Dr. Mattie Jo directs Target Area Development as chief operating officer for a social justice organization based on Chicago’s South Side. The organization runs research and reentry programs, outreach efforts, mentorship opportunities, mental health support and educational initiatives to empower communities.
Dr. MJ aims to empower individuals at their foundational level before gaining recognition through her professional titles and achievements.
She is a motivational speaker, international activist and a six-time published author who mentors today’s generation. Dr. MJ founded five grassroots organizations, including Ambassadors of Technology & Performing Arts, M2M Consulting LLC, and Arm a Nation, which she helped establish from the ground up. The educational mentorship organization Back 2 the Basics, co-founded by Dr. MJ, has made a significant impact by reaching more than 1,000 people. The organization represents her life’s work because she and her husband, Brent, dedicated their lives through sacrifice and passion to build it together.
As crucial as all her roles are, being a mother is her most meaningful title.
Despite the significant impact she has made through the lives she has reached and the programs she created, Dr. MJ states that nothing compares to the experience of motherhood.
As director of a 2,200-seat theatre, she manages daytime performing arts productions and musicals within Chicago Public Schools. Despite a career across different continents and serving various communities, she believes raising her children is her most significant accomplishment.
Dr. MJ has three children, Justice (23), Journey (17), and JoJo (15), and seven adult stepchildren whom she supported with love and dedication as their mother figure.
Raised in Faith, Rooted in Grit
Her bold parenting style emerged over time as a product of the values and expectations instilled in her since childhood.
Despite coming from a strict Christian family that prioritized church attendance and deep-rooted values, Dr. MJ followed her unique path. As the daughter of Apostle Joseph L. Stanford, she had to attend church without exception because expectations were very high. Her upbringing formed her identity, yet she pursued motherhood through a mix of traditional values and modern understanding.
A Blended Home: No Boundaries on Love.
She managed blended family parenting complexities through a foundation that combined structure with unconditional love.
Dr. MJ warmly greeted her husband’s children by taking on a maternal role and treating them like her own children when she met them. Her parents’ remarriage led her to become familiar with blended family environments. Her childhood environment taught her about broad community support while exposing her to various viewpoints and developing customs, which formed the foundation for her accepting and supportive family home.
“Both of my stepparents demonstrated excellent parenting skills. This year marks 41 years of marriage between both sets of my parents.”
Dr. MJ explained that because her stepparents were significant influences, she found it simple to love her husband’s children as if they were hers. She admits that her experience as a stepmother included positive and negative moments. Difficult periods and misunderstandings occurred before she gained knowledge through trial and error. She stayed dedicated to her role while maintaining patience and focusing on love.
Parenting, Her Way
As she embraced mothering ten children, Dr. MJ created a parenting approach emphasizing truthfulness, autonomy and deep love.
Dr. Mattie Jo practices motherhood through unconventional methods. She’s not big on affection, but her children understand she loves them deeply. She leads with unfiltered honesty and strict love, a straightforward mother who refuses to sugarcoat anything. Her childhood home emphasized structure and discipline, which she brought into her parenting practices with bold modifications.
She motivates her children to envision limitless possibilities and encourages them to surpass conventional boundaries. Justice succeeded at age 23 by managing his barbershop and working a traditional job. Her 17-year-old daughter Journey attends the prestigious Kenwood Academy in Chicago’s Hyde Park community. By skipping a grade due to his academic success, JoJo became the youngest student at Lane Tech High School, which stands among Illinois’s top five public schools.
Dr. MJ avoids setting limits for her children because she prefers to empower them to surpass those boundaries and embrace independence.
Speaking Their Language
Dr. Mattie Jo advanced their bond-building efforts recently by guiding her children through self-discovery using the Love Languages framework.
She helped her children understand their unique needs by having them complete Love Language assessments. The results led to better communication and stronger trust.
Lessons in Love—at Home and in Marriage
She used autonomy as a parenting tool for her children, strengthening her 16-year marriage and enhancing the emotional connection throughout their household.
Their marriage deepened as they used the same love language methods to become more intentional and connected. Dr. MJ exemplifies leadership through purposeful actions and visionary thinking by gracefully executing her plans.
She guides her children by fostering decision-making skills and independence through a supportive leadership style that allows them to learn from their mistakes without becoming overbearing. A non-intrusive parenting method allows Dr. MJ to cultivate confident young adults who understand their identities and potential strongly.
Legacy in Motion
Dr. MJ maintains her legacy through real-time collaboration with her son to create generational change through individual conversations.
She and her son, Justice, are developing The Standard is the Blueprint podcast project. The show will feature substantial discussions that address generational wealth, legacy-building methods and the purposeful transfer of wisdom and knowledge.
Dr. Mattie Jo sets a new standard in her family for modern motherhood by combining generosity with forward-thinking actions that create a permanent legacy for her family and subsequent generations. Her foundation in faith, purposeful direction and love’s motivation enable her to make more than just a legacy: she establishes a model for others to emulate.
Dr. Mattie Jo exemplifies visionary leadership through her faith and love, as the world recognizes mothers’ brilliance and complexity. She represents more than motherhood; she builds people while maintaining her legacy and serves as a living example for future generations. Motherhood is both a divine calling and an enduring movement that creates an everlasting impact on the hearts of those she has nurtured.
The Chicago Defender celebrates Black mothers who nurture, build and Inspire.
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