Today we’d like to introduce you to Le’Otis Boswell Johnson.
Hi Le’Otis, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am originally from West Palm Beach, Fl where at a young age I developed a desire to become an attorney. To be honest, some days when I reflect back on my childhood, I am still kind of amazed that I’ve been able to accomplish as much as I have been. I have a lot of friends from my neighborhood or school who never made it out of the city. I truly credit much of my success to my amazing family who consistently poured into and made sure I knew that I was not limited by my current circumstances. For college I decided to attend Florida State University, and through a very round about way, discovered I had a passion for service, mentoring, and working with youth. The organization is based off of seven core values – Visionary Goal Setting, Self-Determination, Presentation, Accountability, Integrity, Positive Emotion Expression, and Respect for Women – in which we create interactive and introspective activities to foster an inspiring environment where the young men can push themselves as well as each other to defy stereotypes and break boundaries. The work we’ve been able to do within these past five years have been challenging and at times heart breaking, but most of all our kids motivate and inspire us to continue to move forward to strengthen and broaden our impact. My most important goal with this work is to allow young men color to see that they are truly capable of. I want to create a space that my childhood friends and classmates needed.
I moved to Houston in 2018 to attend law school at Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University. Throughout my time in law school I balanced my responsibilities of being a student as well as running an organization from afar. I was able to host different workshops and introduce the work of SOS to the city in different schools in these past three years. Before Covid, we were in the process of planning to launch an official chapter of the organization here but things of course had to be put on pause. Now that I have graduated and am on the brink of starting my legal career, one of my top goals is to open a chapter in order to serve the multiple different kids, from a variety of backgrounds, that I have had the pleasure of working with. Even though I have been doing this work for about five years now, I really feel like I am just getting started. I’m not only be the first in my family to graduate college, but also the first lawyer in my family, so I’m without a doubt excited to see what other first I will be able to accomplish.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Not at all; these few years have definitely been a journey for me both with SOS and personally. One thing about working with kids is that they have a very special way of pulling at your heartstrings. Because of the population of youth we work with, they are faced with a number of different adversities from academic to community and family. When you do work as personal as ours, your kids hurt, worries, and fears become your own. We also work with high school age kids, so usually by that time, they have experienced enough of life to build some type of wall in order to make it through their day to day. The hardest part of our work is that we have to get these boys to trust us, then help them unlearn any unhealthy or dangerous things they might have picked up, and then introduce and teach them something more healthy. We see it as tearing the wall brick by brick, then helping them build a stronger structure. We’ve also had kids that we unfortunately lost to the juvenile system or who were so far back academically by the time they joined that they ultimately didn’t finish.
At the beginning of our operation, my partner and I did not have any formal training on building and developing a program like this. We just saw a need and had a passion to make an impact. There was a lot of on the job learning, mistakes made, and growth needed. We actually put the organization on pause for a time in order to try and strengthen our understanding of the work we loved to do.
On top of running the organization and the multiple teams through the years, the two of us were also in the beginning parts of trying to make sense of our lives. I graduated college, worked for a nonprofit, and then eventually started law school. My partner had a similar post-grad journey and is now on her journey to get her Masters, and eventually her PhD in Clinical Psychology. There were definitely moments of self-doubt and questioning whether we were actually making an impact or even qualified to do the work. Sometimes it felt like it was us against a mountain of reasons to stop going.
It’s a special kind of challenge trying to teach kids and other young adults how to navigate through their insecurities, worries, and trauma when you yourself are trying to do the same. But, thanks to our kids and everyone who believes in us and our work, we continue to move forward in making impacts in as many kids’ lives as we possibly can. I had to become very intentional about my growth and healing because I started to see the effect my struggles were having on the people connected to me.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Sons of Sophistication, Inc. (SOS) is a non-profit mentoring organization that is dedicated to advancing the lives of young minority men. Our mission is to give young men the tools they need to not only to conquer the world, but to leave their footprint amongst society. Our goal is to foster an inspiring environment, where young men can push themselves as well as each other to defy stereotypes and break boundaries. We write and implement curriculum based off of social-emotional learning strategies. Our organization partners with schools and/or community organizations in order to help create this one of a kind environment that young men can be free to grow and learn.
I am most proud of the accomplishments of our program graduates. We have college grads, artists, entrepreneurs, and young men reaching heights that they never thought possible. The world has painted an image and set expectations for so many of our young men, and to see them continuously want and do better will forever be inspiring.
The biggest thing that sets our program apart is our model of mentoring. We believe in very intentional and personal mentoring. While we challenge our young men to be their best selves, we also push and challenge our mentors to do the same thing. We understand the needs of young men of color and the gaps that many are trying to fill. Our program helps them build the bridge they need to make it over that gap so they can become who they truly desire.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
My advice to anyone starting up any type of business or organization is to follow your heart and take time to invest into their vision. Study the craft and the industry that they desire to enter. Spend time under others in the field and build genuine relationship with people in the industry. Also, one of the most important things is to put together a strong and dependable team to help bring your vision to life.
I wish we had a better understanding of how to structure and run a nonprofit when we were starting. Things such as fundraising, building and leading a team, and a lot of things dealing with running a nonprofit was foreign to us in the beginning. To be honest, our first year we moved purely out of passion and did what was necessary for our kids. While that set a good foundation, we learned a lot through trial and error.
I’m a firm believer in when you’re moving in your purpose, your gift will make room for you. I never expected to be a blessing or have such an impact on anyone when I was a kid in Palm Beach with dreams to leave the city. I’m still in disbelief sometimes when I people tell me what my work has meant to them. With that being said, my most important word of advice is don’t let your insecurities or doubts limit the impact you’re able to have through your work. What you do is exactly what someone needs.
Contact Info:
- Email: Sonsofsophistication@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.sosmentoring.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sos_mentoring
