Meet Tracy M. Watson
Tracy M. Watson is a native Washingtonian. Growing up she spent time going to the Smithsonian museums, playing Double-Dutch, riding bikes and skating with her friends at the neighborhood playground. She spent a lot of time reading and creating stories.
Ms. Watson attended Howard University and received her BA degree. She also attended Trinity University in Washington, DC where she received a MA in Teaching. She is currently teaching elementary school in Maryland. Her continuing education includes a certificate in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from the University of Maryland.
Tracy enjoys music, museums, movies, and traveling, especially to Florida and the Caribbean where she can relax beside clear blue water. She loves spending time with family and friends.
My Passion
Enjoys reading & writing
I have always enjoyed reading and in second grade I started writing. I would write about anything that came to mind. During my pre-teen and teen years, I continued to write. I wrote crazy stories with crazy characters. I would write my thoughts and ideas in colorful journals and notebooks. I joined the school newspaper in the 11th grade and was editor and chief of the yearbook during my senior year. I also began to incorporate photography into my hobbies. This format allowed me to be creative through the lens of a camera along with writing. I began to focus on feature stories and creating fun short stories.
Visual Career
Visual design led to more creativity
Visual Merchandising is the practice of presenting and displaying products within a retail store in an organized and appealing fashion. With manager and mentor Gary Brown we created ideas to style and display mannequins in the latest fashions based on marketing trends and demographics. Working in visual merchandising allowed me to be creative, build confidence and communicate with the public and management.
Teaching Career
Growing and changing
So how did I go from visual merchandising to teacher? I was accepted into a teaching program that took me to Houston, Texas for training and then to Rocky Mount, North Carolina. My grandmother could visualize me being a teacher and always wished that I would become one. After obtaining a Master’s Degree in Education I became an elementary school teacher. As an elementary school teacher, I found myself creating stories to help convey lessons and incorporating characters within my lessons. These included transforming into Ms. Math and creating the Class Picnic Big Book that I wrote using my students to solve math problems.
Published Work
First work but not new to story telling
Although Shawn Lizard is my first published book I have been writing and creating stories for years. Shawn and his friend Layla have many more journeys and stories to share in the near future.
I have interviewed people within my community, local personalities, musical artists for an up-and-coming local video show created to inspire, empower and promote positivity.