![\"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/133\/2020\/05\/Williams-LaTonya-8-scaled.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/133\/2020\/05\/Williams-LaTonya-8-300x200.jpg\")
graduate\u201d Williams. But even though several years have passed since she graduated, she still doesn\u2019t seem to have gotten the \u201cyou can sleep now\u201d memo.<\/p>\nWhen LaTonya Williams \u201903 was a student, her email signature was LaTonya \u201cI\u2019ll sleep when I graduate\u201d Williams. But even though several years have passed since she graduated, she still doesn\u2019t seem to have gotten the \u201cyou can sleep now\u201d memo.<\/p>\n
Williams, who graduated with a journalism and public relations degree, is a professional photographer, the executive director of youth and community outreach at St. Joseph\u2019s Bartlett Center, and a mom of three.<\/p>\n
As a photographer, she has her own studio and takes maternity, family, sports team, senior photos and more. She also photographs for Josephine, St. Joseph News-Press\u2019s women\u2019s magazine.<\/p>\n
At the Bartlett Center, she works in the daycare and preschool as well as hosting parenting classes and computer classes. She had previously served as interim executive director there, and when they hired an executive director, the staff told her that they wanted her to keep working.<\/p>\n
On a typical day, Williams starts at the Bartlett Center and heads to her studio by 11 a.m. Then it\u2019s back to the Bartlett Center for late afternoon, then home to edit photos late into the night. Sometimes in the summer, she can be found at the Bartlett Center working 11-hour days.<\/p>\n
Williams, a native of St. Joseph, was a teen mom with an infant when she started at Missouri Western. \u201cMy mom encouraged me to attend college, but once I had my daughter I didn\u2019t want to,\u201d she said. \u201cI told her it was hard, and all she said was \u2018So?\u2019 And I didn\u2019t have an answer. So I went to class with my daughter in her car seat, and then on my hip when she was older.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even as a student with a child, she still found time to get involved in the Griffon News student newspaper, serving as editor-in-chief.<\/p>\n
\u201cMissouri Western is family. If I have any questions, I can call up anyone at Missouri Western and ask for a few minutes of their time, even years after graduation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams recently received international attention for her photography project, Black Girl Magic, a themed photo shoot to counter the low self-esteem she was seeing among some of the young girls at the Bartlett Center. Every year, she chooses young black girls, works with a makeup artist and hair stylist and launches a themed photo shoot. Parents tell her what a difference the shoot has made in their daughters\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n
This past February, she was chosen to attend Project Obscura, a photography conference in Las Vegas. She was able to train with five of the best photographers in the industry while shooting models at El Dorado Dry Lake Bed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy favorite part of the conference was meeting these amazing photographers that I\u2019ve only read about,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was great to meet other like-minded professionals who truly understand what you\u2019re going through. Plus, who doesn\u2019t need more friends?\u201d<\/p>\n
So for now, it seems Williams will continue to forgo sleep so she can keep helping people, raise her family and keep taking photos.<\/p>\n
At the Bartlett Center, she is currently working with a class for parents where they can ultimately earn an associate degree. \u201cPeople like to come up with excuses. They say they can\u2019t get childcare, but I have staff who will watch their kids,\u201d she said. \u201cThen they say it\u2019s hard, and I say, \u2018So? Everything worth achieving is hard.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When LaTonya Williams \u201903 was a student, her email signature was LaTonya \u201cI\u2019ll sleep when I graduate\u201d Williams. But even though several years have passed since she graduated, she still doesn\u2019t seem to have gotten the \u201cyou can sleep now\u201d memo. Williams, who graduated with a journalism and public relations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":4973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,42],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4863"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4863"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4865,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4863\/revisions\/4865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}