My EVO 50™ Moment

The Start of My EVOlution

I didn’t plan to start a movement.

I just wanted to stop feeling like I had to choose between being a mother and being a woman with dreams.

At 19, I gave up my seat at the table.
At 58, I pulled the chair out—and finally sat in it.

This is the story of my EVOlution—
not because everything turned out perfect,
but because when no one handed me the tools… I went to get them myself.
And now, I hand them to you.

Packing Dreams in a Diaper Bag

At 19, while my friends were packing suitcases for college, I was packing a diaper bag.
While they moved into dorms, I moved into motherhood.
Though our journeys looked different, I never let go of my dream.

Tonight at your kitchen table, ask your child one open-ended question—and really listen to their answer.

A Turning Point

There comes a moment when staying the same costs more than the risk of change. 

For me, that moment came after 40 years of parenting and 23 years as a stay-at-home mom—when I realized I had poured everything into my children… but left nothing for myself.

I’d taught them how to fly, but forgotten I still had wings.

Though she’s still gone, I’ve committed to EVOlving so others don’t have to experience that kind of silence.

I became a mother at 19 and parented the only way I knew—through control, not connection. I tied love to decisions and lost something I’ll never get back: the light of my firstborn daughter’s voice in my life.

Though she’s still gone, I’ve committed to EVOlving so others don’t have to experience that kind of silence.

Harvard Part 1: From Lunchboxes to Lecture Links

The Digital Classroom Comeback

At 50, I faced a truth I could no longer ignore: I’d spent decades raising my children—and in the process, I’d paused my own goals. Then at 53, in 2022, I tested into Harvard Extension School—34 years after first enrolling at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, NC.

Behind every milestone is a team:

• My children, cheering from the kitchen table

• My husband, whose unwavering confidence reminded me I was worthy of my own dreams

• Me, finally granting myself permission

I still remember those late-night group texts—“Mom, you’ve got this!”—as I juggled essays and emotional reflections.

At 53, I walked back into the dream—one step at a time through Harvard’s gates.

First year of undergrad at Harvard 

Harvard Part 2: Motherhood, Menopause & My Master’s Degree 

Accepted to Brown & Harvard 

During my senior year at Harvard, I applied to graduate programs at Brown University and Harvard Graduate School of Education.  When both acceptances arrived, I froze. Not from doubt, but because I realized I was ready to step into the next chapter. At 57, I said yes to myself—and Brown and Harvard said yes, too.

Research on self-efficacy shows taking bold action, even later in life, rewires our belief in what’s possible (Bandura, 1997).

The moment I realized I alone held the permission I needed.

At 57, I said yes to myself—and Harvard said yes too.

Harvard Undergraduate Graduation: When the Dean Told My Story

At my first Harvard graduation, I stood in a cap and gown—representing not just an academic milestone but a 39-year return to the classroom.

This moment wasn’t just mine. It belonged to every version of me that never gave up.

The dean stood before more than 2,000 people and shared my story:
“LaBrita began her undergraduate journey 39 years ago…
She’s graduating with honors…
She was accepted to Brown…
She was accepted to Harvard…
Where is LaBrita going?”

And with a full heart and tears in my eyes, I answered:
“Harvard.”

A moment I’ll never forget: the Dean shared my story with 2,000 people.

My family by my side—standing with every version of me that didn’t give up.

This smile carries every late night, every rewrite, every reason I kept going.

Moving Onto Campus at 57

At 57, I packed a college bag for myself. While my youngest son, Shang, headed off for his senior year at NC A&T and my daughter, Alana, began her sophomore year at Wharton, I was finally living my long-awaited dream—going away to college in person on Harvard’s campus. My husband embraced his new role as empty-nester, visiting me every three weeks like a long-distance sweetheart.

Each morning, I gazed at the Dunster Hall clock tower from my fifth-floor apartment—a picture-frame reminder that choosing yourself sparks your EVOlution and unleashes growth without limits.

Welcome Day! Ready or Not, Here I Come.

Moving Day! Car Packed and My EVO 50™ Moment Begins.

First Steps In Across the Street from History.

Homework, Hot Flashes, and Harvard: Disrupting the Narrative

I wasn’t just back in school—I was rewriting the narrative.

I was attending class surrounded by students the same age as my children.

But I didn’t shrink. I studied beside them. I participated. I asked the hard questions.

I stayed up late—not because someone else needed me, but because I was locked in, writing policy memos and tackling statistics assignments like my life depended on it.

I was navigating more than homework. I was navigating hot flashes, thinning hair, waves of doubt, and a body that was changing in real time.

But I didn’t retreat.
I rose through it.

Because EVOlution doesn’t end with age—it begins when you finally choose yourself.

Statistics, Sweating, and Showing Up Anyway

First week of school. Walking Into the New Me.

Graduating...Again

Walking across the stage at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, I carried
- Every late night and rewrite
- Every ounce of belief I rebuilt
- Every child I’d raised
- …and every hot flash that reminded me how far I’d come

The roar of applause filled the hall—proof that I belonged here, no matter my age. In that instant, I wasn’t “just” a mom or a student—I was proof that EVOlution™ means daring to grow through every season of life.

This moment wasn’t the finish line—it was the next leap in my EVOlution™.

Graduation Day. I crossed the stage carrying every dream I once set aside—and every version of me that kept going.

From student to speaker: teaching where I once dreamed of learning

Graduation Day: My EVOlution in full view.

Where I Am Now - Still Becoming, Still EVOlving

I’m a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University School of Education, researching how emotional intelligence between middle-school teachers and students shapes engagement and equity.

My own lack of emotional responsibility once cost me my firstborn—not her life, but her light. That wake-up call birthed EVO 50™, a movement and Method™ for parents to grow so our children no longer have to protect our emotions at the cost of their own.

Tonight at your kitchen table, ask your child one open-ended question—and really listen to their answer.

Still becoming. Now shaping research that helps parents grow too.

From Empty to Empowered 

For years, I was present for everyone but missing from myself. I was parenting with love—but also with control, fear, and silence.

I tied my peace to my children’s decisions, and when those decisions didn’t match my hopes, I let that pain lead.
It cost me my connection with my firstborn.

At 58, I stopped avoiding what I needed. I sat in the seat of emotional responsibility—and finally chose myself.

That’s when EVO 50™ was born.
Not to change the past, but to help other parents grow beyond it—without guilt, without shame, and without passing the weight of our pain onto our children.

At 58, I finally sat in a seat I had avoided my entire life—not a seat of success, but one of emotional responsibility. It meant facing the patterns I parented from and the silence I ignored. That seat didn’t bring her back. But it brought me back to myself.

EVO 50™ was born out of that moment—to help every parent choose growth over guilt and connection over control.