Felicia Latoya Brown is co-lead of the arts, media, and entertainment area of interest for the Engineering and Education Technology Division of the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE). She also sits on the board of the Educational Theatre Association and is on their education steering committee. She is the past president of the Career and Technical Association of New Jersey and has worked as a CTE theatre educator for over five years. She was awarded the NJ New CTE Teacher of the Year in 2021 and the NJ CTE Teacher of the Year for 2024. She is driven to see arts, media, and entertainment-related CTE programs get the recognition and support needed for all students involved to succeed.
She taught at Life Center Academy (LCA) for over a decade, re-established a theatrical program at that school, and was a youth leader at Fountain of Life (of which LCA is a subsidiary) for over two decades. She began teaching theatre at Trenton Central High School a few years before the pandemic. She brings her experiences from acting, singing, directing, stage managing, dramaturgy, traveling, and teaching to her tenth through twelfth-grade students. Because she teaches many aspects of theatre, this job challenges her to keep growing as a theatre artist. To find out more about the CTE program at TCHS, visit http://www.tchstheatre.com
Brown holds an MA in theatre studies and another MA in arts administration. She holds three NJ standard teaching certifications for theatre, CTE/vocational theatre, and English. In 2023, she completed the Association for Career and Technical Education fellows program for the Engineering and Educational Technology Division. She was the regional programming director for the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE), helping to shape the Theatre In Our Schools (TIOS) Month campaign during the pandemic. She remains a member of that organization. She sat on the board for the Ritz Theatre Company for over a year. She is the NJ Thespian troupe director for TCHS Troupe 8266. Ms. Brown also holds membership in Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and four unions: National Education Association (NEA), the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), Mercer County Education Association (MCEA), and the Trenton Education Association (TEA). Her work for diversity and anti-racism within and outside of several of these organizations can be found here. She is a part of an international group for Entertainment Health. Information gathered and shared can be found here.
She has a passion for reading and learning, especially about cultures. She taught short theatre programs in Kenya, Brazil, and Costa Rica. The latter of which included aspects of drama therapy with former child prostitutes. Her international performances have included singing in Egypt and Slovakia. She visited and lived in Slovakia, which allowed for her to be the language editor for the first Slovak civil law book to be translated into English, take a language and culture course, sing with the Technik Choir, and attend the Slovak Theatre Nova Drama Festival (more than once).
She was also one of the associate producers for the award-winning independent short film The Sand Box.
Within the last few years, she learned that she is autistic. Her low support needs and her ability to mask made it difficult for people to notice. She embraces this new explanation to the parts of her that have gone unnoticed or marked as "quirks". Armed with the words she felt she were missing for years, she is now a better advocate for neurodivergent people and looks for ways to make the environments in which she works and teaches more equitable on a neurological level.
She taught at Life Center Academy (LCA) for over a decade, re-established a theatrical program at that school, and was a youth leader at Fountain of Life (of which LCA is a subsidiary) for over two decades. She began teaching theatre at Trenton Central High School a few years before the pandemic. She brings her experiences from acting, singing, directing, stage managing, dramaturgy, traveling, and teaching to her tenth through twelfth-grade students. Because she teaches many aspects of theatre, this job challenges her to keep growing as a theatre artist. To find out more about the CTE program at TCHS, visit http://www.tchstheatre.com
Brown holds an MA in theatre studies and another MA in arts administration. She holds three NJ standard teaching certifications for theatre, CTE/vocational theatre, and English. In 2023, she completed the Association for Career and Technical Education fellows program for the Engineering and Educational Technology Division. She was the regional programming director for the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE), helping to shape the Theatre In Our Schools (TIOS) Month campaign during the pandemic. She remains a member of that organization. She sat on the board for the Ritz Theatre Company for over a year. She is the NJ Thespian troupe director for TCHS Troupe 8266. Ms. Brown also holds membership in Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and four unions: National Education Association (NEA), the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), Mercer County Education Association (MCEA), and the Trenton Education Association (TEA). Her work for diversity and anti-racism within and outside of several of these organizations can be found here. She is a part of an international group for Entertainment Health. Information gathered and shared can be found here.
She has a passion for reading and learning, especially about cultures. She taught short theatre programs in Kenya, Brazil, and Costa Rica. The latter of which included aspects of drama therapy with former child prostitutes. Her international performances have included singing in Egypt and Slovakia. She visited and lived in Slovakia, which allowed for her to be the language editor for the first Slovak civil law book to be translated into English, take a language and culture course, sing with the Technik Choir, and attend the Slovak Theatre Nova Drama Festival (more than once).
She was also one of the associate producers for the award-winning independent short film The Sand Box.
Within the last few years, she learned that she is autistic. Her low support needs and her ability to mask made it difficult for people to notice. She embraces this new explanation to the parts of her that have gone unnoticed or marked as "quirks". Armed with the words she felt she were missing for years, she is now a better advocate for neurodivergent people and looks for ways to make the environments in which she works and teaches more equitable on a neurological level.
