Speak For Change With Thomas Sage Pedersen
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Speak For Change With Thomas Sage Pedersen
Maria Elena De La Garza: Leading with Authenticity, Building Systems That Generate Belonging, and more
In this episode, Thomas Sage Pedersen sits down with Maria Elena De La Garza, Executive Director of the Community Action Board, to explore what it means to lead with grace, authenticity, and service. Maria shares her journey from growing up in her family’s restaurant to leading one of the most community-rooted organizations in Santa Cruz County. Through stories of faith, mentorship, and the power of showing up, she reminds us that true leadership begins with healing ourselves and walking with our people—fiercely, humbly, and with love.
Hello, welcome back to Speak for Change Podcast. I'm your host, Thomas H. Pederson. Today we were with Maria Elena De La Garza, Executive Director of Community Action Board and Community Leader and Public Speaker. Yeah, like I was saying before, I'm learning Spanish, you know, getting getting into it. And there's something about putting a mic in front of me that kind of makes me a little nervous.
SPEAKER_00:But you did great, man. You did great.
SPEAKER_01:You're so supportive. You're so supportive. Okay. So this series is about just leadership and especially like turbulent like times, right? Um I think at in any level, you can say this is kind of a turbulent time, at least nationally and you know, locally. Um and has been for a while, you know. And I think, you know, when I was thinking about guests for this, you came up almost immediately because of our experience with Rise Together and seeing you um operate in that space. I was like, man, this woman is is like you have the energy of like a powerful leader. And so I was like, I was like, I was really, I just was like, man, I really want to get you on. And uh so just to start out, like, you know, have you have you always seen yourself as being in a leadership role? Is like how did you get into you know leadership as it's said?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. First of all, thank you for inviting me to be part of your this this friendly conversation. Um deep cut. Yeah. Uh and I appreciate the question. And and uh I'm gonna tell you that um my gut reaction is I don't see myself as a leader.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:I don't feel it, I don't see it, I do not walk the world as if I am.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I am a product of this community. I was born in Watsonville, you you know that about me. Um I literally was raised in a restaurant. My parents owned a restaurant. Um, and every day, it it's not like um, you know, your parents go to work and then they come home. No, we we grew up in the restaurant every day, okay? Yeah. We by the time we went to school, we would go to school and walk back and go back to the restaurant until closing time, and then we'd go home and literally just sleep at home. And so, so the the this this vision of being an activist or being a leader or whatever wasn't my reality, right? And so my answer is no. I I don't see myself as a leader, and I also understand my role um that I have grown into. Um, but if my my my my core, my my little me inside of me, I I am a restaurant person and I'm a waitress and I'm a hostess and I'm a customer service person, and I am a cook and I'm a dishwasher, and that's who I am.
SPEAKER_01:Oh man, okay. That's amazing. Um I guess from that point of view, though, like how did you get to like just your your your positionality then, like where you're at now? Because like you just described like being this kind of restaurant person. Again, I think I think I think that's very common in leadership, right? This this idea, I mean, I think it should be, right? This idea that you're just a reflection of your community, right? You're not trying to find some kind of hierarchical thing or power position, even though those things are inherent in like your position, but and your influence. I don't know if that should be like the focus of like people going into leadership, but that's just like opinion, maybe. And like I think partisan this podcast is to figure out, you know, if if that is true or not, or you know, the different perspectives. So I'm wondering like, how did you get into this specific uh position as the executive director of of an organization that I see everywhere, like on the ground, doing like community, even being in these offices? Like, I am so stoked we're doing the interview here. I love it. Because um, just being around this, I was like, this is what community feels like. You know what I mean? And like it just it like really does just resonate the the pure idea of what community is, you know, just like walking up here, seeing the people, and just like you felt I felt comfortable, I felt home, you know. Yeah, and so you know, how did you get to be the executive director? Like, and how did and what inspired that? And like why'd you uh choose this? You know? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know, those are such great questions. And I I I I will say that God is good in my life. You know, God is good in my life, and doors open, and sometimes I have the courage to walk through them. I've been doing nonprofits for 35 years, and I started as a frontline person working with kids impacted by violence at Gilroy High School. And and and and what brought what brought me there was in high school, uh, the week before graduation, um, one of my friends was stabbed to death because of violence and gang stuff. And that completely impacted and influenced um my choices in in terms of my career, because I wanted to do something to stop it. I wanted to do something to honor his memory. I wanted to do something because of the injustice I would experience and I would see um all over, right? Because it's it's leadership, but it's being a leader of color that is different, is different, I think, right? Um, and we need to bring that into the conversation because it's different for us. Um, and so, you know, growing up as the language broker to my mom, right? My mom didn't speak English. My mom didn't know how to drive. You know, my mom, my father passed away when I was eight, and she didn't know how to drive, and she had a family business to run. And coincidentally, CAB had a program teaching uh people to drive in Spanish. I was eight years old, she would drag me to this building a block and a half from here, and there was someone teaching women how to drive. Isn't that crazy? And it was CAB, and I had no idea. I had no idea, right? I'm in this position now as the executive director, CEO. I had when I came, is when I realized, oh my God, this is the agency that helped my mom. Isn't that wild?
SPEAKER_01:That's so amazing. I mean, I can't even just the the symmetry of that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. And then fast forward, CAB was my first job. I didn't know it was CAB, right? I was, I got a job um taking care of migrant children's uh migrant children. Their parents would drop off their kids um on their way to the fields. And so it was a summer job. It was, I remember it was like five o'clock in the morning. I was, you know, one of those teenagers thinking, I'm not gonna be able to do that. And I did, and fell in love with the kids and literally helding holding babies every morning until their parents came to pick them up. It was a cab job, my first paying job. Because the restaurant didn't pay, dude, you know, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. I understand. I understand you gotta do what you gotta do, you know?
SPEAKER_00:That's pretty good, too. You know, and so and so all roads l led to this job. Yeah, isn't that wild?
SPEAKER_01:That that is, I mean, you know, there's many things in life that I think really just for me prove that in my own life to prove that there's like a higher power at play, right? You know, and this just feels like the symmetry. It's uh hard to ignore like such like um the direct impact that this organization had on you. And now you are literally the leader of this organization.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, what I mean and even when you can't make that up. No, you can't, you can't make that up, and what a powerful story, a powerful experience, and powerful responsibility.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Can you talk about the responsibility? Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah I knew when I came to this agency the incredible legacy of this agency. I mean, we've been around for 60 years, right? Um, I knew what I what I needed to do. Um, you know, they hired me. My predecessor, Chris Johnson Lyons, was this amazing um executive director. She was here for 27 years. I mean, imagine 20 growing up at this agency. She grew up at this agency. Um, my respect. Um, and and having a solid foundation, her and the the group of the leaders of the time needed to make very difficult decisions to keep this agency afloat during difficult economic times. And and and I had come from an agency that um literally I needed to bring my own toilet paper because financially it was just not in a good place. Um, and so to come to an agency that was solid, that we didn't have to worry about payroll. We didn't I didn't have to go pick up checks to make sure it got to the check to the bank on time to deposit it to pay payroll. You we all know this. We all know that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_00:And I say that because it allowed me to come in at a time where um we could build. We we weren't in survival mode and we could we could have uh create a vision and build this agency. And so 13 years, 12 years ago, this November is my 12-year anniversary.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, congratulations.
SPEAKER_00:Perfect timing. Perfect timing. Totally planned to do that. Um uh to be able to build this agency in a different way, right? Um, in into its next phase. And the next phase was this agency needed to reflect the community that it served. Very easy for me. I knew that in order for us to move into the next phase of our service, we had to reflect the community. And we did in some aspects, but not in the way that we do now. Um, where all levels of the agency have people of color, leaders of color, um, uh include not just frontline, because frontline's easy, man. Yeah, I mean, easy, quote unquote.
SPEAKER_01:That's a quote.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, right. Front to let me let me explain that.
SPEAKER_01:I get you.
SPEAKER_00:Being to being able to bring in people to reflect the community at a frontline level is not as challenging, right? Um, although some people might disagree with that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, people will disagree with everything. But um, you know, well, let's be real, you know, but like, but I guess I mean, I get what you're saying. Also on an in an executive level, you it's hard to see, uh, in my opinion, it's actually extremely rare to see um uh someone in your positionality who's also someone who reflects the community at the same time, right? And I think that's what you're saying, right? It's easy to get on the on the ground level and like be reflective of the community on the ground level, but in the in the executive like suite of of any organization, um, definitely one that's supposed supposed to be for the community. Yes. Um it's it's rare. It's rare, you know. Uh I see it in like almost every organization where you know you just a lot of times you do not see a leader. And sometimes even they they bring a leader from the outside. Yeah, you know, probably most times I would even argue. Uh so the fact that you're here in this position is like shows like a tremendous um, I think it it really shows the values of the organization as well.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. And I'm gonna push us not just executive level, yeah, but our board.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, seriously, of course.
SPEAKER_00:And here's the beauty of community action is you know, we were born out of the federal administration in 1965 who declared a war on poverty and created a structure that every community action agency must follow, and that is um what our board looks like. And we have a tripartite board, we have five members who are um lived, experienced with poverty, low-income folks who can represent and understand and speak for um those who are impacted by poverty on a daily basis. We have five folks who are elected officials, and we have five folks who are industry folks who reflect the needs of the community. And so every community action agency is different because we have to be responsive to the needs of our community. Yeah. And so, in that cohort of the board and that piece of the of the board, we have a healthcare seat, we have a farm worker seat, we have an Indigenous language speaker, um, we have uh the CEO and president of uh the Santa Cruz Community Credit Union. And and and imagine, you know, that those voices sitting next to our low-income board members, uh our low-income representatives sitting next to systems people and decision makers. That's powerful.
unknown:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:That is powerful, and it creates the culture of we stand between systems and grassroots. We we our job is to be connected to the community in ways that we need to ensure and hold sacred, and also build relationships, push back against, ask inquiry inquiring questions to the systems and to the decision makers, right? That's what community action is, and I'm proud of holding that space.
SPEAKER_01:Man, I mean that that just hearing your board makeup is really inspiring to me because you know, I I think you know, there's a lot of ways of cultural change, right? You know, but like, you know, I always think when I look at like history, I'm like, there's there's not many, there's examples of cultural change happening in a nonviolent way, you know, which is what I like to look at, right? Because, you know, you could easily become an authoritarian government and just overthrow and you know, just force everyone to be whatever. Yeah. I don't think that's effective. But like, but like what you're doing is bringing people from different really walks of life within the community and and historic people who have held power, right? And and having them have to communicate with people who maybe have not held power, you know, and having and giving that power, using that privilege and making that understanding and connection. And those that changes minds. I don't guys that changes minds and hearts, you know. And systems and systems, right? Because you're, I mean, you're creating a system that is a system, right? And you're getting these people used to that system, right? And if and if more people start to adopt that, I hope like this podcast inspires something like that, you know, that more and more like these systems become normalized, right? That's how you that's how cultural like shifts happen, you know. Absolutely. And so it's inspiring to hear.
SPEAKER_00:And it takes time.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:People, I I I I I speak a lot, and you know, uh the number one question is how'd you do it? Yeah, the number one question is how did you transform your agency to be truly reflective of the community? And it took us years. I remember when I first came to this agency and and I was assessing, you know, where the strengths are, where the gaps are, you know, and I was given the room to, yeah, and I was given the trust to. Big deal, big deal, right? Um, and and and then sharing some of the things that I had learned from talking, doing one-on-ones with staff and looking at the programs and talking to clients, and realizing um that there were positions at this agency that um needed to be held by by people who could speak the language. Um, and then having pushback about that. Like, no, our pro our youth program coordinator doesn't need to speak Spanish. Why does do they need to speak Spanish? And and remembering taking the time to say, right, the kids are bilingual, most of the kids speak English and Spanish, but if mom has a problem, if mom needs a resource, if mom needs to talk to someone, yeah, we need to speak Spanish.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:And and those shifts took a lot of time. Um and it took a lot of time and commitment, commitment from our governance, commitment from the executive team, commitment from our management team to understand where what those gaps were, to be self-reflective as an agency, to to be critical of ourselves, and then allow ourselves the trust to push beyond what had existed. You know, and that's how we well, how we got here. Um, and I'm proud to say, you know, we are reflective of the community. I'm proud to say um, you know, the the last the last um kind of piece that we were been working on was, you know, during COVID, we learned who was furthest away from the resources. Um and while we knew it based on our experience being part of this community, we saw it differently. Um when our indigenous language speakers uh were that when the systems that had the resources could not reach our indigenous language speakers, we knew we needed to do something about it and and serve in that role of of the bridge, right? And so we started just talking about it and thinking about it, and and and then all of a sudden we started we we have staff who speak language, you know, misteco. Um we have one and then we have two, and at one point we had four, I think, or five. You know, that that that shift to be responsive, to identify a need, and then to be able to have the flexibility and the trust to build to build and change the system to do better. Because that that I think is is an underlying um uh phrase, we say it all the time. We need to be better and do better. We need to be better and do better for our community and how and and what does that mean based on what we're facing, right? And so to bring, you know, La Maestra Fe Silvia Silva on our board who speaks um zapoteco, right? She was one of the founders of of Senderos. Whoo! I get chills, I get chills, right, on our board. Um, to have Ernestina Soladio who works with Center for Farm Worker Families and distributes thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds of food in a location that is um that is not advertised because of safety for clients. And she does this in her space, and she's been doing it for years, and and to have her on our board, right? That changes who we are. Yeah, it reinforces the responsibility that we hold. This is work and it's a responsibility. We have to keep showing up, we have to do what's right, even in these times. Right now, when everything is, you know, at risk, that we can't say diversity, equity, and inclusion, that we can't say we work with undocumented people, that we can't say it because of the threat of the federal government. You know, we still show up, man. I don't care what we call it, we still show up because we have to, because it's our moms, it's our grandmas, it's our Ties, it's our soberiness, it's it it who are being impacted by the shit that's going on right now.
unknown:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. I mean, I I I'm getting chills right now. Um, and I think you're speaking to, and what I hear what I hear behind your words is like your deep passion and connection to community as like almost like a value. Absolutely. You know, like like really focusing on it. The fact that you it's not even you focus on it, it's like you embody it. You know, you're embodying it and in just in just uh your history with you know what you were saying, like being in a restaurant, right? And being in that family-oriented, like to where you are now, right? It's that empathy, that compassion, that connection with like the grassroots, what you know, and the and these higher organizations and having to make sure when you see a problem in our community, like the like the indigenous speaking community, you you've solved that issue. You found ways and strategies that you put that into the systems to change it. And that is, I mean, you don't consider yourself a leader, but you know, that sounds pretty leadership-like to me. Um, but like um, so I'm gonna jump, I'm gonna transition just a little bit here. Um, so as someone who is in this position, you have people who work with you and work around you. You know, there's a question that I I always ask, and it's, you know, there's a lot of theories and talk about being transparent and vulnerable and all these things within leadership. But I think anybody in leadership knows that sometimes, like, you know, that's very fairly difficult to do in a pragmatic sense of it, like to be completely transparent or to completely vulnerable. And maybe um, and I'm wondering like how you when is it when do you when are you transparent or vulnerable, or what is your view behind that? And when do you hold information for the for a strategic purpose? Or, you know, like how how do you go about the culture of your current uh system, you know?
SPEAKER_00:Okay. I suck at it, okay? I'm being completely That was hilarious. It's it's true. I suck at it. And let me tell you why. I I do not consider what I'm hearing you say to me is is how do I play the political game?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, right.
SPEAKER_00:When do I know to play the political game? I I I suck at it. But one thing I know, yeah. What moves people, what moves systems, and what moves communities is authenticity. Yeah, it's showing up with all your flaws, man. It's having the courage to show up that way, yeah. Um and understanding that you're not everybody's cup of tea. And and and when it hits the fan, when the tough time happens, because it does, it's being able to reach out to those systems people, to those community people through a phone call and say, Hey, I need your help. Yeah, I have to, that's who I am. I I it's too much. The needs are too grand, the political landscape is too scary, the, the, the, the realities of what our families are facing right now is too big. They're everything is too big. And and if we don't reach out to one another, and if we don't invest in the relationships with one another, so that when the shit hits the fan, I'm sorry, my language.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, it's fine. It's a podcast. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:This is in radio, this is in radio. That that I can make the phone call.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:That I can make the phone call and and I can try I have enough social capital invested, I have enough marbles in my jar to make that phone call and ask for help. And that's vulnerability. Right? When I called Susan True um the day of shelter in place, and I said to her, Susan True from Community Foundation, I said to her, Susan, the day workers have no work. They can't pay their rent. What are we gonna do? I need your help. I can't, I don't have the relationships with the with the the big money people, right? I'm I'm from community. I don't have those relationships. Susan, what are we gonna do? And and a day later, 24 hours later, she had created a program to help day workers and low-income people pay rent that we thought was only gonna be four weeks, right? It ended up being over a year, and consistently, not just CAB, but many other organizations, because of the generosity of this community, we had money to give to people to survive. And so, though that I I don't know how to be any other way. And and if I were to be talking to a young leader, I would say, figure out who you are and show up as who you are, because trying to be something you're not isn't going to open the doors. Trying to pretend, you know, that you know it all isn't gonna open the doors, right? Um, in my experience, I I it could be somebody else could say something completely different to you, okay? But in my experience, I have to show up with who in all my gaps and in all my flaws, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I do. Yeah. On a personal level here, you know. Um yeah, I think Would you agree with me? Absolutely. I think authenticity, I I feel you can like when I Google my name, so like I've done this, right? Thomas Sage Peterson. What does Google have to say about it? But they have this AI thing right now because they have this AI and they analyze all the things about you and they tell you like about like bullet pointing. Yeah. Yeah. And one of them is like, like, Thomas Sage Peterson really believes in authenticity to make change, you know? And I'm like, I'm like, well, I got that going, I guess.
SPEAKER_02:Um I love it.
SPEAKER_01:But like, like like what you're saying, I don't know how to be any other way, right? And I think even before this call, uh and I'm uh before this uh interview, I mean, I we're talking about compartmentalizing, so maybe we'll start talking about that a little bit. But you know, I think you know, showing up as your full self, right? And I think, you know, because I I run a music school, right? And and um you can ask anyone who works there. Um I am I am pretty real with myself. You know, I'm pretty I show up pretty like authentic. I'm pretty uh, you know, I'll ask for help when I need it, you know, and vulnerability really sucks. Uh but it's like, you know, um, but it but it is uh knowing when to uh it I don't know the answer to that, right? I just I think sometimes I have to think about the big picture, right? You know, and so hearing you talk about all this, I'm like, yeah, yeah, asking for help. Oh man. I I have like things in my head right now, right? You know, that I'm like, oh man, I should probably ask for some help. You know, like humbling myself, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for using that word. Yeah. Thank you for using that word because that being able to humble myself in this position has been extremely challenging yet extremely um graceful. Do you know? I I and and that happens every day for me.
SPEAKER_01:Can you explain grace a little bit, race here? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um for me, grace is grace is I mean, there's a spiritual component, right? I am doing what I need to do because of my high higher power or my God or the universe or my angels or my mom, you know. I I I I I I I I know I'm doing what I need to do. And in order to find the solution or help people, I have to understand and be graceful enough with myself and others to say I don't have all the answers. Um, and I'm accepting of myself in that space. And I'm okay. And I'm okay. Um and that's a struggle, you know. Am I enough? I don't know. I don't think so. Most of the days I wake up and I'm not doing enough, I'm not smart enough, I'm not enough, right? And and then asking for grace to say, help me, help me. And so those moments of being humble for me again, every day, dude, every day of saying, okay. So I we you know, we just had a 60th anniversary. C we we don't do big things like that, like big parties like that. Cav doesn't do that. And so, you know, it it it to understand that, you know, picking up the phone to say, hey, you know, whomever, we buy a table, man. I we're not selling tickets. I need help. Will you help me? You know, um uh how do we do this, right? Um being able to ask for help, being able to say I'm sorry. I mess up all the time. I make mistakes, I mess up. I use the phrase, I don't have any more rabbits to pull out of my hat. Um and I'm sorry, you know, I missed that, I'm sorry. Um it it's it's what we need to bring, in my opinion. You know?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, all too well. Yeah, yeah, all too well. Um that note. I guess like, you know, you you know, you were describing like real the real stuff, right? You know, definitely within any leadership role, especially nonprofits, right? But what kind of internal practices do you use to help yourself in turbulent times and high pressure situations, or like let's say something you're like, I mean, do you get nervous, right? Like, you know, like you know what I'm saying? Like, like are like what I have to kind of ask. I mean, like sometimes I see these leaders, right? And I'm like, I'm like, sometimes I'm an anxious mess, right? And I'm like, I gotta like keep it together, gotta do this thing, but I'm like seeing these people just like seemingly gracefully do these things, and you're like, huh, am I just uh the only one like doing this? So I kind of have to ask, yeah, but like, you know, under pressure, right? And and like let's say you have something really hard you have to do or a conflict, right? Having like um a conflict with a colleague or whatever. Like, do you have any internal practices you do to help yourself, you know, be able to manage those things?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. That's a really good question. And I think we need to ask more of our leaders that question, um, especially right now. Yeah, yeah. Uh yeah. So I pray. I um I pray a lot. Um I I listen to a sleepy, uh, I have my sleepy guy at night, so I do like meditation.
SPEAKER_01:Um is that like the oh, what's that thing called? The um on the app? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That kind of stuff. Uh-huh. Like is he like a British guy or Australian guy or something? Yeah, right. I love him.
SPEAKER_00:He's my sleepy guy. My husband knows I I sleep with my sleepy guy.
SPEAKER_01:That's called. But yeah, okay. You know what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00:And so I listen to it at night, right? And some of them are around healing, some of them are around anxiety, all that stuff. Um, I when it gets real bad, um, I take time, I I I I take time off. Yeah, um I stop watching the news. Um, I I tap.
unknown:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I do tapping. Um, that's new for me. Um, but I find myself that if I am holding a lot of anxiety or fear, um I that helps me reset in in usually a cycle of three. And I get nervous all the time, man. I get nervous. I I don't remember I was speaking somewhere, I can't remember what it was, where it was, just recently. And I was at the mic and my legs were shaking.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00:Shaken, okay. And so, and I've been doing this for a long, you know, I've been doing this for a long time, and I still get nervous and I still get fearful. And and based on my childhood and my childhood traumas, and my, you know, I I sit in fear, and so I have to work against it.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_00:I have to, I have to consciously work through the fear that comes up on every level, dude. Every level, every level. Tapping, praying. I I, you know, the universe and God is good to me. One of the things um that I have been blessed with is I have a relationship, um, a professional and a personal relationship with Sister Rosa Dolores Rodriguez from Pajaro. Sister Dolores has been the uh CEO to Casa de la Cultura for over 30 years. And I knew of her, uh, I had heard of her, but I had I had never met her met her until after the floods. And um she's eight eighty plus, um, she's a Notre Dame nun. Um, and I have been working with her for two and a half years almost on a weekly basis, on a every other day basis, where we check in, we talk about work stuff and we talk about personal stuff. Um, and what she has given me, the gift that she has given me, because she's fierce, man. You see this cute little nun, and she's a cute little nun, okay? And she's fierce. Yeah. Um, and so she has somehow helped me with that fear part, where I have seen her and observed her and and and and watched her work and watched her deal with very difficult situations with grace, um, but with fierceness. And and that somehow has impacted me in my leadership, right? To watch her um be serving the community as she has for 30 years alone. She she she is an agency of one person. Yeah um and and so I I just feel very honored and very blessed of the lessons that I've learned watching her mostly because she doesn't sit down, da-da-da. Yeah, she she's funny though, because she'll say, Can I I have a reflection on them? That and I say, Sister, can you just hold a reflection? Because right now I can deal with it.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, yeah, okay, okay. You got me, you gave me a lot right now. Um, I'm gonna process that. I'll come back to that one.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been there. Yeah, yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01:It's funny when like, you know, people who you who you admire, you who you have in your circle, right, who give you advice or any kind of things like that, and and you have a relationship with them, right? At first you're just like taking it, right? And then you're just like, yeah, cool. And then you realize how much like you're like you're kind of like you're like, I really think I know you do. Um I don't know. I gotta do stuff later, you know?
SPEAKER_00:And they put you in check, man.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely. Oh wow, yeah. I don't know if I have okay, don't get defensive.
SPEAKER_00:No, don't like you know and so you know, those are the blessings.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:Those are the blessings because we never stop learning, man. We never stop learning.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think there's something to that too. Like, I have a friend who I've I've been there, I've been that person for them, and then like have other people who are that person to me, right? And you know, I think it's you know, just talking to this having this conversation, I think it's such a good practice to have someone to challenge you, you know, especially in leadership where you can practice because I think a lot of times, even like personal relationships, like marriages and all this stuff, right? Where you where people get defensive, like, you know, and then they they like go to their default survival mechanism, right? You know, some people are like, well, I guess I'm just a bad person then, you know, like something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, um, and as a leader, like in my opinion, right? I think it's I don't I can't afford to do that as much to for the culture of like my like I can't I can't just put it back on me and be like, like poor me, right? I have to be like breathe and be like I hear that, you know? And like just kind of like not like and understand the dynamics that are happening internally, right? And that's only because I've had friends constantly challenge me. Yeah, and me having to practice that, you know, it was a practice thing. This was not something that I was just like, I'm just good at taking feedback. I mean, like, man, I think earlier, like in my early 20s in a relationship, and I remember like someone telling me to do the dishes or something. I was like, how dare you! You know, like so defensive, right? And I was like, and it was like they're like, oh, but but something that they said, they're like, hey, I don't feel comfortable coming to you, right? Feel fearful because I know you're going to react in some way, right? And so for me, I was like, oh, that really changed. And I had and I had to put work into changing that. People don't just change. I mean, people do change like naturally, but like things like that that are so ingrained in our survival, we have to train that. Yeah, you know, we have to work on that, you know. That's like that's all that just brought that up there. You know, my God, you know, does that resonate with you at all?
SPEAKER_00:So much. Can I can I say something? And I this is just I'm verbalizing this um because this has been showing up for me. This has been showing up for me in in my role as a leader and in watching other leaders.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:And in investing in emerging leaders, yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:We gotta unpack it personally. Yeah. We have to unpack the stuff that we carry from our childhoods, from our mistakes, from um what has happened to us, from our traumas personally. Because they will can they will show up and continue to show up in our leadership if we don't. And that is probably the most challenging part of being in and working in community and and and and investing in emerging leaders and ourselves and emerging leaders in in developing um the next executive directors. We don't want to most of us don't want to do it. It's painful. They are our blind spots. Those traumas create the blind spots and the barriers of true connection and true service. And if we do not invest in ourselves, in healing, because we all carry it, no matter who you are, we all carry it. If let me change how I'm saying that. If we invest in our healing, we will shine brighter.
SPEAKER_01:I think that's absolutely true. You know, and I and I'm I'm really glad you said that because I think, you know, we're talking about bringing up our full selves into leadership, right? In the being, we're talking about authenticity. And I think part of authenticity is that sometimes our most of the time, every time, our full selves are imperfect, right? We're not perfect, right? We're not, we've got these traumas. We've come, we come to the position of leadership with baggage, you know. But then while we're there, we have to learn to at least see it, to look at it, to like work with it. And even if it makes even if we're crying with it, even if we're this with it. Because I, you know, I've seen so many relationships be torn apart by people's like reactions and that kind of thing. And especially within BIPOC community, you know, um, but in every all of the community as well, in different ways. It shows up in different ways, right? There's this more of a systematic element to all of it. But, you know, um, so I'm um it's it's such a powerful thing because you know, I've been just thinking about this phrase of like the the tone is set by the leaders, leadership, right? And I think, you know, I saw some I shared this racist video recently of something that happened in our community. And, you know, it was hard not to think that this person was emboldened because of the national dialogue around, you know, DEI and racism and stuff like that. They kind of felt more protected. And to me, that like the tone is set. It doesn't mean that you're you're like, you know, everything's top down. And I I think in most cases, everything has started from grassroots and eventually has come to the top. But in that weird cycle. Um but when you're when you're in leadership, you kind of set the tone of the organization, right? Like, what is the vibe gonna be like here, you know? And definitely nonprofits I've seen, you know. Um and so I think if you're not working on your blind spots or your past pains and traumas, like that's gonna come out in like being defensive. It's gonna come out with like, you know, maybe you're not defensive, maybe you're reactive, maybe you like go after people, maybe you're doing that, you know, maybe like it shows up in so many ways because you you felt like you have to protect yourself in some capacity. Yeah, right. And so you have to model, you have to learn how to model. It's a lot of responsibility, right? Being in it's heavy, right? You know, to sit in leadership roles, right? Um, and on that note, um, I'm just gonna say that a lot when I'm transitioning here. Uh, but you know, I I just I want to speak on, I just want to hear your opinion on just like BIPOC leadership, I guess in general. Just like what is different about that that you've witnessed and observed and experienced than you know, like our white colleagues in in these positions, right? Like historically, you know, black, brown, indigenous people of color are not, you know, have not been in leadership, right? There's been a systematic element of them absolutely not, like and even worse, right? And I'm wondering like how that experience is tends to reflect in like your experience, but also in how you've seen it, you're just your your your view on it and whatever you're comfortable sharing, obviously, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, thank you for that question. I think the the the thoughts that come up for me is leaders of color hold a different sense of urgency. We hold a different sense of urgency. Um in some cases that different sense of urgency is fueled by this is a personal attack on my people. Right? And so that leadership looks different, right? That leadership might be look different, like um, you know, some of us had the privilege to work remotely during COVID and some of us didn't. Some of us had the privilege to watch the floods from KSBW News channel, while some of us were knocking on doors, evacuating people and creating sandbags. Um, and bringing our families to create help us make the sandbags. Um sometimes it looks different when we um help support the fairground shelter, and people are showing up every day to help support the county's response because there isn't anybody to speak the language of the people who have been impacted. And so that sense of urgency and that response feels different to me. Everybody puts in their little grain of sand, and I say that so much. My my mom taught me that. Yes, yes, my mom taught me that, and and I see it, and so we need to understand what that granito is, right? And we need to make space for other people's granitos, and we need to hold people accountable for their granitos. Um, but we need to work together to get there. And so whether you're a leader of color or a white ally or a corporation, whatever, we how do we build bridges to to make impact and change, right? And so it is different when you're a leader of color. Um, I'm gonna say, I don't know if you know of the Pajaro Valley Collaborative that exists in South County.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know, it's over 26 members, um, many, many, many leaders of color, um, who had to band together because the response, what was happening in South County, looked different than what was happening in North County. It started with COVID. Um uh and it was different. You know, I would drive to a store in North County, and everybody was masked, and there was stays six feet apart on the floor, and there was lines and da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And then I would go to Santa Fe Market two blocks down, and nobody had a mask on, none of the employees had a mask on, nothing was marking any kind of safety stuff. And that was incredibly inequitable, and and we saw the impacts of that. And so this group of leaders got together to say, uh-uh, what are we gonna do differently? And we partnered with the county and we figured out we created a system to help support what needed to be done in in South County, and and thus the Parho Valley Collaborative was born. We meet every week at 8 15 on Zoom, sometimes in person, and we're working together to to ensure that people in South County and people of color thrive in our community. Um and it is a powerful group of of leaders um that believe that we can and and we can impact policy, we can't make changes um to make life better. And and so and it's fueled by that urgency. Yeah, but people more people were dying in South County. You know, uh the the floods devastated our community. Do you know? So one of the things that we do every two years is we do a community action plan and we go out and we assess what poverty looks like, and that's part of being a community action agency. Forty-five percent of our folks reported earning less than twenty thousand dollars last year of annual income, and that's not a that's not a shock because we know an ag worker makes between fifteen to twenty thousand, but sixteen percent of our folks reported earning five thousand dollars of annual income last year. Let that soak in. Let that soak in. Five thousand people are living on five thousand dollars a year. That turns out to be about four hundred and sixteen dollars a month. And it's not broken up that way because it's seasonal. And and I share that because I think one, we don't see it, but the average Joe doesn't see that. The average Joe says, we're past COVID, we're past the floods, we're past the CZU fires, we've survived, we're thriving, yay. But no, we're not. Because if someone is hungry, if someone has to live with four other families to pay their rent, if someone isn't working because of climate change, right? We're not thriving. If one person is suffering that way, if one person is impacted by those realities, we are not thriving.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, that's I think that is you're highlighting the inequities that are happening at this exact moment, right? And I see the passion in your in your spirit and your soul. Um, and you know, I guess from on that note, like what vision would you see like when if things were equitable? Yeah. Like what would this look like to you? You know, like what would what would the data look like? What would what would you see like North and South? What relationship would you see between those communities that are that are according to data and just observable reality um are very separate. Yeah. You know? Um, like what would your vision be as you as a leader? Your personal vision, professional vision. Sure. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I would love for community action board. Um I would love that we wouldn't have to exist. I would love that the food bank wouldn't have to exist. I would love that Salud para la gente wouldn't have to exist. Because that would mean that people had health care, that would mean people had food, that would mean people had employment, had legal immigration services, that would mean that kids had safe places, that would that would be a different reality, right? That would mean that people felt like they belonged. People don't feel like they belong right now. And so wouldn't it be wonderful to create a county that truly focused on investing on helping people feel like they belonged. And we've we've come a long way, man. I I gotta commend our government partners, I gotta commend our city partners, I gotta commend our CBO partners, our school partners. We have done some incredible work to help people feel like they belonged. And right now, I think that we need to continue that investment and continue the conversation. Um, because it's so easy to be distracted right now.
SPEAKER_01:All right. So on that note, I wow why am I saying that all the time? I'm saying that so much on this. Um I swear that's gonna be like a like a tagline now uh for myself. Uh but can you give us just like one thing to end this off? Okay, like um a call to action, you know, some advice, and then just tell us like where people can find you and you know, all that fun stuff.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I love it. Um couple things. I think you you asked a question like, how do we get through it? How do I get through it?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And and I want to say um we have to practice gratitude. And you know, everyone says that. Hashtag gratitude, right?
SPEAKER_01:Hashtag gratitude.
SPEAKER_00:And we have to practice. We have to practice, right? Beyond social media, we have to get up in the morning and go to bed at night and feel what it feels like to be grateful to breathe. Right? To be grateful to have a roof, to be grateful to do the work that we do. Um that's important right now more than ever. And one of the things that I'm grateful for is the strength of community in Santa Cruz County. Yeah, we got our flaws, yeah, we're not perfect, yeah, you know, and we have a sense of community that doesn't exist in other places, and we have a sense of responsibility that doesn't exist in other places, and we have a sense of being in action that doesn't exist in other places. And I think being in action, you know, I I talk about I'm gonna write a book one day and it's gonna be called the continue the continuum of activism, because some of us need to be militants, some of us need to pump our fist and and scream, and some of us uh show up and be of service in a different way, um, but we need we need that whole continuum, right? We need to find our place in the continuum of what we're gonna do to be in action, but we all gotta be in action. And whether that means um uh you know joining the PTA or that might mean um uh what my mom used to do at the restaurant is um and the best example of activism in my life. When when the strike was going on here 40 years ago, 50 years ago, 40 years ago, um, my mom would get up at 4 30 in the morning and make 300 burritos for the people striking. And so it's finding uh what uh your activism is if it's making 400 burritos, if it's pumping your fist, if it's making a sign and showing up to a protest, if it's um uh staying, you know, after work for 15 minutes to make sure that that person on the corner gets their question answered, um, if it's carrying around red cards and your allied response cards and leaving them at the Starbucks or leaving them at the um bank or leaving them at the laundromat, just quietly just leaving them there, the know your rights cards. Or if it's sitting with someone who is undocumented and filling out a child care safety plan so that they have decisions around what they want for their children if they get deported, or if it's volunteering, or if it's writing a check, whatever whatever space of activism that people hold, I challenge them to be activated. I they need to we need to be activated right now and do what we do however we do it to make a contribution.
SPEAKER_01:Maria Elena, this has been an uh an inspiring conversation and a friendly conversation. Yes, and yeah, I just I have deep appreciation for everything you're doing and just I feel closer to you and thank you for having this conversation with me.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for having the courage to show up and to ask the questions that you do. Thank you for inviting me right to this voice to your table. Um, thank you for the the platform to elevate my my experience and my realities and the realities of the people that I represent. Thank you for what you do and who you are and how you do it.
SPEAKER_01:I don't take confidence well. Just say thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Say you're welcome.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you. You're welcome.
SPEAKER_00:Keep doing it, keep keep doing it.
SPEAKER_01:Keep doing it. Uh, this has been Speak for Change Podcast. I'm your host, Tom Stage Peterson, and thank you so much for listening and have a wonderful day.