How Dr. Vilicia Cade Turns Trauma into Transformational Leadership

[0:00]  When my son passed away, she showed up at that hospital, brought me a plane ticket, and put me back on a plane to New York City. And I had a lot of trauma, so I don't really remember the the details. I remember staying in touch with the lady for the first few months. But it's it's those kinds of benefits or those kinds of compassionate actions that have occurred in my life that I have been a benefactor of that drives what I do for other people. And it and you know and the old saying is to um to to those who receive much have to give much, right? And so I kind of carry that into my role as a leader in terms of advocating for

[0:49]  vulnerable people and for recognizing that we all have a collective moral imperative to help others who are least fortunate because that's what happened for me. And I wouldn't be able to sit in the boardroom. And I wouldn't be able to sit at the table as a president and CEO or as a superintendent of a school district if it had not been for the compassionate actions of others who recognized through actions of care. my plight at the time, whatever it was, whether it was um having time to sit with the deputy chancellor of New York City and visit classrooms and be taught firsthand how to recognize what good instruction looks like, right? Those

[1:38]  exposures and those experiences were invaluable to my development as a leader. Welcome back to the Harden and Hustle podcast. My name is Ephra and today we have another leader in the building, Dr. Cade. When people hear your title, Dr. Cade, they might not picture someone who's actually moved through group homes, faced loss, and showed still showed up with purpose. What's that one moment from your early life that still fuels your fire today? You know, I think it was when I went to um my elementary school um and I was six years old and I

[2:30]  moved out of the inner city of Brooklyn to upstate New York in Bingmpington. And I had gone from a space where everyone looked like me to a place where there was only six other children that looked like me. And I realized at that moment that I was no longer going to be able to depend on my brothers and sisters. And I was going to have to step up and I was going to have to become a leader at six years old because I no longer had the cushion of my six sisters and my two brothers and all of the people that I knew. I was in this new environment and I knew that I was going to either have to swim or I was going to sink. So at that moment I realized that leadership and I didn't have the words

[3:19]  to say leadership but I realized that I was going to have to become a leader. Yeah. And life wasn't easy. You talked about going from the foster care system to now you're leading a huge organization like what helped you what helped you stay anchored during these times of the unknown? Yeah, you know, um I think it was the compassion of others, people seeing my potential, um regardless of the six different elementary schools that I attended or the three secondary schools that I attended or the four different group homes in the foster care home that I was in. It was always someone that saw potential in me that extended the olive branch to help me to build a scaffold for me to reach

[4:10]  to reach expectations and those expectations were high. Yeah, it's it's a very tough place to be and I can only imagine that there was times where you had these moments and you had to pause and think like how did I really make it through this all? Have you had those moments? Like what do you tell yourself when that thought comes to mind? Yeah, I'm a big person that believes and leans in on my faith. I I just recall at every moment of despair, it seems like there appeared someone uh that God sent to help me. And I remember being six years old and that was the first time I had been taken from my family and I was placed in this group home with other little girls. It was a dormatory dormatory setting and every night I would wet the bed. You know, I was

[4:58]  afraid. I was afraid to go to the bathroom all by myself. I was in shock. Um and you know, and every morning the counselor would get up and humiliate me for wetting the bed uh and berate me in front of the other girls. And then finally one new resident showed up, a a a little girl named Nancy. and she didn't look like me, but she was in the same situation that I was in. And I remember that night she tapped me on the shoulder and she said, "Come on, let's go to the bathroom." And from that point on, she walked me to the bathroom every night and she played with me and then it brought the other girls around to come play with me and stop teasing me about wetting the bed. And that was a pivotal

[5:45]  moment in my six-year-old life. And I remember moments like that during my times of despair. There always appeared someone uh that extended compassion and care uh to me uh that revitalized hope. I love that. And you you've talked about love driven leadership as well last time that we spoke, which is something that you hear in in boardrooms too often.

[6:10]  What does that actually look like when things do get messy at the top? Because it does. You know, may people may not see it, but it does. But how does it actually look like when when you talk about, you know, the things that people don't see? Yeah. I think love um driven leadership really leans in on humility and compassion uh in situations where people don't display behaviors that you want to willingly give uh humility and compassion towards. I I when I look at the trajectory of my career, I've been in a lot of turnaround situations when I was in the K12 space. Now serving as a president and and CEO of child guidance resource centers. We're in the process of going through transition. But during my tenure, I recall times where um uh

[6:59]  people aren't so nice. So lovedriven leadership commands that you still extend humility and you edify the dignity of others in display of compassion when they're not so nice to you. Right? because that's leaning in on and it's really focusing on leveraging obstacles, barriers, difficult times, um, and continuing to vow to move forward in excellence and in some form of care. That's what um, lovedriven leadership means to me. And it all connects to my faith. You know, when I think about my faith and how intertwined it is into who I am as a leader, I often

[7:49]  think of my favorite verse in the Bible, which is first Corinthians um uh 13:13. Now abide, faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love. Right? And it goes back to this concept of love, whether it's leveraging obstacles, vowing excellence through equity, right? you know, giving people what they need in order to reach their full potential. Um, it goes back to this concept of care and humility.

[8:19]  You also have the three Fs that you mentioned as well, flow, force, and float or float. Uh, can you kind of break down what that actually looks like, especially for someone leading a team that's right now maybe low morale or stress because you have all these good things you bring to the table that I just loved the first time that we were able to have this conversation. Yeah.

[8:39]  when I was um I've been working on my fourth book called Creating Organizational Values in Digital Times and the premise of the book grew out of my um work in the K12 space and and leading um during the pandemic and looking at you know my service across four states in education and you know ascending to uh the seauite in in public education and I thought about you my work as a change agent and a restructuring specialist. Um there are times in your career where you're met with this this sentiment of flow where you get into an environment and things are aligned and you know uh systems are effective and they're efficient and

[9:29]  morale is high and people are happy and there is this flow and productivity is high and everybody is you know and you as a leader are aligned to what's going on. And then you get into these situations, usually turnaround situations or situations where you're right sizing organizations or restructuring them and there's this sentiment of force where systems are broken, morale is low.

[9:55]  Um there is this rub between you, your leadership style, and where people want to go and people you're still in the process of trying to determine if they have the will to make the changes to fix the systems, to advance the work, to increase the productivity, to restore the morale. And it just this tension exists uh in the space with um with everyone that's forced. And then float is you come to a pivotal moment or pivotal experiences once you've done your due diligence and your assessment where sometimes you just may have to move on. You know, you just have to float and you got to go. Um because force is you don't see force giving way

[10:44]  to flow right because at some point in most situations force will give way to float if you continue to drive loved driven leadership as a key indicator for you know turning people around and I always think about the quote from Martin Luther King and he says that you can't correct hate with hate, you must use love, right? That is the the factor, right? And that is so hard to really demonstrate a sense of compassion towards people who are not being nice to you, right? So that's where the the force the I mean the flow the force or float sort of concept comes in for me.

[11:31]  That's so good. And and it just kind of goes back to the your leadership, right? those things and the way that you think and the way you break things down and it all comes from moments in our lives. And I think that's what really makes great leaders that we've had to um overcome a lot, you know, and and we don't let it um overcome us, we've actually learned on how to implement that into who we are on an everyday basis. When people told us that we couldn't, when we thought different of people because of what was being done to us maybe in an early life.

[12:00]  And you you mentioned something last time that also kind of talked about how strangers were showing up in in your life ways in ways you didn't expect. You just mentioned that little girl, a complete stranger, but still remembering what that made you feel and also knowing what the other gentleman made you feel, whoever that that that caregiver was at that time. So people show up in some bad ways and some good ways. Absolutely. How does that impact how you actually show up for others now? And what is the the thought process? Do you have a story that you can share? Yeah. So, I I always say that um you teach people how to treat you and you learn from every experience. You either learn what to do or what not to do. You never lose, you always win. Because at the end of the day, if you learn something from the experience that you have, that will only

[12:51]  allow you to be more resilient. that will only allow you to be able to be more informed about something. I remember um a time in my I'm trying to think my life um where when um you know I'll take for example uh my my deceased son Galani. Um I was 25 years old. My son was 22 months old and he was born with um congenital heart defects. He he had uh defects in his liver. He didn't have a pulmonary artery. He just had some

[13:39]  veins that was leading to his lungs. And um and he needed a heart, a pulmonary artery, a lung, and a liver transplant. And this was in the8s. the late 80s and at that time um the children's hospital of Pittsburgh after two years of fighting with Medicaid with medical people to arrive at my son having an opportunity to have these multiple transplants at one time. Um, I was on a plane from JFK in New York City heading to Pittsburgh and at the time I had been like a case manager working and I had a

[14:26]  masters and then I got pregnant, had my son and all of a sudden I had to go on disability for him and that was our income and his father and I were working together to get him this care and I had $30 in my pocket. and I was going to Pittsburgh after they finally said, "We will do the surgery.

[14:48]  We will do the surgery." Um, and my son kept crying and there was an older lady sitting in front of me. And when the plane landed and the flight from Pittsburgh from New York is not a very long flight and the plane stop uh landed and the older lady uh white lady approached me. She says, "Are you going to the Ronald McDonald House?"

[15:11]  And I said, I looked at her, you know, a little apprehensive. Um, and I said, um, yes, I am. She said, "My husband and I would love to take you there." And that lady, she picked me up. She she took me to the Ronald McDonald House. The next day, she came back. She um took me food shopping. She showed me Pittsburgh. And when my son passed away, she showed up at that hospital, brought me a plane ticket and put me back on a plane to New York City.

[15:45]  And I had a lot of trauma, so I don't really remember the the details. I remember staying in touch with the lady for the first few months. But it's it's those kinds of benefits or those kinds of compassionate actions that have occurred in my life that I have been a benefactor of that drives what I do for other people. And it and you know and the old saying is to um to to those who receive much have to give much, right? And so I kind of carry that into my role as a leader in terms of advocating for vulnerable people and for recognizing that we all have a collective moral

[16:35]  imperative to help others, those who are least fortunate, because that's what happened for me. And I wouldn't be able to sit in the boardroom. And I wouldn't be able to sit at the table as a president and CEO or as a superintendent of a school district if it had not been for the compassionate actions of others who recognized through actions of care my plight at the time. whatever it was, whether it was um having time to sit with the deputy chancellor of New York City and visit classrooms and be taught firsthand how to recognize what good instruction looks like. Right?

[17:22]  Those exposures and those experiences were invaluable to my development as a leader. If the Heart and Hustle podcast has ever sparked any idea or made you think differently, do us a favor. Make sure to guys share this, post it on LinkedIn, or even text that nonprofit friend that you just have. Whatever works. This is what keeps the conversation going and allows us to just grow this community together.

[17:50]  Seriously, we appreciate you. I mean, not as just a leader, as a strong black woman, right? like that. That's the most important thing because the way that life has really taken you and put you through some things, you could have given up. I could only imagine there was moments, Dr. Cade, that you thought like, why? Why me?

[18:17]  Because already as a young kid, you were experiencing so much trauma, so much hurt, you know, that was already something you had to overcome. and you talk about, you know, what was happening with your son. That's something else you had to kind of overcome. But it seemed like one thing about God, he's always going to put people in your life that going to get you through it because sometimes it's so hard for us. I mean, there's times that we had to get through it ourselves and you know, because mentally we had to think differently.

[18:42]  Yeah. You know, so I just want to give kudos to who you are as an individual. And I also want to kind of talk about how important mental health is. I had a friend that just spoke to me and said, you know, I I was going through struggles when I decided, you know what? I'm going to risk it all and I'm going to bet on myself. I'm going to know my worth, right? And and really when I was going through that journey of leaving something, I was so comfortable putting my family on my back because I had two kids. I had the house, you know, but now there's no income. My wife's a stay at home mom. But I had to believe in myself. So, we were talking. He's like, "Man, it's money, right? money made it seem different and I said nah it really wasn't like yes money changes a little bit of things right makes it a little easier on the mind but it was having faith it was telling myself it's going to get better this is temporary it was

[19:30]  me listening to different types of music that just made the soul feel better right there was times where I'm laying in bed I'm like I got to go to sleep because I was doubting myself it's not about the money it's about mental health and you're in a space where ideally That's big for you, right? Mental health and education actually used to be an afterthought. People weren't talking about it right now to me, I feel like it's in the front lines. How are you pushing that shift to, you know, forward in in real time? What are you doing with the organization yourself personally?

[20:00]  Absolutely. So, being a recovering superintendent, uh, and coming into nonprofit space and leading a behavioral health organization for me is a full circle moment, right? And I spoke we spoke early and I talked about you know the fact that my mom suffered from mental health issues is the primary reason why I became a ward of the state right my eight other siblings and I and so I know through personal experiences how significantly important uh it is to ensure equitable access to high quality mental health services. And in my previous role as

[20:49]  superintendent or CEO of schools, I saw the overwhelming impact and outgrowth of the pandemic exacerbate already existing trauma from serving underresourced communities. And we know disproportionately that the pandemic impacted uh low resource communities, minorities disproportionately higher. So when we see the outcomes coming out of the pandemic, we should anticipate the some of the side effects in trauma would exist, right? So, I saw firsthand uh educators struggling because one, we've got all these

[21:36]  vacancies. We can't fill positions. So, they're doing double time. So, that compassionate fatigue is real. They're carrying their trauma coming out of the pandemic and now working with kids who have social development delays, significant trauma going on, and their parents, right? So for me, this is an opportunity where I didn't have an opportunity to really directly impact that behavioral health piece in the K12 space. this leading the behavioral health organization and us partnering with school districts and having our own tuitionbased mental health school. I see firsthand how the integration of this work is important. Now, I will say this.

[22:25]  I've spent the majority of my career developing public private partnerships, bringing partnerships to schools and creating um sort of the undercurrent around community based schools or schools as hubs of the community focused on James Coma work, Dr. James Coma from Yale University or looking at Joyce Epstein out of hop John Hopkins University and her parent involvement framework. looking at places like Akran, Ohio that focuses on community learning schools or schools that are the the focus where they partner with the city of Akran to utilize the school space to have wraparound services to focus on the holistic needs of children and families and taking education to a

[23:13]  twogenerational approach. So this was a seamless transition for me in understanding the foundation of our health begins with our mental health and our physical well-being. Right? So for me it's you know coming into this space learning now more intensely about behavior behavioral health bringing my own personal experiences that I had with family members and friends who have uh mental health challenges um and and and being able to advocate and being on the front end of that advocacy uh has been um my entry into this work.

[23:55]  So good. Listen, every time you just every time you send me something more, I'm like, she just own it. And we even mentioned that you were also part of uh Biden's commission, right? I think that's what it it was. Uh what's something people don't realize about trying to create real change on that level because you've been on all levels when it comes to change. You are really truly fighting for change at all levels.

[24:15]  Yeah. So serving at the presidential advisory commission on advancing educational excellence, equity, and economic opportunities for black Americans was a presidential commission where um uh President Biden appointed 24 leaders from across our nation. Wow. And our focus was on creating recommendations for advancing education, equity, and economic opportunities for black Americans. I think it was the work that I've done across the three states and building the public private portfolios and understanding that education is an economic it is the basis for economic development and I say this that companies look to open up their

[25:05]  company in communities where the educational system is high functioning. The K12 system feeds our ed. It feeds our businesses. It feeds higher education and it feeds our workforce, right? That's the center of everything that our nation will be able to do to advance. It starts at K12, right? Because of compulsory educational law uh and kids having to go to school.

[25:33]  So whether you not recognize that it's important that the business community partner with K12 schools, higher education partner with K12 schools, legislators work with K12 schools and other agencies to focus on advancing opportunities for children, ensuring that we're recognizing in K12 what the core skills are that young people need not just the academic skills, the the the soft skills, the interpersonal skills, the ability to collaborate, communicate, all of these skills, exposure to STEM and STEAM, you know, all of these things to develop well-rounded citizens who understand their democratic

[26:22]  responsibility to vote, to um solve problems in their communities, to solve problems in our nation, and to solve problems around the world, Right. So, um that opportunity to serve on that commission brought together some of the um most diverse and brilliant minds to write recommendations. I served on the Black Genius Committee and what we did was we provided some recommendations around how to revitalize opportunities for entrepreneurship for people of color and what what that would look like with some of the inequitable access to capital funding, right? and um looking at what the track and pathways are to black

[27:10]  wealth and and in the black middle class or you know home ownership traditionally being the driver for black middle class. But now we're looking at tech companies, technology companies and you know capital uh venture opportunities and technology being a key lever in leveraging people and and putting them in different social economic classes. So we got to learn from people around the around the United States came to present to our commission and then our commission got to write a a white paper which now of course has been taken down with the new administration. But that was um that was such an enlightening experience to uh work with uh the United States Department of Education and the

[27:59]  White House uh to uh go to Washington DC and to uh work with uh senators and Congress people and uh United States Department of Education and President Biden and Vice President Harris at the time to really lean in on how to advance uh you know education and equity and economic opportunities for black Americans. To have your voice be heard was powerful, too. Dr. K, as you sit here and just continue just spill the beans on who you are and and the opportunities you received in life and to think that you were once a scared young girl, right? And and that's this is why myself and Keenan create these platforms because when you hear about the story on who you were and at some point now, you know, years later, you

[28:47]  you grab the pencil, you started to write your own story, you you went through your own journeys and life still happens, right? Life was still a roller coaster. Just because you aged out the foster system or whatever that may look like, doesn't mean it was perfect. It was peaches. No. But it goes to show that we are human. We go through life and with the right people, right? We with with with the right resources, we truly have an opportunity and it's never to me it's never too late. We talk about, you know, those young kids, but there's I hope that in a someone 20, 30, 40, 50 years old watches and hears what you're saying right now. Like these are hell of opportunities. And I kind of want to shift this because now we're really about to sit here and probably ruffle some feathers here. Oh, okay.

[29:30]  But we're in a place where resources are happening. You talked about some of the things that are being implemented, but now we're kind of going backwards and funding is being lost. I'm talking to organizations that are are losing people that are losing resources. How does that make you feel? And and what are you guys doing to kind of stay ahead of that? Oh, yeah. We we are um you know in in nonprofit space and in behavioral health coming out of the pandemic technology certainly is changing our landscape and we're in a process of transition uh here in child guidance resource centers and we have our financial obstacles and so um as we move into this new space where the fiscal climate is changing coming down from the federal level our FIFA services based on Medicaid most of our client clients

[30:20]  build through Medicaid because they fall into a certain social economic uh bracket. We don't do private pay billing. Our focus has primarily been on underresourced communities. And so having our own fiscal challenges and anticipating challenges uh coming down from uh cuts in Medicaid um in a different more uh rigid fiscal climate nationally and K12 and federal government um we have been very proactive with one focusing on one rebranding. We're in the process of going through strategic planning. We're a 70 year we'll be a 70 year old organization. Child guidance resource

[31:07]  centers will have existed for 70 years in 2026. It has contracted. It has expanded over those 70 years like most nonprofits. We will continue to exist. Now our footprint may change as we go through a restructuring process. I have taken the initiative uh in consultation with my board to join different CEO leadership groups coming in new to the space for that um community of learners to learn best practices from my peers and to uh be a part of some learning cohorts also. But we've also are focusing on ramping up our development division, right? And exploring alternative funding

[31:56]  streams that we have to be more aggressive about pursuing, right? And we're in the process, like I said, of going through our strategic planning process. So, we'll be looking at some programs that we're going to grow and some programs that may have to go. and we will um make the adjustments so that we can continue to thrive and find the spaces where technology may be more applicable uh in our field. Uh but you know um we are rebranding we're rebranding and having opportunities for platforms like this to just raise the level of visibility of our brand and our services. and one of our board members, our chia, um, often refers to us as sleeping giants. We're no longer

[32:44]  sleeping. We're wide awake and we're getting the word out because people know that child guidance resource centers has high quality services. So, one, we already recognize that we will expand in our school because we know that that funding stream is more stable and that there will always be a need for uh young people who have intensive needs that may not be able to function in a regular setting, but in our therapeutic uh setting, our young people are able to thrive and stabilize and able to go back to the comprehensive setting. So, that's where we are. We're in that period of transition, but it's it's only going to make us more resilient and more creative, right? You know, when when times get tough, what do you do? You become creative. You become an ini an innovator. You become a transformer,

[33:33]  right? Because at the end of the day, I'm not looking to exist. I'm looking to thrive and soar. Yeah. And when you had the leadership and and the experiences you had, this is kind of an easy task. Will will it be easy as you're in it? probably not, but you know that you have, you know, the knowledge. I'm pretty sure you have a good team to be able to execute. It's just going to take time. It's going to take a little patience, a little faith, uh, you know, a little digging deep. Uh, and and good thing we do have AI to kind of help us with the creative sometimes. You know, we do have that opportunity to, uh, go blank. Okay. That happens to me all the time. Why can't I even think straight?

[34:09]  But we we got AI. We got AI. Um what's that one innovation or program that you've actually introduced that um you're just most proud of something that really made a real difference? Yeah, I can't say that coming in seven months into this organization into child guidance resource centers I think that you know one of the things that we've gotten more efficient at and it's not me it's a team like you said and I give credit where credit is due. You know for me as a leader it is identifying intelligent and smart people and putting the right people in the right seats.

[34:43]  Right? So coming we have been able to streamline our um financial operating system and upgrade it. Uh we're looking and we're actually in the process now of doing a performance review to um get some recommendations on how to strengthen internal controls uh and to ensure more operational efficiency with utilizing um electronic um and and and in technology based tools. So I can't take credit for anything that we're in the process of transition seven months coming in. But if I go to previous experiences in my role, uh, one of the things that I was most proud of during the pandemic, uh, and people laughed about this, uh, when I was a chief

[35:32]  academic officer in Sanduski City Schools was I brought in little robots. Then the robots were they looked like those eye robots, but they were maybe only like two feet tall, but they were actually hotspots. And for families, they were um aligned to programs to uh iPad that helped with phenemic awareness were teaching young children in first and second grade how to blend sounds. And so the children were excited about the robots and they all wanted to take the robots home for the weekend. And so you could take the robot home for the weekend or for a week, but you had to complete a certain number of assignments.

[36:17]  um a software program that we had utilizing games to teach young people to close those academic deficits. And so I was really proud about the robots, although my staff said they freak the robots are freaking us out their eyes because the robots had infrared beams in their eyes and we would use them in small groups with kids. A group of five kids and if Eph wasn't paying attention, the robot would say, "Ephine, please pay attention. Look at me." And the kids, you know, uh, would get freaked out and they would pay attention. They would get back to doing their work. But my staff said, "Oh, these robots are creepy. This is freaking me out." But that was for me like that was the I love it. The the the the um highlight of innovation and possibilities and opportunities to

[37:04]  really um, you know, integrate technology in a a different way. And the way that your staff felt then is how a lot of people feel now. They're scared of AI and AI is not even looking at them. You know what I mean? I mean, it is kind of looking at them every day on their phones. They don't even know they're using AI and text predictive and stuff like that. Exactly. But has the organization adapted AI? Like when you talk about innovation and and moving forward or is something that you guys still thinking about? It's something that we're still uh in exploring. I did go to the um statewide conference in the beginning of the school year when I was one month in as the CEO and president and um I wanted to get a pulse on the statewide sentiment around the integration of technology and it was what I had anticipated a lot of fear

[37:52]  with people skeptical that uh AI and robots and technology would be making diagnosis for people with uh behavioral health needs. And and what what what I would like to get out in terms of the message as we continue on this journey is that one you cannot replace a therapist, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a clinician with technology. Technology is a tool to help with efficiencies. Now perhaps we could use we do have electronic health records and most most uh behavioral health companies are doing that uh where there are other ways to help like we're doing collaborative documentation where our clinicians now are implementing an

[38:40]  approach where it allows them to document their time with clients in a collaborative way where clients also have input in the development of the notes. Right? So that is it's not really innovative. it's been out in the behavioral health field, but it's something that we're embarking on. Um, so, um, we want to make technology a tool for the clinicians, for the therapists, for the psychiatrist to sort of streamline some of the paperwork and documentation so that we can get more of that face-toface time with the clients. That's the message that I want to get out. And yeah, when it comes to AI, you hit it right on the head. It is truly a tool in your toolbox. It is not here for replacement. And if people just understand how to use it, how it could

[39:27]  really benefit companies, especially in the nonprofit space, um such the one I always come to because it's the easiest one for people to implement is uh writing grants using chat GPT, right? Absolutely. And believe it or not, I still speak to nonprofit leaders now. And then when I say that, they're like, "Oh my god." You know, so just imagine where some of these organizations are.

[39:47]  And that's why I asked the question, some's just ahead of others. And as we're wrapping up, doctor, I you truly have been the first black woman and just multiple leadership roles. When you talk about breaking barriers, what did you really learn when you were in these rooms where you were the the only Yeah. Um, so, um, I learned, uh, one that, uh, leadership can be a lonely space sometimes when, uh, you feel like, um, you're not seen or understood. Um, and, um, I also learned that I always have God. He's always with me. I'm never alone.

[40:32]  And I also learned that we are all human. And if we could focus on what makes us similar and look at our differences as opportunities to expand our understanding and stretch, we would be in such a better place um as as people as you know who are occupying this planet together uh trying to ensure that we have the best quality of life and that we preserve as much of the planet for our future generations to have a place uh for our great great grandchildren, right? Uh in order to thrive.

[41:15]  I love it. I love it. We start wrapping up here. For someone listening who wants to help but doesn't know where to start, what's that one small thing they can do today that would really make a difference within the organization. A lot of people think it's it's donations, you know, and it's that monetary thing, but there's so much more. What could they be doing, Dr. Kade? Yeah, you can help get the word out. Uh that um uh wwcgrc.org uh is our website. Check us out. Check us out on Facebook and LinkedIn and Instagram and um X, whatever it is called at this point. I'm still calling it Twitter. I'm I'm done. I'm not calling it X, right? Um, I think you can understand that, um, we are in the business of helping build stronger communities by providing services that

[42:05]  help people heal and ensuring that affordable access to highquality behavioral health services are within reach of underresourced communities. And that's that is what we do. Uh and so um you can help by one um reaching out to families and telling them about us. You can come volunteer. We have our 5K our run every year where you know we uh do a fundraiser but we also focus on educating people about alcohol, tobacco and opioid and drugs. Right? That's a part of some of the work that we do. We have wonderful programs for children who are on the spectral or neurodeiverse learners or autism. And we have

[42:52]  residential programs for uh adults living with complex mental health issues that we manage. We deal with people who are appointed from the courts with truency and family based counseling. Uh we have so many services available and they typically don't cost our clients anything as long as they're eligible for Medicaid. Uh and so you can come volunteer at our 5K. Uh there will be Delco Gives Day is coming up in Delaware County here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania where uh the Foundation for Delaware County will have all of the nonprofits out. And we're looking to engage our community and share information about our services. And of course, donations help, especially as

[43:40]  the fiscal climate changes. But that's not all you can do. You can show up and you can help be an advocate and a messenger and get the word out about who we are. wwcgrc.org child guidance resource centers and as we approach 70 years of inspiring hope and empowering others. We're looking forward to having a grand gala next year. Please please join us once we get the word out and and help us to inspire hope and empower others. I love it. I love it. Dr. Okay, listen.

[44:13]  This is going to be so good. 7 years is a lot of years of you talking about impacting communities 100%. That, you know, kudos to the the founder of the organization and now to you to continue to lead this organization for another 70 years. This is not the the blind question itself that uh one of our leaders had, but it's I guess one of my blind questions and then I'll give it to Doug, which was the leader that we uh interviewed on the last one. But if looking back at everything that you've had to you've been through, what does resilience actually mean to you now?

[44:43]  Yeah. Resilience means you pick yourself up when you feel like you can't go forward. You continue to put one foot in front of the other and you continue to fight. Sometimes I say to myself in the morning when I'm exhausted, come on Valia, you got to fight. You got to fight. People need you. Resilience means you bounce back.

[45:06]  And when you're the underdog that you become the top dog, right? You know, you become the top dog. Uh because you recognize that you've been in a similar space and that if you lean in on your faith that God has never really let you down. Yeah. He's never let me down. And when I change my mindset and focus on the things that I have control over, which is me, and I lean in on my faith, and I consult him through prayer, things always get better. So resilience is picking yourself up. When you feel like you have no more energy to go and yet you continue to put one foot in front of the other, if you can't walk, you

[45:55]  crawl. And and once you're able to crawl, you walk. And if you can't run, you walk. And if you can't And if you can run and you can get in a car, then you drive and you just continue. That's what I love it. Thank you. Thank you. I think this good. A lot of people um in their lives, you know, need that resilience. What does that really mean?

[46:13]  And resilience is connected to hope. Yeah. Yeah. So, this is Doug. Doug is another nonprofit leader and he asked, "What's a leadership belief you used to hold that you've completely outgrown now that you've stepped into the leader you are today?" A leadership belief that I used to hold that I've completely outgrown. Um, yeah, that um that was a good question. When he asked me that question, I'm like, "Wait a minute, Doug. You're getting a little too deep here now. You're really What are you trying to do?"

[46:46]  Uh I think a leadership belief uh that I used to hold was that um that change is change is hard. It it it is it is. But I think when you change your mindset and you embrace it as an opportunity Yeah. Change is not hard. Change is an opportunity. And if we don't see it as an opportunity, we will stay stuck in the mud if we continue to think that it's hard. But change is an opportunity.

[47:29]  And it's the only thing that we can really depend on, right? It's the only thing that's consistent that things will change. Whether it's us physically, mentally, or our relationships with people, change is an opportunity. It is not hard. That's something that I had to relinquish because like, oh, this is too hard. I can't do this. But when you change your mindset and you shift that in your mind, you respond physio, psychologically, physically differently to to it. That that was a whole word right there, Dr. K. That was that was the word. I appreciate it. She said, I don't know yet, but it came to her. So, I appreciate you giving us that. What is your blind question to the next leader that we have here on the Heart of Hustle? I don't I'm feeling like my blind question has kind of been taken, but I said, "Can you

[48:16]  describe one pivotal moment in your leadership journey that defines your why?" Okay. Can you define one pivotal moment in your leadership journey that helped define your why? Okay. Because somebody else in the hot seat experience, right? Yeah. Yeah. We put somebody in the hot seat with that. I love these questions in a different way, right? But that is like getting straight to the point and connecting it to Simon Funk's the why, right? Because what we do, it's all connected to a why.

[48:51]  And you know, I can point out to multiple moments in my life. Like I talked about being six years old, I realized, oh gosh, I don't have my family to take care of me. I've got to be a leader. Right. Right. And and you know and I talked about you know all these moments of of despair that hope was always extended in those moments of total utter despair. Somehow the glimmer of hope a crack of light came in that darkness and that's all I needed. That's all I needed. Well I appreciate you Dr.

[49:25]  K. You have been amazing. The things that we've learned, the gyms you dropped, the stories you shared. Um, it's truly what makes a difference, you know, not just what we do at work, but it's the stories that we tell and it's being open and it's being honest. This is what the conversation that people need to hear because I think it truly what makes a difference. It allows people to realize that we are humans, that we all go through things that, you know, I'm adopted, you're adopted, but look, look where we sit here today in the conversation that we're having and where God has really brought us, you know, and and I really just say thank you to God, you know, of anything because we're not here without it. you know, these conversations are not happening. Um, he's allowed us to be resilient. He's allowed us to overcome.

[50:05]  He's allowed us to be patient and believe. So, thank you so much, Dr. K, for for your time, for everything you've brought to us today. And I can't wait to see who the next leader is on the Heart and Hustle podcast to answer that blind question you gave them today. But guys, if you're still watching, the easiest thing you can do today is just like, subscribe, and share. That's how we get the message out. You don't We're not asking for anything else, but just that because so many people need to hear the story. My name is Era. This is Dr. Cade.

[50:27]  We'll catch you guys in the next episode. Bye Ukraine.