Today we’d like to introduce you to Farrah Nicole Martin.
Farrah Nicole, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It started with a water bottle. I was a Biology/Pre-Med undergraduate student at Xavier University that had a clear vision for my future… move to Atlanta for medical school, start my own practice at 30, marry, have 2.75 kids (that was what statistics said was the average household number for children during that time), have a dog, and live happily ever after. Yet, I went to an on-campus career fair where my desire to get a water bottle sparked a conversation that would alter my life forever.
I graduated college, deferred medical school, and began teaching middle school science in one of the most impoverished communities in New Orleans. Everyday I drove 15 minutes from the school where I was teaching to attend graduate school at Tulane University. Many of my middle school students and their families had never been near that campus.
Pursuing a graduate degree in public health, it became so clear that education and health were interconnected. And the lower quality the educational experience, the less quality of life that was available. I decided to forego my teenage dream of medical school to continue on in education. I felt called to the work of being a teacher that looked like the kids she was teaching, had a similar background as those she was teaching, but could offer a different perspective on potential and drive that could be the difference maker for a child that didn’t have such a role model in their life.
Here I am 20 years later. I have served in every facet of education you can imagine. From classroom teacher to teacher leader to school administration to school development to education policy to edupreneurship… I’ve made it my life work to create memorable educational moments for kids that open their eyes to opportunities they may have never considered otherwise.
I’ve also be blessed to have been surrounded by a community to people, God sends, that have aided my thinking, evolution, and growth. Whether my family or people that became family through shared experiences, I’ve had guidance and love that has helped me push even when I didn’t want to.
And ultimately, my faith. My life definitely hasn’t been the life I envisioned as a kid dreaming big dreams, but it’s been the life I was destined to live and it’s been the leading of God that has been the driving force.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road has been everything BUT easy. I started teaching at 22 years of age. I was beginning my own life journey while starting a career I didn’t choose or feel fully equipped to do. The inner feelings of failure, watching all my college friends matriculate to medical school while I was “just a teacher”, was very difficult. I have fought many battles as a woman, a black woman, and a black woman from the South in the realm of education. I have shown up with experience, degrees, knowledge and wisdom, and a track record of success most in the room didn’t have only to be treated as if I was inferior. I’ve worked harder and brought more to the table than counterparts, yet offered less money than they, asked to “wait a little longer and let others have a turn”, and spoken to as if the years of experience I have means nothing. As a Black female raised and surrounded by strong Black female influences, I was raised to show up ready, confident, and capable. As an adult woman, showing up that way has gotten me labeled as “too confident”, “too expressive”, and “intimidating”. And when I’ve spoken up for myself or stood my ground based on my core values, I was conveniently labeled “an angry black woman”.
I vividly remember a moment in 2012 where I was done. I kept telling myself I was young enough to change course and go back to medical school. I took a trip to Memphis, where I visited the Lorraine Motel for the very first time. As I stood on the balcony where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, I became overcome with emotion. Dr. King knew his life was in jeopardy, but the cause he served was greater than his fear. That day I chose to delete my resignation letter and continue. There have been many, many more moments where the proclivity to quit, walk away, give up, and even going back to medical school have come to mind again. And as difficult as the journey has been, I remind myself of the reason I started this journey…children.
We continue to offer these programs. Currently, a family can participate in our out of school programs by contacting us. We mail STEAM at home activity kits to them and do live teaching sessions with each kiddo using the supplies in their kit. An extended service, we are also adding instructional support to schools, families in learning pods, families looking for school aged learning pods, or families utilizing remote learning by providing online enrichment classes and STEM/STEAM virtual learning opportunities.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Aman STEAM Academy started out as a PK-8 school model. In 2016, weeks before our scheduled opening, the local school district voted against the opening of our school. By this time, a great segment of the community had great buy-in for an integrated STEM and arts school, which is part of our unique difference. We use hands-on STEM and arts-based projects to teach high-level math and science concepts to young learners. This approach seeks to spark an interest in high demand 21st-century skills as well as develop critical and creative thinking and problem-solving in young children rather waiting until they reach middle and high school.
As a means of coping with that decision and its life-altering effects on me, the staff, and supporting families, I began doing Saturday STEAM workshops for kids. The response was so great that we expanded to summer programs. Parents began going to their children’s schools and sharing our programming with the leadership and teachers there. Eventually, our program evolved into an after school program and in-school enrichment programs for schools across the city. We have now served over 1500 families with our out-of-school and school enrichment programs.
The name “Aman” is Hebrew for believe. More specifically, it means to believe when there is no evidence to do so. What I am most proud of is through the many iterations of our service to schools, families, and communities, we have never given up on what we believe… all children deserve an opportunity to experience high-quality educational moments that exposes them to opportunity and options they may have never considered without that experience and that educator’s positive influence.
What were you like growing up?
According to my sister and cousins, I was a nerd. Haha! I love learning and finding out new information. I’ve always been that way. And my grandmother would say I would teach anything that sat still long enough for me to do so- pets, plants, rocks, or the neighbor’s kids.
I was extremely shy and very quiet, much of which hasn’t changed. However, I’ve learned how to channel my inner extrovert when it’s needed most.
I was the child that wanted to cook and sew with my grandmother instead of play outside with my sister and cousins. I liked to stay in my own world, but in the event there was some injustice towards a pet, an insect, or a human…I was there ready to stand up on its behalf.
I’ve been entrepreneurial since childhood. I had an interest in sewing thanks to my grandmother and fashion thanks to my great aunt, so I would make clothes out of my grandmother’s old quilt pieces and sell them to my sister’s friends. I started playing the piano for churches around age 9, making a WHOPPING $20 a month. I thought I was a millionaire! My mother ensured I was exposed to a many opportunities to grow and learn as possible. Whether being a girl scout or participating in girls’ empowerment groups hosted by local sororities, I was always around people that created moments and memories for me and that is why I seek to do the same for the children I encounter.
I’ve always loved learning and research. I was intrigued by the piano and began playing and singing when I was five. Much of my childhood was consumed in the arts in some way, along with being involved in creative and civic clubs and groups.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 720.582.5033
- Email: info@amansteamacademy.org
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