Team Member Spotlight: Lamilia Blackshear

Tell her she can’t and she’ll show you she can. Did you know that Lamilia Blackshear, Network Support Manager for Embrace Families, has a hidden competitive streak that propelled her into basketball stardom?

“I started basketball on a dare from my middle school coach in the eighth grade,” Lamilia explains. “I was an extremely reserved child, and she told me that I had zero athleticism in my body.”

That dare proved to be all of the motivation needed to try out for the basketball team at Doctor Phillip’s High School, where Lamilia quickly proved herself to be a powerhouse on the court. It should come as no surprise that after she played in three consecutive championship games sophomore, junior and senior year — Lamilia was offered a coveted full basketball scholarship to play at Stetson University, a Division I school.

At Stetson, she met her now husband Kerry Blackshear through their participation in college athletics. Kerry played on the men’s team as a shooting guard and the pair both achieved accolades in the Stetson Hall of Fame, so it should come to no surprise that their family of three children is full of basketball stars in the making.

“At 6 feet tall, I’m the shortest one!” Lamilia exclaims. “Even my teenage daughter is taller than I am!”

KJ Blackshear, Lamilia’s oldest, has followed in his parents’ footsteps and now plays men’s basketball at Virginia Tech. The power forward is quickly making a name for himself and won the prestigious ACC rookie of the week award as a freshman.

We are so thrilled that Lamilia fell in love with the mission of Embrace Families all those years ago, and now uses her finance degree to fight for the welfare of children the same way she fights for her girls she coaches on the court. Thank you for helping to protect and inspire every child, every day.