Heidi: Talethia, welcome to the Fluent in Floridian podcast. I'm so excited to have you on this show. We've known each other for a very long time.

Talethia: Yes.

Heidi: And it has been such a remarkable experience to watch you grow into the person you are today. And I know that you're not even at the tip of this iceberg that you're climbing. So, I want everyone to hear about your remarkable journey and everything that you've done. And of course, we're going to go all the way back to Miami-

Talethia: Oh, okay.

Heidi: ... where we're both from.

Talethia: That's right.

Heidi: And I want you to tell me about your upbringing, but before we get started, what high school did you go to?

Talethia: I went to Miami Central Senior High School.

Heidi: Oh, my gosh. Miami Central.

Talethia: Yes. Yes, yes.

Heidi: That was our rival. I went to Miami Carol City, so I'm a Chief.

Talethia: Yes. We are the original Soul Bowl.

Heidi: Yeah, I'll give you that. I'll give you that.

Talethia: It's Miami Central and Carol City. That's the original Soul Bowl.

Heidi: I know. I know.

Talethia: That's my understanding.

Heidi: I know. Yeah, and we used to love playing you all, and I had a lot of friends who went there, but the rivalries in the high schools down there is deep, so anybody-

Talethia: So deep. Yes.

Heidi: ... that comes on this podcast and they say they're from Miami-

Talethia: What high school?

Heidi: ... what high school did you go to?

Talethia: Right. Listen, my sons played for Rickards and I could not wear that blue and gold for a very long time.

Heidi: You did not, because that's Northwest High School.

Talethia: Northwestern High School.

Heidi: That's what school my momma went to, so yeah. So tell me about your upbringing. What was it like growing up in Miami.

Talethia: Heidi, I grew up the oldest to a single parent, but I had a lot of great memories. My mom did the very best that she could to ensure that we were happy children, and that's what I remember. My grandmother was very integral in my life before she passed with lung cancer. And I really attribute my personality to her because I spent a lot of time with her and she gave me a lot of liberty to be who I am and grow without a lot of restrictions. I'm really grateful for that. But I can just remember those hot days at home. It's a different kind of hot in Tallahassee.

Heidi: Listen, very different.

Talethia: We got a little breeze, but I'm the oldest of all the grandchildren, so lots of responsibility. My sisters, I have two younger sisters. They're four and eight years younger than me, so I was more like a parent than a sister.

Heidi: Of course.

Talethia: We are definitely developing that sister relationship now, but growing up in Miami, I learned how to survive. I want to use that word. I know a lot of people take it as a negative connotation, but having to grow up and be a support to my mom as she took care of us, taught me what it meant to be responsible and tenacious and really savvy.

Heidi: What brought you to Tallahassee?

Talethia: Oh, the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.

Heidi:... and Mechanical University.

Talethia: That's right. That's what brought me here. I came here almost 25 years ago to attend FAMU as an English major. I had big hopes and dreams, was coming to the hill to go to another hill at DC. That was my thoughts that I would be a Supreme Court justice, but I met a man.

Heidi: It's not too late.

Talethia: No, no.

Heidi: It's not too late.

Talethia: I think I'm doing all right with some of the things now.

Heidi: We're going to talk about that.

Talethia: We will. Met a man, never left.

Heidi: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Were you first generation college in your family?

Talethia: Oh yeah, first.

Heidi: Tell me about that and how that has molded the families, your siblings and others behind you.

Talethia: Definitely. First generation college student, literally, if we had time to tell the story that my mom bought me here, and I literally just knew I was going to class, not understanding a collegiate ecosystem and how to navigate through that. And even FAMU at that time was bustling with students, so after freshman year, you were not guaranteed housing. And so after freshman year, I had no housing. And I remember calling my mom to say, "Hey, I don't have housing.

I'm going to need to get an apartment." And she said to me very honestly, "Talethia, I can't pay your rent and mine. You're going to have to come home." And I remember riding the bus and getting off at what I thought were regular apartments, turns out to be Holton Street apartments, which was a affordable housing, HUD housing place. And I asked the gentleman, "Hey, do you have space?" He was like, "These are family houses." I'm like, "Okay. Single people can be families." Believe it or not, that man broke the rules and allowed me to live in those HUD housing for $25 rent.

Heidi: Wow.

Talethia: That's how I was able to finish school. And so again, coming here, not really understanding how to navigate college, but learning that, guess what, if I go back home, I'm probably not going to do what I think I should be doing or fall into some other things, but it has been one of the best decisions.

Heidi: Yeah. Now you are a wife and mother of eight.

Talethia: Yes.

Heidi: Talk about that. I know that's probably a lot of fun.

Talethia: It's a lot of fun, but would you believe that I didn't plan to have children?

Heidi: Well, listen, I didn't plan to have kids either, then had them. I got three amazing kids and two grandbabies, so hey.

Talethia: Yeah, so I'm a woman of faith. I can remember the Lord said... Because the babies came fast. We got married and those kids-

Heidi: Boom, boom, boom, boom.

Talethia: Quickly. And I can remember being at home because like I told you, Heidi, I thought that I was going to DC after college. I married my husband the day before I graduated college.

Heidi: Really?

Talethia: Yeah, and so I stayed at home and we immediately got pregnant and he was like, "I need you to stay at home and raise the kids. It's going to be best for them." And so, believe it or not, I struggled a lot with being at home and raising kids.

Heidi: You were a stay at home mom?

Talethia: 16 years.

Heidi: No, you weren't.

Talethia: Yes.

Heidi: But Talethia I know today I would've never thought that you were a stay at home mom for that amount of time.

Talethia: 16 years. So all of the movement you all see happening, a lot of it was when they were little. You could see some pictures of me, I got a baby strapped to my body. But most of the movement has happened in the last few years of just really reclaiming some time and really being on purpose, moving through life. But yeah, so I stayed at home with those children, raised them up. And it's fun. It's rambunctious. The house is noisy. But as they're leaving, the dynamic has changed.

Heidi: I was about to say, you all are going to be an empty nester in how long? How many years?

Talethia: Well, we got a lot of years to be totally-

Heidi: True, but they're older. All your kids are over 10.

Talethia: I have three in college. Yeah. The baby boy that we adopted is five.

Heidi: He's five. I want to talk a little bit about your bringing in other children into your home, because that's how I really got to know you during that period of your life.

Talethia: Yes, that's exactly right.

Heidi: So tell me more about your kids, where they are in your life.

Talethia: Oh, yes. So our oldest-

Heidi: Three in college.

Talethia: Three in college. We have a rising senior. Haley will be then a sophomore.

Heidi: I have a Haley.

Talethia: Yes, I remember that. We talked about that.

Heidi: My babygirl is Haley. That's right, yes.

Talethia: So Haley's our number five, so she'll be a rising sophomore. Then we have Harper and Harley who, people think they're twins. Please don't call them twins. They don't like it because they're not twins, but they're 12 and 10. And then Raymond is five. So I've always, for the last few years, I've had these life transitions happening all at one time. And again, that's beautiful, but it's stressful at the same time.

Heidi: I can imagine. I can imagine having to feed. I mean, just me thinking about feeding my own three. I can imagine what it's like.

Talethia: Lots of one-pot meals. Lots of one-pot meals.

Heidi: So what sparked your evolution into a community advocate?

Talethia: Really being a parent and a resident. We bought our house literally three streets over from FAMU. I don't think we quite understood that we were moving on the Southside of Tallahassee. We were 22 and 23 years old. We both chose the number two house because our number one was two separate houses, and our number two was the same house.

So it automatically rose to the number one. So we're on Saxon Street. We're having the babies. It comes time for our oldest son to go to kindergarten. We can literally see Bond Elementary School from our house. And everyone was saying, "Do not send that child to that school." I'm thinking, "Why?" Growing up in Miami, I went to my neighborhood school.

Heidi: Yeah, I did too. Right, same.

Talethia: So that was what we did. And so that school is a failing school. I had no understanding of what it meant to be a failing school. I began to look into that. I began to think about what's happening in my neighborhood, and I was seeing a lot. Don't get me wrong, you probably know much of the story, just so seeing a lot of disparities happening around me, but I'm in the house.

I'm raising children. I'm not really paying attention to that. But when it's time for now my children to begin to exit my house, I'm paying more attention. And as I began to pay attention of what was happening around me, I'm like, "We need to do something about this."So I began to look for people to do something. And as you may know, you're looking for somebody, and it's really yourself.

Heidi: That's right.

Talethia: And so I began to get involved and figure out what's needed. So I founded our neighborhood association, the Greater Bond Neighborhood Association, and really a novice, not knowing anything about organizing or advocating or community development. I just know I live here, I'm raising children, and what do we have to do to move it forward?

Heidi: Yeah, yeah, and since you created that association, what were you able to accomplish in that role? And I know that, but I want you to tell everybody who's listening and watching.

Talethia: Yes. We've done some amazing things. So as we began to identify, formally identify our priorities, we recognized, number one, that the neighborhood that had no recognized voice for over three decades. That's a long time. But we began to identify the priorities. We created what you know now as the Neighborhood First Plan process. So it's a resident-led planning process. We were then awarded $6.4 million-

Heidi: I remember.

Talethia: ... for broad infrastructure improvement. And so-

Heidi: That is so remarkable.

Talethia: Thank you.

Heidi: Are you all listening to this? That is remarkable.

Talethia: It's a lot of work. It's still a lot of work to do. When you think about three decades of disinvestment and you get $6.4 million for communities that are distressed like mine, that sounds like a lot of money until you understand that it costs a half a million dollars to put sidewalks in.

Heidi: That's correct.

Talethia: And that's not even a mile of sidewalk.

Heidi: And it doesn't go that far.

Talethia: That's right.

Heidi: But the fact that you got millions versus thousands is still remarkable.

Talethia: Right. The largest investment in the Southside neighborhood in Tallahassee ever.

Heidi: Yeah. Yeah. That is remarkable. What are you most proud of in that whole process of not only securing the money, but also making those investments, choosing where to put those dollars?

Talethia: Definitely. Most proud of one, the work we did together as a community. It doesn't happen in the silo. The leader typically is the name that's called. But it was a community effort, even in the disbelief, even in the mistrust assistance that had already let us down as a community. We worked together to dream and vision and to see something that we wanted. And what I'm most proud is that we can see our fingerprint as we walk through our neighborhood. There's a new park that did not exist. In that park is an art garden that was created by a young... He was a senior at Rickards at the time. He's now a graphics design major over at CMU. That's there. We have a mural on a historical store. We have new sidewalks, things that... We now have better light.

Heidi: Sidewalks is what I remember and lighting. That's a big, big deal.

Talethia: That's a big deal. You don't realize-

Heidi: The safety.

Talethia: Safety. Safety is the number one issue. You want people to come outside-

Heidi: And play.

Talethia:... and play, laugh, joke. Yeah, definitely.

Heidi: That's good. Now, I recall that others were coming to you to give them guidance on how to impact their community. So can you talk about how that project catapulted you to where you today?

Talethia: Definitely. So it's led in a lot of ways. So locally here, other communities saying, "Hey, how do we do this?" Institutions, FAMU, FSU asking, "Can you come and share best practices for community engagement with our students?" Which I really enjoy that. Having been a student at both FAMU and FSU saying that this is your impact zone. While you're here, we have to make an impact. So that's been amazing. I've worked with groups like the Atlanta Federal Reserve on the fiscal benefits cliff and just locks of... The door has opened in so many ways just to talk about what I know. It's lived experience.

Heidi: Exactly.

Talethia: Now I'm an urban planner and I could say that, "Oh, I have a planning degree, but that was a step towards becoming more knowledgeable about this work, but really sharing with individuals that it start first with heart. That's really... It sounds simple and cliché, but it start with heart, wanting to do something yourself to see something change, and then partnering with others, building your own capacity, leveraging some of that human and social capital and spreading it.

Heidi: Yeah. What I've learned from just being in your presence and getting to know you is that you're not afraid to ask for anything.

Talethia: Oh, no.

Heidi: You are not. You called me and said, "Heidi, we need to meet." And I was like, "Okay." And we met and we've been meeting. And so I think that's what I appreciate about you. And I would want to know, so you have really broadened your influence beyond Florida. You just got back from Yale.

Talethia: Yes.

Heidi: Talk about that.

Talethia: Yes. So I was invited to the Yale Campaign School. It's a super intensive week. It's a program that is designed specifically for women. There were some men there who support women. And the program is designed to really impact politics and the future of our political world, where the Democratic Republic is a nonpartisan organization. But it was an immersive experience into what is needed to run a successful campaign and win. But moreover, we talked a lot about our personal views and values and bringing civility back to politics. That was refreshing. I got to listen to a lecture by Bishop William Barber, who is the leader of the Poor People's Campaign. Transformational. So being feet distance from people who have done such great work, whether it's on one side of the aisle or the other, but immersing yourself in that. And then being in a cohort of brilliant people and sharp as iron. And so that experience and the prestige of Yale and the architecture and all the things that comes along with that. And just a bit of the irony of being in the Yale Law School.

Heidi: I know.

Talethia: You heard me say I wanted to go to law school.

Heidi: Right, right. It came almost-

Talethia: Full circle.

Heidi: ... full circle for you.

Talethia: Exactly right.

Heidi: That is remarkable. So let's talk about your role right now with Good News Outreach here in Tallahassee. And you've held some interim consultive positions at different nonprofits, but right now you're leading Good News Outreach. Talk about the work you're doing there and tell us about that program.

Talethia: Good News Outreach is an amazing organization that's been serving this community since 1986. So literally, I was the little girl when the work started. And I was called in last year, called and said, "Talethia, we need someone to come in and do some evaluations." And I really was ready to take a sabbatical. I'm going to be very honest with you. I'm like, "I need a break. I just finished my master's program." But I listened. I'm like, "Okay, I'm going to serve. I'm going to go in," and found some amazing work happening. They have five programs, a male and female reentry program, a beautiful 1,200 square foot pantry. The best pantry I've seen in this city, honestly. We serve seniors. We have senior affordable housing, and the biggest program is our transitional affordable housing.

So a lot was happening. Good News Outreach experienced a lot of transition. And so in that, continuing to do good work, I was coming in, evaluating, are these programs sustainable? Can we improve them? What ways do they need to be improved? Are we on mission with what we're doing? And sure enough, all of it really works in the ecosystem. You just have to have eyes to see it. And I'm not sure if I'm there forever. I'm there for right now. I had only agreed to six months, but they didn't do a hiring process.

Heidi: I was going to say, you're a year, right?

Talethia: I'm at a year. I'm at a year and I'm still there. It's a heavy lift, but it is heart work. And along with community and partnership, we're doing some amazing things there.

Heidi: Yeah. Now your husband's a pastor?

Talethia: Yeah, he's a bishop.

Heidi: He's a bishop. And you're a first lady.

Talethia: Clergy wife.

Heidi: Oh, okay, okay. She said clergy wife. Just want to make sure we clarify that.

Talethia: Correct?

Heidi: Tell me about how your faith drives you and the work that you do.

Talethia: Oh, yeah. My faith is everything. I really believe that everything we do, we should be doing on purpose, and we understand who we are in the earth. And not many people get to that point because we live a lot of our lives trying to please people or fit into boxes that people placed us in. I'm really grateful that I know who I am. I know what I'm called to and who I'm called to. And I don't stray away from that. I'm very authentic about that, even when I enter rooms in spaces that are not full of the people I serve. And that's because I believe my faith gives me a bonus to walk in a room and to ask for the things I need and take it back to where I need to take it back to. But that I also believe that God has a mind for every space.

So every space I enter, I'm always asking God, I'm like, "Okay, you got me here. What are you saying? What are you saying about the people? What changes you want to see?" One of my roles that I understand is that I shift systems. That's what I do. So I walk into any space saying, okay, even if it's not clear immediately, I know what I'm called to. And so I'm like, "Okay, it's something here that I got to shift or change." And so I understand that if faith shows up in that, and it's not always convenient and it's not comfortable or affordable sometimes, but in the end, it never fails.

Heidi: Yeah. Like I said, I've been following you and seeing all the articles about you and everything that you're doing, and there's a term that you've used called bilingual intermediary, and it almost sounds a little bit like this. You walk into a place and you figure out, okay, what's my role and how do I speak this language?

Talethia: Translator.

Heidi: Tell me a little bit about that.

Talethia: Yeah. I consider myself a translator. That's a fancy word, but bilingual intermediary. I'm translating systems, voices of people. And it's a very missing piece in this community work that we do to really translate, because many times you'll see, specifically in marginalized communities, people say, "They're angry. They're not listening." No, they haven't been listening to. So let me translate what that sounds like. That sounds like I don't trust you because you haven't listened to me.

But let me also vice versa, let me translate the systems that are here to help us, what that looks like, and how do we come in and we're able to understand, because translation has happened, what are we moving toward? And I think that it's important even in government, being able to translate to say, "You are a policymaker, and when you make this decision, it translates to this for the people on the ground." Or you're implementing a new program. I get called in a lot. That program translates to this kind of effect. And most times people are like, "I had not considered that." So standing in as that bilingual intermediary and translating really helps to smooth the road for progress to happen.

Heidi: Yeah. Now, are you teaching that in the communities where you serve, to build up the next Talethias in these communities?

Talethia: I'm really trying. So in the Black community, we tend to like to stick one person in a personality. And I'm really trying to lead not only in the front, but from the back, to where I'm imparting knowledge, that I'm sharing connections and platforms and introducing new leaders behind me to those people who they need to meet and saying names of individuals. Sometimes I'm called a lot on things. I say, "Hey, I know somebody who can speak on this." And that is the way that I'm really trying, hopefully, trying to invest in the next generation and not be the singular person called all the time. And not that you don't want to be a part of good work, but you definitely can burn out. And if you don't bring individuals along with you, you will burn out.

So I would love to do more of this in a formal way where I'm maybe introduced to young aspiring leaders or people who are community centered where I can share these kind of information. I get called in to do little speaking and platforms here and there, but most likely these are two rooms of people who are leading agencies, but I would love to do this in a way where I'm literally talking to those who are boots on the ground.

Heidi: Yeah, that mentorship and apprenticeship and all of that.

Talethia: Definitely. I created a framework while I was in graduate school called the Starfish Framework. It's a community development framework, and it centers the resident as the asset. Most community development frameworks, center institutions or systems as assets. Not that they aren't, but when you think about the people being the asset, you understand that if I invest in people and I build the capacity and I provide the resources, this is a continual thing that begins to create dividends, and we should do it that way. I really believe that.

Heidi: Yeah. Well, y'all heard it here, so reach out to Talethia to learn more, because I think that is a brilliant way. So you're a mom, you're an urban planner. You're being called to speak. You just did a TEDx at Florida State. What was it? TEDx?

Talethia: Yeah, that's TEDx FSU.

Heidi: At FSU, because I think you and I were talking and you were preparing for it, remember?

Talethia: Yes, yes. I was getting ready.

Heidi: Yeah, and I just saw the commentary was like, "You knocked it out of the park. It was so amazing." And you're doing all these things. What do you do to relax?

Talethia: Shop.

Heidi: Shop?

Talethia: Shop. I like to shop, but no, I read. Shopping I do, that is a quick stress reliever, an immediate stress reliever. But I like to read. I paint.

Heidi: You drink tea.

Talethia: I drink tea.

Heidi: Because I drink coffee.

Talethia: Yes. I drink tea. I paint. I hang out with my sisters. They are so important to me. We're getting ready for our annual girls trip. So that is a way to relax. Wherever I can find. I started implementing Frolic Friday. Did I tell you about that?

Heidi: No. When you going to call me?

Talethia: When you take off, Heidi. Heidi is always working. Heidi, can you take a Friday, a couple hours?

Heidi: I will try.

Talethia: Okay. See? Yep.

Heidi: But no, yeah, please invite me. I would love to come.

Talethia: Yeah. So I've added Frolic Fridays, and even if it's a Friday and I'm busy, I try intentionally to be less structured on a Friday so that I can lengthen my telomeres, so that's how I relax.

Heidi: I love that. So we're going to wrap this up, and I want to ask you a question. If little Talethia saw Talethia now, what would she say?

Talethia: I don't know. Maybe, "Wow, I'm proud of you. Look at us." So little Talethia was just as rambunctious and loquacious as big Talethia, but little Talethia would've never imagined the, what I'm going to call detours that life has taken. I'm a very planned out person, believe it or not. As much as I-

Heidi: Yeah, you got a big family. You got to plan.

Talethia: Yeah. As much as I can be spontaneous, I'm very planned. And I like to know that this is next, this was lined up. But the course of my life didn't go like that. It's been a lot of ebbs and flows, and with those ebbs and flows, I think little Talethia is, "Look at us. We're resilient. We've made it." Made it in a sense that I grew up in Miami. Life expectancy is short in some of the areas.

Heidi: That's why I left. I mean, I left for the same reason.

Talethia: Right, because when I turned 40, I thought I was old. I was like, "That's old." I never felt sad about it, but I was grateful to make it to that age. And so I realize now, having gotten to that age, that there's so much to do. And sometimes I say to that little girl, because I journal and I say to her, "Who would've thought the experiences and the people and the life." The children. My life is full with my kids, my husband. This is our 20th year marriage. So just a lot of-

Heidi: Congratulations.

Talethia: Thank you. Just a lot of the firsts, Heidi, if I'm very honest. And it's just an amazing journey.

Heidi: Yeah. And you got a lot more firsts to come.

Talethia: I'm looking forward to it.

Heidi: Well, Talethia, thank you so much for being on the Fluent in Floridian Podcast. My heart is full, and I want to thank you for being a guest.

Talethia: Thank you for inviting me. You all do great work. I'm looking forward to hearing it.