Written by Alan-Michael Chest, M.Ed., LMHC
Springfield Native Terrance Mack aka. “Mack Writtens” is an educator with five years of experience in education who specializes in Special Education, Humanities, and Language.
Mack works as an ESL (English Second Language) Instructor at Phoenix Charter Academy based in Springfield, Massachusetts who started teaching in 2015. His undergraduate studies consisted of Political Science and Government graduating in 2015 from Clark Atlanta University. Mack graduated with a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics from UMASS Boston in 2021. Mack holds a graduate certification for teaching English as a second language or foreign language from the International TEFL Academy.
Mack is also a published author and bookseller whose mission is to improve reading cultures across communities. Mack has facilitated leadership workshops, family planning workshops, and creative writing workshops. Recently, on July 13th and 14th of 2021, Mack led creative workshops at the Boys and Girls Club. During his enriched past work experience, Mack has also taught English as a Second Language courses on an international level through his work in Rwanda, Africa.
Mack found a love for teaching and learning languages due to his own experiences as a student of color navigating education. He recalls growing up as a student receiving special education services. Mack explains “I always struggled with reading and writing. At times, I couldn’t get through a page without stuttering. It took a while to understand why I was struggling, but I discovered that I wasn’t culturally connecting with the stories”.
In Mack’s humble beginnings, he spent time studying and researching ways to analyze and teach. As an educator, Mack set out to create a classroom where students felt comfortable enough to take ownership by collaboratively creating a safe space to learn.
One important thing Mack learned was how to keep education informative, engaging, inclusive, and interesting. In addition to education in the classroom, Mack created Mack Edu which is a soon-to-be non-profit for creative and engaging educational resources and programs. Mack chose to focus his summer 2021 on enhancing his entrepreneurial projects.
Mack started Diaspora Strong Bookstore last summer 2020. Diaspora Strong Bookstore serves the purpose of connecting stories and providing cultural education. Featured books are of black and brown authors and include comic books, suspense novels, sci-fi, non-fiction, and biographic material. Mack describes Diaspora Strong Bookstore as the “inspiration helping to remind communities that we can teach students with the resources that we already have”.
Mack acknowledges La Diaspora and the Ethnic Study Co-Work & Bookstore as supportive businesses that provided him with places to facilitate book pop-up shops. Mack understands that it takes cultural change through community collaboration to make things happen. Mack’s next venture is a mobile project called “Reads on Wheels”. Mack recognizes that the world is becoming more mobile, and a truck that delivers books to disenfranchised communities has the potential to be super impactful in the Western Massachusetts area.
Mack is working to raise 20k by March 2022 to support delivering books to different neighborhoods and local schools that memorialize cultural stories. Currently, Mack has raised $363 of the $20,000 goal.
How did you come up with the idea for your businesses?
The idea came about due to my studies and research on ways to teach language and educate black and brown communities on ways to enrich education with cultural influence.
How many hours a day do you work on your business?
About 19-20 hours a day, 7 days a week. I get ten (10) minute breaks between classes which allows me to work on business endeavors and trainings. I plan to take a vacation in December in Ghana to continue my work offering cultural and language education at the international level.
How did you raise funding for your venture?
Funds have been raised by connecting and working with others. Books have also been donated to the business.
How do you market your business?
The business is marketed through pop-up shops, social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, etc. I’ve also worked collaboratively with other like-minded business owners. Shout out to Simbrit, Stephanie, and Janette for allowing me to pop-up shop at Ethnic Study Co-work & Bookstore and La Diaspora.
What is one of your biggest goals for your business?
Eventually getting to the point of having consistent after school programs and workshop training for students. Once solidified, there is the continued goal to provide central knowledge with the mission to educate, teach, and comprehend literature.
Best of luck and success to you Mr. Mack! Mr. Mack is looking to raise 20k by March 2022 for his READS on WHEELS project by Diaspora Strong Bookstore.
For readers looking to support the bookstore and want to help, please email Terrance Mack at Mack100792@gmail.com. You can also purchase apparel and join the Diaspora Strong Movement! Additionally, there is a GoFundMe page, and the link can be found here: https://gofund.me/30285ccb
Follow Diaspora Strong Book Store on Instagram and Facebook. On-going updates about the store can be found at www.dsbookstore.org
To learn more about Mack Edu and its services please visit www.mackedu.com
