Each week, the Shreveport-Bossier Journal’s Tony Taglavore takes to lunch a local person – someone who is well-known, successful, and/or influential, and asks, “What’s Your Story?”
By TONY TAGLAVORE, Journal Services
She was starting a new school – a school unlike any she had attended.
“The first day of the academy, there were about 30 of us. I’m looking around thinking, ‘There are a lot of guys here.’ Then I realized I was the only female. I’m thinking, ‘Okay, this is a joke.’ I thought there would be at least one other female. There were no other females.”
That’s not all.
“I realized I’m the youngest here, too. I’m the only young lady here. ‘Lord, you gotta help me.’”
He did. In just the second month, she was named class leader.
“It opened my eyes that I can be in a supervisor leadership role over people who are older than me.”
Six months of doing everything the guys did (running laps, climbing towers, wearing 80 pounds of equipment while carrying a 150-pound dummy), she was named class valedictorian.
“On graduation day, the “realization” was just a moment of reflection over the last six months – still in awe that I completed every obstacle presented within the last six months and was successful.”
Aniyah Brown, recently named 2025 Firefighter of the Year for Louisiana, Mississippi, and western Tennessee by the Kiwanis Club, told me that story – and her story – during lunch at a place she chose, Jason’s Deli. Aniyah had a loaded potato, and a mix of Sprite and tea to drink. I enjoyed half of a muffaletta, a bowl of gumbo, and water with lemon.
“You’re guess is as good as mine,” Aniyah told me when I asked what she did to earn the award. “When I got the news, I was like, ‘Do you have the right person?’”
The now 20-year-old, in her third year with the Shreveport Fire Department (SFD), was the “right person” from an early age. Aniyah wasn’t into sports, so she had a lot of time to focus on academics.
“I was always a nerd. I wasn’t really athletic. I played softball for a week. My parents said they looked at the outfield, and I was playing with the grass.”
But while Aniyah wasn’t interested in catching a fly ball, she was interested in learning. The result was Aniyah being a straight A student.
“I sought academic validation. I loved everything about school. I was good at it.”
And Aniyah’s mother was good at teaching her daughter responsibility. Aniyah’s mom lost her mom when she was just 16 and wasn’t prepared to do what Aniyah calls “basic life.”
“She raised me to be tough. I grew up faster than others my age. At the time, it seemed unfair. Why do I have to wash dishes and wash my own clothes? I’m only 10. But it instilled a lot of responsibility, and I appreciate her for that, now that I am an adult.”
Throughout her time at Caddo Magnet High School, Aniyah – the oldest of three children – thought about being a psychologist, a psychiatrist, or a nurse in the military. But during her senior year while taking an Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) class at the Caddo Career and Technology Center, Aniyah was offered an opportunity to ride a shift with a medic unit.
“The emergency response part of it was very exhilarating. It was the same rush I thought I would have going into the military . . . . Knowing that could be your career for the rest of your life, not knowing what you’re walking into when you go to work. I was like, ‘I could do this for a long time.’”
And Aniyah, who had a full scholarship offer to an out-of-town college, could do that without leaving home.
“I heard so many stories of kids who grew up with so much discipline, then went off to college and threw it all away because they had so much freedom, they self-sabotaged.”
So, Aniyah applied to SFD, went through training, and was hired. She remembers her thoughts that first day.
“This is so surreal. When I used to see the fire truck pass, I wondered who was in there. It’s me. I’m in there now. I’m potentially going to help save a life. I’m potentially going to help someone’s day get better. Just being a part of that, I was like, ‘Oh my God. I can’t believe it!’”
But there’s more to Aniyah than being a firefighter. When she’s not working, Aniyah is likely to be doing something she believes in strongly – community service. Aniyah goes back to Caddo Magnet and talks to kids about life after high school. She returns to that EMR class and helps any way she can. Oh, and six months after joining SFD, she became a part of its honor guard.
“I really respect and want to be a part of the honor they give all firefighters, all retired firefighters, all the captains who have put in their work, and all the firefighters who have put their lives on the line. I want to honor them as well, whether I knew them or not.
When we met, Aniyah had just finished a 24-hour shift. Knowing she was probably ready to go home and sleep, I asked my final question. As always, what is it about her life story she would like to share with others? Aniyah had three pieces of advice.
“Listen to wise counsel. I don’t care who it comes from or what you think about the person. When someone is giving you advice, look at the fruit they have produced in their life. That is a good indicator of whether or not that person is wise counsel.”
“Always be humble. Always keep a sense of humility, because when pride gets in your way, you’re in your own way. You’re subject to missing out on so many opportunities – so many blessings.”
“Always be nice. Be kind. You never know what people have going on. Kindness, I feel, is so rare. But being kind is free. It’s one of the few free things.”
Do you know someone with a story? Email SBJTonyT@gmail.com.
The Journal’s weekly “What’s Your Story?” series is sponsored by Morris & Dewett Injury Lawyers.