Tyeshia Wilson, MPL

I'm a woman of faith, so honestly, I give God the first glory. I truly feel that through a lot of prayer and my relationship with God, He has really guided me, given me steps and good advice, and brought people into my life to connect with. My faith has played a critical and important role in my career progression. Beyond that, I would say boldness and hard work. I have sought after opportunities with a sense of boldness - affirming myself and being ready, saying 'I can do this.' I'm willing to put in the work, put in the hours, challenge myself, fall flat on my face, and hold myself accountable. Rolling up my sleeves, working with folks, and putting in those hours - that hard work, combined with the bold way I lead and what God has done, that's why I am where I am. And of course, my family support. I have 5 kids, so there's no way I can be a full-time mom and a full-time employee with a very challenging career if I didn't have that external support from my family.

The best career advice I've received is to keep evolving day-to-day. You are your best investment - how much you pour into yourself mentally, spiritually, physically, all of that matters in your evolution as a human. That's what we all want to do at the end of the day - we're all just trying to use our God-given gifts to take care of ourselves, to evolve, and to try to better the world. Always think about ways you can evolve and grow. All of our lived experiences matter - the trials, challenges, the pros, the cons, all of it really, really matters. Figuring out how you can leverage what you experience to evolve as a human will help you not only grow in your professional career, but just as a human, as a person, with how you move in the world. So, always evolve.

My number one advice is please explore philanthropy! Women are thriving in this industry - we lead it. This is an industry that is predominantly led by women, and we are thriving. We're growing, we have lucrative, progressive, impactful, joyful careers. Philanthropy is an option, and I actually just spoke at my son's career day yesterday about this. Please explore philanthropy as a career. It's a sector where you can pull and transfer skills from anywhere - from engineering to being a stay-at-home mom, to organizing, marketing, communications. There is something that can easily transfer over, especially at a time right now where so many people are losing their jobs and asking 'where do I go? Where do I start?' Philanthropy is a career option. Explore it and see where you can park your talents, because it truly is a thriving sector that is very rewarding. It really allows you to create change and be a part of making the world better - and that's not in theory, that's in reality, in real practice.

The philanthropy industry is facing major challenges right now. Number one, we are seeing a lot of attacks on our industry from this administration - from reduced federal funding to harmful narratives around nonprofits being bad stewards of resources, and attacking nonprofits doing impactful DEI work. This administration is outright attacking the nonprofit sector, quite literally. These attacks are wrong, but also bad timing, because we're in a recession. People are losing their jobs, and community needs have increased. Funders are scared and pulling back, freezing funding, and with federal attacks on top of that, this is really limiting the resources that nonprofits need to fulfill their mission and address community needs, which are at an all-time high. We're asking nonprofits to do the absolute most with the absolute least amount of resources right now. The diaper pantries, the shelters, the centers, the nonprofits busing our elders to their appointments - all of those are at risk. If the government doesn't want to fulfill those needs and you're attacking the nonprofits that are fulfilling those needs, then how do those needs get met? The second challenge is that we have some performative charity going on right now, and we don't need charity - we need change. We need bold, courageous funders to do what they say they are going to do. In 2020, we saw a huge reckoning with funders saying they would fund Black-led nonprofits and racial justice work, but the data showed they actually did not. Of the $500-plus billion dollars allocated in charitable funds, only 8% went to communities of color and only 2% went to Black-led organizations. Philanthropy has a contradictory problem - we're supposed to be moving resources and funding boldly and abundantly, but instead we are hoarding resources and being scared to stagnation. Funders are just not doing anything, and not fulfilling their commitments, which is creating disparities. The third thing is that trust is at an all-time low. People don't trust government or systems, but trust in nonprofits is holding steady. However, people don't know exactly how to get involved - they feel the needs are so big that they wonder if their volunteering 2 hours or giving $20 will make a difference. Yes, it will, collectively, if we all play a role right now. I don't think people know about all the ways they can get involved through the five T's - time, talents, treasure, testimony, and ties - which are very critical and needed right now.

The values most important to me are love, faith, family, and authenticity. First is love. I know that I was called on this earth to show love to others and to receive it, to be a vessel of love. I know that might sound foo-foo-y and probably real soft, but it's the truth. The core work of philanthropy is the love of people, the love of others, right? That's why I have a career in humanity - because love is my number one value of how I show up in the world, how I lead, and how I treat others. My faith is also very important. I'm a woman of faith, I'm a Christian, I believe in God. My faith and the principles that I live by - treating each other right, being kind, being obedient - are very important. Family is huge for me. I have 5 amazing, beautiful children - I'm a whole mama of five, so I'm raising the next generation of leaders. I have a husband of 16 years, I just turned 40, and my family is my why, they're my everything, and my biggest support system. The last value is authenticity. I'm just a real person. You're gonna get the same Taisha on this phone call or if Obama was in the room - it's gonna be the same. That's just the truth. Authenticity is super important to me, because there's only one you, there's only one me, so why would I want to be anything other than who I am. There's only one Vanessa, there's only one you friend, so authenticity is super important.