cbuzz: Tonya Kelly, MEd, Empower Our Youth Foundation: Advocating for Our Youth

Tonya Kelly, MEd, is the CEO/Founder of the 501c3 non-profit organization called Empower Our Youth Foundation. Tonya, by career, is a fourth-grade elementary teacher in Columbus, Ohio. The organization began in 2017 when her second daughter experienced being bullied till she had thoughts of suicide. With both of her daughters being bullied, and in 2019 her granddaughter was bullied, I witnessed firsthand the negative impacts, the family emotions, and experiences that damage a child’s self-esteem and quality of life. Over the past three years, Tonya has shared her testimony and served as an Anti-Bullying advocate and Community resources advocate assisting families in officially reporting any forms of bullying to the appropriate authorities and mentoring students. Tonya is a community activist for bullying prevention resources and services with her Empower Our Youth Foundation organization, which is working to bring attention to the problem of all forms of bullying happening in our schools and communities. Tonya is available for educational speaking engagements.

To learn more about Empower Our Youth Foundation, visit https://empowerouryouthfoundation.org/.

Tune in today as Tonya sits down with cbuzz host Mikaela Hunt to talk about providing resources for youth and the importance of advocating for yourself.

A note about cbuzz production: We are thrilled to be back recording episodes for our Central Ohio community. Stay tuned for new episodes, which will share the stories of some of our best and brightest Columbus Chamber members. Thank you to our listeners for their patience and understanding as we worked to establish a virtual recording setup. You can learn about Capital University here and learn more about cbuzz host Mikaela Hunt here.

Cbuzz is the Columbus Chamber of Commerce’s business-focused podcast and was named Best Business Podcast in 2019 by the Columbus Podcast Awards. The show is produced in partnership with Capital University and its students, and the show is hosted by Mikaela Hunt, brand journalist and storyteller.

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