Recently, someone from one of the major sports teams in Nashville reached out and wanted to visit us to learn more about who we are and what we do. During that visit, I asked, since he had no direct connection to the communities we serve, what drew him to us. He said he had been searching for the place where he wanted to get involved, and he found us online and started digging through our website and our social media. He watched an interview from a couple of years ago, and then he said, "I love what you do and the way you do it. There's a glow about this place." 

He's right. There is a glow about this place, this work, and this community, and I forget sometimes just how much it can strike someone who's never experienced anything like it. Six years ago, when I walked through the doors, I was excited to be here and for the opportunity to serve this mission. Six years later, I call this my happy place. Each and every day, we push ourselves to be more and to do more. You won't find a more strategically, efficiently, or effectively run business, and you won't find one run with more compassion, empathy, ethics, connection, and fun. Here, I have experienced the real power of community. I’ve found that everything I had done previously has served me well here but has been amplified by the immersion in a welcoming, joyful, proud, encouraging, resilient community that had, and has, so much to teach me.

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We continue to define this civil rights work and to seek to engage and empower the community that leads us. From birth through elder years, we identify barriers and needs, removing the former and meeting the latter, and all of it is done on a foundation of excellence, innovation, and love. I am thankful for the privilege of leading and serving, and I am thankful for every staff member, board director, volunteer, community member, and supporter who helps shape our work so generously. I look forward to each and every day and all the years to come.