Dr. Lakita Long is inspiring, absolutely motivating, spiritually empowered and completely engaged in helping people change their life. She concentrates in motivating and inspiring her audience, until they have their own “Thinking Outloud” moment, giving life-long tools to men and women. As a speaker, author, educator, social therapist, and consultant she focuses her energies around providing relevant information to help transform the lives of children, youth, women and families. Her foundation is using biblical and spiritual principles coupled with psychological concepts to help people redefine their life and help them take courage to change their life.
Lakita begin her advocacy work for those considered at-risk at the age of 15 years, being sworn in as the States youngest employee, working with EDD and Workforce Development to provide jobs and life skills to disadvantaged youth who identified themselves as gang members or affiliates thereof. This started her love for creating and facilitating various life skills and work force development training programs while integrating mental health components that would impact individuals that were most likely affected by the lack of services. She went on to work for Mission Valley College where for 3 years she created, developed and facilitated the Life Skills Training Program for the Regimented Corrections Program connected with San Quentin, serving more than 500 men and women. It had the lowest recidivism rates during the time she worked there, and 10 years after she left.
She has spent the last 20 years working with non-profit agencies, probation departments and government agencies to come up with strategic plans, programs that would enable
success amongst those who were considered disadvantage in some way, minimizing youth and adults from entering or re-entering the prison system. With a special love for women and their issues, she speaks across the country on ways to help them become more emotionally, spiritually and economical self-sufficient.
As the lead consultant with Inspiring You Global Enterprises, she uses her knowledge and expertise in mental health, workforce development and programmatic outreach and recruitment to create, implement, and provide unique services around training, and development producing inspiring, engaging and educational curriculum content for participants, and providers.
As the founder and driving force behind Inspiring You Global Enterprises, Inc and Inspiring You! Ministries, Inc she finds time to participate in the startup of a variety of businesses and organizations that reflect her passion of helping people be their best furthering the mission to Motivate, Inspire, Train and Teach others to be their absolute best. Lakita has embraced the calling on her life and has stepped into the forefront of changing the lives of others as she uses her God given ability to speak life and present others with alternative options in order to impact the world.
Lakita is the recipient of many awards including the Neighborhood Grant Award by Bank of America for her work with her program GirlTalk, volunteers countless hours providing crisis counseling in many faith based organizations, and non-profits that do not have the resources and is the author of many books, including her latest “Starting Over and Loving It” a quick peek at what happens when the bottom of your life completely falls out. She has several books coming out this Fall 2017… “Sister Check: The Things To Know About Relationships”, “Yes You Can”, “Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew”. Her book series for the incarcerated individuals, “Behind These Bars, There is HOPE” and “Beyond These Bars There is Life”, will be coming out in the Spring of 2018, to inspire a Mindset Shift to those who are behind bars, and those that are working with them.
With a Bachelors degree in Psychology from UC Berkeley, Masters of Science in Counseling from Cal State Hayward, now known as Cal State East Bay and Doctoral training and studies in Counseling Psychology from Argosy University, she is a lifelong learner, getting information that would be useful for the work that is most passionate to her. Lakita is a certified trainer in Anger Management, Parenting Education, WRAP Around Facilitator and a is a Registered Marriage Family Therapist Intern currently in the licensing phase and is affectionately known as “The Peoples Therapist”. She is a divorced mother of two children, Jailen (8) and Cayla (11), and lives in Northern California.
