On Monday, February 23, 2026, LaToya Rodriguez Martin ’99 returned to MICDS to share her life experience as a musician, wife, and mother with our Upper School students. Martin visited campus last summer for the first time since she graduated, and enjoyed seeing how the School has changed and evolved. She was asked to serve as this year’s Bond Lecture speaker.
Akira Washington ’26 and London Troupe ’28 of the Black Student Union introduced Martin and shared the background of the Bond Lecture. They said:
As you may recall, every February, in observance of Black History Month, MICDS holds the Bond Lecture, in which a noted African American comes to campus to speak with our Upper School students as well as spend time in our classrooms. Past participants have included authors, lecturers, and civil rights leaders. The Erik Lyons Bond ’77 Lecture is named in honor of the first African American graduate to complete all eight grades at Saint Louis Country Day School. During his years at CDS, Erik Lyons Bond ’77 distinguished himself in scholastics, athletics, and student government. He served as student council president, captain of the varsity football team, and was selected by his team as the league’s most valuable player. Erik was named a National Merit Scholar, and he was also an accomplished musician and artist. He died unexpectedly in June 1984.
Our guest speaker today is LaToya Rodriguez Martin, better known by her mononym Toya. Toya graduated from MICDS in 1999. She is an American R&B singer originally from St. Louis, best known for her 2001 single I Do!!, which reached number 16 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Toya has toured all over the world with artists such as Shaggy, P!nk, Jon Bon Jovi, and Nelly, just to name a few. After her career, Toya married former NFL player and now coach, Tee Martin. Together, they have two sons, Kaden (21) and Cannon (13). Tee and Toya have a foundation called The Tee and Toya Martin Foundation that supports boys and girls athletically and artistically.
Toya returned to campus this summer with her husband and son for a tour, enjoying a meaningful trip down memory lane. During that visit, she graciously agreed to serve as our speaker today. Please join us in welcoming Toya Martin.
Martin set the tone immediately upon taking the stage. “I want this conversation to be fun, laid back, and relaxed,” she said. “If you have questions, stop me!” She noted that her mother, Karen, and her husband, Tee, were in the audience.
She showed the cover of her hit single, and shared a quote from John Dewey: “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” She noted that how she educated herself, and continues to educate herself, is how she became the person she is today, and influences how she treats others. “It’s important to know that you have to go otu there and be your best self,” she advised.
Martin shared photos of her family, including her paternal grandparents who moved from Puerto Rico to the Bronx, where her father was born. She showed photos of herself as a child, with her little sister, and images of her maternal grandparents. “Education was really big in my family,” she said. “Everybody graduated from high school but I was one of the first to graduate from college.” The middle of three girls, Martin knew she wanted to be a singer from a very young age, and her outgoing personality and clear talent paved a path forward.
She also spoke about that path being one of balance. “My house didn’t look like the houses of a lot of my classmates,” she shared. “Our resources were very different. I received some support from the school, but my classmates didn’t understand what I was going through. It was challenging to come to a place where I felt a little different.”
Martin also shared that two teachers in particular, Chris Hinckley and Peggy Laramie, made a profound and lasting impact on her life. Mr. Hinckley was Martin’s sixth grade homeroom teacher, and his inclusive and fair nature ensured that all of his students, including Martin, felt safe, protected, and equal. “He was big on letting us know that when we were in the classroom, we were all at the same level,” she said. He helped her navigate her feelings of having to balance two identities. “He’s an amazing person.”
Mrs. Laramie was Martin’s music teacher. “She encouraged me to look at music as a career,” she said. “She told me, ‘You have a presence, a voice.'” Thanks to Mrs. Laramie, Martin auditioned for and was accepted to the International Children’s Choir.
She also credits MICDS for support during her difficult fourth-grade year, her first at the School, when her mother needed brain surgery. “The school and the parents came together and provided a meal train for us,” she said. “I absolutely loved that.” Still, there were times she could distinctly feel a separation between herself and her classmates. “I felt different,” she shared. Often, she didn’t feel as though she fit the social norms of either world, the one at home or the one at school. “I was either too ethnic or too urban, or I wasn’t what was expected of me at home.” She told the story of being invited to a popular classmate’s home to play, only to arrive and find that the classmate’s brother had also invited a Black friend. She recognized that their parents had most likely arranged the playdates in the name of diversity, which made her feel like a token. “It didn’t feel authentic,” she said, “but as an adult, and as a parent, I understand now why those parents did that. You want to introduce your children to other people and experiences. It took me until I was a little older to figure out what was going on.”
“It’s ok to be different, but you have to be careful how you treat people,” she counseled. “I learned that at MICDS and out in the world, and it developed me into a more well-rounded person.”
Adding a bit of levity to her presentation, Martin then shared a photo of her performing a song at an MICDS event, she thinks perhaps at an open house. “I wanted to show you our style back in the day,” she said, to the delight of a laughing audience. Later, after singing the national anthem at an MICDS Rams football game, she was brought to the media booth to meet Ted Koplar, and MICDS parent of five who owned local television station channel 11. He recruited her to be part of a singing and dancing group called Team 11, which served as positive role models for children and young adults and performed all over the community. “He helped me develop my stage presence and pushed my limits farther than what I thought I could do,” she said. She and many of the other members of Team 11 stayed in touch with Mr. Koplar over the years.
After graduating from MICDS and attending Saint Louis University for a year, Martin left school to pursue her music career. She signed with the same production company as Nelly, who took her to Arista Records, where she was immediately given a record deal. “Whether you’re a singer or into poetry or whatever, you can’t be afraid to jump in. You never know who you’re performing for.” After securing the deal, she moved to New York and recorded the single I Do!!, which reached the music charts and led to her debut album, which landed on the Billboard 200.
She was honest about the difficulties of the music business. “It was very hard trying to make it as a young woman,” she admitted. “How bad do you want it? It’s a lot of having to stand your ground. That goes back to education, and knowing who you are, not being afraid to have your limits, and standing firm on how you want people to see you.” She toured for about a year and a half, and found that it was hard to promote herself and her music (these were the days before social media). “It was a lot of back and forth with the music label,” she shared. “They saw me in one light, I saw myself in another. I let the song promote itself.”
She said that if she could go back in time, she would listen more to the adults in her life. “I thought I knew it all! You live and you learn. It was a great experience, though, and I had a great time.” One bonus of that tour? She met the man she would eventually marry. Martin then shared the story of an NFL player asking her out (she declined), and then how they connected using their Motorola two-way pagers, which she had to describe to the audience raised on smartphones. Mr. Martin persevered, and the couple eventually married and welcomed two sons, Kaden (22) and Cannon (13). The family has moved around the country several times, following Mr. Martin’s career as an NFL quarterback coach.
When Mr. Martin was coaching at the University of Southern California, Kaden asked his mother why she had never returned to college to earn her bachelor’s degree. “I didn’t have a good answer,” she said. “So I went back.” She found herself in classes sitting next to the players her husband was coaching, and joked that she couldn’t get them to call her “Toya.” “We can’t, Ms. Toya,” they said. “Coach Martin is gonna kill us!”
“It was an amazing experience, and it was important for me to get my degree,” she shared. “No matter how late, no matter your path, you need to complete your mission. It was a promise I made to my mom to still get my degree after I left SLU. I love music, but I knew that I needed to go further with it, and it was important to show my son that.”
Martin dedicated her inspiring talk to Kelly Collet ’00, one of her close friends who died in a car accident in 2022. “I encourage you all to be safe when you’re driving, to make good decisions and try not to be distracted. I think about Kelly a lot, and I wish things could be different,” she said wistfully. “Just make good decisions.”
“I want to come back more and try to encourage anyone I can,” she closed with. “I want to be here as much as I can.”
Brandon Clemens ’26 and Muhammed Murphy ’26 of the Black Student Union then took the stage to thank Martin, the Upper School, and Head of School Jay Rainey. “We are truly grateful to our guest speakers who come to campus to inspire and motivate our community. Thank you again for sharing your voice and experience with us.”
“We would also like to extend special thanks to the Bond family and the Alumni Office for continuing to host this annual endowed lecture in honor of the life and legacy of Erik L. Bond ’77. We are grateful for the opportunity to remember and celebrate his impact.”
After the assembly, any interested Upper School student was invited to the Blanke Room to chat with Toya Martin. The room quickly filled with artists eager to discuss her experience further, and a few athletes jockeyed for photos with her husband, Tee.
Many thanks to Toya Rodriguez Martin ’99 and Tee Martin for spending so much time with our students this week. We enjoyed your message of inspiration and motivation, and look forward to seeing you on our campus again!