Meet Shaquira Langley | Educator & Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shaquira Langley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shaquira, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
The thought process behind The Millennial Teacher Podcast and Tips for Teacher Apparel’s mission is to raise educator voices. Through both platforms, we are raising awareness for educators by connecting with millennial teachers, public figures, non-profits, and more. Education often gets overlooked, which is the primary reason I created both platforms, It’s critical for educators to be seen and heard.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My work is all things education! I am a 7th-year early childhood educator. Throughout my time I have been a resident teacher, lead teacher, mentor teacher, professional development speaker, and now on my own platform as an entrepreneur through The Millennial Teacher Podcast, My Children’s workbook, apparel line, and more I’m helping change the narrative for educators. I specialize in education as it is my passion to elevate teacher voices!

I’m most proud of the network I’ve been able to create through my platform. I’m able to give education and educators a voice as we are often overlooked. The trails from my residency year as a teacher lead to a beautiful platform that students, teachers, parents, and administrators can and have benefited from. What sets me apart from other education platforms is the topics I bring to light. The Millennial Teacher Podcast sheds light on hard-to-handle topics from leadership in education, microaggressions, single stories, student/parent perspectives, anti-racism, diversity and equity, and more. In addition to highlighting education voices, I also raise awareness of the unfairness that educators face through my apparel line Tips for Teachers Apparel.

Tips for Teachers Apparel’s mission is to raise awareness for educators. Our goal is to inform and inspire people all around the world through the power of our brand to recognize the hard work and dedication educators pour into the lives of our students. Our motto is “Raise the pay teachers might stay.”

My story has not been all sunshine and roses as one might think looking on the outside, I always tell others there is beauty in the struggle. I want people to know that my story is bigger than myself, I’m one out of many educators who are taking a stand for education, and being afforded the opportunity to speak on behalf of educators went from 10 or fewer listeners at the beginning to now over 2,000 plus listeners, public figure representation, news features, and more. I say all this to say never sit on the visions God brings to you, vision and provision go hand and hand however the process to see it enlarge takes time. Take your time, stay focused, and you will eventually see success. Most importantly your job title doesn’t dictate where you’re going and the impact you can make.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m a southern bell at heart so that means good food! We are starting with some good soul food at Nigel’s that will make you feel at home, walking it off on the beach at Isle of palms, refreshing up for dinner on the water for some seafood at the fleet landing, and waking up the next day to tour downtown charleston to learn some Gullah Geechee Culture on King Street.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Every single person in the education community deserves a shout out. The way us as educators have leaned on each through the up’s and down’s of the battles we face inside and outside the classroom that created a support system to see each other through has been a tribe that I can’t thank enough. In my early years as a first time teacher I vividly remember sharing my story with many educators and them having the same struggles, through that struggle built community, the community built the growth of The Millennial Teacher Podcast, charity drives, public figure representation, an apparel line, news features and more all because my voice was elevated through the community my platform built.

Website: https://www.tips4teachers.org/

Instagram: @Shaquira_ @tipsforteachersapparel_

Image Credits
Ricardo Rivers