Bio: Canetra Winn
Canetra Winn is an abstinence educator, author, consultant, purity coach, and teen parenting expert from Austin, TX. She is the co-founder and President of Love Bears, a Christian-based nonprofit organization that is dedicated to educating and supporting adolescents ages 10-25 in abstinence living. As a public school educator for over 26 years, and a former teen parent at the age of 14, Canetra has a passion for adolescents, deep social empathy for at-risk teens, and she is an advocate for underage parents.
Winn was raised primarily from birth to age 12 in a Christian home by her grandparents on the northeast side of Austin where she attended public schools in Austin ISD. In 1992, she moved to South Austin to live with her mother. At age 13, she became pregnant with her first child, and by age 14, she and her son’s father became teenage parents. By age 16, Winn became an emancipated teen, married, and began living independently while attending high school.
In 1995, during her sophomore year in high school, Winn’s son was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma, a rare childhood cancer of the eye, at the age of 20 months old. Winn struggled to graduate high school while being a teen mother to a chronically ill child, who endured cancer treatments between Houston, TX and Austin, TX from 1995 until 1999 and post-oncology care in Austin, TX from 1999-2011.
During her senior year, Winn completed a vocational program at her high school that launched her career in the Education field as an Administrative Clerk for the Curriculum and Instruction Department of Austin ISD. After graduating from high school in 1997, Winn worked in Austin ISD schools serving in various auxiliary roles, such as an Educational Aide, Data Clerk, Attendance Specialist, Registrar, and Dropout Prevention Specialist.
In August 2000, Winn enrolled in college to become a teacher, attending Austin Community College from 2000-2003, graduating with Scholastic Leadership, and earning an Associate of Arts in General Studies.
In January 2003, Winn transferred to Texas State University in San Marcos, TX to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She graduated from Texas State University in 2007 with dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in English with Technical Writing Emphasis and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. After graduating from college, Winn returned to continue her work in Education as a highly qualified teacher before becoming a certified Secondary English and Language Arts Teacher in 2015.
In 2016, Winn co-founded Love Bears with her husband Dertrick of 28 years. They created Love Bears to teach abstinence education as a solution to address many of the issues facing at-risk teens, sexually active adolescents, and teenage parents. They share four children together: ages 30, 23, 14, and 11.
Winn is currently writing her first book “Baby Shantay”, a coming-of-age story based on memoirs of her life experiences as a teenage parent. To pre-order the book, please visit www.babyshantay.com.
Winn shares her expertise, experiences, and her extraordinary story to encourage and empower youth and young adults everywhere to live a lifestyle of abstinence. To book Canetra Winn as a speaker, coach, or consultant, please send an email to hello@lovebears.org for booking information.
