AAALAC 🌟 Celebrating an Inspirational Queen for International Women's History Month! 🌟 Lateshia Shanette Lane

 

 👑 Celebrate the amazing Queen, Lateshia Shanette Lane, for International History Month! From a young girl in Valdosta, GA to a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist in Atlanta, Lateshia's journey is truly inspiring. She overcame challenges, beat Covid-19, and is now empowering women with her self-development book club. Let's honor her resilience and dedication to making a difference in the world! #Queen #Empowerment #Philanthropy #InternationalHistoryMonth #Inspiration 🌟👏📚

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Lateshia Shanette Lane is a proud native of Valdosta, GA. She prides herself on being the beautiful daughter of Wanda Denson, a philanthropist and founder of Servants of God with Open Arms and the late Dewitt Collins. Lateshia is the proud mother of Jamaal and Jacary Lane and grandmother of  her little prince charming Lamaaj Lane.  She is honored to be a former student and Alumni of Valdosta High School and a product of the Valdosta City School System, also known as the home of the Mighty Wildcats and Title town USA. She has always enjoyed giving her time to the community of Valdosta,  beginning with her first job at the age of 14 years old at the Valdosta Food Pantry where she sorted canned goods and nonperishable food items for families in need in conjunction with the JTPA teen work program. Lateshia was nurtured in a single-family household where she learned from her mother at an early age that when you work hard, life will afford you opportunities to play harder. As a young girl, Lateshia always aspired to be an advocate for change.

 As a change agent, she began her college career at Valdosta State University, where she pursued an English Degree in Secondary Education. She began her educational career as a Paraprofessional in the Lowndes County School System. She enjoyed being able to explore all facets of becoming a Middle School Teacher. It was during this time, that Latshia partnered with the Raintree Children’s Village to become the resident hairstylist for the girls in the group home and became a beauty and self-esteem mentor for the girls. After building a great bond with the girls at the group home, she realized how much she was instrumental in the enhancement of the girl’s self-esteem. This motivated her to pursue a hidden passion of becoming a Licensed Master Cosmetologist. Lateshia completed her Master of Cosmetology education at the Valdosta Academy of Beauty Culture as the Valedictorian of her class, under the Leadership of Hassan Rashadeen and Timothy Riley, both Certified Master Cosmetologist Instructors. Lateshia didn’t just stop there; she prides herself on being the first grandchild in her family to become a business owner. As an entrepreneur, Lateshia lead a very successful business by offering job opportunities to other hairstylists and barbers in the city of Valdosta. She prides herself on  having one of the first Black beauty salons to participate in the Annual Valdosta Christmas parade with a semi-float that exhibited a Mock Salon and Models that Vogued the entire route. 

Lateshia has always thrived on being a trailblazer for the beauty industry and community at large. She always dared to never be confined in a box or circle and found ways to go over and beyond the norm. Lateshia, being married at the time, relocated to Atlanta, GA with her family where she would embark a new atmosphere to save a category 5 marriage and fulfill her destiny. After less than 2 years she realized that hopes for a healthy marriage was at the end of its rope. After Divorcing her kids’ father and becoming a domestic violence survivor, she began the quest to direct her energies toward nurturing children during this season of change and helping them become involved in philanthropy work. 

Lateshia Later endeavored to obtain her Certification as a Master Cosmetologist Instructor. She is proud of her experience as a Beauty Professional Platform Stylist and Educator. She has shared her talents in front of thousands of women during the Atlanta Black Family Expo. This Expo was showcased the gifts of many Blacks in the areas of beauty, entrepreneurship, food business, black authors for children and adults, ethnic designers, and financial literacy.   Lateshia loves to educate women on healthy hair care, product knowledge, and self-esteem awareness. She has also partnered with Hosea Helps, Non-profit organization founded by the late Hosea Williams, Civil Rights Leader, Activist.  This partnership allowed her to share her beauty expertise by grooming the homeless women population of Atlanta, GA with trending hairstyles and many words of motivation and inspiration. She has been Interviewed on several occasions by the Local News Stations in Atlanta for her philanthropy work. 

Lateshia is a former member of the National 100 Black Women of Atlanta, Dekalb Chapter. She is honored to have been a member of a model chapter that focused on women empowerment in the strategic areas of, Economic Empowerment, Health and Wellness, Public Policies and Procedures and Public Relations, and Education. During her time of philanthropy work, she reminisces on the opportunity of being able to deliver letters to the office of Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House at the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic. These letters outlined and detailed the issues that plagued black women across the United States of America. After a Life-threatening crisis being hospitalized with Covid-19, Lateshia, a warrior for change, beat the odds of Covid -19 after an extensive hospital stay. It was during this illness that she received divine enlightenment that women in our society were dealing with an all-time high plight of self esteem issues, mental health, and the lack of self love. During her recovery, she set out to create a safe space for women to meet virtually that would allow them to have a safe haven, to know that they matter,  their voices matter, and that true inner beauty exudes from within. This safe place has become a place of self-development. After much thought and careful planning, Lateshia created a self-development book club that would allow women to become the best version of themselves from the inside out and beat their best yet.

 In the Fall of 2023, Lateshia found herself at a crossroads of life when death separated her from her lifelong Mentor and God mom, Mrs. Irene Godfrey Miller. This unexpected and sudden loss became the second most heartbreaking encounter in her life. She continues to grieve this loss daily. Lateshia always knew to be absent in the body was to be present with the Lord, and her season had finally come to an end with a woman that helped mold and change the trajectory of her life in becoming a Philanthropist. Her mentor taught her to live life to the fullest, and in the end, there would be no regrets; however, Lateshia had one regret, and that was not becoming the founder of two organizations that were dear to her heart and the heart of her mentor.

 Lateshia did not make her deadline to create a non-profit organization for Women and Domestic Violence. Instead of falling prey to her grief, it stoked a fire that caused her to keep busy focusing on creating two nonprofit organizations registered in the State of Georgia.  As of October, 2023, Lateshia became the founder of S.I.S.T.A.S. R.E.A.D. Book Club Inc., which consists of women across the nation. The organization went public in January of 2024.  I.R.E.N.E.S. Against Domestic Violence, Inc. organization will go public in the second quarter of 2024. Lateshia’s favorite inspirations in life are “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you learn better, you are accountable for doing better,” and “How you do anything, is how you do everything.”