First Ladies of Poverty Foundation Mentor Shatoyia Jones: Strategic Planning for Personal, Professional & Leadership Development; Mindset Transformation & Confidence Building; Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck, Goal Setting x Accountability, Internal/Exte

Name: Shatoyia Jones

Home-state: Louisiana, currently residing in Massachusetts

Languages: English and Spanish

Occupation: Founder and CEO of the First Ladies of Poverty Foundation and By Way of Melanin TV; Educational Consultant; Lifestyle blogger and Writer, Leadership Development and Diversity and Inclusion Consultant, Success Coach for Women of Color

Website: Lifestyle Blog: La De La Paz; First Ladies of Poverty Foundation; Ordinary x Influence

Why I Started FLP: I am a born and raised Southern belle (Louisiana), and I always wanted to have the capacity to rise above my circumstances and be successful (live a life of peace, financial stability, travel, positive impact making---a life of choice and options). 

I grew up poor to say the least, in the sense where having material things was more important than paying bills on time--my parental figure working hard hours only to continue living paycheck to paycheck and having to ask favors to keep the lights on, food on the table and upkeep an image that was slowly crumbling with every child who left home to pursue a better life. I also grew up in an abusive home: physical, verbal and emotional (not going to get into specifics as I'm not looking for a pity party), and nothing I ever did was good enough. Though it's a joke where I come from, I self-harmed almost everyday. The racism (more like colorism) down South is very explicit and is embedded into the framework of even my culture. 

As a young woman of African descent, helping other women of African descent combat our unique obstacles, personally, professionally, financially, socially, historically and presently has always been a deep passion of mine. Growing up, I witnessed women of color work tirelessly just to put food on the table for their families and then pass away in debt, unfulfilled and haven't known what it means to truly enjoy life. I saw women of color poorly manage money and spend money like it was "burning a hole in their pockets" as we Southern folk say. 
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Strategic Planning for Personal, Professional & Leadership Development; Mindset Transformation & Confidence Building; Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck, Goal Setting x Accountability, Internal/External Peace

    As a person of African descent in America, I feel a duty to help us as a collective combat our unique obstacles in society that everyone else are either insensitive to or just don't care about. I witnessed and continue to witness the generational and historical effects of the lack of awareness (or desire to be aware) of how essential a supportive community, a mentor, education, and health is to escaping the mental and financial poverty we all grew up in. We all have dreams of being wealthy and living a high quality life, but we are not taught the fundamentals of stability and wealth building or how to navigate the system to get there, especially as people of color, and even more specifically, people of African descent in America. And allies are not taught how to effectively get involved and help make this knowledge and resources more accessible to diverse demographics.

​    Instead, we people of African descent are taught how to hustle and simply survive through conformity, compliance and silence with the threat of our jobs and families on the line if we do otherwise. We (minorities in general) have been taught how to navigate this world around our fears, and really, if we're being honest, the majority of what we are taught when we grow up in poverty is fear.

     As a result, we spend our entire lives serving that emotion. I am tired of seeing this cycle happen within communities of women of color and allies and to combat this cycle of generational poverty, I created the First Ladies of Poverty Foundation to serve as a resource hub and community for people of color looking to go from #StruggletoStability to step into and activate our potential for social advancement and financial wealth in America and around the globe.

What It is Like Working With Me

" I don't know everything. I know a fraction of what there is to know and I don't think I will ever know everything, but it's important to me to constantly challenge myself, to understanding different viewpoints, really understanding nuance in topics, so I can feel qualified in what I say, so I'm not preaching falsely of what I'm unaware of."
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​--  Yara Shahidi

     After you get a free consultation to see if you would be a great match for my program and vice versa, I would start off with getting to know each other, sharing stories and setting expectations.  I want to know your story and really understand who you are as an individual. We would then move forward with mindset development and habit shifting. Before we set any goals, it is important to me that I help you establish the most beneficial mindset to attain success and then we can start setting goals for your journey to a higher quality of living (personal, professional and financial development).

Communication is important to me, and I hope we would be able to establish a relationship of open communication--whether it be via e-mail, phone or video calls--to not only save time but to make sure we are on the same page. Ultimately, I genuinely want to see you succeed in life, supporting you through tough times and celebrating the victories (small and large) with you. I give tough love with a compassionate delivery so that you are held accountable to the goals and vision that you have set. I support you in choosing the right paths that work for YOU and your goals.

Skills I Offer + My Specialties

• Personal Development: Mindset transformation, character development, habit transformation, goal setting and accountability, Confidence Building, lifestyle transformation, community development and finding your support system, Inviting Peace Into Your Life

• Professional Development: Career assistance, resume writing, job search, content writing, qualification and experience building, job / internship search, job security development, Inviting Peace in Your Workplace / Workspace; For business building, I specialize in folks who want to build profitable online businesses that make a positive impact in the world or folks who would like to start a business with First Ladies of Poverty Foundation.

• Leadership: Public Speaking, Confidence Building, Community building, Diversity and Incluison, Making a Positive Impact, Poverty Alleviation, Project Development, etc. with a specialization in projects seeking to make a positive impact

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• Investment and Wealth Building: saving, budgeting, resources for financial building, starting a business or not-for-profit

What I am known for: achieving results in a short amount of time, expanding the worldview of my clients, connecting them to necessary resources, great listener who gives accurate, spot on advice, making stuff happen, making a way out of "no way", being serene and sunny, being sensitive to the unique obstacles of people of color on their journey to success >> Read testimonials

Articles by Shatoyia

• From Struggle to Stability
• Quarantine Relief: Community, Conversation and en-Couragement
• The Power of Community and Building Relationships

Watch My Show

Professional Bio

Diversity is the representation of a variety of audiences in culture, features, perspectives and beliefs.  Inclusion is the creation of a space where each individual is not only represented in being asked to sit at the table but also to be invited to influence the conversations, decisions made and opportunities to be had and received.
--Shatoyia Jones

Shatoyia Jones is a multi-faceted philosopher, diversity and inclusion leader, transformational (stability, fulfillment, peace and wealth) life mentor and public speaker and social systems educator.  With 13 years (and counting) of experience in the management and program development, cultural transformation and DEI / EDI / D&I industries, she was recently selected to serve as the sole project leader for Beyond El Campo literacy project in Costa Rica, Youth Engagement Specialist for Self/Dial AmeriCorps, Guest Workshop Host for Consortium for High Achieving Students of Color at Trinity College, Special Guest at MIT Innovation Conference & Harambe Seed Funding at Harvard Business. She has earned a strong reputation for being a visionary, forward-thinking and compassionate leader who doesn't quite believe in the "impossible" and was recently selected to provide press coverage for the following events: 3-day conference: Improving Outcomes for Students Living in Poverty and Trauma with the Collaborative for Educational Services, HerConference: Empower NYC with HerCampus, Power in Your Purse Awards and Business Fights Poverty NYC just to name a few (more listed under 'Awards and Accolades' on this page).  In 2019, she served as reigning Ms. Massachusetts 2019 AWOS and Miss Black America Mass 2018. 

As Founder and CEO of First Ladies of Poverty Foundation, she leads, engages and empowers a domestic and international team and key stakeholders to bring strategic thinking and insight to the complex experience of people of color with special focus to people of African descent and their journey to a higher quality of living in America and beyond. Ultimately, she hopes to create an ecosystem that rivals the systematic oppression that keeps hardworking, talented and qualified (sometimes overly so) individuals of color (esp. persons of African descent) from efficiently and effectively accessing, receiving and influencing opportunities/policies/workplace culture for a higher quality of living. Thanks to the creation of her public access show, By Way of Melanin​™ and By Way of Melanin​ TV™ which seeks to increase representation of and give a platform to creatives and artists with a passion for social justice, she facilitates difficult and heavy conversations such as this, serving as Executive Producer and Show Host. 

She also serves as Educational and Leadership Consultant for Crimson Education and mentor for Women Who Create.

Current Focus:  talk show hosting, educational leadership, entrepreneurial, community development and public service interests (and travel...lots and lots of travel)

​Her passion in life is to serve and empower impoverished and under-represented communities by connecting them to the necessary resources for success in spite of disparities caused by an unfair and unjust world. ​Ultimately, she hopes to continue her poverty research and create a universal framework for poverty alleviation while doing at the bare minimal, serving as a positive force to those she encounter.

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