Interview of Letrice Stanley_November 7, 2020

Letrice Stanley, Transcript, November 7, 2020

Lee: Hello, my name is Kendreya Lee and today is Saturday November 7th and it is 2:15. I am interviewing Miss. Letrice Stanley in her home right now. Miss Letrice is a Music Teacher at Goodlettsville elementary school and the Worship Coordinator at Born Again Church. She is an amazing woman of God. She leads in all areas of her life. She's trustworthy, honest, genuine and caring. I believe she inhibits so many great qualities that classifies her as a positive model of Leadership! Hello Miss Stanley, how are you today? Letrice: Hi Kendreya! I'm Fine. Lee: Firstly, I want to know what does leadership mean or look like to you? Letrice: What does it mean and what does it look like? I feel like those are two questions, so I'll tackle them individually. I think what does it mean, a leader is someone who has influence over people whether that's a small group or large group. If you have influence you are a leader. So, leadership looks like influence. It means that your words mean something, your actions mean something, and you can help or influence people to do something, or to say something, or to be something. Now, leader can be good or negative. So, leadership to me is influence. So, what that looks like is--I guess I Kind of explained what it looks like when I was sharing that its influence in terms of like what you say. So, your words having weight with other people and other people taking your words and applying them to their lives and taking their advice, it looks like your actions people. Maybe there's some mimicking of your actions. Lee: I think that was very great. Were you called into leadership or did you seek it because of held convictions? Letrice: OH I would say neither one. Well maybe you can say I was called but I feel like I've been a leader all my life. I was always chosen to do things you know. I was always picked from the time I was in elementary school, middle school, high school, at work you know there was just something I guess a trait that I had that people trusted me, and that I had like a responsibility. They trusted me with responsibility, so I was chosen to do things that put me in, I guess, influential places. Whether that was the class assistant, even in my home you know I'm like the oldest of my dad's kids. Even though I have an older brother, I was put in charge of making sure I watch the kids. I became a babysitter at an early age. Yeah so, I think leadership is something that I am definitely called to, but the calling is like a part of who I am. And I think overtime I had to embrace the conviction part. Embrace that your yoo you are a leader. So, be mindful of what you do, be mindful of what you say because people are always watching. Or I have found that I can say something, and it will totally affect somebody. Either positively or negatively. And I be like wait a minute that wasn't my intent, or I was just speaking, or just being. And in my speaking, or my being or my acting, it has an influence on someone. The conviction is hey, you are a leader, you've been a leader, it's your character. Now you have responsibility to lead and do the right thing. Lee:You expressed that leadership to you looks like or means someone who has influence, so what or who has been your greatest influence? Letrice: Good Question. I'll definitely say your family, no matter what. I don't care who you are for me. But I think this is a general principle that your family is your first level influence over you because your parents or whoever raises you helps to shape the way you think and the way you do things. And so for me it would definitely be my parents. My mom has been very influential in my personality, my boldness, my outspokenness. Also, my mom is very compassionate towards people like growing up we always had somebody living with us. We always were reaching out to people or helping people in their transition, so it was not uncommon for us to have someone living with us. My mom, we would be in the car for hours while she counseled. I mean she wasn't a licensed counselor, but she was a good friend. She counseled people in need. We were just sitting there like ughh hurry up. But she was always compassionate about people. She always had like bible study in her home. So, when I see my life I can see where, how what I'm doing now or what I have done over the years have been an influence in that. I think my mom also has the biggest music influence over me to because she was a dancer. She loved to respond to music. She's a responder to music. She'll sing along, she'll dance with it. It changes her vibe. So that is my influence from my mom. I think my dad is an influence. My dad is an academic, very intelligent, very smart. He loves puzzles. He loves challenges. He's always doing a word search, every day. My dad has also very much, he's successful. He succeeds at everything that he does. And if he makes a mistake or messes up, he tries again. He's going to succeed. He sticks to it. He is not like a "giver upper". He's very consistent. So, I think that my consistency in things and I think my drive, completion of a task, my success or wanting to succeed, those things come from my dad. My dad has always been superman. Like he's super, he's a super man. He's not superman but a super man. He is a man that is super. Also, my dad is a musician. My dad's a very gifted person. So, like he even at nine he has just been gifted. He has also been a trailblazer. He founded the university gospel choir on his campus in the 70s. He's an entrepreneur. He's written books. He has his own business where he goes to different schools and he teaches kids and he embraces his culture and teaches that to the kids. They write songs. So, he's my musical influence as a creator. As somebody who is gifted it comes from my father. My family is definitely my influence. I think also my church community growing up was a major influence on my life. I grew up in a predominately white, collegiate city. Very liberal and progressive and I grew up the only black often in my class. So, when there were people who looked like me it was at church. And because the university was a prominent influence in the city, most of the people at my church were in the city because they were affiliated with the university in some way. Both of my parents met at the university. They end up staying because they went to school in the city. Many of the people in my church, came to my church because they attended my university or worked at the university. Any culture that was in my city was based on the affiliation with the university. So, church was a place where people spent being the only in their corporate life and their educational life and their spiritual life and their social life, church was a place of community, of not being the only. It was very influential on me. Because of our church's influence or because of all the people coming together, Martin Luther King Jr., no Martin Luther King S. came and visited our church. His dad not him. Bishop Tudor Bismarck from south Africa, not bishop Tudor, Bishop Tutu. Excuse me Bishop Tudor Bismarck is from here. But Bishop Tutu was somebody who was very Philanthropic. I saw him. Because of my church's influence, money was raised for me to go to DC 91 and DC 94 where I was a campus crusade for Christ. I actually got chosen to go meet with President Bill Clinton. Because of my church's affiliation, I have sung at inaugurations for governors, for secretaries of states, superintendents of education for the states. I have also had; I've just had a lot of opportunities. Tremendous opportunities. My church also is the place where they groomed me to be a leader. Every second Sunday of the month they put the youth and the young adults in charge of the service, so we knew, we learned how to stand before people. We learned how to conduct the service or lead a group of people in service. That was our youth ministry so much so that once we kind of grew, we started our own choir. We no longer wanted to be in the children's choir, and we founded the young adult choir. We started that. Once we started the young adult choir, one of our leaders end up being pregnant and she needed to take a maternity leave after she had the baby. They put me at 17 in charge of the choir so, like that was my first time leading a group of people in a choir. My church was an influence over me. My choir director Carla Gains was very influential. Dr. Gloria Latson-Billings attended church with me. She is to me, the Oprah of education right now. That influence spilled into my adulthood and the opportunities that I've had to had a chance to experience. I would say my family and my church family have been my two biggest influences. Lee: I don't know. I just think you already answered the next question but if you wanted to expand more on How did growing up in Wisconsin shape you as a person, leader, musician? Letrice: Yeah, I can totally expound! Lee: Yes Letrice: Let me say this my freshman year of college, I went to Hampton University. Which is a historical hbcu in Hampton, Virginia. And it was important for me to go to an all-black school because I grew up in all whiteness. But what I will tell you about growing up in all whiteness, is that I had the advantage to navigate any space that I'm in. Being the only, growing up in Wisconsin first of all, nobody knows where it is. Well now they do because of the election 2020. Everybody knows Wisconsin. The last two elections, the state of Wisconsin has been a swing state. So, now people know where it is on the map. Now people associate it with me as being from Wisconsin. People know Wisconsin because of football sports, like big10, the Badgers, as well as NFL's Packers. Then you have also the brewers for baseball. So, they know it in that way but most black people that I've talked to, they don't even know where Wisconsin is. And they call it "Wesconsin" like we in the west somewhere. That is not the case. But growing up I had an amazing education. I mean I remember in elementary school we went to Cherokee marsh and we learned about ecosystems. Again, I was always chosen for things so in middle school I was chosen to be a part of the name change committee. Where we went to interview prominent minorities in the community so that our school could be changed into that name. There was a group of educators at that time when I was in school, who understood that while we're receiving a great education there were some disparities and as a result they created spaces for black, Latino, Asians, they call it "Ahanna". I think it was Asian, Hispanic, African American, Native American. Yeah, they call it "ahanna". Ahanna was like a network where we had conversations about race. We had our own prom so we could be represented and maybe be a king or queen. Because that wouldn't have been the case at our perspective schools. It opened my eyes, being in Wisconsin opened my eyes to disparities and difference. Because when I went to church or how I grew up in my home, I knew that was the culture to identify me. But when I was at school, I knew that I was different. Yeah, I was always different. Understanding disparities made me wan to stand up for people. Having those conversations at the ahanna gatherings or leadership conferences, gave me the words and the tools to stand up for justice. And seeing differences also helped to value that I was unique in different spaces. As I said initially, because I'm from Wisconsin and growing up in all whiteness, I can navigate any setting. You want me to be professional, I can be professional. You want me to talk to any group of people, no matter their race, no matter their economic status, I don't have any problem. I can talk to a stranger on the street. I could talk to a business corporation president. I feel like being from Wisconsin has prepared me to navigate any situation. Lee: I think that just speaks volume on who you are as a person and your leadership. Shifting the focus off of how these influences have shaped you, how do you characterize your own leadership style. Like how do you view yourself? Letrice: Most people, well how I view myself. Let me answer the question. I want to be authentic. Whatever situation I show up in I want you to get me authentically. I don't want to put on a mask and pretend to be something because of politics or bureaucracy or because there's this culture. In whatever setting I'm in, I want to show up authentically myself. And I think when anybody shows up authentically themselves, they reach authentically. People will always hear me say "what comes from the heart reaches the heart". Now my authenticity often comes off very passionate, so some people don't know how to take me because I'm very like I mean what I say I say what I mean. You know people could think like oh is she angry, is she upset. They're always trying to figure me out. My authenticity also shows a very honest so I'm not gonna lie to you if I don't like it, I don't like it. If I like it, I like it. If it's ugly, it's ugly. I mean it's my opinion but it you're gonna get the truth. My authenticity also well okay that I would say I like my leadership is authentic. I think my leadership is also very discerning. I say that because you cannot treat every situation the same and you cannot treat all people the same. So, you have to discern how to navigate the people, the audience, the task, the reactions. I think so discerning. I think the other aspect of my leadership--so I would say authentic, discerning. I'll also say it has standards or value. And once I establish like a standard, whether that is like okay no quitting here, I'm not going to let you go below that standard. Yeah you know, oh nope this is a safe place. So, I will defend whatever is the established standard, I will defend it. That shows up too like for instance I currently work at Goodlettsville elementary school where the values or the principles are responsible, safe, kind and respectful. I am going to defend those four. So, when I show up in the classroom that is the standard that's been set by the principal, that is the standard that I'm going to expect out of each and every one of these here students. Lee: right Letrice: And so, if you come up against that standard you may feel some kind of way because I don't let you, no that's the standard Lee: order Letrice: that's the yeah order yeah Lee: you're considering your leadership style and expressing your leadership style and who you are as a person, what would you say your professional strengths are and your professional weaknesses are? Letrice: Professional strengths. Oh, I'm a good communicator. Again, I can navigate any situation really. I can talk to anybody, a communicator. I definitely know that I'm influential. Like I don't know how I get influenced sometimes but I know that once I say something then people all of a sudden start like flocking to me or like gravitate towards me. Or believe what I say, or they push me out to be this spokesperson sometimes. So, I would say influence. The other strength I think I have is I think I know how to be spontaneous or improvise. The lights cut out okay guys we're gonna play a game. You know I can handle. Yes, I'm spontaneous and improvise. I think lastly, I think because of my consistent character it doesn't waver even in the middle like I'm peaceful. Or like I'm like even kill. So, like I mean I've been in a bank robbery at the bank and they were like you just went into action you just went into mode. Everybody else was panicking, I was just like okay we gotta do this, we gotta do this, okay here all the cards you gotta pass out and do all your jobs. You've trained for this folks! Then, I'll probably experience the emotion of it later. So, I'm a facts first person. Now that could also be a weakness too because I'm not feeling. I don't feel it until afterwards. I guess a weakness could be after the moment then I start feeling it and I might kind of I don't always deal with my feelings in it because I'm always operating in the facts. So, sometimes I compromise my feelings as a leader and when I compromise my feelings as a leader sometimes that spills out to people as being mean or hard. I definitely can work on my tenacity. They've been telling me that like all my life. I've been like five minutes late or I'll wait the until the deadline. Part of that is a fear of failure. I'm a perfectionist which to me I've overcome I've been overcoming that. That is probably area of weakness too. Fear failure which shows up as perfectionism. Lee: I love the confidence and like I know that it took you, you might have not always been like. I know that you've always been a leader but just now like not worrying about what anybody says or thinks. I really love that aspect of you and your like leadership. But, with success also comes failure at times. So how have you learned from obstacles and challenges that you have faced? Letrice: Well, first of all I think everything is a lesson. I think you can learn from every situation. I think it shows you, you and it shows you others. So, I think I've learned how to learn that I'm not in control. I've learned that try again. I gotta try again. I've learned to stay in my lane. Sometimes my failures or obstacles have come because I tried to do somebody else's job or had an opinion on something. No no no no, stay in my lane. Do what I'm supposed to do, my job. I've also learned to value me too because I've learned that people will use you when they know you can do something. Then also you feel stressed because you can't do what your job is because you're doing everything else. And then you fail. If I just did my job. I also learned to speak up for myself. I think it's interesting that you mentioned being confident. Because I feel like I've always been confident because I've always taken care of my responsibility. I haven't always had self-confidence. I've been confident in my performance but not in myself. Which has been a major war on my life. So, you're right that in this season I've come into some congruency with my performance confidence and my self-confidence. But that came out of learning to not care about what other people think. That no matter how good you do, people are still gonna make up stuff about you. Not everybody wants you to succeed. Yeah, I hope that answered your question Lee: You answered my question. It was really great. Okay. Another shift of focus. We have all been experiencing this pandemic. Some of us have learned new hobbies and some of us have also learned new things about ourselves. What has this pandemic taught you about yourself as a leader? You could talk about anything you've done during the quarantine or this summer or whatever. Letrice: Well I tell you. I had no clue that the pandemic was gonna bring kind of some success to me that it has in my leadership. Interestingly enough because of a year before, let's see nine months before the pandemic I was unemployed. As a result of being unemployed, I was quarantined, unofficially quarantined. I mean I was at home for weeks or months with no job, trying to figure out what to do with my life. I found out about zoom before that, that during that time. I went to a conference; I was like I decided I was going to write my book. So, I had already experienced in quarantine or I already experienced in my unemployment what people were starting to feel in quarantine. By the time I got into quarantine I was like oh we need to have meeting, let's do zoom! I already know zoom. I already had to do this virtual. I've been on here. I was able to probably help people navigate by being first consistent. Second, I wasn't anxious, I just had this peace. Because I had already been through the anxiety, through my unemployment nine months before. So, quarantine provided an opportunity for me to provide a safe place in our bible study, our virtual bible study. Bread for life virtual bible study which has been going on for 33 weeks. Since March 23rd, 2020, Monday through Friday two times a day from 10 30 a.m central standard time to 8 p.m at 8 a.m at 8 p.m central standard time. Five days a week, for the entire time. even with people going back to work an.it has provided a place for people navigate the quarantine. To find peace, to find deliverance, to find their hobbies. So, the quarantine for me has grown my influence. Now I got people calling me, they aint never called me before. People asked my advice. I've been included in conversations that I've never been included before Lee: I also think it's been really cool to be in such close contact, over zoom, with people from like all over the place. I think that is a result of what God has instilled in you as a leader. I know that you're very like we love God so, like how has your relationship with God affected your leadership and strengthening it and nurturing it? Letrice: Well God is love so, his perspective on people and things is all based on love. I try to incorporate that especially when I'm challenged with difficult people. Because when I tell you leadership is also people management. People management is not an easy thing. But, because of my faith, because I've embraced my beloved identity which means no matter what, God loves me. No matter how successful or how unsuccessful, no matter my strengths and my weaknesses, no matter what, I'm beloved of God. Because I receive that I can now have grace and compassion and love towards others even when they're difficult. It really helps with my people management. Lee: Yes, I definitely see that especially with patience. God gives us patience. This is the last question we've talked about for a little minute within our church. What do you want your legacy to be? Letrice: I wrote this affirmation that I have for the last four years. Required almost every student that has come through my class to say. The affirmation is I am powerful. My power starts with how I think. My power ends with how I act. How I think and how I act is my choice. My choices have consequences. Consequences are good or poor. When I make a good choice, I keep my power. When I make a poor choice, I give my power away. Today I choose to keep my power by thinking the right things and making the right choice. I am powerful. I tell my students if you don't ever remember a song that I ever taught you, if you never remember my name but you always remember that you are powerful, I've done my job. So, my legacy is would be, I would want it that when people have encountered me they left knowing that they can do it, that they have power, that they are seen, they are heard and they have a choice. That's the seeds I try to plant. Lee: Before we end, I would like you to give just a word of advice for anyone who's listening about being a leader or just trying to lead and navigate through life. Letrice: All right so, initially when you just said that my thought is, "okay who's the audience", but I'll tackle all the audiences. If you're a professor or a teacher or somebody who's already leading, I guess my advice to you would be what are your principles for leadership. You know, is your leadership consistent or is it wavering? If it's consistent, are you able to identify your standards or your principles of leadership? Begin to lead from there and how you can enhance that, how can you grow in your leadership. Always seek an opportunity to grow and enhance and to become better. If you're a student, you know maybe you're Kendreya's age and you're just trying to navigate through life and trying to survive undergrad. I want you to know that you might even be a leader and you don't even realize it. I would love for you to take inventory. Take inventory on your friends, your decisions and begin to see where you have influence. Because we all I think have a bit of influence, you know. After you've taken your inventory, decide whether or not you want to be a leader or not. Decide if you want the responsibility. Because you're going, you have leadership potential whether not you believe it or not. Decide whether you want to take the responsibility of it. I think that's important. You gotta go? Lee: No, I was just sitting here listening. I think everything you said has been very moving and powerful and even influential to me. I just want to thank you for speaking and just sharing and being authentic. You're really just amazing leader. If you have anything else, you would like to say you can but if not, I just want to say thank you. Letrice: Oh well thank you. I thank you, yeah thank you. It's been great I appreciate it.