Interview with Leah Sherry, November 28, 2019

Makenzie Lawson: Alright so if I can just get your name and your job position at Turnip Green?

Leah Sherry: Yes, so I'm Leah Sherry, the executive director at Turnip Green Creative Reuse.

ML: Can you tell me a little bit about Turnip Green and what your mission is?

LS: Sure! So TG is a nonprofit here in Nashville, TN, and our mission is fostering creativity and sustainability through reuse. Basically we're trying to separate reusable materials from landfills and trying to get them back into the hands of people who need them.

ML: Which is great, and you guys are a pay what you can organization, aren't you?

LS: Yeah, so the way we live our mission is through four ways: we have a creative reuse center. It operates similar to a thrift store. People can donate items that are really hard to recycle or aren't necessarily accepted by more traditional thrift stores. So you can use us both to donate, and you can shop for materials, pay what you wish. The other three areas, we have green galleries which features artists who use repurposed materials. We have an open studio space where anyone is welcome to come and create, and we have educational outreach programs that teach sustainability through creative methods.

ML: I've gotten to volunteer in your store through Belmont University and you guys work very hard, I can tell.

LS: Thanks!

ML: So you're the exec of TG. What does that entail?

LS: Oh so much. TG has grown so much in the past 2-3 years. We thought we'd slow down by now, but we're still going, which rules! But through the growth, my job has changed quite a bit ---literally even month to month it's evolving because we've gotten to grow our staff. Whenever I first started I was doing everything from manning the shop, to taking in people's donations, to writing grants, to doing payroll, teaching classes, going out and pitching them so people would sign up for them. So I was basically doing everything with just the few other people who worked with us. We all wore all the hats. But now we have a gallery coordinator, a volunteer coordinator, 72 teachers so I haven't taught a class in 6 months, shop staff of 12 to take in and sort. So I'm doing a lot of admin work, checking in on those staff members and also going into the community and telling people about TG. Trying to present at conferences, do interviews like this, and secure funding so we can continue to grow our operations so we can keep them not only big, but very efficient and build a strong foundation so what we're doing lasts a long time.

ML: Have you always been invested in environmental work?

LS: Yeah I have been! I like to tell people that when I was a kid, I grew up in kind of an interesting situation. I was raised communally at this place called the Piney Compound. It was started by my grandparents, and they and the rest of my family did a really great job of teaching us the importance --I was the oldest of 8 kids that lived there, there were a bunch of us-- they all taught us living off the land and taking care of our resources and valuing them. I grew up in the woods, and I started a litter pickup club in elementary school. I even made business cards and got as many of my friends as I could to sign up, so I think I've always been invested in taking care of the planet just because it was instilled in me from such a young age.

ML: That's wonderful. Were you a part of TG at the start, or did you find it and fall in love with it?

LS: So that's kind of funny too, if we take a step back. I was teaching art in public schools, which is great, but very hard, because teaching is very hard. I have all the respect in the world for teachers. I was just one of those victims of teacher burnout. I made it 4 years and I was like "I have to do a career change, this is just too much for me!" So I moved to Nashville and just wanted a job for a little bit where I didn't have to think much! I needed a sort of cleansing, so when I got a job at Trader Joe's, which was so fun, it was the most fun job I ever had. I was the cashier for this lady, who turned out to be the founder of TG, and I always tell people she tricked me because she was being so humble. She was with her sweet little kiddos, and we talked about how I used to teach art and I missed working with kids like hers --this is all literally happening while I'm ringing her up! So I didn't think much of it but then they started writing me letters to Trader Joe's! These really sweet little letters and the manager would give them to me like "Haven't read this, let me know if it's anything creepy." So I opened the letters, and they were so sweet from this family, inviting me to go check out this place where they volunteer, which ended up being TG, so I did, and I fell in love with it. And at that time there were only a few part time people, a couple volunteering. A very small organization. But I checked it out and thought wow, this is cool, so you volunteer here? And she says, "Well, no, I tricked you! I'm actually the founder and the president of the board, and we're really wanting to put in some education. I think that's the future of TG, and it seems like you're the perfect person! You used to be a teacher and you love the environment, so do you want to work here, like, tomorrow?" And I said okay! I started working there, and fell in love with it, and just went all in honestly. Worth investing my time in, so I worked a ton to start things with her, and the board and the rest of the staff, and that's when it all started booming.

ML: What a way to get started!

LS: What's really cool is that most of the people we meet is not through the traditional post a job and take an interview --we do a little, but really it's when people come to a program or a class and sometimes you meet a future TG employee, you just know! So we snag them and invite them to our lives, like I was snagged, so we have an organic way of building our community, which I love.

ML: Sounds like it works. I love that you find people organically, because then you know you find people who are dedicated to your mission rather than finding people who want a part time job. So you were part of the founding of the educational programs, can you tell me more about that? I find it to be one of the more interesting aspects of TG.

LS: We had, whenever I started, a little bit of education already starting to happen, very organically. We had an afterschool program where artists take stuff that's hard to recycle and they go in and make crafts with the kids. This was in a very high need, priority school, so it was a nice partnership. Then we have a few library programs, which was the same thing, taking materials and showing people how to use them in a creative way. Whenever I was teaching in the public schools, I had started developing this curriculum about all these different artists, it really focused on art history and art methods, but it was essentially like TG: it was all using sustainable supplies. I was like, nature is important and artists make so much waste so why aren't we teaching kids to make art while still being environmentally responsible? I think my skillset came in knowing how to write a curriculum, a lesson plan, and speak that language when approaching different schools. I could say hey, this is hitting all of your standards. We aren't going to be a group coming in and taking away your teaching time, we are actually going to be supporting your classroom. I know it for a fact, because I was teaching just like you. So we'll be a support, not a hindrance, to what you're trying to do. That I think, added up. People got really into that, and we really grew. We got a ton of after school programs, we became the largest vendor for Nashville Public Library --so we had more programs than any other company. We had teachers going in almost every day to different branches. And through that too, I think what really helped, is we started working with Metro Public Works. A few of us worked together to write a lesson plan, because we realized in Nashville, it can be really confusing to try to recycle. And the answer when something is confusing on a large scale, is education. It's not more rules, it's just educating people. We wrote a lesson plan we can teach to anyone from 5 years old to 105. We brought it in to MPW and said we have a team of teachers, we can teach the city and our people how to recycle. It's going to save you money, because people won't contaminate the bins anymore, can you let us maybe try it? They did, they funded those programs and they ended up going so well, we signed a contract with them. So we kind of have two approaches for education: we do the waste reduction side (recycling, compost, litter pickups) even though we use creativity and art supplies to teach it, and then we have our after school and library programs where we're really going heavy on the creative side but we're still teaching them don't waste, use recycled materials, this is all reused materials, etcetera.

ML: That's wonderful. I really hope you can reach out to those kids and trigger those experiences that really shape them later on in life.

LS: Yeah! What's nice is that we have a 5 year contract with MPS, as well --we actually just signed that last month--but we'll be able to work with a lot of these kids ideally for 5 years in a row. One thing that happens, it's usually not the nonprofit's fault, like a funding issue, it's really hard to stay connected to the kids you're trying to serve for different reasons. If you can stay with them5, 10 years and just really help them grow, that's where you're going to get the most amount of impact so now we have that opportunity to that. The schools are super great about helping us track data to make sure we actually are making an impact. I think we're doing great but you know, that's just my little opinion. We need to put numbers to it to make sure, and they've already started to see really great outcomes and we're just getting started. So that excites me.

ML: Amazing. Great influence on these kids. Definitely your grandparents, but has there been anyone else in your life that has given you the influence towards the goals you're working for?

LS: For sure my grandparents. I think because I was raised communally, I have so many people and stories in my life. It's just being able to have that freedom and bravery they instilled in me to try everything, live everywhere, meet new people and figure out what everyone in the world is doing and take those bits and apply them to my own life. It might be a cop out answer, but it's a collective sort of inspiration from so many people and places. I'd say I have one "she"-ro [pun on "she hero"] here, she's Kelly, the founder of TG. She is one mover and shaker, I don't know if I've met anyone like her in my life! I don't know how she does everything she does and stays so motivated. She has started several very successful nonprofits, built a community within Nashville and beyond, it's so impressive. She's the person you call if you need any random thing or have a question, she's like "I know a guy! I know a girl!" But just passion and dedication --there's nowhere in the world like TG, and it's her brainchild! I still work with her regularly, and if I didn't have her, I would've burned out or given up, honestly.

ML: Sounds like an amazing woman, for sure. Has she had influence on your leadership style? What would you consider it to be?

LS: Oh boy. I like to think I'm not the micromanager type. There's a lot of room for creative approaches in our organization, so I try super hard to say "This is what the outcome needs to be, do what you think is best to get there." And when I notice things getting off track, "Alright let's go back over this way!" I think communication is the most important thing I've learned about being a leader. I have manager meetings every Monday morning at 9am. I say, you can't miss these because these are your real 'get on the same page,' check in on our goals. If we don't communicate, we get really off track, and it not only hurts us, but it's going to negatively impact our community and that's not right. We do regular check ins, I'm at the shop and at the programs, trying to keep my pulse on things, but I started to find out especially with our very creative team: I can't put them in a box. I've got to let them be innovative and let them come up with methods on their own. And I've found they come up with better ideas than I have most of the time! I would say that's it. Setting the outcome, monitoring it, letting them roll with it and have ownership and empowerment in our organization.

ML: That sounds like a very strong leadership style, but have you found it gives you any professional weaknesses?

LS: I think one thing with us is, we are all so invested in the mission that it doesn't really feel like work. It feels like family and community. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want it any other way, but something that happens in that environment is that it's easy to turn that work-life balance into work-life integration, and not really nail it in a healthy way. A lot of us are really close, and sometimes the lines are blurred with "We're all friends!" But if there's a serious situation, or HR issue, I have to turn back into boss. "I know we're friends, I know we go to dinner together, but I need you to do this." Or if I'm not meeting my goals, I need the board of directors to tell me that. I think that would be the biggest thing, but we're all doing a good job of learning how to navigate those waters together.

ML: Sounds like it. Do you have any advice for building relationships and trust in a work environment?

LS: Yeah! I use this method called radical candor, which has been a game changer for our staff. Have you heard of it? It's really great. There's a whole book on it, written this woman, but she worked at Google and Apple, and basically her takeaway from all these big companies was that if you're not direct, and honest, things aren't going to get done in the right way or its going to take a lot longer and be more complex. So she developed this framework called radical candor. And it not only helps you as a leader but as teachers, managers and staff to figure out how to care about everyone on our team, but also be direct and push us forward. We tend to hang around in the quadrant of "I care so much about you that I'm not going to tell you because I think it might hurt your feelings, even though you need to hear it." We never want to be on that side, but we also don't want to be so far on the other end of the spectrum where "I know what needs to get done, this does." It's a lot more militant and you end up being a jerk. You know those bosses where it's like do you even care about me? Do you realize I'm human? So that framework has really helped us stay in the middle, that healthy spot, and sometimes when we have to have those hard conversations, we preface it with "Look, I'm going to be very, radically candid with you now," and then we feel like it's a safe space, because, oh yeah, that's what we use to keep each other moving forward. I would say that's been very helpful for our team.

ML: Sounds like it, and it also sounds like you value compromise.

LS: Exactly!

ML: As an artist for the majority of my life, I know firsthand that people can butt heads a lot, creative differences, so how do you, as an administrator, find compromise when they can't make it work?

LS: Good question. I think we're still learning on that one. I think the benefit to having so many branches of our different areas of service, we can generally be pretty creative ourselves. If person A wants to do this kind of project, or this exhibition, or work with this artist, and person B wants to do this, we usually have room to make all those ideas work. It may be like, "You want to do this project with this group, but that's not going to work, so here's a different school and you can do it with them." We can move things around, in a way, but there are times, unfortunately, you have to ask what's our goal, and if it doesn't line up, we don't have room for it. It's taking situation by situation, and if we can make it work, great, but if not, time to keep rolling!

ML: Sounds like it. As a general rule, but you specifically, it seems like you're big on taking these ideas and turning them into actions and empowering the people around you. Do you have any advice on that for future leaders?

LS: Really focus on keeping your mouth shut, even though it's so hard! And taking a step or two back. Let people succeed but also let them fail, and then be there when they start to fall to help them back up. I've learned the hard way, many times, I know the way I want all the systems to work. I have my methods. And sometimes we bring in new people, and they start doing things differently, and sometimes it works out. Sometimes I can see it's not going to. So I try super hard to remember to let them live through it, or they're never going to learn or get better. It's so hard as a boss because you know how to do it, but it works a lot better if you let people do it for themselves. And you're always there for support whenever they need you.

ML: Learning from experience, especially for my younger generation, is what works. We learn through experience and don't like when other people tell us.

LS: We have the advantage of having so many teachers working with kids and I can make that connection for them. You don't go and do every single project for the kids. They have to try, they have to mess up, and try again. And that's life. Same exact thing with any job or position, especially creative nonprofit. We all fail. I fail all the time! Just keep going, do better.

ML: Do you have any advice on learning from failure?

LS: I've started doing, recently, it was an idea a manager brought to my attention about how to better achieve goals --she said, "I want to do better about taking 15 minutes a week, just sitting and reflecting on things that didn't go well and writing them down and how to make them better." Self-reflection is a great idea that is not incorporated into many jobs. I've never required anyone to have reflection time. I decided we try it together! Every Friday, we have reflection time individually and then we all email each other our notes, for accountability. And that has been so awesome. I'm putting it on paper, my failures, and that makes it a real problem I can solve. It's not going away until I come back later. It's really nice to make it real and workshop it from there.

ML: Definitely understand that. I value materializing problems to solve them. Would you consider that enabling yourself towards the future, giving yourself active problems to work on? Do you have any other --here it calls them "action steps"--steps to enable others towards their goals?

LS: One thing, I'm not sure if it answers the question, but I work hard to talk to the whole staff about how I know their whole life isn't TG. I know it's work. Everyone has a side hustle. No one has one job anymore, so we have musicians, artists, nannies --all kinds of people with different talents, so I try hard to support those things. Use our advantage of having so many community connections to hook them up with new opportunities. A very easy example, we had this staff member Gracie for a really long time, super talented musician. So talented she had to leave TG to do music more than full time. But while she was working here, in our reviews, I always asked what I can do to help support the rest of your lives, and she said music. She was trying to make music and get it out there. And we work with a lot of venues, CMT, so any time they would request a workshop, I'd say Gracie was working it, and tell she was networking while she was there, and promoting herself. Any time we would meet with a venue, we'd pitch Gracie. Need an opener? Gracie. So that's how we try to use out community connections to empower our staff. I feel like if they're happier in their personal lives, they'll come to work happier, and that benefits everybody in the organization.

ML: For sure. If it wasn't clear enough, you definitely value the community you made there, and TG is more than just a store, it's a citywide community. A tree, a network of branches all working together.

LS: What I love is it's a bit Island of Misfit Toys here. People say in a lot of different ways, they haven't felt a safe space quite like TG. It's weird, but it's warm and inviting, and you can meet people here who have things in common with you. It might not be as easy to find at a typical, normal working event.

ML: Do you think your Island of Misfit Toys feel aids in your creative outreach because you have so many different perspectives?

LS: For sure! It's been awesome to see all the different minds make TG what it is. TG isn't mine, it's a bit of everybody's. I'm at the shop now and I'm looking around, and I see these scrap packs that Deborah created, I can look around and see a piece of every person. And that's refreshing. If it was only, mine, my goodness. It definitely wouldn't be this cool!

ML: Now these are big questions, bear with me, but where do you want TG to be in the next 5-10 years?

LS: That's a good question! I would love for TG to be involved with every school in MPS. We've partnered with 60, but I would love every student who goes through an MPS to know what TG is, and the importance of being creative and sustainable. A big one is that we want to own a building. Currently we rent, and there's a lot of limiting factors when you rent, so we want that asset and we want it to be bigger, better, in everything. We want a big classroom, a bigger shopping space. If you build it, they will come, and we want to be able to do so much more. If we have the space and we don't have to worry about moving every few years. I'd so those are the biggest things. Owning a building and touching every child through MPS.

ML: Sounds like big goals. More personally, what do you want your legacy to be, both in your own life and through TG?

LS: Oh goodness. A similar answer for both TG and personal. I would love to not be needed at TG. I feel like if I do my job right, things will rockin' and rollin', systems will be in place, people will be invested, and it will carry on without me. Hopefully then people will remember Leah was a part of that! Same thing for my personal life. I always have new things I'm starting, new projects with new ideas and people --feels like my brain is always buzzing with ideas! I would love if everyone I know thought "Leah, she always has the ideas! Then there she is, on her next idea!" But I want them to be impactful too. Growing up in that communal lifestyle, I met all kinds of travelers and people who hopped around. I want that kind of freedom, but with an impact.

ML: I love that. It kind of reminds me of Nanny McPhee. Do you have any final wisdom towards the future leaders, especially the ones in the environmental sphere of things?

LS: One thing I hear a lot is people starting to give up hope. I know why. Social media and the news is full of horrible things happening to our planet. WE see the photos of the turtle with the plastic straw, or the effects of plastic on our sea creatures and it's traumatizing and disheartening! A lot of times what I hear is "what can I do? I can't fight this big monster." And that's very true. No one can do it by themselves. I can't do it by myself, you can't do it by yourself, and that's just the reality. But I think there's a lot of power in just, I know its cliché, but not giving up. If we give up, we know the outcome. So we might as well try. It's amazing to see what happens when you band together. The power in numbers thing is very true. When you can get people excited, empowered, and on the same page, willing and ready to act, that's when we see real change. I fortunately get to see that every day. I understand people who don't have my job, they're more swayed by sad images and the sad news of what's going on, but I get to meet with tons of people every single day who are really trying and fighting so hard and those people are there, and everyone doing their bit can make a huge difference. I don't want anyone to stop. It's all worth it.

ML: Any impact is an impact. I really commend your faith to the mission you guys have at TG. How can regular, everyday people, especially us college kids get involved with TG?

LS: We have a lot of different ways to get involved. You already volunteered which is a need we will always have. We receive over 100 lbs of material ever hour we are open. That number continues to increase, so it's all coming in, but we really want to make sure it's getting sorted, neatly displaying it so it looks valuable --we don't want people coming in and thinking hey, that looks like trash, because that's not what it is but that's how they'll treat it. We always need volunteers to help organize and sort the material donations. We also have a need for internships and volunteers in a lot of our school programs, so if there are college students interested in pursuing a career in education, it's a great way to get some experience and work with some awesome kids and teachers. We have all kinds of different committees too. I say one thing that I wish I was better at is all the social media and technology stuff, but I know that's a huge value that people younger than me have, so that's something great about volunteer positions. We're also hiring all the time! As we're continuing to grow, if there's anyone interested in a career in sustainability or the arts world, check our job postings. Lastly, spreading the word of TG! Exposure is very valuable. We want people to know what we're doing, and we want to help them, and for them to help us back. Word of mouth is super important.

ML: Thank you so much for this interview! Your mission is incredible and I've firsthand seen how hard you work for it.

LS: Thank you, thank you so much.