309: Smart Girl: A First-Gen Origin Story with Dr. La’Tonya “LT” Rease Miles

309: Smart Girl: A First-Gen Story with Dr. La'Tonya "LT" Rease Miles

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Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: [00:00:00] Welcome

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: to the award winning Grad School Femtoring Podcast, the place for first gen BIPOCs to listen in on inclusive grad school stories and learn about personal development and productivity tips. This is Dr. Yvette Martinez-Vu, a certified coach, consultant, and author, and I will be serving as your femtor, providing you with insider knowledge to help you reach your personal and professional goals.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Grad School Femme Touring Podcast. This is your host, Dr. Yvette. Today we get to talk about a new memoir, and by the time you all get to listen to this episode, it will have just [00:01:00] come out. It's fresh. It's fresh. Out. It's called smart girl. And in particular, we'll be hearing more about how this memoir and its author are redefining black and first gen narratives.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Our guest is a returning guest. Her name is Dr. La'Tonya "LT" Rease Miles as a first generation college graduate and thought leader in higher education. She has been instrumental in establishing successful programs for first gen students at both UCLA and Loyola Marymount University. In her many leadership roles, including her current role as Partnership Development Representative at REUP Education and co founder of My Tribe Media, she advises institutions on first gen student experiences.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: She's been doing this for a while, y'all. She regularly champions initiatives for non traditional adult learners and contributes to scholarly discourse on first gen experiences. Her influence extends to the digital sphere where she has [00:02:00] co founded several online communities, including a national Facebook group that empowers first generation students.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I believe there's also a LinkedIn group accompanying that too.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: And, you know, all the platforms, that's what we say.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So welcome once again, to the podcast, LT.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Well, thank you for having me back. Doctora Yvette, such a pleasure to be in your company and I love how we've been doing this more and more lately, right? I appreciate you coming to speak to my graduate students last quarter. So, so great to be in your company.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yes. Oh my gosh. Your grad students. So lucky to have you. That's such an incredible class, which by the way, can you say just the title of the class so that folks can know?

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: You remember, but I teach so many

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Okay. Tell us what it's about. Not the title.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: that one was.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: It was at the impact class. I remember it was like a social impact.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: title. Yes, it was a it was a foundational course. This is in the Santa Clara University Department of educational leadership [00:03:00] and that was foundational for social impact. And so my goal was really to expose the students give it give us all sort of a baseline on what is this thing called social impact? And how does it. intersect with, education, both K through 12 and higher ed was

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yeah, I asked you not to put you on the spot, but just because that class the topic of the class is so pertinent. I just want. Students like folks to be aware, like these are the types of conversations and topics that are being had in graduate programs. And this is something that folks could look for themselves if they're searching for different graduate programs, like what types of topics are being had that are relevant to what's going on today.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So I just thank you for for for mentioning that. Yeah.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Santa

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Wow. Yes. Okay. So, as you can tell, we've known each other, LT, and we've known each other a while. LT was here [00:04:00] on the show, actually, two years ago already.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yes.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: was February. I know. It was February, 2023.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: No,

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yes, and it's February 2025 now.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: I would have just, it was right before I started writing the book. I started writing a book in April.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Wow, that's wild. Oh, okay. So, so for folks who want to learn more about LT and the work that she does, and to hear her thoughts on supporting non traditional students and adult learners, check out episode 177. But for folks who are listening now, I want them to know if there's any updates on aside from writing an entire memoir any Any updates on, on you and what's been going on with you in the last two years since you were on the show.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Yeah, I was, I was just thinking as you were describing all of my roles that I'm actually leaving Reup. That's new news. New, new, new news to I've been [00:05:00] so blessed that to have a lot of interest in the book and, and I'm going to pause for a minute. Take a not too long sabbatical and really lean into the book and and have great conversations, both in the K through 12 space, higher ed space and other spaces.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: So I'll be doing that starting next week. Well, I've been doing it. I've been juggling it, but I'm going to start focusing on that. And the main, I guess the other thing still, you mentioned My Tribe Media for which I'm a co founder. It is a nonprofit and really just kind of putting 10 toes down with that as well.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Really focusing and getting that off the ground. It's not new. I've been doing that work for a while, but there's these moments, as you know, where you just have to kind of like dedicate a lot more time and i'm gonna do that for a little bit too. So that's that's the latest

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Wow, I didn't expect that kind of update. That's huge. Oh my gosh,

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: You breaking news. You are breaking [00:06:00] news.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I just want to say congratulations because that's, that's such a big moment, such a big transition and also to, to get to dedicate this amount of time to this work that really seems like it's your life's work. It might not, I'm sure there are many different, I mean, we're going to talk about all kinds of stuff right now tied to the memoir, but like you, you're a very multi faceted person.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: faceted person too, but you really have been committed to this first gen work and amplifying first gen stories, especially like nuanced, first gen stories, Black first gen stories, redefining the first gen story and experience that I just think that's, that it's a really amazing way of modeling that, that eventually you get to a point where you're like this is it. I'm taking a sabbatical and I'm focusing on what matters most and right now in this moment it's your memoir and yourself and your work.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Yeah, well, especially, I mean, we talked a little bit before this, like about this moment, and it can be really difficult when we're looking [00:07:00] at politics and CNN and the news, and it, I think is rightly so, we can be very discouraged. So you have to find those moments of joy and I was like, you know what, nothing is promised to us, so let me, let me just do this.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yeah, and you are someone that I have admired for a very very long time I met you when I was a baby undergrad at UCLA and I've admired you because of Yes, I was tiny,

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: You were tiny.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I have grown

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Yes.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: in all kinds of ways and all kinds of inches and places that you never know,

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: We all have. We all have.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: like since then I've birthed two children,

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: That's right. Literally. Crazy.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: But what I was going to say is I remember early on really looking up to you because one, how approachable you always were, and two, you've always been a community builder. You always have like, I admire [00:08:00] your ability to tap into that network and community that you have. And so I, I know it's inevitable that like your community has your back.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So you taking the sabbatical, it's not only going to help you, you know, with whatever it is that you need to do to focus on during this time, but to really tap into that community in any way, shape or form, even more so now. So anyway, thank you for sharing' this part, I think it gives some context, too, in terms of, like, your memoir and, like, diving into it, I'm curious, because , this did start two years ago, what inspired you to write it when you started writing it?

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Why was that the right time? And also why the memoir format in particular, because not all of us are willing to write a memoir.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Well, as far as like, why, like the, like, what was like poking it I'm doing this I'm [00:09:00] like poking so two things in particular. One, my daughter Zoe, who's in her early 20s had been telling me for a, you know, a couple years, like, you need to tell your story. Yeah, it's so interesting. And I was like, oh, no, no one wants to read about me. I didn't, I didn't, honestly, I, it's, in some ways, it's a bit of a cliche. I think it's pretty true for many memoirists in particular, where you have this moment of like, why would anyone want to read about my life? And I think that's even more true for people of color, for women, for first gens, for working class or poor folks, always thinking that someone else's story is more compelling than our own. So there was that, that voice that sort of poking has been in the ether for a bit. But specifically, though, I was meeting with, I don't have her book next to me right now, but the November before I decided to write, I was interviewing Erica Alfaro, [00:10:00] who had just published her memoir called Harvesting Dreams, and she self published.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: And like, at this point, Erica is now, like, writing and speaking full time. Like, she ended up quitting her job altogether to do this. I'll never forget Yvette, her saying to me, like, look at me in the eye over zoom saying, La'Tonya, you should tell the story you wish you had in college. And I think. shifting it from like who wants to read my story to what did I want to read was made all the difference for me.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: And I was like, okay, well, what would have been, you know, what, what did I need at that time? And I was pretty intent on not making it critical essays and not because that's the I do that all the time.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Right? I've written I've done research. I say things on social media and I present. [00:11:00] So it was a deliberate choice to to focus on storytelling and staying in the moment and sharing the point of view that I had. At that time and not slip not slip in and say and this is how people should think about first gens It was really is an origin story. Once I once I knew I wanted to tell an origin story Then it unfolded the way that that it did

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I wish that I could write a memoir, but I think

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: You absolutely could

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I think it's amazing how you are able to bring in so many memories that some of us like we just close off certain

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Oh, yeah,

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: time periods of our lives. Yea. I mean, you, you start out with mentioning a pivotal moment. You're in third grade and your teacher's like, you're smart, you're gonna go to college. And I'm curious why, like this was a moment that stood out to you and how this like early [00:12:00] recognition, perhaps even shaped the trajectory of, of your academics, your academic journey.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Well once so, okay decision was made tell your origin story. So I had to think you don't you don't write every single thing that happens to you, right? You're curating bits and pieces from your life. So initially, when I sat down with Genesis, who was my editor who's kind of like more like a thought partner, not, not like copy editor kind of thing.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Right. But was talking to her about the project and I said, okay, I want to tell the story of how I got to college. But then I realized, that really wasn't the message from my family.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: My message was, you're smart. Right. And then it was like, okay, well, how does a smart girl get to college? And that's the approach that I took.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: And I was just doing some, I had to do some reflection about, well, when did I hear about college? And that's the, so that's [00:13:00] why I opened with that particular story, just the fact I listen, the fact that I remember it was third grade. The fact I remember my teacher's name lets you know that that was a pivotal moment, right?

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: I think, I don't know. I don't know that it'd be fair to say, well, how did it shape my trajectory? I'd totally be spit balling and psychoanalyzing me. I don't know that, like, I don't know. I can't say like, oh, from that moment forward, I knew that I was going to, I don't think of any of that. I just know that particular moment stood out for me and I could have just very easily gone back to playing double dutch right after that for all the, for all that I remember and know. But just, just the fact that that happened, which is a call to educators that these little, little moment here, this woman said something to me and to an eight year old, the fact that I still remember it today, but you know, like the power of that kind of support in those words.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yeah, the power of [00:14:00] of words and the power of, , how they make you feel and what you what you're able to remember. Yeah, I think that's,

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Decades later.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: mhmm I mean, I have positive and negative things that I remember from my childhood of things that people told me that stayed with me.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Yeah.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: A really good reminder.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: The other thing that, that stands out to me aside from, hey, you're a smart girl. It's not just like that coming from an educational setting, but also like just coming from a long line of having strong women in your family who have shaped you. And in fact, before we recorded, we were talking about how beautiful your book cover is.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: And I know most people are going to listen to the audio. They're not going to see the video. So, you know, we can.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: describe and I'll put the link to the book so y'all can take a look and click on it and order and take a look, but it's a really beautiful graphic image of the hot pink background with a, with a basketball that says [00:15:00] smart girl.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I'm sure you can describe it a lot better than me,

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: You're

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: doing a great

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: it's like the nod to like a comic book style.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yeah.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Yeah. And so my mom speaking of smart girls, right. My mom is a, is a graphic designer in. And so, know, this, this really is like a family project, but she offered to create the cover for me. And she, she created one version, which I, what I would argue was, is like the way she perceives me.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: And it was like an image of this, you know, young woman looking so serious and you know, that I was like, mom, that's not me. Like, I don't, I'm not that serious to be honest. And I said, I really didn't want me on it. I described something. I said, hey, let's put a basketball on it. And I described it. I didn't describe the background so much beyond like the comic element,

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: But I did say hey let's put a basketball , let's put smart girl on it, and then this is what she came up [00:16:00] with so I would say together we

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: collaborated on this, and one of the things that I was pretty intentional about with the project was not making it one of these stories of like the lone, like, and the rugged individual trying to get to college, like, that Horatio Alger story, I was not interested in that.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: I really, I knew that I wanted to talk about my family, but one of the, and one of the things I, that became really clear to me early on is the role that women played in my family in supporting one another. And many of them didn't go or didn't finish and people poured a lot. Particularly the women poured a lot into me.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: So I wanted to make sure that I uplifted their stories as well.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yeah, it sounds like the book could [00:17:00] have also been called smart girls. Cause you're like my mom, my aunties, like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, I see how they have clearly shaped your life, your education and life journey. And I love that it's a nod to that even in the book cover.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: And also, you know, I was there at your book launch event and seeing so many of folks that showed up there too. That was really beautiful. So you can really feel that family support there. You also mentioned in your memoir. navigating between different worlds. So coming from your Black working class background to then kind of navigating different academic spaces to then also like the tie in between sports and academics.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So I'm curious if you can talk about that, about the navigating of different worlds, these dual realities and how this experience informs the work that you do with [00:18:00] first gens now and with advocating on behalf of first gens too.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Yeah, I mean, that's part of my philosophy and working with first gen students because I'm sure you know this and have even experienced it. Often times this experience is framed in terms of what we lack and what we don't know is very common to say that right? First year students don't know what they don't know. Yeah, I get that. And that's partly true, but that's not the whole story. So what I wanted to show using my experience as an example of the things that I did know and what I was raised on.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: And really, the tension is, how do I take all those things? Knowledge of sports. Knowledge of hip hop or just popular music in general on and on and on. How do I integrate those things into academia the way through the pipeline. Right. And so, for me, that was really important.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: It really wasn't about how do I let go of [00:19:00] all these things or or like, oh, learn how to eat with a knife and fork. Like, this is not an assimilationist narrative at all, right?

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: This is about my call to others is the things that you loved before you got to school are the things that are likely going to get you through. And I think we need to hear that a lot more often. So, for me, that was definitely sports, right? But just all other kinds of forms of popular culture which helps sustain me and continue, continue to do that.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yeah. So what I'm hearing you say is that for you, you know, it was important to maybe push back against this popular narrative of first gens as lacking or as having deficits. And instead to reframe it as something tied to like all the things that you bring with you, that shape you, that are important to you, that are part of you, that in [00:20:00] your case it was sports, in your case it was popular culture, and music, and actually kind of going into this, this topic of music, your book comes with a playlist and I love that I love that kind of it's, you know, pushing back against assimilation and maybe rethinking of it as a kind of whether you want to call it integration or just like bringing different facets of yourself into your work. That's a really great message for folks just to remind them that this is possible that you can show up.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: And bring in the things that you love into the work that you do and people will resonate. And it actually reminds me of the other work you do in terms of the first gen and juice and the catalyst awards. And not everybody's going to know what I'm talking about, but the, the name first gen and juice as that's high end to like, okay, who here understands that where that comes from, like the, the, the, the musical.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Mm-hmm

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yes. [00:21:00] Yeah.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: From Snoop Dogg in, in this case. Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, yeah. You mentioned the playlist. I, I'll, I'll say this, that Smart Girl is like a whole experience. It's not just a book. There is a playlist. I, I even have a Pinterest account dedicated to Smart Girl. People can check out, you know, how I'm thinking about it on, on Instagram as well. I really wanted it to be accessible

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: in

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: a number of different ways. But also. embody the whole pop culture spirit as well too. That's why the, the playlist was fun.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: And I'll drop another nugget. There's another playlist coming out as

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Okay. A second one?

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: A second one. Yes.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Wait, so why not keep it all part of one and just add the new, the other?

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: It's totally different. So this

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Oh. Hmm. Oh. Yeah. Hmm. Hmm.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: was a call out a friend who was at the December [00:22:00] launch. So my, my friend Justin said, Hey, LT have you thought about a playlist that. draws upon superhero soundtracks, right? And so it's taking the arc of the book, but using soundtracks from TV shows, films, Broadway plays. I feel like I'm missing something, but the themes from the songs match the themes that are in the book. The playlist you're referring to are songs that are mentioned in my book for

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: the most Yeah,

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So those

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: are different.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I'm, I'm taking a look at the playlist right now. Eminem, Kanye, Jackson 5, Prince,

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: so

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Janet Jackson, Culture Club.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: that's my that's my girl right there so for the most part I would say about 80 percent of the songs on the on the first playlist just gives people a sense of what I was actually hearing. So I mentioned Janet Jackson so you could hear the song that i'm referring to. But the songs [00:23:00] at the very beginning and the very end are songs

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: I would say are inspired by my experience.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Wow. I love that. It's, it is definitely, like you said, the not to the popular culture, but also making it more accessible, making it multimodal giving people another way to experience the book, and I love that. I love that. So, yeah, it's like you pick, pick and choose. You know, get the book, get the ebook,

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: add the playlist.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Choose own adventure.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: But it's all in the service of making people feel like, well, I can do that too.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: yeah. Mm-hmm.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Oh, only certain people can write books and books only look a certain way. And so I'm not saying everyone needs to do a playlist or their story is like mine, I do think it's true. that these things are a really, really good reflection of who I am.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Mm-hmm.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: And so what the call would be for someone else is like, well, who are you? And, you know, what, what would your story look [00:24:00] like? That's really the charge.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yeah, I wasn't going to go there because when we were talking about this topic of music, I was thinking about like, how did, you know, cultural touchstones, how did music and certain figures help you with navigating your educational experiences, but this is getting me to think beyond that and thinking about kind of inspiring the next generation of authors of folks who write their own memoirs to rethink how they do it.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: That's actually something I feel like you and I have in common of exploring you in different ways to do these things. And even with, with my book, my coauthored book, Is Grad School For Me, one of the things that we have been doing is sharing a playlist of podcast episodes that complement the book and a discussion guide with discussion questions.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So make it more lively with when different educators are using the book to help supplement their curriculum. So there's so many different ways to do this. You don't have to stick to just opening up a Word doc and [00:25:00] getting stuck.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Yes, I, you know, that's my hope. I hope

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: that's the legacy.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Yeah.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: that we have more people telling their stories and in these different ways. And for me, I self published. I didn't go with the traditional publisher this this time around. I've published before, but I decided to do something different. It was hard. Let me tell you, it's still hard, but, but, but I want people to know that it can be done right. And they just can just need to find something that feels right and authentic for them.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Right. Yeah. Yeah. See, there's so many pieces to this from also you mentioned you having a thought partner. That's another, you know, way of reminding people what you don't have to do this alone. That's another thing too, that I noticed from learning more about you in the process, this entire process is that you really leaned on support.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: You're like, this is the person that helped me with my website. This is my mom who helped me with the cover. This is my person who helped me with thinking through, you know, the book and what I was [00:26:00] writing. This is my person who read it, you know, provided initial early feedback. And I love that.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Cause it goes to show that like, it is a group effort. You don't have to do this alone. And if you have an idea, you can get it done. And. I think that that's a great reminder also for first gen students that, you know, you're, you may be the first, but you're not the last and you're not alone.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Yeah, well, I think it kind of mirrors often mirrors a first gen journey, right? I think there's part of the educational process that tells you, you have to do things on your own or you're cheating or something like that. But for many of us, community is what got us there in the first place. And so why would we sort of leave community behind?

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: I think that's pretty consistent with me. And yes, I did want to share it with others and now I, of course, I wrote it and I was the one up at seven o'clock in the morning, but I was also bouncing ideas off of Genesis, my editor slash [00:27:00] thought partner, who made the book better for sure.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: This conversation is going somewhere completely different than where I usually go. I usually try to stick to my questions and, but

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: I'm comfortable.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I appreciate where it's going now. And I, you know, I was going to ask about your work with establishing successful first gen programs. But right now I'm thinking about perhaps how this book is going to shape and inform the future of the work that you will do, because especially I didn't have this information about this new transition you're going through and the sabbatical and focusing more on the memoir. So now, in light of knowing that, I'm curious, yeah, what's what's to come in the future and what's to come in terms of the new iteration of the work that you have been doing for so long?

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: That's a really great question. So I think a couple of things. Some things are known and some things are unknown. You know, one of my goals is really to disrupt [00:28:00] the publishing industry, right?

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: The publishing industry in some ways is no different than any other corporation, higher ed or for profit companies that if people get

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: frustrated that book covers look the same. It's because this genre look this certain way, that's why these romance novels all have the same

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: little cursive writing and the pastel background. Someone decided that that's the look right? Even when we look at certain memoirs, there's usually the person's face and there's usually a white lettering in my book. My book. challenges that.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: So I think we, I want to keep leaning in that direction. I don't want the common first gen narrative is someone who came from really low financial means and struggle, struggle, struggled. And oh, look, they made it to Harvard or Stanford or Princeton, right? That's so uncommon. So, and what can happen is people will feel like, well, I didn't do [00:29:00] that. That's not my story. So, my story must not be important. I'm hoping that people of all kinds of first gen backgrounds will say, hey, my story matters, right? And I didn't have to come from, like, complete poverty and make it to Ivy League school in order , to tell my story or the to be influential.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: So, that's that. And then, just in general, I mean, I, like I mentioned, I'm with My Tribe Media, and that's the goal of My Tribe is to amplify these experiences, both with not just with first gens, though, but with community college students and adult learners as well and you know, Catalyst Awards is 5 years old now and, shout out to you for your accolades as well. But we just want to keep leaning in that direction. We know we hear from nominees and winners how much it means to them that the community has said, [00:30:00] hey, this is a first gen narrative that is meaningful for me in so many different media forms, right?

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: For you, I mean, look at you being nominated across genres. That's incredible. What does it mean to be a storyteller on a podcast? Be a storyteller in a book? That's amazing. I think people are overlooking these stories, right? And I think, especially for, you know, women of color and what I've noticed with Latina women in particular, there's a lot of folks telling their stories on podcasts. People are not paying attention to all that work that is happening there. Right. We're just automatically looking at what's on Amazon. So there's just so many outlets right now. So I hope that not only have people producing more, but also you got to have the scholarship that comes along with it that, you know,

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yeah.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: That

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: tells us about the trends [00:31:00] and things like that.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: So I hope I hope we get more, more first gen critical, analysis. That's, that's what I hope.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: There's, there's so much to the work that you do. And I appreciate the nod to the work that I do because with the podcast, I added a subtitle to my podcast. Part of the subtitle is inclusive grad school stories. Because with everybody that comes in, I want to know, who are you? What do you do?

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: How did you get to where you are today? I ask almost the exact same question every single time to anyone new, including some folks that I've known for many years. And then I get insights on them that I had never known. And it's

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: so crucial and helpful in terms of context to understand where they came from.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: And then, you know, then ask the questions tied to the topics. I do think that storytelling is so important, especially hearing new and different ways, you know, like stories that just defy what you're used to hearing. We're, [00:32:00] we're all so different that it makes no sense to get hung up on the same story.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Yeah. I'm that you're doing that. That's, that's beautiful. And I'd love to see more of it.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Thank you so much. I'm curious though, is there any other question you were hoping I'd ask you? I definitely want to get your insights and I want to, like, as we get close to wrapping up here, more about how your book redefines Black first gen narratives, you've already been saying that, or even just what message you hope folks get from the book, but any other questions that you were hoping that I'd ask?

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yeah,

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: No, I'll just add as we're thinking about sort of like, the first gen narrative as a whole. I think sometimes we get caught up in like realism, right? Because like, we overcome so many things. So we want to tell that story. And I think that's great. But what I also want people to pay attention to, when they read Smart Girl, is like [00:33:00] there's some, there's a lot of literary allusions for example, so don't just read it straight.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: I'll give it, I'll give an example. The prologue opens is very short, two and a half pages, three pages at the most about my fear of escalators. I had when I was a kid, I don't even mention the word escalator because I don't want people to get caught up on that. The escalator is a metaphor, right? It's a metaphor for a transitional moment. And I'm describing like my fear of like, where, how do I get onto this thing? How do I, where do I put, literally, where do I put my foot? And I would argue, that's the book. That is the book. Those two, those two and a half pages are about taking that next step, who supported me who held my hand as I eventually made it on to that escalator and so there are other moments like that.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: I just want people to kind of like lean into it. Don't just take everything literally.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: [00:34:00] Yeah, I, I love that. One thing that pops to mind. I just can't help it. Growing up, I was always told anytime I would do or say something, English major, and I don't know if anybody ever told you that.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Oh, 100 percent 100 percent I was gonna say that.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I love the allusions.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: English major alert. .

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I love the references. I love the metaphors. It sounds like you were really intentional with how you wrote this book. Yeah.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Yeah, there's there even is a chapter that's framed as a word problem as a math word problem, and I really lean into language that's arithmetic based as well. So, and that's just one. it's not like that the whole thought the whole

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: What do you mean by that? Can you say more about that?

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Yeah, the chapter is called long division

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Mm hmm. Oh, yeah.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: it. I won't spoil it. But what I can say is [00:35:00] it is, it is framed like. a, here's a math problem. How do you solve it? And in the language that I use, I emphasize things where it's like calculate, and problem, and solution, and division, and those types of things to, to add to that to the idea of it being a math problem.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Like, oh, really long, long word problem.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yeah. And I mean, A couple things. So one is the intentionality behind it. Very, very particular about your word choice. And also you give us the arc of the book in the prologue of like, Yeah, yeah, the, the escalator moment and the transitions and the helping hands. I feel like that, that is a great kind of overarching message for the book.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Do you have any other closing words or anything else that you wanted to share? It doesn't [00:36:00] have to be about the book. It could be about you. It could be about your work. Just anything else that you want to share as we get close to wrapping up today.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Well, I'll just say this because and it's funny as someone who also has written a dissertation when people are like, oh, my God, how do you write a book? How do you write a dissertation? You don't write it overnight, right? It's bits and pieces, right? And so even if people have any kind of inclination, just write and don't judge yourself for how you're writing.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: If you write in your phone or, or what have you just journal. I mean, two of the chapters in the book started off as things that I like blogs that I wrote years ago, right? And I just repurposed them. Not top of the pyramid, fangirl and speaker of the house I had written maybe about 10 years ago and I and they were much shorter. And so just put something down on paper because you never know what can happen and the main thing is you really want to write for yourself.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: This goes back to [00:37:00] the beginning, what Erica said to me, really write for yourself and don't get caught up in, oh, who's going to read it. But if you put out something that you enjoy reading, that's the goal. That's it right there. Right. I mean, I think that is true. I would say for your book, you wrote something that you needed.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Oh, yes,

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: I just, I just chose a different genre. This is what I was looking for when I was a freshman at UNC Chapel Hill and I was literally pulling books off the shelf. Look, I was looking for myself. I couldn't find it even in, even in African American history. It was those stories were kind of outdated and all that is like civil rights, you know, So I had to tell the story of a of a black girl who loves sports and you know who loved, you know, was a cheerleader. That story wasn't there So now it is.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I don't know where I [00:38:00] heard this, but what this reminds me of somewhere, somehow I heard that, everybody has at least one book in them to write and to publish. And also you said I was looking for myself and I couldn't find it on the shelves and that self reflective work to get to the point of publishing a book and publishing, especially a memoir.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: That's a huge nod to all that self work of like, this is me, you know,

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Finding yourself and owning it and sharing it and sharing that gift that is you with the world. And I wish that we all had access to tap into that. And I hope that that your message will help to motivate and inspire more people to pursue that for themselves.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Even if it's writing just for themselves, even if it doesn't make it to a bookshelf. Yeah.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: That's right. Absolutely. Yeah, I just wrote that quote down. I won't forget it. Now I'm going to put it all on social media.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: But don't say it was mine because I don't know [00:39:00] where I heard it.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: I got it. I got it. I was looking for myself. That's what I said.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Oh, yes, that one, that one, that quote. Yes, definitely. We got to quote that one. And

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: that quote too, as I share more about the episode. Oh my goodness.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: me. This was a beautiful conversation.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Thank you, LT. It's always so much fun to be with you. I always learn something new every time I talk to you. I just I, I love being in shared spaces with folks that show up as their full authentic selves because it gives me permission to be that too.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Yeah,

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: And that's, that's what you have exuded for so long. And we really see that written on the page as well. So I hope that folks will go ahead and get themselves a copy. So this is your chance to let people know how they can connect with you, how they can follow you, how they can get a copy and support your work.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Yeah, absolutely. So there there's a website. It's very easy smartgirlbook. com Which you know [00:40:00] gives an overview of the book itself. And then if you're interested in purchasing it, it's on most major online booksellers. So, but if you don't want to give Jeff Bezos your money, I would really encourage you to look at sites like Tertulia. com, which is having a special promotion, Barnes and Nobles, et cetera. But there are some independent bookstores who also are selling the book as well. So look for Smart Girl by La'Tonya Rease Miles. And I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think of it.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I highly recommend you getting a copy of the book at a one of your local bookstores, any independent bookstore, and also just a heads up, even if you don't buy your book from Amazon, you can leave a review on Amazon and on Goodreads. So highly recommend if you know any authors, including Dr. LT here, if you get a copy of the book, leave a review, even if you didn't buy it on Amazon, leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads just to help us out because [00:41:00] it makes a big difference. Yeah.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: And of course, you can also, I strongly recommend people request it from their local library whether it's the public library or their school library that that would be great for the community as well.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yes. Oh, and how can folks follow you, your work, any other place they can find you?

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Well, I'm trying to minimize my presence on Instagram, but I am on Instagram as drltreasemiles I think that's I think that's my name there. I also mentioned I'm on Pinterest. So La'Tonya Rease Miles smart girl author where else am I I'm on blue sky as smartgirl07 and LinkedIn

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Okay. Yeah.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: a thousand percent on LinkedIn.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: That's

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: like, I'm pretty sure I've seen you on there.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: I kind of live on LinkedIn.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Yeah, I completely, I don't know how. And then also Facebook as well too. I'm,

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yeah.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: I'm trying to be mindful of the presence, but, but I am there if you're, if you're looking for me.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Yeah. So [00:42:00] I'll, I'll include those links in the show notes. Thank you so much, LT, for joining us. Thank you for sharing more about you, about your work, about your incredible book. Really, really lovely as always to have you here. Looking forward to the next one, cause I'm sure you won't, this won't be the last.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: can't even think about that's like, you know how that is you have a child and then people ask you when you're gonna have another baby. Let me enjoy this baby right

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: no, I meant having you back on as a guest

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: for

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: sure,

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: anytime

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: I'm also excited for if you, if and when another book, because when people ask me for another book, I'm like, oh, give me some time to process this one.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: exactly people said smarter girl smart woman that people already giving me titles

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Volume two.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles: Diss 2. That's what it should be. Diss 2.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: That's so funny. Anyway. so much again, LT.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Thanks so much for listening. If you liked what you heard, here [00:43:00] are three ways you can support the show. The first is to make sure you're subscribed and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. The second way is to get your copy of my free resource kit linked in my show notes. This kit includes tools, worksheets, and podcast playlists on all things grad school, productivity, and personal development.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: The third way to support my show is to follow me on social media. You can find me on Instagram with the handle at gradschoolfemtoring and on LinkedIn by searching my name. Thanks again for listening. And until next time.