LOTTIE SHANNON
Lottie D. Shannon is a retired educator from the NYC Department of Education, Office of the Superintendent, District 21. She was born in North Carolina and raised in Brooklyn, New York.
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Shannon began her career in 1972 at the NYC Department of Education and worked her way to management. In 1987, she became the Project Director of the Department of Education Mentoring Program, where she was a mentor in the Women in Government Mentoring Program. She involved corporate, government, and cultural institutions in mentoring young high school students throughout New York City. The program
thrived under her leadership and became the prototype for Matilda Cuomo’s statewide mentoring program.
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In 1990, Shannon became the Executive Director for the Parent Advocacy Center of Medgar Evers College. She coordinated staff, raised funds, developed and conducted an award winning Parent Training Institute, directed at teaching parent skills in advocating for their children in the city public schools. The program received recognition throughout the state from the former Commissioner Tom Sobol, New York State Education Department. The Parent Training Institute became a model for the development of parent participation in programs in Mount Vernon and Hempstead, New York.
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Shannon returned to the NYC Department of Education in 1996 as the Borough Deputy to the Chancellor, Rudy Crew. She was responsible for the development and implementation of projects and assisting the Superintendents and Principals in obtaining resources for their schools.
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Shannon is also the Host/Producer of the award winning show, “Keeping It Real with Shannon”, a talk show and entertainment that began in 1997. The show has aired on Brooklyn Public Network (BPN) formerly known as BCAT for fifteen years on Cablevision, Channel 68, Time Warner 35, Verizon 43 on Saturdays at 5:30PM and Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) for ten years on Time Warner, Channel 56 and RCN Channel 83, on Saturdays, 2:30 P.M. Keeping It Real with Shannon reflects on a wide variety of topics such as Domestic Violence, Police Brutality, Education, Male/Female Relationships, Health and Community issues and the Shannon’s Book Club. The show promotes local artists as well as professional artists. Past guests have included Terrie M. Williams, Publicist/Author, Bad Boy Michael Baisden, KISS FM Radio Personality, Dominic Carter, former NY1 News Reporter, Colleen Babb & Frank Lagahezza, District Attorneys’ Office, Legendary R & B singers, the late Isaac Hayes, Maxine Brown, Baby Washington and renowned gospel singer Vicki Winan, legendary gangsters, King Tone of the Latin Kings and Kenneth Gilmore.
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Keeping It Real with Shannon is the 2002 winner of the National Hometown Video Festival Award held in Houston, Texas. It won first place for the best in public access programming for talk show and entertainment.
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Shannon personifies the qualities of intelligence, endurance, compassion, and a strong faith that characterize black foremothers who held the family, church and community together through all adversities. She has a daughter who is a graduate of Morgan State University. She attended college and obtained three degrees, including a Masters.
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Shannon served on the Board of Directors for several corporate and community based organizations. She has won numerous awards and citations from national and community based organizations, DA Charles Hynes (Women in the Media), NYS Governor Mario Cuomo (Women of Distinction) and Congressman Edolphus Townes (Women Who Dare to be Different). She was featured on (ABC) “Like It Is” with the late Gil Nobles, Metro Magazine (WNYE), The Hotline Show (Channel 31), and the McCreary Report (Channel 5), Fox 5-Dayside with Linda Vester, Caribbean Life, Daily News, Brooklyn Paper, New York Newsday, and Medgar Evers College Radio Station.