, yeah. But maybe he just don't want to do it. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 21:14

The transfer portal has really changed things.

SPEAKER_06 21:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

It's a new age in college sports.

SPEAKER_06 21:21

Yeah, so um. This is directly to the uh Winthrop Athletic Department, uh, especially the volleyball. You know, Lyric played volleyball, but we're gonna put a pen in the city.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

Oh, I did not know that.

SPEAKER_06 21:31

Um, that's I would love to get some, especially volleyball players, because my daughter plays volleyball. I would love to interview the coach and/or some players, please. I'm not gonna beg, but I've been over there. I've been knocking on some doors. Well, what are we doing? Are y'all paying attention to what I'm doing in the community? It would be an awesome collaboration, is all I'm saying. But I understand if it's during the season, I don't want to be a distraction at all, but let's go. I'm alumni, I'm flying.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

There you go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:00

With that tiger's rage.

SPEAKER_03 22:02

Yeah, there you go. I like that.

SPEAKER_06 22:04

Shout to Brother Meeks. Education has been important in our family, right?

SPEAKER_03 22:08

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:10

Aunt Gloria, she taught. She's retired.

SPEAKER_03 22:13

She's retired. I think she taught for 38 years in York School District 1.

SPEAKER_04 22:18

York School District 1.

SPEAKER_03 22:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:20

Yeah. Do we have any other educators? No. That comes to the top of your head?

SPEAKER_03 22:26

No, none that comes to the top of my head that I can think of. I've been in education now. This is my 26th year.

SPEAKER_06 22:33

Yeah. This is my second year. And I feel like I'm educating people. Yeah. Because I'm learning.

unknown 22:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:40

I'm learning about you right now.

SPEAKER_03 22:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:42

Yeah. What would you say was one of the most defining moments of your career, your life, your journey?

SPEAKER_03 22:49

That's a really hard question.

SPEAKER_04 22:51

It's okay. We got time. I can edit it.

SPEAKER_03 22:54

Well, you know, I don't know that I can say like one moment, one event, one thing, but it gets real when you teach a student and then you hire that student to teach school. I've done that before. Or you teach a student and you call because you need assistance in your home with internet or cable, and the person that shows up is a student you taught. Or you teach a student and your uh the principal and the parent that you call on the phone is a student you taught. Or you walk into a school as the assistant superintendent, and you see students you taught teaching now. So I like to always remind educators that all of the students that we serve, we share a common future with them. We share a common future, and it's so important that we pour into our young people and build them up and encourage them and help them stay on track because they are the future. They are the next generation. Those teachers in the classroom that were once my students, they are the next generation of leaders. So I would say that's pretty defining. I'm always like really, really, really proud when I see my kids doing amazing things, whether they're teaching school. I mean, I have kids who I was their principal, and you know, they're engineers, they are uh lawyers, they're doctors. Uh they're doing amazing things with their life, and I'm I'm real proud of them.

SPEAKER_06 24:39

I think the title of teaching should just be changed. Because you're molding citizens of the future for society.

SPEAKER_03 24:46

That's the thing. You know, teaching is uh it's so much more than like reading, writing, arithmetic. Yes, mentorship, yes, leadership, yes, yeah, helping helping kids grow in their confidence, uh navigate difficult situations because you know, children come to school and they have more than books in their backpack. They have stuff and dealing with things and they need uh strong, caring, trusted adults to support them as they move their way through school. So I just have always felt like education is my it's my calling, it's my why. The reason I'm here, I'm on, I'm on assignment. I'm on assignment, and I'm just trying to do the job that's in front of me.

SPEAKER_06 25:38

What's the biggest difference that you see in students today than you did when you first started?

SPEAKER_03 25:42

Oh wow. Well, first of all, when I first started at Rollins Road Middle School, I had a chalkboard.

unknown 25:50

Right.

SPEAKER_03 25:50

I had a chalkboard and some chalk, and I had an overhead projector.

SPEAKER_05 25:54

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 25:55

I used to crank that thing like this. I mean, make your copies on the projector, lay it on the thing. Um, but in terms of students, students were different then in that they didn't have as many, I won't call them, there weren't as many avenues and options for things. Like when I started teaching, if you wanted to watch a show and it came on a Thursday at eight o'clock, then you had to be in front of the TV Thursday at eight o'clock. And now that's not the case. You can stream it whenever you want. Um, cell phones were barely in existence. I mean, they were relatively new and nobody was bringing them to school. You know, kids didn't have cell phones. Technology, it was just on a different, different level. I think kids now have they have a lot, a lot of choices. I see in terms of sports, I see kids concentrating sooner in sports. They're playing club, and um I remember AAU and that's about it, but now kids are really committed playing year-round, the same sport where kids used to play multiple sports across the year. Mental health. I see a lot of kids who are struggling with mental health a lot more. Um, there's a lot uh more prevalence with various things like um attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity, autism, just different things that were rare but now are very common.

SPEAKER_06 27:33

So Yeah, I'm gonna ask you this. As far as bullying goes, I've talked about bullying, and I'm not gonna talk about the past things that I've mentioned, but as far as like online bullying, have you ever had to deal with that?

SPEAKER_02 27:46

Oh yes. Oh yes.

SPEAKER_06 27:49

Um y'all have like a matrix system for that in Fort Mill School districts? That's what they got going on around here, like a matrix.

SPEAKER_03 27:54

Most districts do. Most districts do. You know, the one of the things that's different in my day, if somebody was having a birthday party or they were inviting people to their house for a sleepover over the weekend, you didn't know anything about it. You weren't on Instagram seeing pictures that all your friends were hanging out and you weren't included. You didn't learn about it until maybe you got back to school the next week, and maybe at lunch somebody said something about last weekend, and then you're like, What happened last weekend? But now kids are finding out immediately that they're not included because they can look on their IG story or looking at my nieces tell me that young people don't use Facebook, that's for old people. But looking at Snapchat, whatever the all the social media channels are, I will say to you, I believe that as adults, we have a responsibility to teach children kindness and respect and to treat everybody with dignity because children learn from adults. Yes, they model behaviors that they see. And I wrote a post on my Facebook page not too long ago about the screen is making people mean because people will write anything in the comment section, and I think sometimes they forget that you're building your own record and legacy of what is your character, who are you as a person? What is your heart? So I want everything I do, whether it be in person or online, to represent me in a way that I can be proud of. And kids are learning from adults who are doing some of those same behaviors, and um it starts with adults.

SPEAKER_06 29:45

So it's obviously an avalanche already with social media.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 29:50

Um was there a conversation or have y'all implemented like special training for like therapists to deal with children that deal with social media bullying and the feeling of like being left out when they see their friends went and did this when they didn't get invited? Like, are there like therapists that are like specifically trained for stuff like that, or were they already?

SPEAKER_03 30:10

I would not say that they're specifically trained for things like that, but many, many school districts uh have on staff mental health therapists. Now, that's a big difference. When I started teaching, you had a guidance counselor on staff, but there weren't mental health therapists, and they deal with everything from A to Z. They help kids, they can help kids with anything. Um, and that's not true in all school districts, but in uh many school districts in our area, they do have mental health therapists uh employed, which I think is a great thing.

SPEAKER_06 30:42

So if we're being honest, like what is something that's not working in the school system that a lot of people may think that is, like behind the scenes.

SPEAKER_03 30:52

Something that's not working.

SPEAKER_06 30:55

Yeah, the way people think it is.

SPEAKER_03 30:57

Uh disrespect to public education. When I started teaching, there was a level of respect that came with being a public educator. People re respected the institution of public education, they respected schools, and I don't know what it is, and I'm talking about public education in a larger, more national sense, yeah. But there is almost this antitrust of public education that has happened, where people don't recognize that people who are getting up and going to work every day to serve other people's children are doing it because that is what's in their heart and soul. It is a very, very difficult job. It is a challenge. It is not at all the job it was when I started. It's not even the job it was when I had my first principalship, which was 18 years ago. Um, and so I think if people can get out of the habit of let's find ways not to trust public education and let's find ways to collaborate, work together, unify, because I believe most people want the same thing for kids, and that is what's best for them.

SPEAKER_06 32:14

Right.

SPEAKER_03 32:15

And safety and what's best for them. Right. So if we can focus on how do we get to the end goal, which is creating opportunities for children to thrive and do their very best, if we can focus on how we do that together, I think it'll go a long way. I believe I got a great public education. I don't know what you think about yours, but I think I got a great one. And I still believe that it is one of the best avenues for success in the world, especially in our society. Um, as my mama used to say, it's the one thing you can earn and nobody can take it away from you. Once you earn it, it's yours to keep. And it can change the trajectory of a child's life. It can really change the trajectory of somebody's life.

SPEAKER_06 33:06

You said disrespect to the public school system. What really draws my gears is like teachers having to pay for stuff out of their own pocket. What's up with that? Why is that even a thing? Is it state funding? Is it back to the brick truck? Well, it all depends.

SPEAKER_03 33:24

It all depends. Um, in some cases, that's it. Um, and education is funded in different states in different ways. Right. Um, but in general, you know, teaching is not one of the more lucrative professions. I can't tell you how many people have said, you know, I wanted to be a teacher, but how do we change that?

SPEAKER_06 33:43

It was enough money because they have they're very important. You're very important with like I'm getting fired up now. See, that's why I'm gonna drink coffee. I did drink coffee, but my point is like, what can we do to change that?

SPEAKER_03 33:53

Respect for the feel. Respect for the feel, recognize that this is some of the most important work that occurs in our society.

SPEAKER_06 34:00

Well, everybody I know agrees with that. So who who who's in this the position to change these policies that obviously don't, I guess they don't see the value, or I don't want to go down a rabbit hole. But who needs to, who is it that's not seeing the value that needs to? I mean, I don't get it.

SPEAKER_03 34:15

I think it's all about you know how we use our voice, how we tell our story, okay, how we exercise our rights to vote in ways that align with respect for the field. This day and age, how you tell your story is an incredible tool. And so when we can talk about all the successful things, because I don't know that people always realize it here where we live, but uh one of the jobs I've had, I was the director of school transformation for the state of South Carolina. And while I did that job, I got to travel this entire state from top to bottom. I saw schools in every county. We have in York County incredible school systems. Um we have school systems in this state that look completely different than school systems where we live. And so understanding that um no matter where you live or where you come from or what you have, every child deserves a high-quality public education.

SPEAKER_06 35:35

100%.

SPEAKER_03 35:36

Because we all benefit from it, right? An educated society makes better people, better citizens, better community members, better neighbors. Um, and so I think that's important. I think it's very important.

SPEAKER_06 35:50

So whoever is in the position to allocate the funds to the schools, that's the person? Well, who would that be?

SPEAKER_03 35:59

It's all of us, really. I mean, so that's it's the legislature.

SPEAKER_06 36:02

It's back to voting, all right? Like you said.

SPEAKER_03 36:04

It's all of us. It's all of us.

SPEAKER_06 36:06

What can I do to help?

SPEAKER_03 36:08

Vote.

SPEAKER_06 36:09

Besides that, though.

SPEAKER_03 36:10

Tell good stories, tell tell about how your own public education, how were did you feel prepared when you went to school? Did you have teachers who cared about you and nurtured you? Um, do you see people going above and beyond outside of their classroom to support their students? Did you have teachers that came to your basketball games? I'm sure you did.

SPEAKER_06 36:32

Yeah. I mean, so if I wanted to like really, really do this, would it be certain people that I would get on the podcast and have this conversation with?

SPEAKER_02 36:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:42

Okay. Well, we can we can talk afterwards. Yeah. Because I am not playing, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Yeah.

unknown 36:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:50

How do you balance policy with real human impact?

SPEAKER_03 36:53

I mean, well, you can never forget, you can never forget that people are people. Right. I say it this way. You know, everybody's born with uh a heart that is housed inside their rib cage.

unknown 37:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:08

And if you can just remember that, you're talking to someone with a heart. Treat people like a person, the way you want to be treated. Treat everybody with dignity and respect. Doesn't matter who they are, what they do, what they look like, where they come from.

SPEAKER_06 37:24

Sound like a dapping a hug way.

SPEAKER_03 37:26

Yeah. Just treat everybody with dignity and respect.

SPEAKER_06 37:29

Um, and but it starts within yourself, as I've said multiple times before.

SPEAKER_03 37:34

It really does. My mom used to always talk to us about treating people right. And uh, I believe in that. I pride myself on that. Treating everybody right.

SPEAKER_06 37:45

What else do people on the outside may not be aware of that teachers go through on a day-to-day basis?

SPEAKER_03 37:52

They worry about kids. They worry about kids. They worry about it. I mean, if you have a student, I mean, I can only speak for myself, but if you have a student who you know they have challenges in their home life, they're experiencing difficulties, whether it's food insecurity, shelter difficulties, family circumstances, you worry about it. You worry about it. You you do all kinds of things to try and support them and take care of them and be there for them. I'll tell you, I had a student when I was principal in North Carolina, she's now a graduate of North Carolina AT University. Shout out Natavia Corpany. I'm really proud of her. She was in a math class that I was the principal, but we couldn't find a math teacher. So for two periods of the school day, I taught eighth grade math. The rest of the day, I was the principal. I did that for two, nine weeks until we found a math teacher because it was so important to me that those eighth-grade students were ready for high school math. And Octavia is incredible. She went to North Carolina AT and she invited me to her college graduation. And I went.

unknown 38:59

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 39:00

And I have tried to support her all the way through high school, college, even now, we still keep in touch because I knew she had everything that it took to be successful. She just needed the support and encouragement. And um I don't think people recognize how deeply we care as educators. How deeply we care. I mean, the work that we do is that important that it's soul work.

SPEAKER_06 39:32

I love you so much. Like you're my hero right now.

SPEAKER_03 39:35

It's soul work. It's it's work you do so you can look yourself in the mirror when you get up in the morning. I don't know if people recognize that. It's hard work, but it's soul work, and I I would do, I would do every job I've had over again, times 10.

SPEAKER_06 39:54

Wow. So obviously in the education system, right? Your superintendent and everything, or even just as a teacher, like it's always change.

SPEAKER_02 40:05

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 40:06

And how do you how do you deal with change, implement change to prepare people for change, even though as everyone knows, a lot of people don't like change?

SPEAKER_03 40:15

No, the change is uh change is really hard. Yeah, it's it's uh I liken it to when people experience change, I liken it to like the grief cycle. So first, when you tell people they gotta change something, they're really, really sad. Because they gotta break up with the old way. Then they get angry, like why we gotta do it this way? Why do we have to change? This what we were doing was working. And they're like, I'm trying it kind of disillusioned, but I I don't I just don't know. And then you get to the other side of it, and they're like, okay, this is this is working. So, one, when you're leading change, you have to understand what it means for people, how people experience change. You have to meet each person where they are. You have some people who you bring about a change and they're your go-getters. They're like, Yeah, let's do it. You have some people who are like, no, they can put their feet in the, you know, dig their heels in the sand and they don't want to do it. But I believe that when you can communicate clearly, and it takes a lot of communication and a lot of different methods, the why behind the change, people can get on board with it. Might take some people longer than others. And you have to do a nice blend of communication, building capacity, and putting the right structures and systems and processes in place to support people with the change. So if you ask people to change, but you don't give them the materials, you don't put the right systems in place, you don't have the right structures that can create frustration. So it's a very layered process. Um, but change is necessary. I mean, it's changed so much since I started, it's crazy how much it's changed. I mean, kids rarely got on a device when I started teaching, and now it's a it's a part of their everyday educational experience. So, but also recognizing that, and this has always helped me, that we are preparing children for a future that we don't know exists yet. We're not preparing them for our future. So you'll hear people say, or I've heard heard people say, you know, it worked, it was good enough for me, but they're not, I'm not preparing them to enter the workforce in 1999. I'm preparing them for their future. So in order to do that, we gotta be open to change.

SPEAKER_06 42:35

Thank you. If you could give one piece of advice to parents that have kids that are navigating through the school systems, what would that be?

SPEAKER_03 42:42

Put your kids first. Put your kids first. I have to I have to give my mom amazing credit because we were first. We came first. I mean, when I went to school, I came home, I sat at the dining room table, I did my homework, my mama reviewed my homework. If my handwriting was not neat enough, I did it again.

SPEAKER_01 43:00

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 43:02

In fact, my second grade teacher sent a note home and said, Latoya does good work, but sometimes she rushes and her handwriting is illegible. And my mama, every night of the second grade, would cut out a newspaper article or the herald. It's called an evening herald. Then I would do my homework, she would check it, she would make me copy that newspaper article until my handwriting was neat to her satisfaction.

SPEAKER_06 43:24

I see I didn't go to that extent, but I do make Leary rewrite her stuff. If it's not, she'd be like, it doesn't matter. I'm like, yes, it does. Your teacher has to know how to read your writing. I can't read it halfway.

SPEAKER_03 43:33

Yeah. My mama used to say, take some pride in your work.

SPEAKER_06 43:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:37

Anything that you put your name on, take some pride in your work. And I can still hear her voice. I'm almost 50 years old when I am working at work. I take pride in my work. I want it to represent me well. Um, children require time. You got to spend time with them. And my my mom was great for that. It was all about. Us. She spent time with us. She poured in us. We all were interested in different things. My sister Tanya was in the orchestra. Alisa, she cheered and I played sports, but school was first. Your grades had to be of a certain standard. Your work had to be of a certain standard. Or those extracurriculars did not matter. But my mom called our notes, she called our spelling words, she studied with us, she made us study. So my advice to parents is just put your kids first, pour into them. I think the benefit of all the sacrifices she made, I could not have done it without her. If I had had a different person for my mom, I don't know that I'd be Dr. LaToya Dixon. But because she's my mom, I'm Dr. Latoya Dixon, she made me do it. And she always said, I want nothing but your best, whatever your best is. And she pushed us on that.

SPEAKER_06 44:55

Right. Okay, I want you to reflect back on when that may have been a very pivotal moment.

SPEAKER_03 45:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 45:01

In your journey. But see, you already knew what your purpose was, kind of though. But it still may be like a pivotal moment. Like there's anyone like in our family, or just anybody is listening, our viewers out there in the audience that are like a pivotal point in life, like they at a crossroads. What kind of advice would you give to them as far as not giving up? Like what should they do? What steps should they take?

SPEAKER_03 45:25

Number one is it's never too late. It's never too late. Doesn't matter how old you are, what's happened in the past, why you believe you can or cannot do something, if you have a dream, chase it with everything you have. So it's never too late. Number two is get deeply rooted in your purpose. I love education, I love teaching school, I have loved all the jobs I've had. I I adore the job I have right now. I love working in York School District One. I worked in all in three of the four school districts in this county, and I absolutely love my job in Fort Mill School District. But overall, my purpose, my overarching purpose is to just pour myself out and help people, to give to people and to serve. Leadership is serving.

SPEAKER_05 46:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 46:36

You're working for someone else, watching other people build themselves up, build their capacity, go for it, get better, encourage. So so number one would be, you know, knowing it's not too late. Number two, get rooted in your purpose. And then number three, which I think is very, very important. And I think a lot of young people, when I say young people, I'm talking about ages 20 to 35. Overlook is be careful with your circle. Surround yourself with the right people. Choose your circle. Well, I have a very small circle. It's very small. I know a lot of people. But you have to be careful. Peer pressure does not end when you are 18. It is not a teenage thing. It is a lifetime thing. So you have to choose your circle wisely because people, you either become like them or they become like you. So find the people who are doing the things that you want to do and connect with them. Connections help you or they hurt you.

SPEAKER_06 47:51

Okay. A question came to my mind, but now since you say that, I want to say this. The whole keeping your circle small. And a couple of my friends have tried to like, we be talking. I'd be like, so-and-so are gonna be in town. I was like, but I'm not gonna ask them to do the podcast. Why? You should do don't do that. Like, bro, our friendship is very important to me. I don't wanna, you know, us to fall out over this because this is something that I discern within my spirit. I'm not scared to ask anybody to be on my podcast or ask anybody anything. You know what I'm saying? And um, I had to just tell them, like, yo, stop because my mental health is number one. I'm not about to sit here and go back and forth with you about this.

SPEAKER_02 48:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 48:41

And it's not about me going viral. I'll talk about things that are viral. I mean, I'm sorry, that may go viral, but I'm not like, okay, hold on. Like going down, like I don't know why I was gonna say Roller decks, because I don't own no Rolodex, but I'm not like online looking or going to Chat GPT saying who should I interview to talk or talk to so I can go viral. Yeah, that's not what it is, man.

SPEAKER_02 49:02

No, it's not.

SPEAKER_06 49:03

But shout out to them, they know who they all love them dearly. My brothers, man. But like, it'd be stuff like that, man. It'd be funny, man. Especially one recently, uh, it gives me it gave me anxiety. I was we was talking, and I'm like, what is you doing?

SPEAKER_02 49:18

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 49:20

Like I love a good idea now, yeah. And I love constructive criticism. Yeah, but don't try to like dictate or tell me, like, misguide me. Yeah, although you may have good intentions, obviously, you do, you wouldn't even be in my circle, right? But out of respect, just stop because I'm doing something. This is bigger than me. Yeah, like you said, it's for the future generations.

SPEAKER_03 49:39

Right. You know, authenticity is an important part of that circle. You have to run into people who are genuine and authentic, yeah, genuine and authentic in their love and in their care and in how they relate to you. Uh, you know, I was talking about my circle being small. Well, my two sisters are number one, those are my best friends in the whole world. They got me. I know no matter what, they got me. Right behind them would be my college roommates. Uh, those are my A1s, day ones. Those are the people that love LaToya for LaToya. Not Dr. Dixon. They they have known me since I was 18 years old. They know me inside and out. It's not tran there's nothing in their relationship that's transactional. Because when I hear you talking about that, I hear, you know, hey, I got an idea for this. They just sometimes people have to catch up to your purpose. They have to catch up to where you are. So you gotta recognize that.

SPEAKER_06 50:40

Thank you. I mean, I was even like, yo, you can start your own podcast, go do a post. I'm gonna do me.

SPEAKER_02 50:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 50:49

I was so serious. Yeah, it was like the ascent of wrath, man. I'm like, man, yo, what are you doing right now?

SPEAKER_02 50:54

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 50:54

I'm not playing. Um, it was something else that came to mind, cousin. Yes, exactly. So, you know, like on interviews or podcasts or whatever, people be like, if you could go back to your two-day show, how about this? Yeah, if you could go back to when I was 18 or 17, about to go out to Clemson, because I never taught. That's what should have happened. Yeah, well, my mama. But I really wish like I would have sat down with all of y'all, yeah, and got a little bit of guidance from y'all. Yeah, but if you could, if we could go back and you could talk to me as I was like 17, about to go out to because I went 2003, I graduated from Northwestern High School. Yeah, that summer session. I went into the engineering, whatever that program was where I was in the shoeboxes.

SPEAKER_03 51:36

The engineer peer something like that.

SPEAKER_06 51:38

Something like that.

SPEAKER_03 51:38

It was something, but um, they don't even have shoeboxes anymore.

SPEAKER_06 51:42

I was in Bennett, okay, but and that's what so that's the program I was put in, but like not even that, back to purpose. Like, I didn't have a good sense of purpose. So, what would you have said to me to give me some advice?

SPEAKER_03 51:54

There's there's something I talk about all the time when I talk to people because I believe in it, and it's called the power of one, because one decision, one action, one question, one interaction, one reaction can change your entire life. And I would have talked to you about decision making, quality decision making, making decisions that were aligned not for tomorrow, but for your future, for right now, in this moment, when you're 40 something years old, I would have talked to you about that. Because that is what kept me locked in, man. I was chasing, I was chasing a dream. I was chasing a dream and I didn't have any idea if the dream was guaranteed, but I was sure that if I could stay focused and disciplined, and sometimes that meant being alone. Sometimes that meant saying no when everybody else is going to do X, I'm gonna go do Y. And being okay with that, being comfortable in yourself to say, you know what, y'all do that, have fun, I'll catch y'all on the on the flip side. Being okay with that. I've always been that person. I'm gonna do my thing. And I think that's probably what I would have said to you. Stay focused. Um, don't forget the power of one. One decision change your whole life.

SPEAKER_06 53:32

Yeah, don't drink and drive.

SPEAKER_03 53:34

Yes, definitely. I definitely would have told you that.

SPEAKER_06 53:37

It's like they told me. Well, you could have changed your major to that. So absolutely right. I mean, I want I wouldn't I live a long time on my life pointing fingers at other people.

SPEAKER_03 53:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 53:45

But thank God that now I'm looking in the mirror.

SPEAKER_03 53:47

It's a new day.

SPEAKER_06 53:48

It's a brand new day.

SPEAKER_03 53:49

It's a brand new day, and the sun is shining on the body.

SPEAKER_06 53:51

I'm about to say, and that horizon looking kind of good out there.

SPEAKER_03 53:54

It's looking kind of good, ain't it? Hey, I'm excited. If you want to go study marine biology, it's not too late.

SPEAKER_06 53:59

Right?

SPEAKER_03 54:00

It's not too late.

SPEAKER_06 54:01

Matter of fact, I ain't gonna say, but I might uh go scuba diving one day. You ever been scuba diving or snorkeling?

SPEAKER_03 54:08

I've been snorkeling. I love snorkeling a long, long time ago. It was beautiful. Man, scuba diving, that's a no for me. I'm risk averse. So, like skydiving, scuba diving, I don't want to do any of that. Right. I mean, a roller coaster at this age is like that's about as far as I take it.

SPEAKER_04 54:29

I think I'm done with that too.

SPEAKER_03 54:31

I haven't ridden one of the things. I wrote Fury. How was it?

SPEAKER_04 54:34

It was cool.

SPEAKER_03 54:35

You like it? I liked it. Was it scary? You know, Big Hill, Steep.

SPEAKER_06 54:41

Yeah. It was a little scary. It was a couple years back. But I mean, I wrote a couple times, but I'm like, man, I ain't going out like this. I'd have been bit shot. Did you ever watch Nightmare on M Street back back in the day? Freddie? It was like Freddie Kruger? Yeah, it was one episode. He be like, they tried burning me. They chop off one of his fingers. They tried putting the holy water on me. But anyway, I'd have been through a lot, and other people have as well. Uh, we all have our own trials and tribulations, but um I'm not going out by uh a roller coaster breaking down.

SPEAKER_02 55:16

No, getting stuck on it. No, no, it ain't happening.

SPEAKER_06 55:20

And honestly, I look at it like this. I'm being very sincere and humble when I say this. People out here depending on me. And what's crazy, I thought about this earlier. They not even realize it or have acknowledged the fact that they depended on me or what I'm gonna do for the community.

SPEAKER_03 55:33

That gives you purpose.

SPEAKER_06 55:35

It's my purpose. That gives you purpose. This is my purpose. I'm so grateful that I found it and that you're a part of it. We family, we're building. We get we're gonna build because we're gonna make some changes out here for the positive out here. Lock in, all the way locked in. All right, you was locked in at such an early age. That's so awesome. Shout out to Aunt Linda again, man. Yeah, she was at uh Dale's wedding.

SPEAKER_02 55:52

Yeah, she told me she saw you.

SPEAKER_06 55:54

Yeah, shout to uh broham. I talked to him last night. Proud of him.

SPEAKER_03 55:59

You should be, yeah. But uh he went to Wake Forest, right?

SPEAKER_06 56:03

Yeah, yeah. He's a demon deacon.

SPEAKER_03 56:05

Demon Deacon, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:06

Yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_06 56:07

Doing good things. He said he's gonna do uh do the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 56:10

Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_06 56:11

Hopefully, he'll be in town within the next couple weeks or months rather. They have like a Thompson family reunion. Did you play any uh ball in college?

SPEAKER_03 56:19

No, I played intramurals every year. We won a championship in intermirals at Clemson, my sophomore junior and senior year. Uh one of my I lived in Calhoun Courts. Oh yeah. So one of my apartment mates, uh, she's from York. She played basketball. We we were on the same intramural team. And uh, but no, I wish I could have played ball in college. Number one, I wasn't good enough, and number two, I'm too short. I didn't get any of the height gene and the chisholm side. I mean, you had on both sides though.

SPEAKER_06 56:48

I ain't do nothing with it.

SPEAKER_03 56:50

Your mom and dad are tall.

SPEAKER_06 56:52

Yeah. Yeah, she was uh pretty good in in York when she played. Her and my cousin Mooney, Mooney Talworth. Um, but yeah, I had thought about walking up to the football team. For real.

SPEAKER_03 57:04

Thought about it, but did you play football in Northwestern? Yeah, I didn't realize that.

SPEAKER_06 57:09

Yeah, I had quit my senior year and came back on the team. I talked to Coach Wallace about it on the podcast. I hadn't released it yet. Shout out to Moose Wallace.

SPEAKER_03 57:15

What position did you play?

SPEAKER_06 57:17

Tight end and receiver.

SPEAKER_03 57:18

Tight end and wide receiver.

SPEAKER_06 57:20

Yeah. It's funny, man, because I was number 84 and I quit and I lost my number and I came back as 46. And yesterday when I was going through the boxes of pictures, I found like the magazine or like the little booklet of our team that year, 2002. That's the year we went to state. No, we went to state my left grade year. But anyway, yeah, I was in uh number 46, man.

SPEAKER_02 57:40

Did you like it? Did you like football?

SPEAKER_06 57:42

I love football. Like JV year, I loved it. And then varsity junior year. I was like, uh, kind of going through the motions. Yeah. Then a senior. I didn't, I quit. Like I said, I quit. But yeah, I loved it. JV, then I lost interest. But you know. As young men, you know, you find other things that you're interested in. Yeah. I mean, it is what it is. Chasing tail, smoking weed.

SPEAKER_03 58:08

So unfocused.

SPEAKER_06 58:10

Unfocused, no purpose. But I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna say this is an interesting story, man. Shout back back to Matthew Jordan draws out of Seneca. I remember like one night, man, he was walking around his parents' neighborhood. He was looking up at the stars, like, yo, you go to Clemson, start a business. And at that point, like, I didn't really have my own purpose and own business mindset really established like he did, as far as I didn't know what I wanted to do for my own business. And that myself, I was just thinking about like, okay, we can do it together. But um, yeah, he he he has a successful business, like I said, selling boats and stuff like that. But it's awesome that like now we can collaborate.

SPEAKER_02 58:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 58:56

Think back. We haven't done a podcast yet. I was actually supposed to go down there this past weekend, but uh, we're gonna do something probably uh the end of June. But I'm gonna go down there and everything and you know, highlight this business, get out on the lake, get some beautiful video videography going with the lake, and you know what I'm saying? Highlight his business and do a podcast. And yeah, just show the world like it is possible from being in high school, walking around looking up at the stars, talking to your homeboy, fast forward, just like you found your purpose earlier. He found his purpose earlier, and now call me a late bloomer or whatever, if you will. I don't give a damn why it's a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_03 59:33

It is really beautiful.

SPEAKER_06 59:34

I wasn't ready. I had to go through what I went through. I ain't gonna twist it off because I don't want to be like, oh, I'm not playing victim on nothing. Because what is I take ownership in everything I did because it was me in my own way making decisions to do whatever I was doing to you know, put myself through what I went through, the uh the ring where you have it, uh the gauntlet.

SPEAKER_03 59:51

Once you're ready, once you're ready, yeah, it's like this fire inside you, right? Yeah, and you can't, there's nothing you can do to like stoke it or to to dampen it.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:03

You can't extinguish it.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:04

You can't extinguish it.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:05

Undeniable.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:06

It's undeniable. You can feel it when you wake up in the morning.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:10

I feel it every time I have these conversations, and then this is different though, because like we got we shed blood. You're my first cousin, yeah. And we've been like I said, deep roots are not reached by the uh frost. That's why I said that at the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:22

That's right.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:22

Maybe not a mic drop moment with the sun, but I mean, I'm just out here connecting dots because yeah, and I you gotta know who you are, and you gotta know who you are. You gotta know where you came from, you gotta know who you are.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:34

That's part of knowing who you are, knowing where you came from. You know, our grandmother, my mama, and your daddy's mama, she had a sixth grade education, and two of her grandchildren sitting here, both college educated. That's where we came from. Generations to come. That's where we came from.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:57

Hey, did you know granddaddy?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:59

Yeah, I saw him a couple times.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:00

Yeah, I only saw him a couple times.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:02

I didn't have a relationship with him. I'm gonna ask you to go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:05

He was a tall, he was a tall man too.

unknown 1:01:07

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:08

Uncle Howard was real tall.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:09

Real tall.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:11

Let me ask you this. Do you have any knowledge or and we can edit this out if you want to, about um our great-grandfather Jacob Chisholm, who had all that land out there? Yes, I have to. He was found dead on the whole wreck or something. They said the mule spooked him or something like that. Can can you, I don't know. What do you know about that or what is your?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:28

Mama called him Pappy. Mama called him Pappy, and she said he used to come to their house and give him pecans. And he owned like 400 and something acres of land out there in the country. And uh supposedly he was a young man when a mule spooked him and ended up killing him. They found him in the field. But Pappy had some. I I don't know how Pappy got his land. I don't know how he got his land, but he had a lot of land. Um, you know, somebody said one time at a Chisholm family reunion that at one time the Chisholms owned, I forget how much of Rock Hill, but they owned a bunch of a bunch of land in Rock Hill. You know, we still got family that live out there on the land. Yeah, Mama used to talk about Pappy.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:16

Yeah, it's just uh I was talking to Uncle John.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:19

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:20

And the whole mule spooking. Yeah, I guess I got the skeptical hippo eyes on that cuz because they wanted that land. He was surrounded by the people that own Holland. Yes, Zinkler, Zinkler with an L whatever, silent on, you know, Zinkle Road, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:34

Holland, Zinkler. There was Chisholm Road over there. Yeah. And then am I missing one? It was four. Holland Churchill, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:42

Yeah. You know the house they grew up in still standing. It's still right there. Where they grew up. It's the same house they grew up in.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:52

The Derbies ended up with it, huh?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:54

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:55

I want to know what happened to my great-granddaddy. I don't buy the whole like the mules were spooked.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:02

You don't think that's true?

SPEAKER_06 1:03:03

I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:04

It don't sit right, especially after talking to Uncle John. If you have a conversation, talk to him and see what he, you know, pick up on what he's putting out.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:11

Like maybe we should try to find that out.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:14

That's what that's that's what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:17

We only just be gone to live.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:21

Hey. I hope y'all sharing these clips that I'm putting out and uh telling people about this podcast because I'm not playing. And uh I'm doing it for the community, for the future of the community, our children, and the the children to come. And uh I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, complaining. I still complain. But I like to have conversations with you know people that actually have educational backgrounds. And um, thank God I have the gift to at least hold a conversation with these people because I don't know what I'm doing. Um actually I do. So please share these clips that I'm putting out. Talk to your friends and family. Um, a few about it, about the movement, you know, the real deal. Holyfield is going down.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:08

So you do you feel like you're more flexible?

SPEAKER_06 1:04:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:12

I'm more flexible now. You know what? I don't even like so I I I ain't been in Asuna for about a month and a half now, and I'm going crazy because I got attached to it.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:20

Did you go to the sauna?

SPEAKER_06 1:04:21

I used to all the time, but I got a couple tattoos now, so I can't I can't go and I'm going crazy because I miss it so much. Um, what was you talking about?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:30

I was asking you about flexibility.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:32

Oh, yeah. So in Asana, like I would like, you know what I'm saying? Like, you know, you like took like feet together, touch the toes. Like, I was like, I was putting like my foot, my toe, damn, my toes would be in here, like in my flip-flop, like my sandals in the sana. That's how flexible I become. But see, I don't stretch like that no more because doing jujitsu, I've learned like that ain't a good stretch to do before jujitsu at least. I don't even like stretch like that no more, as far as that goes. But yeah, it definitely takes flexibility, and the only way you get that is like to do it more often in the yoga compliments as well. I haven't done yoga in a while, but I mean I have stretching purposes. I haven't taken a yoga class in a while, though. Okay. Yeah, so I got the mats and uh, you know what I'm saying, train your little cousin. Hey, back see, I'm gonna get fired up thinking about that bullying thing, man. But yeah, I think what do you think about that? Like, we could talk more about jujitsu in other times, like off camera, but um, giving kids confidence, humbling them, like bully it, it kind of wipes out bullying. It's not gonna eradicate it, but bullying would definitely be decreased. I wish there could be a school in the public school systems. Is that possible to have that jujitsu? Yeah, like a little basic class for the middle class for kids so they can get humble and quit bullying each other.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:42

Well, I'm sure there's a liability with that kids getting hurt, you know, all of that.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:46

But uh it's a liability for kids coming to school with guns about it. And then liabilities, I mean, okay. Well, yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I hit a break wild with that one. Like I said, I don't know what I'm doing. I just got ideas, and honestly, I Believe in my ideas, obviously, there's some good ones in there floating around in my brain. If you got a dream chase it, yeah, but see, that's what I'm saying. Like, instead of talking about it, complaining, yeah. And shout out to Bianca Sheva's white man up there at Over Point Elementary.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:16

Is that where your daughter goes? I used to work at that school.

unknown 1:06:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:20

Oh, by the way, we got uh I got glory daughter worked up there.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:23

So that's another uh another cousin, another family member that was educated or is one currently.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:29

Yeah, and I know I know Bianca Shivers White.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:31

Yeah, I want to say shout out to her and her shout out to her and the vice principal, man. Um they up there really hands-on and they the village mentality. I said that on the another podcast, but I love them. Um but like I'm saying, like, instead of complaining and all that, like, you know, I have to advocate for my daughter and for all the other kids out here. So yeah, I'll be teaching her jujitsu. I don't want to put, I do not the last thing I want to do is put a done like a uh what do you call it, like flashlight, but a shining, you know, beam on my daughter. Like, I don't want her to have attention like that. And what I'm doing, obviously, people gonna know who she is. I'm just lyrical miracle LLC. I saw that thing for God's sake. Shout out to her. Um, 10 years old, I can't believe it. But um, but yeah, like, so there's no bragging. This is just, oh, this is uh uh a father. He just like talking. Okay, so he's advocate for bullying. I remember seeing him and he was talking about he was selling a sponsorship or trying to sell some sponsorship tickets and talking about a podcast, talking about an anti-bully pro-Jiu Jitsu campaign. Like, I'm really doing it. I got a mat. And I taught Lyric how to do a real naked choke recently. She popped my neck. So I gotta teach her, hey, don't, don't, hey, don't kill your daddy. Like, let's let's slow down. So give me a chance to tap before my neck pops up, please, sweetheart.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:53

What's the tap mean? It means stop.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:55

Like, I give up. Okay. That's one thing about jujitsu I love. It's a liability, but as far as like any type of like training goes, in my opinion, I'm not an expert, white belt, obviously, but um, it's the safest, in my opinion, because you can tap. And nobody up in that gym where I'm at, like, we ain't trying to hurt each other, we just trying to help it teach each other, become better human beings every day. Shout out to uh Joey Dean. Um, that's my coach. And shout out to everybody up in there. Uh, but seriously, like teaching her. Like, don't mess with my daughter, man. Don't mess with nobody's daughter. Teach your kids not to mess with each other. Be like you said, teach them how to be nice to each other, and we gotta teach kids how to beat people. The golden road. How to be good people, yes, good human beings, yeah, and it starts on the mess, and it can start in team sports and other endeavors as well, but you have to have the kids in some type of extracurricular activity.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:45

That I think is very important.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:47

Something that builds that confidence and like kills the ego. Yeah, that's what we need to do. We need to try to kill kids' egos early, and uh that way we don't have not saying, like I say, it's gonna stop all violence or bad people, bad seeds or planet, unfortunately. Yeah, mental health issues, yeah. That's why I'm having these conversations. I'm trying to like, I'm trying to capture all that shit.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:09

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:11

Excuse my language. Um but I'm serious, and that's what I'm on to. Like, I'm on to something because yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:17

I think extracurriculars are crucial. I think they're crucial for for kids. I think you gotta be involved in something. I like to think of it as academics plus one. You need something to do other than you know, you don't if you don't have something to do, a lot of times you end up in something shouldn't be in. So finding something productive and positive, if it's Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, sports, whatever it is, gardening, whatever it is, you know, you need something to do. I was always involved in extracurricular. I was on student council every year. I played basketball all the way through school. I ran track in the seventh and eighth grade. I wasn't a big fan of track. Uh I played softball my senior year. Only because Northwestern got a girls' soccer team for the first time in the history of the school. And so half the softball team went to play soccer. And the softball coach was my basketball coach, and so she got a couple of us that played basketball to come play softball. But I I had fun. It was, you know, it was something to do. But uh I needed those extra curriculas. I still have them, like, you know, I had my own podcast that I make, and I write a leadership letter every day.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:34

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Let's go back. Let's let's go back to your podcast. What's the name of your podcast?

SPEAKER_03 1:10:40

Leadership with La Toya.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:42

What's it about?

SPEAKER_03 1:10:43

It's all about leadership. It's about what it takes to be a great leader. I share my experiences. Um, I invite people on, talk to them about their experiences. I think about how I can get better, how I can help other people get better every day as a leader. Because that's what I'm trying to do every day. Get better.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:05

I want to help you. You helping me right now. Um I have a mixer that I could I could give you. You can you can use microphones?

SPEAKER_03 1:11:15

Yeah, I have microphones, but you you gotta teach me how to do it.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:19

It's a different one, but honestly, it's only for a two-person.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:25

Mine, I the one I have is uh it's pretty good. The guy at Best Buy sold it to me. I think so.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:30

You have a physical mixer? I thought you said you only had a software.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:33

No, no, I have a physical okay. It's a like a box thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:38

You hook up a couple mics to it. Yep. Two.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:40

Okay, you can.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:41

I'm still getting in getting to I'm still learning it, but that's not stopping me. I've been recording since 2017.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:47

Well, I need to start listening to um tell people how they can uh find your podcast, including myself, so I can go ahead and like it's on Apple. It's on Apple.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:55

It's on Spotify, it's on Apple. Leadership with Latoya.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:57

Yeah. Given that I'm a leader, right? I I need to listen to my cousin because I can get some some gems and some wisdom and some guidance from her. You know what I'm saying? That's what we're doing out here, man. Roots to branches.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:09

Roots to branches.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:10

Episode one, the uh the Dappen Herb podcast. Thank y'all for listening.