How FHC San Diego Serves 230K People With Street Medicine & Mobile Clinics | Meredith Johnston

[0:00]  We really are the safety net healthc care provider in San Diego serving, you know, roughly close to 230,000 people every year. People outside of our communities don't really know what we do. They don't understand the kind of cultural understanding that's required, the complexity of the cases that we're looking at. We literally have providers who, you know, in kids and scrubs, you know, in a hoodie or a rain jacket depending on the weather. And they are walking through encampments to [music] say, "What do you need?" You're going to have a culture no matter what. It's just whether one that you're in control of or one that you're reacting to. Your only job really is to be yourself. And there's literally no one else on this [music] planet who can do that job for you. What's one thing I can do today that's a step in the right direction? I might be able to not change it, you know, immediately. It won't be overnight, but I can take one step in the right direction. [music] Welcome back to another episode here on the Heart Hustle Podcast. Our next guest, Meredith, how are you doing today, madam?

[1:18]  I'm great, thank you. How are you?

[1:20]  Good. I actually ask you this. So, I always start off with madam, but then someone says, "Don't say madam." There's actually a bad context behind madam. Not that I know it, but do you?

[1:32]  Uh, I don't have a reaction to that, but I was also raised in Texas, so madam and ma'am, people tease me. I live in San Diego now, and people will be like, I'm I'm not a ma'am. Don't call me ma'am. I'm like, my mama raised me, right? And I say I say sir and ma'am. So,

[1:45]  [laughter]

[1:46]  I'm trying to get my daughter to say ma'am and sir because yes or or yes dad or something because you know it is the respect and is that a down south thing you think? I mean, I think so. It's definitely a a southern thing. Maybe other places, but for sure in this out that is expected that you speak to your elders as sir and ma'am. And even people like my age when I would wait tables, I would say, "Yes, ma'am." And people would look at me funny and I'm like,

[2:14]  sign of respect. Yeah.

[2:15]  Yeah. Out of [laughter] respect.

[2:17]  Well, I appreciate you taking the time here. You're in San Diego. What is the organization you're representing today?

[2:22]  I work for Family Health Centers of San Diego. So, we're a community health clinic. We're one of the largest, one of the top 10 in the entire country. Um, so we really are the safety net healthc care provider in San Diego serving, you know, roughly close to 230,000 people every year. Um, we have a special mission to serve people who are medically underserved, who are medically vulnerable, who are under reppresented, um who are low income. 92% of our patients are low-income. So we really um have a very target mission to provide meaningful highquality outstanding health care that's very dignity forward to people regardless of their ability to pay or their insurance status.

[3:04]  What get you into the line of work? I mean when you could probably be doing so many other different things. You're here for a reason. What's the why?

[3:10]  My why is I mean I fell in love with philanthropy. So what I do is raise funds. I advocate for the mission of the organization. Um, I fell into that by accident, uh, when I was living in Texas about, you know, 30 years ago, I guess 20 years ago. Um, and why I brought that to community healthc care is really, you know, I'd been in higher education. Um, I also worked at a bio biomed research institute. I'm passionate about science and the way that that can improve the, you know, quality of human life. Um, this particular organization is so close to the mission, is so close to the impact and people don't people outside of our communities don't really know what we do. They don't understand the kind of cultural understanding that's required, the complexity of the cases that we're looking at, the deep understanding of our communities that's required to really do a good job, to really meet our community's needs. And to me, that challenge of bringing uh people and organizations that maybe are far outside of our communities, they're in much wealthier communities. They have never needed a community health clinic, so they don't really understand it. Um bringing them close to our mission and helping them understand the importance of safety net healthcare organizations. I just I think that's a really fun challenge. You know, I was talking to an organization here in Florida and one of the things she mentioned just because you talk about um the different groups, right? The groups that may not need it just because they're kind of well off

[4:47]  during pandemic time, even those people, she says she seen people driving these nice fancy cars that would have to come to a food pantry, that would have to, you know, make their way out, but they didn't know these places existed, right?

[4:59]  But a lot of the times these resources are not just there for those that need it today. It's there for everyone even those that may not need it because they're here today tomorrow they can be here

[5:09]  right

[5:10]  um is are you exper did you experience that during the pandemic did you see that shift or I don't know if you were already there in San Diego where you start in Texas

[5:18]  so I was in San Diego um but I was working at the biomedical research institute uh so my connection to the pandemic was really unique because I literally worked with a scientist who was one of the people who made the madna vaccine possible he's listed in the patent for it. Um I worked with infectious disease experts who had tracked where you know the um you know earliest influenza outbreaks were where Zika outbreaks were and he would show kind of a heat map of where it and then you track it and it really was along you know if you look at kind of the 1812 you know influenza and then Zika you know in modern times you could see that the spread was very very tied now to airline routes to air travel routes um and he would talk about kind of how that spread. So I had heard these presentations. I had seen this research. Um there was a lot of talk never about corona virus. We really thought it would be another intense influenza. Um that would be our next pandemic. Um so it but it it it was very very personal at the time you know working with researchers who this is their life's work and then

[6:30]  being getting an upfront seat to see uh how you make how important vaccines are how important research is how critical it was in the pandemic to getting things you know moving quickly getting vaccines you know ready for the public very quickly um was very personal but I know my organization family health centers of San Diego were one of the first ones to to host very big vaccine clinics. And so you had very wealthy people who were showing up, you know, in in the lines, you know, to get a vaccine because that was unfortunately the great equalizer. You know, everyone was really looking for the vaccines. Everyone was, you know, waiting in long lines and desperate to be vaccinated when it first became possible. And Family Health Centers of San Diego was on the front lines of delivering it to the county. Love that.

[7:18]  So, kind of go back into all right, you guys are providing for the community. People may not know about the services. Do you think it's a like a marketing thing? Is it the way that we communicate as organizations? I mean, we're in a space where digital is everything, right? Digital front door, whether it's your social media, whether it's getting somebody on SMS. like what do you think hinders organizations like yours to be able to tell the community this is what we do, this is what we offer? I

[7:48]  mean, I think it's a couple things for my organization and many nonprofits. It's humility. Um, and I kind of tease the organization. I'm like, it's not always a good thing, you know, like we historically have been extremely focused on reaching our potential patients. We want the people that need us to know where to come for services. We have 29 clinics. We have 21 behavioral health clinics and primary care clinics, behavioral health clinics. We have mobile units. We have a mobile mimography unit that will bring mammograms and cervical cancer screenings out into the community. I think the people that we have and we have very very good reputations in our communities. You know, I I think where our patients need us, we are very well known and all of our kind of quote unquote marketing [snorts] has really been focused exclusively on being sure that the people who need us know where to find us, that they know where they can come to get a mammogram, that they know where they can come for good dental care, they know where they can come for, you know, glaucoma testing, a vision point, you know, appointment, those critical preventative care and urgent care. Um, but we haven't reached beyond our communities. Um, and part of that is it's just not in our nature to toot our own horn. You know, we're very roll up our sleeves and figure out what the community needs and then figure out how to meet those needs. And that's a noble, beautiful, you know, kind of aspect of that's in our DNA. But unfortunately, that means, you know, if you're familiar with San Diego, Delmare, for example, is north of La Hoya. It's a very wealthy, you know, right right on the beach community, really cute little um town. They have no idea who we are in Delmare because [snorts] we haven't focused any of our kind of marketing, our social media or anything to really tell the stories of what we do because again, we're very concerned that our patients, you know, know where to go to get care. So, it's been a little bit to our detriment, unfortunately. and the people who are in San Diego who have means and capacity and who have a real heart, you know, for helping those with others who understand San Diego is um there's a real halves and have nots, you know, in this county. Um there are areas of tremendous concentrations of wealth and there are areas of tremendous need. Um we've got sleep shelter, you know, sleep safe sites, extensive shelters, shelters. We've got a a a growing unhoused population. Um there are areas of tremendous need and so the drastic difference in San Diego is rather stark and people that live here know that. But we haven't really reached beyond our communities historically.

[10:31]  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. Seriously, we appreciate you. You mentioned so many different services of that you guys offer. How many people are you guys seeing on a yearly basis? I know 2025 just ended. Did you have a uh about estimate of how many people were served?

[11:02]  230,000 individuals. So, that's not for visits. We have over a million visits because often they come, you know, from multiple appointments. There's obviously different needs, but in terms of like unduplicated individuals, it's over 230,000.

[11:17]  That's a lot. You guys are doing a lot of great Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and and you just mentioned we're barely tapping the surface because there's still so much opportunity to be quite frank. And and how do you get there? Can imagine there's a lot of creative control, um a lot of creative ideas that come with that. And how do we continue to reach the masses? Right.

[11:37]  Absolutely. Well, and one example would be our street medicine team. We literally have providers who, you know, in kids and scrubs, you know, in a a hoodie or a rain jacket, depending on the weather, um, because it doesn't rain a lot in San Diego, but it can be drizzly. It can be drizzly,

[11:53]  but, you know, rain or shine, they're out with a case manager, you know, potentially a health navigator, a substance abuse counselor, you know, is on call and they are walking through encampments to say, "What do you need? Can we help you with your medication? We'll help with transportation. We'll take them to a clinic. We'll get their meds refilled. Um, we'll make sure that because now the requirements for medical and Medicare are going, they're more stringent now. You have to renew twice a year. So, there's people who qualify who might not renew because they don't have a, you know, they don't get the information or they don't have a good address for where, you know, they're getting their paperwork um to renew. And so, we're out there helping them renew. we're out there making sure that they can still access, you know, their benefits um and and keep their meds. And one of the things that that team does is partner with, you know, SDPD because they have a homeless outreach team. It's called HOT for the acronym.

[12:47]  They work with the HOT team. Um so that because basically what we were seeing was

[12:52]  we would have we would be, you know, our street medicine team would be in these encampments and there might be an infection, a disease, you know, an illness going around and we've got it close to being controlled. you know, we're going twice a week to these encampments. We're making sure everybody's on their meds. Um, you know, we've got it sort of close to being under control. And then for legitimate reasons, they have a job to do, but you know, businesses complain. They're blocking entrances. So, they'll come and do a sweep of the encampment,

[13:19]  which means you've now scattered all of these individuals with something that's infectious and thrown away their meds

[13:25]  because basically they come in and sweep everything and everything gets tossed. And now

[13:29]  it's I mean, it's a public health issue. And so our team basically reached out to them and said, "We're not trying to stop you from doing your job, but can you give us a heads up before you do this?" Because we can go in and we can talk to them about how do we find you? How do you find us? Where's a clinic you could come in if you wanted to? Um where is your kind of backup plan? Can we connect you with, you know, the um homeless task force, the regional task force on homelessness for, you know, to get a bed somewhere or path to get a bed somewhere? There's a lot of organizations that do great work in San Diego and we can kind of help try to create some stability um in infectious diseases and we found STPD to be very very willing to work with us and so now they give us a heads up and we'll go in you know with these other partners and try to get people in beds or try to get you know make sure that they have their meds, make sure that they know where to come find us to get refills on the meds if they do get thrown away. So, um, that's just one of those really innovative. I like I like the street medicine team as an example of innovation and really understanding the community as well as our mobile mamography unit.

[14:32]  You know, what does your dayto-day? I mean, there's so many different pieces going on. What What does your dayto-day look like?

[14:38]  There's no two days that are alike. It's one of the reasons I love my work. You know, sometimes it's going to a networking event and talking to kind of the movers and shakers, you know, of San Diego and telling the stories. Sometimes it's sitting down with an individual or funding, you know, a philanthropic organization and talking through what a gift opportunity or a proposal might look like. Sometimes it's partnering. You know, last week I went with one of our therapists for our concentrated mental health program, which is a really special high needs program. And we went and sat and got a tour at a local farm that basically produces, you know, I I I would misquote it if I tried to say how much vegetables, but they produce a ton of fresh vegetables. And their mission is to basically feed people who can't, you know, afford it. And so they have farmers markets where they basically like you pay what you can. Um it's it's incredible. But what we wanted to know is can we partner and create maybe some joint proposals or collaborations so that our folks in the concentrated mental health program can get some fresh produce because a lot of them qualify for you know SNAP or EBT benefits. Um they can go to a food pantry but they they really struggle to get fresh produce.

[15:51]  Yeah.

[15:51]  A lot of them don't drive. Um so and there's not places walkable in their communities where they can afford healthier foods.

[15:58]  Okay. I got a question for you actually now that I think about what you just mentioned the mental health. Do you think that for those that are watching what we eat changes the mind or helps with the mind? Right?

[16:12]  Medicine,

[16:13]  fresh produce. And I say that because I have a friend,

[16:16]  he he uh distilled his own water, right? He doesn't drink out of a bottle. And his saying is like, "Hey, when I gave up drinking bottled water or faucet water, my health changed tremendously." Now, this is also someone that experienced uh 10 years of of addiction and he just meant and so he always makes fun of us. He's like, "I'll never not shop at Whole Foods because Walmart is low quality." I go to Walmart, by the way. So, whoever is watching, Walmart's okay. But, um I think his mindset may be there because of his past. It's like, I want to get the best in me so I can get the best out of me.

[16:50]  Absolutely. I mean, I I believe food is medicine. I have garden beds. My wife and I are growing our own vegetables. I want to know things don't have chemicals and pesticides. I mean, I will say I am not one of the people who has any issue with genetically modified foods. I actually think it's the way that

[17:06]  because I've been on the science side of it. I think how we partner science with agriculture is the only way that we're staying ahead of climate change because we're producing vegetables that have higher resistance to, you know, we're we're seeing increased salt in our water, so higher salinity

[17:22]  in our rain. Um, we're now producing vegetables that can withstand that. We're now producing vegetables that can withstand, you know, greater temperatures of heat, longer periods of drought. Um, so I don't have an issue with GMOs. Um, I have an issue with chemicals. I'm not going to put chemicals in my body. I don't want pesticides. Um, I think the research on what things are worth buying organic is really interesting. It doesn't always have to be everything, but the things that are like root vegetables, they're going to soak up more of those chemicals in the dirt, and so they're really worth splurging. Um, I am not a whole foods for everything kind of person, but I but I definitely am a um, you get your best nutrition not from supplements, but from your food.

[18:02]  No. Okay.

[18:03]  Drinking a green drink isn't going to cut it. Eat a broccoli. [laughter]

[18:07]  It's like you're talking to me. Okay. I am the first person. I would go get a green smoothie with the kale and spinach, everything in it because matter of fact, my wife yesterday made Brussels uh Brussels sprouts. They smell disgusting and they are disgusting actually. But yesterday, you know, she put bacon in it. She put a little feta cheese in it.

[18:29]  And my wife is that person. If you love me, you try it. I'm like, babe, you're not going to do this to me. [laughter]

[18:36]  I tried it. I'm like, "Yeah, it's just as gross." But um there's vegetables that I eat, but broccoli, I can't stand it. I have a neighbor that eats them like they're candy. Um so, yeah. Yeah, you were talking to me when you said, "Don't just drink that green drink, take your vegetables." I asked you, I don't know if you gave us the role. What is your current role today?

[18:54]  I'm the vice president of philanthropy.

[18:56]  Oh, okay. Love it. Love it. Love it. And I I I want to kind of tap into the garden bed in just a bit, but as a leader, we are told to um not told, but we've kind of learned how to pour into others through our lives, right? But sometimes we forget how to pour into ourselves. And I always say there there's that thing that we do outside of the work that we do on a 9 to5 or every single day that allows us to find peace.

[19:19]  Yeah.

[19:20]  Mine's plants. I have about 50 plants throughout my house all around here. But it seems like you may also be in that space. So you said garden beds. Are you outside a lot? Is that your peace? Is that your therapy to kind of fill your cup a little bit?

[19:31]  It is. And sometimes I get really busy and I forget and then I walk outside or someone will say, "Let's take a walkand talk meeting." And I'm like, "Oh yeah, my soul needed this." If I can just get some fresh air, get a little sunshine on my face, um, it is really, really good for my mental health. So, garden beds, I enjoy my fingers in the dirt. I really like plants, but there's something really satisfying about

[19:55]  I also hate grocery stores. I just hate grocery shopping. Um, okay. [laughter]

[19:59]  It's a thing I will avoid at all.

[20:01]  Are you ordering online and picking up?

[20:04]  Yes. Or having it just delivered? It's awful. Um, it's I just I don't know why I've suddenly, you know, I think CO changed this. I would avoid the grocery store and I just never went back to enjoying it.

[20:16]  But I can go and find fresh produce right in my, you know, garden for dinner and that is very satisfying. I avoid the grocery store and I control the quality which I appreciate.

[20:25]  I am not there yet. However, and really because of time um but I do want to get to that space of producing my own crops. I got 50 plus plants and I've obviously propagated some of these plants from a big plant to little plants. XYZ. So, I'm like, I could I could do vegetables and fruits, right? Um, it's just I want to I'm add a little extra. So, I want to build a greenhouse because I also have these damn uh possums that like to eat my stuff. Or

[20:50]  we have these biggest This is kind of off topic, but these things are like grasshoppers. I think they call lubers or something like that. They're like beautiful. They look really nice, black and yellow.

[20:59]  But during the summertime, they'll come and eat every single thing. They've eaten my pineapples, my tomatoes. So, I haven't physically got to and I think I want to do more off ground as well. It probably helps out a little bit to get them off the ground.

[21:12]  But yeah, I I'm creating your own vegetables. Not creating, you're growing your own vegetables because you're not sitting here, you know, scientist or anything. [laughter]

[21:22]  You're growing your own vegetables. I love that. What I want to also kind of go back even further to your personal was this something you've always thought of doing growing up out of high school. Did you always think I'm doing philanthropy work, I'm going to be giving? I know you said you were educator, but where else did you see yourself before you get here?

[21:41]  So, I really thought I would go into higher ed and academia. Um, that was how I found fundraising was I was getting my masters uh in literature with a um kind of a focus on women's studies. I wanted to study women's voices in literature both from a character perspective and authors.

[22:01]  Okay. And while I was I'd worked for a long time I think like eight years in communications at Southwest Airlines and I was in the executive office by then and learned so much when you talk about leadership. I mean I was like a baby when I started working at Southwest Airlines. It was my first real job and so I took for granted that like this is how every organization is. I I learned so much um about culture, about leadership uh really lessons that I still think of and use every day today. Um, but I was deciding to leave there. I wanted to do something little um, closer to the heart. And so I got a job at the university because my ex was also going into academia. Um, I think he was in his PhD program at the time and I was getting my masters and thought, I'm going to go on, I'm going to get my PhD and I'm going to, you know, I mean, I pictured something very romantic. Um or of course, you know, it would be like a Robin Williams movie and everyone would just soak up all of this wisdom and we would sit around in a circle um talking about, you know, how literature touched our lives. Very cheesy, very um unrealistic, but that was my vision. Uh I've always been a voracious reader and really thought that was my path. And so I got a job at the university in the advancement department and I really thought this is just to get the benefits of, you know, almost free tuition for me and my dependent. So it basically cut our tuition bill down, you know, immediately. Um, and I never left philanthropy. I just fell in love with it. I didn't really even know that advancement meant it was the fundraising department. I just it just it said they had communications. Um the woman who hired me were still very very good friends. She's one of my dearest um friends and will always be someone that I look up to. But she'd seen I had a background at Southwest Airlines and that I had a background in communications and she really thought that would be interesting to bring that experience to it was managing the phoneathon. It was managing a group of students who made calls to alumni and fundraised and I just I fell in love with it. Um, and I never left. [laughter]

[24:15]  I'll tell you what, I love the airline industry.

[24:17]  Yeah,

[24:18]  I like those free flights, too. My dad reminds me all the time that he doesn't get to fly for free

[24:22]  anymore. [laughter] I um I did five years with JetBlue and

[24:26]  Oh, fantastic.

[24:27]  And I loved it. And to be quite frank, the only reason I took the job was the free flight benefits. However, I started in 2019. 2020 pandemic happens. You're not flying anywhere. So, I didn't get to do a lot of flying. And um but it was a great opportunity to what you mentioned a lot of great leaders.

[24:43]  I loved uh the way that it was just kind of the organization you know especially at that level.

[24:48]  I really felt that they cared

[24:50]  not just about their people but about their brand. Um I still remember their values. Caring, passion, integrity, safety, fun was some values they had and I love those because I felt like I lived all those values right. Um, and they gave me so much opportunity, but just like yourself, I found that I needed to know my worth and I was felt like I was boxed in, you know, because at the end of the day, we're just an employee to another corporation.

[25:17]  Um, but the nonprofit world, especially the nonprofit world, allows you to be a little bit of everything. And as you mentioned, not every day is the same. Um, and when you start to realize that, you know, while JetBlue was great money for me, the passion and purpose was complete elsewhere.

[25:33]  Yeah. And I noticed that when they sent me out to I was a facilitator so I would teach like all the curriculum for those on the phones

[25:40]  and um we started to hire out in South Africa

[25:44]  so we were pretty much hiring our replacements.

[25:46]  Yeah.

[25:47]  I went out there and I for three weeks and I realized okay I'm teaching JetBlue content but the people loved Ephrain. They loved who I was as a person and the way that I was able to just care for them and and never see them any differently.

[26:01]  Yeah. And I realized like, man, I'm I'm great at speaking. I'm great at just people, you know? I'm not just great at the airline. And that's where I kind of said, you know what? They gave me a great uh package. It was a time where

[26:16]  they hired all these people now. They needed to cut. Hey, we're giving opt outs because we don't want to let nobody go. So, however many years you've been here, we'll give you that many years to fly for free.

[26:26]  I was already wanting to leave. I said, wait a minute. I'm leaving with flight benefits. I know you would [laughter] have

[26:32]  threatened me with a good time.

[26:34]  Fantastic.

[26:35]  I said I'm out of here and I haven't looked back. But there was so much that I learned. I never thought I'd be a facilitator. Um I was just working from home picking up phones and then pandemic kind of changed the whole trajectory of that was and I I just I I appreciate the airline. I felt like there was so much that people don't understand about airline itself. So people are sitting here at a at an airport mad because it's sunny here. What do you mean the flight is delayed? Yeah, but a flight is coming from somewhere else where maybe it's snowstorming over there. You know what I mean?

[27:04]  Yeah.

[27:04]  What What is one of the biggest things you learned from the airline industry, you say?

[27:07]  I mean I my friends joke I still speak in airport codes. [laughter]

[27:14]  But because it was Southwest Airlines and because I mean I I got to work directly with Herb Keller, with Colleen Barrett, um with Gary Kelly once he stepped in as the CEO, I got to work with the people who founded the airline. So, you don't get closer to the culture, you know, of Southwest Airlines. I learned a lot about the importance of consistency and communication and really that the ways that you create culture are very intentional um and very thoughtful and you really have to, you know, you're going to have a culture no matter what. It's just whether one that you're in control of or one that you're reacting to. And so from a leader um in the ways that I've built my team, I've always talked to my team really proactively about here's our values, you know, here's how we do things, here's the nuance of how we do things, here's how we interact, here's our expectations of each other and our expectations of oursel and um and I learned all of that at Southwest Airlines. You know, actually I I joke with the friends that um I had when I worked there. There's no other industry in my opinion that's quite as exciting.

[28:22]  Um you know, you always especially if you're working uh you know, close to the mission. Um, you know, we got to do a fake I got to be a fake reporter um with Gary Kelly when he was brand new as CEO and we were like testing him as like, you know, a press conference and um it's just really fun and exciting and you have days where everything goes wrong. I mean, I worked for an airline at 9 on 911.

[28:48]  Wow.

[28:49]  Um, and obviously that was tragic, but it also made me feel important. I was at the center of something that felt really important and exciting in that way. Um, and [snorts] it took me a few years to sort of get over that like where's the where's the next excitement? Where's the next crisis I can lead into? You know, when you get to be in the crisis war room with the executive office post 911, there's not a lot that feels quite the same. So,

[29:15]  yeah, you mentioned a couple of things. You mentioned culture. You mentioned leadership.

[29:19]  Good leadership creates good culture. And I was just talking to uh a leader right before you and she says, "Hey, sorry that I had to kind of dress down a little bit. Um something was happening so whatever." They dressed down. I said, "Actually, I appreciate a good leader that dresses down and doesn't feel they always have to be in a suit and tie because to me they understand that it's not about what you wear, it's who you are and how you treat others." How important is culture and leadership to you being in various locations? Now,

[29:48]  it's extremely important. I mean, I think it's kind of everything. You know, right now I lead teams that interact with the public and they interact with the public, people who are giving of themselves, time, talent or treasure. Um whether they're, you know, volunteering to give their time, whether they're giving philanthropic dollars, these are gifts. And I do think that the we don't call it customer service, you know, in the nonprofit world, we call it donor relations, but it is the same. It is about respecting people. It is about appreciating um what they bring. Remembering to say thank you, remembering to bring them in. Um you're not just talking at people. You're really remembering to listen. Um all of those are values. If if I don't create a culture that says these are the expectations of how we engage, I am not concerned about a tie, but I am concerned about being really responsive and being true to your word and interacting with integrity. And if that if that is as simple as when we follow up this meeting, I'm going to send you that information that you asked for that I didn't know off the spot. Um I'm going to do it. I'm my word is good. Um I think trust is critical in the nonprofit space. There's probably not an industry where you would say it is not critical, but obviously I feel really passionate, you know, that when people are giving of themselves in any way, you know, whether it's their time or their hard-earned money, um, that we show a tremendous amount of, you know, integrity and trustworthiness for that. And that comes from culture.

[31:27]  Yep. Um, it trickles down, right? like you're a good leader, you start to see it the people at the front line

[31:36]  and that's usually like I had a a friend. I love business. Um I've happened to work in the food, the aviation, the retail. And what I know it's if you have great people, you have a great uh if you have a great manager, you have great people. Great people mean a great store. And I've been able to take stores and turn them around. Not because I'm just good at food or good at it. I was good at leadership. Yeah.

[32:01]  I was good at working side by side with people and not just always having to micromanage somebody. Like I always feel like I don't want to micromanage anybody. We we're all the same individuals. I just happen to be in the seat. But in reality, we're all humans, right? You can take the seat at any time. I'm willing to give it to you.

[32:18]  Um and I one of the things that you mentioned along the lines was values. I think there's things that we live by as leaders. What are I will put you at too much but three words just words that you can think of that kind of showcase who you are as a leader. What are those three words that you live by?

[32:34]  Authenticity.

[32:36]  Uhhuh.

[32:36]  Um I'm very myself in every situation my team knows. Um I also empowering you know information you know is knowledge is power. Share it. Give it away. You know it's a way that you can empower your people and it doesn't cost you a dime. Um, and I would say integrity.

[32:57]  Okay, I gotta go back to that first one, being authentic.

[33:01]  As a woman in this space in leadership, how hard was that? And where did you how when did you learn it? Where do you realize you were comfortable in being authentically you because not everyone could be authentically them because they feel like they're part of a corporation or whatever. But you, since I got on the call since first time earlier today, I can see, yeah, this is this is you. But where did that come from? So, I'll tell a quick story. I was at a dinner recently um with some colleagues that I hadn't seen in a really long time. Uh and you know, the person who was hosting this dinner asked all of us to kind of talk about um things that you'd learned from your childhood, lessons learned, you know, things that you would tell your younger self. And so, I was raised in a Mormon, very, very traditional Mormon family. And I grew up genuinely believing that there was just something wrong about me, that I was bad. Um, and and really when I look back, I was not subversive. I wasn't getting into trouble. I wasn't lying. I was a really good kid. I followed the rules. But I was really opinionated. I was really vocal. I was really outspoken and outgoing. I was really competitive. I loved sports. I loved, you know, like go play basketball with the boys in the gym. Um, none of those things are the model of the correct Mormon girl. I was supposed to be more submissive. I was supposed to be quieter. I was supposed to be meer. And and I I just had a fire [laughter] in me. I was always speaking up. I always, you know, wanted to kind of debate or discuss. Um, and then I would catch myself and I would feel shame. And it took me a really long time to realize that who I was was actually just fine. Um that there was not one way to be a woman. There was not one model to be a woman. And I think I would have never had the confidence to lead those teams if I was still feeling ashamed of the things that are actually really good qualities about me. Um, and so I kind of told this story and said I would tell that girl sooner that who she is is just fine. You know, that continue to be a good person, continue to be honest and to care about other people's feelings. Um, but it's okay to be opinionated. It's okay, you know, to want to be the top of the class. It's okay to be, you know, outgoing. Um, and to have a big personality. And afterwards, one of my former colleagues who was uh now in a leadership role but was in a more junior role when we worked together, she came up to me and she said, "It was so surprising to hear you talk about that." And she said, "I don't want to make things awkward, but I have to tell you, you were that for me.

[35:44]  You know, I would look around and I didn't see women in leadership positions or if I did, I saw them modeling kind of how a man did it." and she said, 'I it surprised me to learn that that was ever hard for you because ever since I've known you, I've really admired how you just show up as yourself. And and that means also trusting my team with my vulnerabilities. You know, being authentic means being a well-rounded person who can admit there are things I'm good at and there are things I'm not good at. And I hire I build teams to shore up my weaknesses. And then I lean on them to show up and lead, you know, in those spaces. And I think that requires not just self-awareness, but embracing, you know, of of your whole self. And so for me, that's what authenticity means. And I I did not learn it easily. I did not learn it quickly. I actually think um the intention was for me to turn out quite different and it just did not work. Thank goodness my mom still loves me. very similar. Um I think at my 30s, I'm 36 now and probably my 30s where I really learned confidence and even though I was saying this know your worth all the time, I don't think that I knew my worth, right? I was telling other people to know their worth, but I didn't think I knew mine. Yeah.

[36:57]  And it was everything that you mentioned, right? Just trauma in my life that I was still thinking I owed somebody something. I was thinking that maybe I talked too much, that maybe I wasn't the smartest kid in the room. All these things that we grow up, but that's what really makes us, right? And and then when you think about it, you're much more grateful. Like, man, I'm so happy that I didn't change who I was. And I I actually heard that from someone. I was remember one time complaining about, man, you know, I do this all the time and I don't get it back and you know, reciprocated by XYZ. And the guy says, don't ever change who you are for somebody. That's who you are.

[37:31]  Yep.

[37:31]  Right. And when we talk about even the people that you serve is don't change who you are. You're such a great person and something in your life today may not be going well. The mental is not working the way that it should, but that's not the end all beall, right? At some point, you can grab that pencil and tell your your story

[37:49]  because for a long time, we have people tell our stories and tell us who we are and how we should act and all this other stuff. In reality, we're not bad people.

[37:58]  Yes. Could we tweak it? Yes. Do we take L's L's? Yes. But you know what?

[38:03]  While they're losses, they're also great lessons in our lives. And I could imagine you've taken some L's and oh for sure a lot of the great lessons that come from it. Right Merida? What is that?

[38:12]  Well I mean my previous CEO who was a you know a chemist always said I learned so much more from my failures than I do from my wins. And I agree

[38:21]  it is so true that if you don't have failures number one you're not that interesting.

[38:25]  Um we get interesting from our failures but you also improve. That's what you really that's where you really like lean into. Okay I've got lessons learned. The wins, the wins are in the rear view and they're great to have, but where we really stretch and grow, you know, is from our failures. Um, it's one of the things just, you know, getting back to like being who you are. It's one of the things I tell my stepdaughter

[38:48]  all the time, my ex's kiddo. Um, she's 15 now and I would always tell her like your only job really is to be yourself and there's literally no one else on this planet who can do that job for you. So, like she was playing soccer at the time and I would say, "Don't you know, do you get out of position and go play someone else's position?" And she's like, "No." I'm like, "That's that's the thing. No one your position is your job. You got to keep your eye on your prize because no one else can play that position. That's your position to play."

[39:16]  I do like a good sports metaphor. [laughter]

[39:19]  You didn't say you into sport. You did say that. Um, I ask you as we start to wrap things up, if people want more information on what you guys are doing in your communities, what's the website? Where can people find? Is it you? Is there socials they can maybe tap into?

[39:32]  Absolutely. FHCSD is our acronym. So, it's Family Health Centers of San Diego. FHCSD.org is our website. We have quarterly events. If you're in San Diego, um we host the most incredible event. It's in its 40th year. It's called Spirit of the Bario. Um bario Logan is the original roots of Family Health Centers of San Diego. Our founder was an abuela who basically realized that this community desperately needed healthcare and literally chained herself to the doors for eight days when they tried to demolish the community building. And that is really the roots. And so in her honor, she used to really like make homemade tamales to invite people to come hear about the mission. and she knew if she fed them that they would come and she could really like kind of preach about the importance and supporting this organization and you know get people tied to their health care. Um so we host down in Bario Logan. We host spirit of the bario quarterly. You can find that information on our website. The tickets are $25. The tamales remain delicious. You'll be glad to know they are not homemade by me. [laughter] We now partner with a phenomenal company um mom and pop restaurant here in San Diego that makes them. We've always got really thoughtful speakers. Um we did healthcare for the homeless recently and really talked about um how we tackle as a community those we've got women's health coming up. We're going to have one on mental health that's going to be outstanding. Um I think we're also going to do one on refugee populations and our work with the justice involved um folks and how we help people transition um for being incarcerated. So, some really meaty, interesting topics and I always say I want people to leave wellfed, informed, and inspired.

[41:14]  Well, listen, Meredith, thank you so much for your time and I leave you with this last question. There's people that's watching and I think that when we talk about authentic conversations, one thing can change somebody's trajectory in their life. If you can talk to someone that may be struggling and whatever may you guys serve a lot so much different individuals but someone that's struggling just looking for a resource what do you say to them?

[41:37]  I mean I'm a big believer in therapy. I really think you know saying it out loud it takes away its power. So I would say say it out loud to a friend, say it out loud to a professional. Um but but start talking about it. I really do think there's just tremendous power um in speaking our problems aloud because sometimes they rattle around in our heads and they seem much much bigger than they are. Um and then my second one is make a to-do list.

[42:06]  What's one thing I can do today that's a step in the right direction. I might be able to not change it, you know, immediately. It won't be overnight, but I can take one step in the right direction.

[42:16]  Yeah. Well, Meredith, I appreciate your time. Great conversation. Guys, if you guys want to continue to tap in, make sure that you guys find them out in San Die. If you're in San Diego, get the tamales first of all and let me know how it tastes. But also, go find them and figure out the resources that they're doing in your own community. Spread the word, subscribe, like, comment. I'm Erain. This is Meredith. We'll catch you guys on the next one. Latest.