225BatonRouge.com

It’s a young man’s world, and Tonya Robertson has made it her life’s work to help make it turn.

Her job is no small task: The Young Leaders Academy earned more than its share of awards for helping at-risk young black boys from the inner city long before she set foot on campus to replace the dynamic Kirt Bennett, its first director.

“Just the other day, someone called me the mama of YLA, and I cringed,” Robertson laughs. “But I do feel very much that these are my boys.”

Robertson finds that surprising within herself, because she never desired children of her own. When you look at her resume, that may seem ironic—she’s a former schoolteacher and mentor coordinator.

“I guess it’s the calling on my life to work with children,” Robertson says. “We all have a call on our lives, and it doesn’t let go.”

Robertson’s calling at the academy is not without question from outsiders. She says at the start of her tenure in 2004, she was often approached with questions about how could she, a woman, lead these young men.

“I think that’s a wonderful question! My answer is: Leadership and academic excellence have no gender. It’s not a man or a woman thing,” Robertson says. “I do acknowledge that women lead differently than men. We ‘feel’ everything….People can call it woman’s intuition or whatever they want.”

Feeling this generation of black youth is in danger, Robertson says she puts her all into the academy’s students. She and her staff stay involved in their young charges’ lives, not just at the weekend and summer programs the academy offers.

“My product is on the floor….I can’t drop it,” Robertson says of her young men. “We have to uplift these kids and show them that there is more out there than what is in their backyards. We are dealing with children whose nightmares come in the daytime….”

In her free time, when she can find it, Robertson enjoys shopping (“I’m a shoe and purse person”) and volunteers her time with other organizations.

She is also an avid reader who enjoys a variety of genres. What’s at the top of her list?

“The Bible,” Robertson says. “It’s a great leadership book for me.”

Photo by Lori Waselchuk