Education

Coach Emanuel Xavier Hassell is a Criminal Justice professional with over three years experience in counseling troubled youth.  He is trained in handling youth who struggle with mental and behavioral disorders.  Equipped with strong knowledge of crisis intervention and suicide prevention tactics.

Coach Hassell is an Educator with a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in Criminal Justice.  He also has a Master of Arts degree in Higher Education from Ashford University in Clinton, IA.

Coach Hassell is a graduate of Whitehaven High school in Memphis, TN, where he set records in both football and track. He played wide receiver for UT-Chattanooga where he set and still holds the record of all time lead pass catcher. Hassell compiled a three-year total of 169 receptions for the Mocs from 2004 to 2006, breaking the career record of 166. He is also a former professional athlete with the British Columbia Lion. Hassell has over a decade of experience training elite athletes in all sports as well as coaching in Track and Football.  He is the owner of Give Me No Hassell Training established in 2015 in which he specializes in mentoring, strength/conditioning, and speed/agility for athletes of all ages in TN, TX, and GA. He is devoted in seeing the success of his athletes personally and athletically. 

Coach Hassell seeks positions where strong work ethic and a commitment to success can be used in business commerce.  He is accustomed to working diligently both as an individual and within the frame work of a team to reach a common goal.

Lokita W. Glover was born in Memphis, Tennessee. She is a graduate of Coppell High School in Coppell Texas. She received her Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Memphis and later received her Master of Education Degree as well as an Education Specialist Degree in Administration and Supervision from Union University.

Lokita has been an educator for 24 years with Memphis City and Shelby County Schools. She has been married to Lieutenant Seabron Glover for 27 years. She is the proud mom of 2 children. She is a follower of Christ and is currently assisting in launching a church plant with Covenant Family Church in Bartlett, Tennessee.  She is an avid reader and loves to travel, dance and connect with friends.

With his Aspire start in 2012 as the Memphis Community Outreach and Partnerships Manager, Dr. Manning has continued to make his mark on Aspire Memphis as Principal of Hanley Elementary for two years, as Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the region, and most recently as Memphis Associate Superintendent and valued member of the Senior Education Team. In 2018, Dr. Manning became Aspire’s second ever Memphis Area Superintendent. In July 2020, Aspire Memphis transitioned to Journey Community Schools with Dr. Manning leading the organization as Executive Director. 

Dr. Manning has been instrumental in several turnaround schools in Memphis, Tennessee through his work as an assistant principal, principal, and associate superintendent. During his time in these roles, all of his schools experienced double-digit academic gains. Throughout his career, Dr. Manning has received training through New Leaders for New Schools, Harvard Principals Center, Urban Education Center, and Research for Better Teaching. In his fifteen years of being an educator in both district-run public schools and public charter schools, Nickalous served in several capacities including: teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal resident, principal, director of strategic partnerships, director of curriculum, and associate superintendent.

Dr. Manning has been named Airways Teacher of the Year, was featured in the Tennessee Education Association’s training video, “Leadership Series,” and has led a host of leadership teams and professional development series. Moreover, Dr. Manning has been a distinguished lecturer at Christian Brothers University, Trevecca Nazarene University, Memphis City School’s Teaching and Learning Academy, Urban Education Center, and adjunct professor for Performance Learning Systems in conjunction with Christian Brothers University.

Dr. Manning earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in Secondary Education with concentrations and certifications in Economics and U.S. and World History.  He also completed a Master’s in Educational Leadership from Trevecca Nazarene University. While completing his Doctorate at Trevecca, his dissertation on single gender education earned him the coveted Trevecca Nazarene University’s Dissertation Award.

Dr. Manning resides in Memphis, Tennessee with his wife, Lequite, and two sons, Miller and Maxwell.  In his spare time, he enjoys reading and supporting the development of children.

My name is Shawn Woodall I am a 37-year-old web developer from New Jersey, currently living in Atlanta Georgia. For as long as I can remember I’ve always wanted my life to be about helping others. I was a kid that when someone asked, “What would you do if you won the lottery”, the first thing I would think about is what I would do for my parents and family. It's truly at the core of me. After high school in Piscataway, New Jersey, I went to Clark Atlanta University to study computer science, I wanted to program computers so I could truly see what they could do and Clark Atlanta was the right school for me. I graduated CAU in 2005 and began my career as a web developer building websites for my friends and crafting web solutions for companies that I’m still doing to this day. 

I have had some great accomplishments in my life so far. First and foremost getting married to my lovely wife and having my son has been the greatest experiences I’ve had so far. It's because of my son that I realized that I enjoy teaching. If you can believe it, teaching him how to read and write was so much fun. I've also had lots of professional accomplishments. Working at big companies on their huge projects made me realize that I can do anything I put my mind to. I've worked on sites for companies like ESPN, New York Times, and Target. 

About 8 years ago I had an idea that I wanted to teach kids computer programming or be a mentor to young developers coming up in the industry. Out of this came Code Elephant. Code Elephant is a Technology Education company that started in 2017. Our main focus is to strengthen problem solving skills in kids today. We do this by teaching computer programming classes to kids and teens in Atlanta and now virtually. I've had such a great time over these past 3 years. I love teaching the kids new things and watching them have fun while solving problems. Lastly, we’ve grown a lot over the last 3 years to offer multiple coding classes including, Javascript, HTML, CSS, Robotics, and Scratch. I hope to have the ability to do this forever.