Nakia Marshall, MPA

Honestly, I attribute my success to people thinking that I couldn't do it. I remember standing on the steps at my college graduation from undergrad, and I said to my mom, 'Mommy, I did it, I graduated from college.' And she said to me, 'Oh yeah, I didn't think you was smart enough to do that.' That's part of what I attribute to my success. I'm like, okay, you don't think I can do it? Let me show you what I can do. I am the only one out of my friend's group or my professional circle that has made it this far in the nonprofit space. I'm the first college graduate in my family, and statistically, I should not be anybody's executive director because of things that happened in my life. My life trajectory was not going towards professional executive director or anything like that. But those doubts from others became fuel for me to prove what I was capable of achieving.

The best career advice I've received is to get out of my own way and to do it afraid. It may seem simple, but for me, I suffer from social anxiety, and being the head of an organization means you're the face of the organization. For someone who suffers from social anxiety, that's a huge challenge. Those were the most valuable pieces of advice to me personally: to do things afraid and to get out of my own way. I was stagnating my career, and had I been developed earlier in my life, I may have gotten further sooner. I still landed where I wanted to land, but it took longer than it may have taken had I had the proper support. Another crucial piece of advice is don't be afraid to say 'I don't know' or that you need help. I learned this the hard way when I was a quality assurance specialist at Inwood House. I had just gotten the job and didn't know how to do the data-dense presentation for Child Stat, but I wouldn't ask for help because I felt like I had imposter syndrome. It was the night before the presentation, and I still didn't have my data together. I was literally crying at my desk when a colleague, Brian, came over and sat with me, and we banged it out together. We're still friends today. My takeaway from that experience is that employers don't believe you're supposed to know everything about your job coming in. It's impossible to know everything about a job. But people aren't comfortable, especially in the workplace, saying that they don't know how to do something. So I really empower people to say, 'Listen, I don't know how to do it,' however it tastes good coming out of your mouth. If I don't know, I will flat out tell them I don't know, but what I am is tenacious, and we're gonna be tenacious together about finding the correct answer.

I would tell someone entering my industry to find a mentor, especially if they're just coming out of college and don't have an internship in the nonprofit space. In nonprofit, we throw you in there. I remember starting as a case planner when I transitioned into child welfare. They said, 'Nakia, okay, this is your caseload, you have 20 cases, you have to see each family twice a month,' and they gave me the list of things I had to do, but they didn't tell me anything else. I think that's such a disservice to the populations we're serving and to the employee we're cultivating as managers. It's our responsibility to professionally develop them. To send people out into people's homes, into situations that can become very violent without the proper tools and understanding is almost criminal to me. So I would tell them to get a mentor, whether it's in the workplace or not. Always seek out professional development. Always ask questions. There is no dumb question. Ask the question and be clear about the path you are choosing, because there's so many different populations we serve in the nonprofit space and so many different things you can do. I don't have a clinical degree. I didn't choose the clinical track. I don't even have a social work degree, but I'm in the social work field. Had somebody properly advised me when I was making a decision about my graduate program, I would have understood the difference between the clinical track and the administrative track for MSW programs. I would have understood better about the dual degree programs like at Columbia or NYU that have the MSW and MPA degree, which could have helped me elevate my career sooner. I would also say to volunteer your time in a nonprofit before marrying it. Date it for a little while and see if you like it, because it's not for everyone. As a new person coming into the nonprofit space as an entry-level employee, you're gonna have to choose between the bread and the butter. You can't have buttered bread because financially, you're not going to be able to afford it. I want them to make informed decisions. I told my daughter, 'Nope, Maya, you're a finance major,' because that's how her mind works, and I use my work brain, my supervisor brain to identify strengths and areas of development.

One of the biggest challenges in the nonprofit sector is building strong fundraising skills and donor relationships, especially for leaders who do not come from fundraising backgrounds. There are also ongoing issues with staff burnout, limited development opportunities for entry-level employees, and assumptions that leaders must hold clinical degrees, while opportunities exist to expand mental health services in schools and strengthen small nonprofits through strategic partnerships and leadership.

The values most important to me are honesty, integrity, and accountability. Another value that seems simple but is crucial is don't be afraid to say 'I don't know' or that you need help. I learned this lesson when I was a quality assurance specialist at Inwood House. I had just gotten the job and we had to present at Child Stat, which was very data-dense. I didn't have that much experience with data at that point, and I would not ask for help because I felt almost like imposter syndrome. It was the night before the presentation, and I still didn't have my data presentation together. I was literally crying at my desk when a colleague came over and helped me. That experience taught me that employers don't believe you're supposed to know everything about your job coming in. It's impossible to know everything about a job, but people aren't comfortable, especially in the workplace, saying that they don't know how to do something. So I really empower people to say, 'Listen, I don't know how to do it,' however it tastes good coming out of your mouth. If I don't know, I will flat out tell them I don't know, but what I am is tenacious, and we're gonna be tenacious together about finding the correct answer. I also tell people to stay curious and always ask questions.