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LaShon Thompson’s Real Life Hustle

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Up until her appearance on Bravo’s new reality TV show Mother Funders last season, most people wouldn’t recognize LaShon Thompson, the show’s bubbly Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) secretary at Bethlehem Elementary School in Locust Grove, Ga. When, however, she is mentioned in context with her famous ex-boyfriend, rapper T.I., then everyone may recognize or acknowledge her existence as the mother of their sons, Messiah and Domani Harris. Today, with a family of her own, including husband, TeShon, daughter, Ajah, and stepdaughter, Niya, she emerges with her own role and distinct tale.

What made her come from behind the scenes to do a television show?

Getting New Exposure

She had done a couple of other TV show pilots before but says they really weren’t a good fit. “Everybody was coming at me about doing TV shows, and it was always something about baby mama, something with baby mama in it. Even if it wasn’t in the title of the show, it was the first thing I say on my casting tape: ‘Hi, I’m LaShon. T.I.’s my kids’ dad.’”

True Entertainment, the production company for Bravo TV’s Mother Funders, was the first production company that did not ask if T.I. was supportive or to “tell me something about your kids’ father.” She adds, “I haven’t even mentioned T.I.’s name during filming, period, the whole season that I have filmed with Mother Funders. So this is where I’m supposed to be.”

LaShon and her six co-stars’ kids all attended the same elementary school, where she had been trying to get on the PTO.  “I’m usually at the school volunteering anyway,” she explains. “I work from home, so I have a flexible schedule.”

One day, Carla Stephens, the school’s PTO president, asked LaShon how she felt about doing a TV show. After some initial cynicism and questions, Carla urged her, saying, “It’s going to be positive. It’s going to focus on us raising money and donating it to the school, very family-oriented.”

After that, LaShon said she was all in, along with fellow PTO board members Shayzon Prince, Robin Dyke, Amber Bryant, Amber Coulter, and former member Shana Koorse. “All of the ladies on the show, including myself, are very passionate about what we do on the PTO board for the school. That is the God’s honest truth.”

Apparently, the school PTO has a different flavor than LaShon remembers growing up, when it was the PTA, the national Parent Teacher Association. She enjoys what she calls the “lavish events” that Carla and Robin, the volunteer coordinator, organize. In addition, her glamorous co-stars don’t look like anyone’s mother, she says, reminiscing about how PTA mothers in her time came dressed to school meetings.  “They’re beautiful, and they really, really, really have a passion for what they do for the school.”

With apparent respect and admiration for everyone, LaShon doesn’t personally foresee any on-camera spats with her cast mates, which is typical of many reality TV shows with a female cast. However, her optimism can’t curb any tensions that already existed…

 

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