Speak Life Essentials, the Classroom-to-Life Experience. Equipping students with the tools to take what they’re learning in the classroom and apply it to the challenges and opportunities they will have in real life.
Our Mission
The mission of Speak Life Essentials is to provide the premier source
of inspiration for people to speak positively, love generously, and live productively.
Our Story
Our youth are facing challenges in the world, and we believe that our work at Speak Life is essential to help them navigate those challenges. We’ve been doing this for nearly 20 years. As much as things have changed, some things remain the same. Our students are looking for love, validation, support, and direction. At Speak Life, we provide these essential skills for our students to thrive in the real world.
Since 2008, our affiliate non-profit organization, the Speak Life Foundation, has served thousands of students in the Atlanta metropolitan area. In April of 2018, in an effort to support more students nationwide, Speak Life Essentials, Inc., was launched.
Speak Life Essentials provides curriculum, training, and educational resources to districts, individuals, and non-profit organizations across the US in the areas of social and emotional learning, life skills, and college access and success.
Your Story
As an educator, you understand your students and their needs, hopes, strengths, weaknesses, dreams, and fears. You know they have tremendous potential but may require guidance and support to realize it. Through observing their challenges and achievements, you recognize that many of them may be uncertain about preparing for their futures or navigating life in the 21st century.
Post-pandemic, we are witnessing teacher vacancies, students’ absenteeism, and a lot of trauma. Educators are already overworked and need more support than ever. We have developed a curriculum that supplements the academic skills you teach with the life skills necessary for their survival. At Speak Life Essentials, we are here to assist you and your students on this journey towards a positive and productive future.
Our Team
Our team has over 45 years of experience in education. We are a diverse, passionate, committed, and intelligent group. We each spend time in the classroom implementing the curriculum to assess its impact on students, allowing us to continue developing relevant content. This approach also helps us to revise our content based on real-world feedback and to stay informed about the latest developments in education. We love to have fun, eat good food, and help people reach their goals. We choose to look at life as an opportunity to impact others positively, and we also choose to Speak Life!
Our Founder
Mia Thornton is from Atlanta, GA born and raised. She attended Pomona College in Claremont, CA where she double majored in Mathematical Economics and Black Studies. During this time, she was inspired to become the next Wall Street phenom and worked in finance in New York and the San Francisco Bay Area. After several years working in finance, Mia felt a tremendous void and wanted to make a bigger difference in the lives of others.
She moved back to Atlanta and began teaching mathematics in a local public school system. It was there that her students taught her what she needed to know and would set her on a course that would change her life forever. Her students were brilliant. They had great hopes and dreams but there was a disconnect between what they wanted to do, and the steps that they needed to take in order to make their reams a reality. In 2008, and motivated by her experience in the classroom, Mia launched the Speak Life Foundation. Since that time, she has worked with thousands of students (and educators) to inspire them to use their words to “move mountains” and to accomplish their goals.
