As Associate Coordinator LaShonda is an internationally-certified prevention specialist who joined the Southwest Prevention Center in 2005, where she serves as the Southwest Resource Team’s primary contact for Oklahoma, Cherokee Nation, and the Winnebago Tribe. She provides training and technical assistance to State and Tribal prevention stakeholders around emerging prevention technology and the Strategic Prevention Framework for reducing alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use. She also serves as the lead for the Service to Science Initiative in the Southwest Region.

Prior to her work with SAMHSA's CAPT, LaShonda’s prevention work began at PreventionWorkz, Inc., a block grant-funded area prevention resource center in Enid, Oklahoma where she provided technical assistance to various coalitions coalescing on issues that ranged from suicide prevention to illicit drug use in rural communities. She also coordinated a teen mentoring program called Teens Need Teens, facilitating youth education bi-annually around physical, social, and emotional issues. While in the program, teens delivered presentations, educated community members about legislation that would keep them and their peers safe, and mentored students. Her prevention and community knowledge assisted her in mobilizing teens and adults to strategically plan, implement, and successfully sustain their efforts.