I’d love to speak at your next event!

As a teacher and college instructor, I’ve spoken at small workshops. I’ve also made presentations at the University of Texas at San Antonio regarding my academic writing as well as my poetry. I’ve spoken at big conferences such as the Dallas Fort Worth Writers’ Conference twice, where I talked about how to publish with Chicken Soup for the Soul, and I also spoke as a Master Presenter at NISOD, the National Institute for Staff and Organization and Development, given each year at Austin. In addition, I presented at the South Central Writing Centers Association Conference in Corpus Cristi, and have asked to be the Main Speaker at Tyler Junior College’s chapter of Sigma Kappa Delta’s Spring Induction two years in a row. I was the Key Note Speaker at the East Texas English Language and Literature Conference in 2018, hosted at Angelina College in Lufkin, Texas.

Most of the time, I talk about writing, teaching, or the writing community. I also love speaking about Southern students in the classroom. As an Ed.D. student, my dissertation focuses on working-class, female, first generation students and their unique struggles in higher education.

No matter what topic, I approach each speaking engagement with a mixture of humor and life experiences in an honest, transparent fashion.

1. What You Should Know About the Southern Student: For my master’s thesis, I discussed notions of feminism, sociolinguistics, and impostor syndrome from the viewpoint of a first generation, working class, Southern student. After studying Gloria Anzaldua’s Borderlands and Julia Kristeva’s Powers of Horror, I began exploring the ideas of abjection and the “othering” of foreigners. I noticed a connection with these works and my own experience as a college student.

 2. Finding Your Voice in a Noisy World–I encourage women of all ages to speak up about what lights them up and give 5 steps on how to find your voice. Being a Southern woman, I learned that there is often a culture of silence that is passed down from generation to generation. I want to empower Southern women to identify the issues that cause them to become silent and show them ways to find and express their voice.

2. Welcome to the Jungle–I give some personal experiences about raising teens in the Jungle of Adolescence. I give humorous tips and encouragement to a demographic of moms that is often over-looked and under-resourced.

3. How To go Back to School Without Losing Your Mind–tips from an expert student on how to balance family, work and academia from both a student’s and a professor’s point of view. I worked full-time and attended school full-time through organization and a lot of help from my family.

If you are interested, please email me with Speaker Request in the subject line to tinaboss71@yahoo.com.