How Tasha Moore Went From Campus Worker to CEO Serving 1 Million Students

[0:16]  Welcome back to another episode here on the Heart and Hustle podcast. Our next guest says, "Our work is relational. If I can't see you, feel your energy, and connect with you, I really can't serve you." Says Miss Tasha Moore. Hey, how you doing today?

[0:29]  Good. Good. How are you?

[0:30]  I'm excited. I'm excited for this conversation on a Friday so we can, you know, hopefully get people inspired or whatever day it actually airs. But you started at ground zero as this site coordinator and now you're the CEO. What has that journey actually been like to you? Not everyone has the opportunity to be, you know, from just that ground zero to get to the head of the table.

[0:50]  Yeah, it's been interesting. Uh, it's been a blast, but I didn't I didn't start wanting to even do this work. And so when I got to be a site coordinator on a campus and I got to work with the kids, my whole my whole perspective on my career and the impact that I could have changed. And so getting to work alongside students and teachers was amazing. getting to work through um being in a leadership role and like helping to coach and to guide site coordinators was a blessing, but also I learned a ton so that when my family moved to a new area and I was able to connect with another CIS program, I went back to the campus and this time got to work with middle school which if if you haven't talked to a pre-teen or a teenager in a while, they are amazing. But like you just got to watch like which way are we going? what are we doing? And then through that getting to just continue to grow into leadership and learn how to coach, how to teach, how to take that relational work that we do with our students to a staff level. Um, and then also to that community level of bringing people and partners in. It's it's been an amazing ride.

[1:57]  What made you realize like, wait, actually, because you just mentioned this wasn't on my bingo card, right? But you clearly you love it. This is your family. Uh, these are your people. What was that moment that made you realize that? So, I I distinctly remember a moment where I was sitting in my elementary school library talking to three uh third grade boys and they had just had the roughest day ever and it was end of day. I was like, "Guys, what what is going on? Like, why why are we fighting our teacher? Why can we not just finish that one last math problem?" And one of the boys was just like, "Miss, do you know what else is happening in our world?" And not big things at the time. you know, favorite TV show wasn't working, their Game Boy was broken, whatever it was. But I realized at that that moment, like I was enjoying talking to them about who they are and what they do, and that school actually wasn't the issue. It was all of the other things that were preventing them from being engaged in school. I thought, "Oh, I can do this. I can talk to people. I can encourage. I can motivate. I can connect." And it just it opened it opened it to so much more than just doing something for someone, but being a part of someone's life.

[3:11]  It's huge. I think as you mentioned, a lot of times it it is just that, right? It is just kind of seeing them for where they're at versus

[3:20]  they're acting up all of a sudden they're a problem child. Something's going on at home, whether it's a big problem, a little problem, you were able to understand and realize some need help. I always say I was that young kid at school through the adoption and sexual abuse that was going on at home that I was experiencing that then I go to school and I was a troubled child but in reality that was just kind of me you know kind of acting up maybe for attention all these other things. Um and you have some great teachers that kind of noticed that and really kind of take you aside and say hey is everything okay? And you did have some teachers that may not have known how to work with those situations and all of a sudden it becomes like just go to principal's office or he's a troublemaker. Um, and there's a difference. Clearly, you've you love this. You have a passion for it. It was never about the money. What were you going to do before this? Like, what was the plan even before this?

[4:04]  Uh, I had dreams of becoming a pediatric oncologist. And so, I actually when I finished high school and went on to college, I had enrolled in a biology premed course and major. And I just I got into it and I realized I wasn't going to be able to do all of the labs that I needed to do. And also um I was an athlete and that's what was paying for school. It's like I can't do both. So how do I take my desire to help and serve um students and kids and transition that somewhere else and just by meandering around um I landed in social work and I landed working in a school setting.

[4:39]  That's the exact one. Life be life and that's it. Life be life and you don't know how you're going to get somewhere as long as you show up, do what you love and clearly you're doing what you love. Um, do you feel like there's an edge though because you were able to kind of start from the bottom to where you're at today? Do you feel that you got more than others would actually have being in this role?

[4:58]  I I do think having been on the ground doing the work does give me a little bit of a of a different perspective. So, when our

[5:06]  our staff are are talking about, hey, here's here's the barrier I'm facing or here's what's going on, I have some point of reference. But I I also would say we have amazing people on our team who have never worked on a campus in their life but just can connect with the work. So to understand staff, to support staff, to uh know what life is like on a campus, I think that has definitely helped me along the way.

[5:31]  I love that. And CIS, your organization isn't just about academics either. It's about the whole child and the whole family. Can you kind of break us that down for us? What does it actually look like? This K to2 model that you have.

[5:43]  Yeah. Yeah. So, we're founded on the belief that relationships are what change the trajectory of somebody's life. It's what encourages them. It's what motivates them. What's lets them know that they are valued in their community. And so, the work of communities and schools is to place what we call our site coordinator on campus. And these are typically schools that have um some some struggles whether it's economic or title one schools or some major behavioral or attendance issues. But we're on site to help remove those barriers working in partnership with the school admin with the teachers with the parents and then ultimately with the student to say okay what are your strengths? What are your challenges? What barriers can we help provide resources, connection, skill building for so that you can continue to be successful in academics that you show up to school that you are fully engaged in school and things don't draw you away. Um so that you graduate and you graduate on time and then when you graduate you are fully equipped to be in the community. You're ready to give back. you have value. And we want you to know that you have that because when when those next generations are coming out of school and they're going into the workforce and they're going on to to college, they are our next generation. So, they need to know uh and they need to feel from us as a community now that they are important and that they are what's going to help us continue to grow and thrive.

[7:09]  It's not easy work, all right, when you're working with young kids as well, but it seems like you guys really got it down. Do you have a story? I'm I'm a big sucker for story. I love stories. A story of someone that you guys were able to just kind of turn around with a little bit of love and a little bit seeing them where they're at. Um, anything comes to mind?

[7:26]  Yeah. So, every year we celebrate our students um and our volunteers and our educators and one of our students that we celebrated this last year was a high school student. He um throughout his high school career had experienced homelessness um not being able to be with his parents directly, couch surfing from friends. Ultimately, when he met our site coordinator, he was behind. Like, he was not going to graduate and so far behind. It was like, I don't know how you're going to make up two years of of course credit. But through our site coordinator just diligently saying like, hey, how are you? I'm here. What you need? I'm so glad you showed up today. They built this relationship where the site coordinator was then able to say like, I you I know you you can do this and I I expect more. what's your plan? So, when the student came back their junior year, he walked into the CIS office and said, "I'm gonna I'm gonna do it. I'm I'm gonna catch back up." And from his junior year to his senior year, he went from having almost no credits to graduate to graduating his senior year and graduating on time, working through all of the the hard things that he has gone through in his young life. and he graduated and he actually uh joined the Marines this year and so he's picked his trajectory in life and is ready to serve and not just serve community but serve country. So it's amazing.

[8:50]  Yeah, that's huge. That's kudos to the organization. I mean kudos to him as well. You know, he has to want it, but obviously everyone around him is what kind of inspired him to to know that he had it within himself. You know, a lot of times it is hard to even see that far if you never witness that, right? No one's teaching you that. But I love it. I love that you guys are kind of pouring into it. Your leadership really just comes and I think we talked about this last time from a place of faith and purpose. Um, how do those two words kind of really overlap in the work that you're doing?

[9:22]  Yeah. So, originally, uh, when Communities and Schools was founded by our founder, Bill Milikin, it it kind of came out of this faith um, faith-based idea of this calling to serve others, to take care of others. We as an organization are are not a faith-based organization at all, but it started in that. And so my personal faith also found connection with that. I I believe that we are called to love and to serve all people. Um and this gives that space. And it doesn't have to be we again we don't evangelize. We don't promote one religion or one faith community over the other. But that recognition that that's part of who we are as individuals and how can that also be a strength and be a support. But it's also the underlying uh piece that says we have purpose and we have more to do than just be physically present on this world but to to give back and to leave it a better place than what it was.

[10:23]  I agree and kudos. You're doing it. Can you share a time though when u you mentioned purpose where purpose actually mattered more than a paycheck in your career? Oh man,

[10:34]  probably all the time, right?

[10:35]  All the time. I uh it's it's funny. So when my I started out in CIS of the heart of Texas, which is in Waco, Texas, my family moved to the North Texas DFW area. And when we moved, um I remember my husband and I having a very distinct conversation about was I going to stay with CIS? And when I had left, I was actually I was at a administrative level and uh which obviously it comes with a little bit of a higher paycheck and I said I really I really want to but the only jobs were on campus and so we had to have a conversation about okay we can do this like a pay cut is okay because the pay cut has

[11:18]  isn't as important as the work that I get to do. in that first year going back onto a campus, I I met some amazing middle school students um who were going through really hard spots in their life and then also their families. And so taking that that pay cut uh for just that period of time didn't really mean anything. when I got to come out at the end of the school year and see our students who had gone through abuse, who had been living in environments that were heavy with violence and with drug use um and distribution out of their home, but they made it. They finished the year. They moved on. They they found a better place to be. That that matters

[12:01]  so much more than a paycheck.

[12:03]  You just saying that really kind of um brought a story back and um really hope that this young girl is doing well. But me and my um wife, we lived in a town home and we had a neighbor and sometimes we see this seven-year-old girl just like and then so we our front door w led into this huge patio. So you have to front door then go out the patio door to actually get outside.

[12:25]  So that means she went from that door to the other door and she's just standing there and every time she'll see us she's just like hey how you doing and we're like where are your parents? But it was they were doing drugs in and out of the house. So they had her outside and she's just kind of standing there on her own. And I'm like, so you know, we seen something. We seen that the mom sometimes get really aggressive mom dad fighting to the point that as um she was they were kicking her out her home. We had DCF show up, Department of Children and Families.

[12:52]  And all I could think about because I I that's just my background. I'm adopted, right? Like because of my mom and and drugs and all these other things. and just thinking like, man, I wish that someone sees that this girl needs help. Very bubbly, very bright, very kind, loving individual, but wasn't receiving that, you know, and and in a situation. And always, it always hurts me when I see um these young kids have to go through that because they shouldn't, you know, and I'm like when everything that you're telling me, I'm like, I'm just so happy that there's organizations out there

[13:24]  that really focus on this. And I and sometimes I think even like the schools and and teachers may not focus on this, you know, enough when it comes to um seeing them for not so much for their behavior, but in instead of just home realities like what do schools often miss when they look at that?

[13:43]  Yeah. Sometimes it's not that they're intentionally missing, but our our schools, our our teachers, our counselors, our admin are tasked with so much to do. I mean, it is

[13:57]  uh make sure they're here, make sure they're listening, make sure you do this test, make sure you do this homework, check off this assignment. Like, there's just so much happening in the school and in a classroom. Mhm.

[14:06]  Um unless there is a drastic shift typically with a child, their their grades start to drop, their attendance starts to drop, um or they're acting out, sometimes students just they get overlooked because they in rally they're actually trying to manage their life the best that they can. They're staying just above um where they need to be. So there's a lot there's a lot going on. Um, but I will say some of our best

[14:37]  Go ahead.

[14:38]  I was I will say though, some of our best partnerships are with the teachers. When the teachers can come in and say, "Hey, I I saw Tasha in class today and something just felt off and I don't know what it is and I don't know where to start and I have these 50,000 other things I need to do, but can you

[14:55]  can you talk to her? Can you check in on her?" And our answer is always, "Yeah, that's exactly what we're here for." Um,

[15:02]  so just for people that are listening, it's more of you guys go into certain schools to really help them at this level. Is that correct? That's what your organization does. It's not that you guys physically have uh a school is that you guys go into the schools as that resource. Correct.

[15:16]  Correct. So we are uh we partner with our existing schools. So our site coordinator looks and feels just like anybody else on campus. They have their own office space. They're there every day. The doors are open. And it truly is a partnership uh between the teachers and school administration and CIS.

[15:36]  How many schools are you guys located in now?

[15:39]  So for North Texas, we are in 62 schools across seven different school districts. But again, CIS is a national network. We're in over 29 states, thousands of schools serving almost I'm probably going to quote it wrong, but I know it's over a million kids right now across the US we're serving. That's amazing. That's amazing. I, you know, I don't know that we had anything like this in my school, but just to know that it is out there nowadays, it is truly amazing. Um, do you ever feel that when helping these families that you have to kind of navigate through a little bit of pride and and dignity from the families?

[16:17]  Yes.

[16:17]  Or even the individual.

[16:19]  Yeah. I mean, it I think it's a natural reaction for people to want to come off or come across as like, no, I I've got this. Like, I I can do this. That's it's kind of part of who we are. Um, but again, it's relational. So, it doesn't matter where you're at on uh the economic spectrum, where you're at um in work or not work. Like, it's just we all need help. We all need help at different points of their of our life. And when someone can come in and say, "Hey, how are you? How can I support you? Um, what can I walk alongside you with?" That helps to ease some of that defensiveness when we first meet with students or with parents. But then it also takes time to build trust because for the students that we work with and for our families, they have typically had multiple moments where they have uh trust has been broken. Trust has been broken by people in their family. uh people in their community by different um government or public institutions even. It's not uh they're just not always trusting. And so we have got to take that time to build the relationship to see them for who they are, for their own strengths um and help them understand this could just be a time. We're here to help you for a time or we're here to help you for a long time. But our goal is ultimately that you have what you need to be successful, whatever that success looks like for you.

[17:51]  So good. And when we talk about you just clearly you're pour pouring into the next generation, but in order to pour into the next generation, you also have to pour into your your leaders. Um, right? Those leaders that are also working with them. How how are we doing that? How are we coaching the next generation of professionals to lead with heart?

[18:08]  Oh, that's that's hard. Um, I would actually say a lot of our almost all of our staff have the heart. Um, they have the passion, they have the desire. Most of them probably have some level of of experience. They they chose this path, this career because of their uh childhood or their experiences. Uh, what we find ourselves coaching more on is okay, how can you do this in a way that is helpful for the student? We don't we don't want the student and we don't want the family to become dependent on us. We want to be empowering. Um we want to equip them for that long that long haul in the future. And so coaching of taking your passion and applying it to the setting that you're working in.

[18:57]  Uh we also have to coach our staff a lot around how to do this ethically and how to do this uh within the environment that we're in. schools are uh tasked with certain laws and certain legislative pieces that they've got to follow. And so, how do you work in that system that sometimes might also create a little bit of a barrier? How do you work around it? How do you bring resources in? But, um, our staff have have the heart. That one's that one's an easy one.

[19:26]  Hey, real quick. If you're enjoying the podcast, we first want to say thank you. And we also just want to give you a little insight of what we're up to at Francis. Some don't even realize that we're working with organizations to help them use AI to create that real human communication experiences where that's actually supporting your your families, those patients or the entire community. We're actually creating tech that connects. Check it out. Francis.ai. I love it. And and when we talk about just having the heart um having them really focus on the things that they love, we could definitely try to say AI can help do more of admin help more the repetitive task. Um so how do you see a role for AI in tech supporting but not replacing because a lot of people think it's going to replace that relational work.

[20:15]  Yeah. Um I think for us right now we use AI sparingly. We're still learning it. Um, but if I if a staff member might say, "Hey, I would really love to learn this piece better. What's a best practice? What's a resource?" We might help use it to build training and say, "Okay, tell me tell me your questions. Tell me your thoughts. Let's plug it in. Let's see what ideas it helps us to generate and spark and let's kind of go from there." Um, we've dabbled a little bit on could we plug into AI and say, "Hey, I'm looking for food pantry resources and utility assistance resources within this geographic area. Can you pull a list? Can you tell me um what their uh parameters are for service, maybe what they need to bring or what their service hours are?" And so it does help to generate some of those things quickly that staff could have spent hours having to research on their own. Uh but when it comes down to the direct interaction with families and with students, that's still all very much face to face with with people.

[21:21]  Yeah. Yeah. I I'm a big believer even like this, we're having a great time, but I'm I love in person. The energy is always different. Like you can really vibe off of someone's energy. Um so yeah, I'm definitely a believer that AI can never replace the people to people interaction. Let's be honest. I love to see facial expressions. I love to just have that real life empathy, compassion. AI may give you that, you know, a tad bit, but it's nothing like having that, you know, face to face interaction, um, or personto person interaction for sure. Um, what are some of your goals when you think about where you're at today and where you want to be in the next five years? Is there anything that you guys the, you know, I could imagine there's a vision for the next five years? What does that actually look like for CIS?

[22:01]  Yeah, so in Texas, one in two students are at risk of dropping out of school. And so how do we in our North Texas area help to to change that? And part of that is how do we continue to serve our current school districts but also expand to serve more of our school districts. We cover a threecount area. So that the big picture goal for us is to create that sustainability plan and that revenue generating plan

[22:28]  so that we can serve more students so that when one of our rural school district calls and says, "Hey, we need we need you. We're facing this. we need more support. What's that look like? We can say, "Yeah, we're here. We're ready. Here's what this looks like. Let's plan it out. Let's talk through it." Um that that's our biggest our biggest thing right now in the nonprofit world uh the landscape is shifting too on how um money comes in. Big event fundraising um is is on a downward downward take. uh and we need to shift and we need to rethink about how to engage individuals and businesses. And the reality, like I said earlier, is this is our future generation. So if our individuals are investing in our students, that's huge. If our businesses and corporations are investing in our students, they're building their next workforce. They're building their next doctor, their next mayor, their next industrial leader. And so partnering on that forwardthinking vision of my investment now is going to create my next CEO for my company in 101 15 years. That's also where we're looking towards of how do we build how do we build that in our area.

[23:43]  Yeah. I mean the landscape of what it looks like for funding has tremendously changed. Every nonprofit healthc care industry is definitely feeling the impact. Um, so everyone's trying to figure out how to navigate and I think that's what a lot of leaders are doing and even for myself being in the nonprofit space and for me it's a little bit more challenging because I'm taking over a nonprofit that's been around for 30 years, but also realizing that there's not a lot of funding. So, we have to kind of figure out creative ways and some of the things I I've done is is really look at the lowhanging fruit that we've had and um alumni I I'm the leader of a nonprofit to my school. So, I'm realizing I'm like, no one is selling alumni merch. Why are we not selling alumni merch, right? Because everyone would love to represent their schools that whatever that may look like, their school years, just the school logo. So, let's go to the football games. Let's sell this alumni merch, you know, let's sell pins. People love pins. When we think about our young kids, they love the pins. So, why are we not making creative things like that that it's not really high ticket item, but enough for us to be able to go to different schools in your place, right? To different schools and be on board. So, I've been looking at that really lowhanging fruit going into Oh, if it doesn't know you're there.

[24:56]  That's good. Hey, saving energy there. So, no, I I'm in a space as well was like we got to think very creative. We got to um think outside the box. I think pandemic allowed us to really be creative in a way and now we have to be even more creative than it was pandemic. Is there anything creative that you guys are doing on your end to keep funds alive? We we've definitely done some shifting from like for example we used to do a very large golf event on a golf course and we would be out there all day and it it was a blast. Like we got to talk to our supporters and talk about who we were. But what we found is after a pandemic people were really a little bit more particular about how they spent their time and they had re-evaluated how much time they take away from the home and if they are going to do things after hours or there ways that their families can join in. And so we switched our golf course tournament to a top golf tournament in the evenings. And so now,

[25:52]  okay,

[25:52]  you don't have to have golf skills. You can just come play, have fun, bring your family. And it it was a way to engage uh with people in a different way. So that's where we spent a lot of our time is reimagining uh what we were doing in a way that is uh more inclusive for people and just more fun.

[26:09]  Yeah. I mean, right now I have some of my board members that are that's kind of the go-to, right? the gallas, the golf tournaments is all your go-tos.

[26:17]  Um, so of course we're doing a gala. It's kind of our our big rebrand relaunch, but then they also want to do a golf tournament. I don't golf, but if you tell me I can go to uh what was the place you just met? Top Golf.

[26:28]  Top Golf.

[26:28]  Yeah. It seems a little bit more exciting to me. I just want to swing away. Um, did you find that that actually helped out? Like was still same fundraising or is it, you know, better less? it it came out as far as um what we would bring in, it came out about the same, but it didn't take as much to do it. So like saving on staff time, saving on um the expenses to put on event was huge, which allowed us to shift our work to other things. And we actually dove into with that extra time a lot of research and evaluation on what are the other innovative models uh for fundraising, for donor cultivation and stewardship. Um, which was amazing because now we get to kick all of that off this year that we were able to save the time on from last year.

[27:17]  But, uh, yeah, it was a blast. People love

[27:20]  it. I can imagine. I mean, just listening to thinking Top Golf, everything's there for you. There's always the catering, right? There's already the food there. All these different things.

[27:28]  I might have to bring this one to the table. I'd rather go to Top Golf than get me on a golf course out in the, you know, hot heat here in Florida. For sure.

[27:35]  Yeah. And it's I mean, you don't have to have the skill. I don't golf either, but like I can I can hop up there and swing away and see how far it goes.

[27:43]  Yeah, I think I think that works. And when you said being able to kind of invite the family. Um, so did you guys like the whole thing or do you guys just get lanes?

[27:52]  So, uh, we're able to like rent a uh a level basically like there's three different

[27:59]  levels and so we start off with just renting a level. to give us about 20 days to do it and just see how it went. It worked. It worked well.

[28:09]  This will only be our second year, so we'll see

[28:12]  it continues its momentum.

[28:14]  Oh, man. No, that's good. I was really seeing thinking outside the box. How do you feel others in the community can really kind of um get involved in what you guys are doing and and making more impact? I think that's where we need, right, our community to also step up and realize that there's a need. Um how can they do that? A lot of people think maybe just donating money but a lot of times is just your time as well works. Are there any needs that you guys feel that the organization could utilize from your own communities?

[28:39]  Yes. So the biggest I would say is volunteerism. Again we're relation based and so a student needs to see and have connection to caring positive adults. They need to know that the space that they're coming to a school is safe. They're going to help them have a healthy start and a healthy future. So when the adults volunteer, whether you mentor one hour a week and you're just honestly you're just having lunch with a student consistently every week and say, "Hey, how's it going? I know we studied for that test. How'd the test go? How'd this week go? Oh yeah, maybe we could have handled that situation differently. Should couldn't we have?" Uh, but you can mentor. You can be a reading buddy. You can be an academic tutor or coach and just sit with them. And sometimes it's just the Uhhuh. this algebra is really hard. Let's Google it together. Let's see what we can find. But

[29:30]  sometimes just the kid knowing somebody else cares for them and is showing up to school just for them

[29:36]  is huge. Um we did a a really rough data analysis this past summer on our um reading buddies and mentors and we actually found that students students that we were serving who've had a mentor or reading buddy were 25% more likely to show up to school. like their attendance was that drastically different

[29:58]  because somebody was showing up for them.

[30:02]  So, they're looking forward to that.

[30:04]  Best thing community can do is show up in the schools.

[30:08]  True. It's really how I got back into the uh my high school. It was I just wanted to I wanted to be for others what I wish I had and it was that mentor. It was someone. So every Tuesday I would um make sure that I can show up to the school and it for them it was like a whole bunch of young men. I would show up and Tuesdays was a bow tie Tuesdays. So I would show my bow tie as well. Like I'll have a dress up, you know, have my bow tie because I want them to know that I'm in here with you guys. If you guys are going to do it, I'm going to do it. And so did the teachers, you know, they they wear the bow ties in respect of we had the kids do it. But um from that, that's how I've kind of got into the non I didn't even know the nonprofit to my school. That's how bad this nonprofit is doing. But I was happy that I did step in the way that I did, just volunteering my time. Every Tuesday I would show up, which led me to then go on to some amazing trips with the young man. They we took him to um some some colleges here in Florida. So I think we took him to Florida State. We took him to FAMU. And to be quite frank, that was my first time on any colleges like that. and to experience that and to see the kids light up because we went to the football games for Florida State, you know, they got to go through some of the dorms and it's like, wow, some kids never seen that a day in their lives, but that inspires them to say, I want to go do that, right? When we're working with our juniors. So, it is it's just stepping up and and just giving a little bit of your time. If it's an hour a week, it it truly makes a difference. And I think people don't realize that that little bit of time makes a difference. Um, and it gets your cup filled, right? Like I think that's most important than anything that when you get to talk to I would say sometimes a younger version of ourselves and see what their minds at and to know that you lived life enough to really pour back into them. Um it's like you're really pouring back into yourself because it's so exciting when you get to talk to our young kids and see what the the next generation actually looks like, right? We're so quick to judge, but we don't have that one-on-one interaction unless you have your own kids. You know, not everyone has that the you know that opportunity. So, I I love what you guys are truly doing. I ask you though, how do you hope your your legacy at CIS ripple out into those families and communities long term?

[32:10]  Oh, I think I think we're starting to see it a little bit. So, North Texas, we're we're 33 years old. We're still babies in in a lot of ways, but one of the things that's been amazing is uh we are starting to see our students now become our volunteers, become our mentors, and we actually have a couple of our former students now alum who work for us. And so that that life cycle of

[32:40]  being able to be part of something like again, you see your value, you see your worth, you see where you can give back to your community, and now you're doing it. I I think it would be amazing for more of our students um to work for us, to be speaking about CIS, to be sharing that impact, but even better, our students leading the community, stepping into those roles of of leadership and seats at the table that say this is what was helpful for me. This is what we need in our community would be amazing.

[33:14]  To be quite frank, I just don't think we speak about it enough. Like when we talk about, you know, going and do something after high school, we are going to think doctors. We are going to think teachers. We're going to think policemen. No one's thinking I'm going to go into the nonprofit space. And I think there's so much value going into the nonprofit space because to me, I've been in both the nonprofit and the for-profit. And what I love about nonprofit that it allows you to really be yourself, like use utilize all your talents. Normally when you go to a corporate world, right, you got hired to do this and that's all they want you to do. and the nonprofit, no, they want all your skills. They, you know, implement those resources you guys have because we all have the same mission is to be able to grow our organization, to help our communities, to help our kids and whatever way that looks like. So, is that something that you guys are like, as you mentioned, you guys telling people, hey, the nonprofit space is is a beautiful place. May maybe not the biggest paychecks, but the purpose, the things that you get out of it, the ways that you feel after the impacts that are being made, like they get so much more. Do you agree? I agree. Uh we definitely so we have a fairly robust internship program. So we bring in uh students who are going through internships for social work, for counseling, for human studies from the area. And that's one of the things we have to tell them is like welcome to your first day. You are going to wear a thousand hats. So pull together all your skills, all your assets. Uh you are going to fall in love with these kids and your work. But I need you to be prepared that uh this is not going to pay you, you know, six figure dollars for the rest of your life. So take time to learn, take time to really consider if this is your work, but it's amazing. You'll get to do all the things you want to do. You'll get to live out your passion. You'll get to live out your mission and vision for yourself in alignment with that nonprofit that you choose to work with for your career. And when you share your story on how, hey, I had a a, you know, I had an idea of what I was going to do and look where I'm at now. You know, like you truly live that. So when you tell them someone that, it's like you live by experience. That's always the best thing when you can tell someone something by lived experiences. Um, on what it looks like to be in the nonprofit space, what it looks like for you having a we talked about earlier about just faith and, you know, alignment, God, all these different things. But sometimes we have this vision or this plan for ourselves, but it's not God's plan, right? Like you have to just be honest. Sometimes it's we we may paint this pretty picture and God gives us to us like, nah, you know, a little shades here, a little black and white here. We got to roll with the punches. So, I love that you're able to speak at that level because you've experienced what that actually looked like. Um, where can people find more about what's going on with you guys at CIS? Do you guys have social media? What is the website for those that are actually listening?

[35:56]  Yes. So, if you want to check out CIS of North Texas, you can go to cis.org. Uh, on our website, there's everything from how to volunteer, how to uh donate financially if that's your if that's your desire, but also just our impact, our student stories, we're on social media, Facebook, Instagram, X, you can find us anywhere. Um,

[36:19]  yeah,

[36:20]  I love it. All right, and I'll leave you with a blind question. Are you ready? Ready for the hot seat question.

[36:24]  Okay.

[36:25]  All right. Think about your 17-year-old self. If you can sit in your CEO chair for one day, what would she say to you?

[36:32]  Oh. Um, she would say, "What are you doing? I uh growing up I was not the I liked the behind the scenes. I like I'm I'm the worker type of bee. Like, give me a task, I will do it." Um, she's like, "Why are you sitting and talking in front of people?" And why? Um, but if I were to reverse it and tell her kind of to what you just said, you have no idea what God has planned for you and how God will get you there and the people he'll put in your life. So, just buckle up.

[37:11]  Yeah. Buckle up. It's going to be a wild ride. Yeah. I tell people all the time when someone's like, "Man, you know, life is just like it's like a roller coaster." I'm like, "That's great." Actually, that means you're going up and down. That's that's life. If you're just coasting, are you even having fun? The ups and downs is what truly make life worth it. Um, we're not always going to be at our highest. There's sometimes that we're going to be at our lowest. And I actually will leave you with this question. And I know we asked the last blind question, but in a space of where life be life in and sometimes we're at our tops and sometimes we even need someone to pour into us and and what I realized is that as leaders, no one's teaching us how to pour into ourselves the same way that we pour into others.

[37:49]  So who is pouring into you when sometimes you can't pour into yourself?

[37:55]  Oh man. Um I would say my family for sure. So again, I have three daughters. uh we are all over the place between sporting events and Girl Scouts and theater and so just getting to see them grow and develop and and the feedback they give me and and hugs and thanks is wonderful. Um my husband is great. We get to have the hard conversations all the time. Uh but one of the I think one of the things I love probably the most and it's uh is getting to go and just sit in church on Sunday and listen to our worship team play. Um, I have no rhythm. I can't dance and clap and all that, but just it's the peace of sitting there and being being in community with people.

[38:40]  Those would be things that pour back into me.

[38:42]  I love it. I love it. Well, listen, Tasha, you have been truly amazing. Um, I can't imagine your 17-year-old self would would really be like, "Wow, you're actually doing this. You're talking to someone across a virtual screen on a podcast, as you mentioned. What are you doing?" But it's those things that um we never thought we'll be doing that we're doing and and we we understand why we do it. You know, I for a lot of the years, believe it or not, I did not like my voice. Um and it wasn't until 30 years old where I really realized that my god-given talent was my voice. But kind of to life, what you've you're probably experienced with these young kids is that I was bullied for my voice, which allowed me to be very insecure about my voice. And even though I've been doing this line of work for so long, I will never go back and watch a video because I would cringe, right? Like I would judge myself. And now to know that no,

[39:34]  I got to do God's work. God has asked me to speak and to help people, you know, elevate their stories, tell my story, um,

[39:41]  you know, to inspire others. And I think Tasha, we're kind of both in the space of we had a vision of what God was going to or what we thought we were going to do and God gave us a completely different story, but still allowing us to live a happy life. And we do um in this nonprofit world in the space of creating impacts in our own communities, allowing others to see that they to help them know their worth. I don't know if you see the sign, but to help them know their worth, right? That that's just always been my motto is helping people understand they have value. Just because today may not be the good day and you're in this situation at home and someone may be writing your story that you have the ability to one day take that same pencil someone was using that same book and to tell your story and I'm loving that you're in that space where you're helping others being able to tell their story and see beyond the today and letting them know that tomorrow will be a better day. So Tasha what is your blind question before we hop off?

[40:34]  Oh okay. So, mine was um what's the best mistake you have ever made and what did you learn from it?

[40:41]  Best mistake. Wow, that's a really good one. That is a really good one, Tasha. Well, Tasha, we thank you for your time. We definitely make sure that next leader answers that question. That's a I'm actually going to think about it once we actually hop off here. What was the biggest mistake that I made? But no, we thank you so much, Tasha, for your time, for your insights. May you continue to grow CIS to where it needs to be and continue to impact our students and and our families. Guys, this has been a tremendous another episode that you guys got to continue to share, like, subscribe, cuz that's the only way that we can actually get these stories out there. Um, Tasha, we'll see you on the next one. My name is Erain. This is Tasha Moore. I'll catch you on the next one. Latest.