Interview with Raumesh Akbari

Sen. Akbari: Hello Emma this is Raumesh Akbari. How are you doing today?

Ray: I’m so good, how are you?

Sen. Akbari: No complaints that complaining will resolve

Ray: Gotcha. First of all, thank you so much for being able to do this.

Sen. Akbari: Of course of course, my pleasure.

Ray: So this is for a project that I’m doing in my global leadership class. I attend Belmont and am a global leadership studies major, so this is right up my alley. The date is November sixteenth, 2023, and it is 1:04 pm, so if you just want to introduce yourself real quick?

Sen. Akbari: Alrighty my name is Raumesh Akbari, I am a member of the Tennessee State Senate. I represent district 29 in Memphis and Shelby County, and I also serve as the Senate Minority Leader.

Ray: Perfect. I guess I already introduced myself. If you’re ready we can hop right into the questions. It will all be about your leadership and stuff with that.

Sen. Akbari: Perfect, sounds good.

Ray: What part of your background led you to pursue this position?

Sen. Akbari: Honestly it was something, politics and public service was something I really got interested in as a young age. I was one of those weirdo kids. When I first kinda paid attention to my first presidential election, Clinton was being elected, Bill Clinton, and I remember watching a debate with my parents and saying ya know I’s supporting George Bush, I can’t wait to see him get elected, a re-elected president Bush is what I said. And my parents said oh no we support Bill Clinton, I said “why?” They said he’s a democrat, and I said well what does that mean? They said it means he cares about people. And so that kinda stuck with me. My parents for whatever reason did not think cable was the way to go growing up so I watched the World News with my father who was a political science major when he was in college. I remember seeing a member of congress get elected, I was in 6th grade. He was young, he was an attorney, I wanted to be an attorney. And I thought this was a great way to make an impact, like I saw the things he did in the community, how people really looked to him for help, and a lot of the help was not legislative, it was really just community services and constituent services, things like that. So anyway, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer, I knew I wanted to get involved in politics, didn’t know where to start. I had moved back to Memphis, I graduated from law school during the great recession, and so there weren’t a lot of opportunities at that time. I had a couple offers, but didn’t want to go so far from Memphis and my parent’s business was growing so they really asked if myself, and my twin, would come back and help them. I ended up meeting, she’s now deceased but, the late state representative Barbara Cooper who saw I was interested in politics and suggested I could work with her on district issues and possibly shadow her. So I remember going to the legislature, that was June of 2013, and we were up there for a totally different reason of looking at a committee room and representative Cooper said to me, ya know next year, when we resume in January, you could shadow me. I ended up where my predecessor Lois DeBerry ended up passing away from pancreatic cancer. Representative Cooper encouraged me to run, there were seven of us. I ran and won at a margin at 500 votes. And so instead of shadowing Representative Cooper that January, I was actually being sworn into serve with her. So that was kind of my journey into why I wanted to be in that position and kind of my pathway to get there.

Ray: Yeah, I love that, I really like your take on politics and how to go all about that

Sen. Akbari: Thank you

Ray: Now so, In what ways do you feel politics are an effective way to exhibit leadership and enact change?

Sen. Akbari: Well I think automatically when you are an elected official, we have a seat at certain tables that the average person doesn’t have a seat at. Through that position we really are able to exhibit leadership. Not everybody does, but you can by being willing to work with other people, really looking at problems, when you have disagreements with folks try and focus on the issues, don’t really get into any personal attacks, I think that allows you to be more productive, and I think that when you’re able to make something happen for a constituent that’s how you’re showing leadership. When I first got elected I had a woman call up, and she had been trying to get a wheelchair for her mother forever, and my staff made one phone call, and we were able to get a wheelchair delivered to her house. And it’s things like that where, it’s not legislation, but it’s something that can drastically improve someone’s life, and people don’t forget that. I remember another incident when I first got elected when a woman called and said her heater was out, and she was in a house with no heater. And so my mom and I went to Costco, got her a heater, took it to her house and several years later, I was in the Senate at that point, she had a similar issue with her air conditioner, and so people knowing that they can rely on you, they can depend on you, you can kind of cut through red tape, I think that’s an excellent way to exhibit leadership. And the last thing I’ll say on that is really also how you interact with your peers right, there are some people there just to get attention and they just want to get headlines, and I think we see a lot of that on a national level, they’re not really interested In governing. I think when you are really able to operate in a bi-partisan fashion, put your differences aside and focus on what you have in common and your common goals, that is an excellent way that an elected official can exhibit leadership.

Ray: Yeah absolutely, So going, again, on the leadership run, what are a few of the major leadership roles you have held, even leading up to being in the Senate and within you being in the Senate?

Sen. Akbari: So before, when I was in undergrad, I was the President of the Association of Black Students, and so I did that for two years. It was a group of about 800 undergrad students, and we were really able 1, when I became President we had a huge deficit so being able to bring people together, fundraise, have a good time, we were able to bring In some really good speakers including Dr. May Jameson, and Cornell West, and really push the envelope as far as being a respected student group on campus. When I got to law school, My last year of law school I was President of Black Law Student Association, and really just trying to do different things. The Black Law Student Association didn’t participate in certain extracurriculars that people always do in law school, so trying to make sure that we were outside of the box, engaging in community service projects, and specifically around the first election of Barack Obama, we partnered with some actual groups of some lawyers at the time to be on watch in case people were being harassed or were intimidated at the polls, and it was not a partisan endeavor but was certainly aimed at the preservation of democracy and the process of voting. Pretty much that was it, once I graduated from law school I kinda started working immediately, right before I ran for office, Representative Cooper actually put me over a voter registration drive we were planning for certain communities, and then kinda went from there after I got elected

Ray: Yeah absolutely, so kinda following that, which one organization or group that you’ve been a part of has been your favorite to work with or if you wanna say a few it’s okay.

Sen. Akbari: Well I really enjoyed being President of the Association of Black Students when I was in college. I started out as a publicity chair my sophomore year and was very engaged in the organization. I really felt like when I ran for office, ran for that seat, I had two men who ran against me and they kinda tried to use my kindness as to say I wasn’t serious enough, and just being able to participate in the debate process and to win, and then to get into that organization and build a great team of executive board members where we really not only had fun and bring people together, but also to really accomplish some thins that we had been trying to accomplish as a group forever, that was very satisfying for me and it really just completely boosted my college experience. Certainly beyond that I mean being elected to the State House, I would also tell people listen, sometimes I would sit in that chamber and can’t believe that I’m sitting there. I thought that way when I got the house and then felt that way when I got to the Senate. You think about those seats of office and how they weren’t designed for women or people of color to sit in them, and to be able to be elected and to write laws that can impact and to make people’s lives better. That to me is a privilege that I sometimes lose sight of, but I am still thrilled when I think about it, and it is something that I think has been the most satisfying.

Ray: Yeah absolutely, that’s incredibly admirable. You did talk about how you’ve faced some opposition when you were running for that, What are some other major obstacles and challenges that you’ve faced and how are you able to learn from them to make you a better leader?

Sen. Akbari: Say that question one more time.

Ray: What are some major challenges and obstacles you’ve faced and what were you able to learn from them?

Sen. Akbari: I gotchu, okay well for one, when you run against someone, I always keep things positive right, even when, like when I ran for Senate, the person running against me was running this add on a very controversial thing on his internet based show saying vote for the name you can trust, not for the name you can’t pronounce, or he said we need to stop electing these foreigners, we need to elect people from Memphis, which is wild because I was born and raised in Memphis. And so dealing with those negative ads and not trying to push back and trying to stay positive, that wasn’t really tough for me, it was kinda like, I hope that people understand that what this person is talking about is not true. I also think just the fact of running for office, it’s scary right? I mean you’re putting yourself out there because you wanna serve, you want to leave the world a little better than when you found it, and you have to convince people that you’re being sincere in a very short period of time. When you talk to people, you don’t want to come across as a used part salesman, I always say that. For me it’s always been don’t overpromise right, like people are so tired of elected officials that say they’re going to, I’d say it's like the elementary school class president that says we’re gonna have candy and pizza all day, like you’re making these unrealistic promises that set people up to be upset then also not trust the government, and then just the actual work of doing it, I mean we knocked on so many doors, and it’s in the heat of the summer, when I ran for Senate I was like I am so hot I’ve gotten cold, surely that is not a good thing, it’s all difficult, it’s raising money, I mean it’s sacrificing time, it is making sure you are doing the right thing you can, just hoping you can resonate with people, and it all comes down to election day. So yeah, I love connecting with people during the election but the anxiety around it is around the results and all of that, not so much fun

Ray: Yeah I could not imagine, I bet that’s tough, so what does leadership mean to you, like on a personal level?

Sen. Akbari: On a personal level it means, allowing people to be heard an respected, and to know that their voice matters. Like I might not agree with something, I might not like it but at least I can treat that person with respect that to me exhibits real leadership, giving people a seat at the table, so I feel like when you are an elected official or you have a position of leadership, you know, you essentially are the one who is in control, and so it hurts in no way for you to hear other people’s perspectives and to try and make sure you’re not on this lonely island deciding what you think is best as opposed to you know, a bottoms up approach as opposed to top down. And I think also, not regretting how you treated somebody at the end of the day, right, for me it’s about being kind and being open-minded and open-hearted, and kind of showing people through your actions that you are someone who is willing to be a statesperson and who is willing to do the hard work to get to a solution, to have a conversation 101 instead of attacking them in the press, to really try and look at policy and not always try to make it so political, so that to me when you think about it in the perspective of the legislator, that’s what I think as far as leadership, personally again just making sure people feel heard, and focusing on our common humanity and being kind.

Ray: I think that is a very good rule to live by, I’m gonna write that one down. Again, personally, how would you characterize and describe your leadership style?

Sen. Akbari: That’s a good question, well, I want it to be all-inclusive right, like I want people to feel like we’re on a team, it’s not, you’re working for me, you’re doing this for me, I’m doing this for you, we’re on a team. It’s collaborative, it is inclusive, I try and make it as peaceful and non-controlling as possible, so I feel like, if we’re working towards the same goal, I don’t have to control how you get there right, I want you to have the autonomy to do what you need to do I want you to have the freedom to feel like we can have honest discussions and dialogue, I want it to be an environment where you don’t feel scared, scared is not the right word, but anxious, where you feel like it’s more punitive than collaborative. So I think that probably represents, and I want us to have a little fun, ya know, like for me it’s so easy to make someone’s day by giving them a little treat or doing something kind as opposed to you know, not, it takes a small bit of effort create an environment where people want to be and they want to give their best, in support of an organization or an idea.

Ray: Yeah, absolutely, sorry I’m trying to choose which one I want to do next

Sen. Akbari: You’re fine

Ray: As you’ve expressed, and we all know, leaders are there to help turn ideas into action and empower others, what are some of the ways that you accomplish this?

Sen. Akbari: That’s a great question. I think one, I’ve kind of touched on it a lot, is making sure they have a seat at the table, their voice can be heard, and giving them autonomy to kind of do it. I think building together a collaborative team is helpful. And then I also think actually dealing and talking to people that don’t agree with you, right , so like, let’s see what’s possible and that includes having dissenting voices or people who have a different opinion, and recognizing that there is a possibility that they might actually be right. I think that is a good way to kind of get things done, if that answers your question.

Ray: Yeah, absolutely. Do you feel it’s important in your career to delegate and why? And how do you go about it?

Sen. Akbari: Delegating is always hard I think but I think it’s extremely important. One, you can’t do everything yourself, two, you’re not even qualified to do everything, and so I think it’s important to delegate people to their strength, right, like if I know someone is good at a particular thing, it’s important that they know that I feel confident in them being able to do that, and for me to recognize, hey you can’t control everything, and it is important to gauge people and what they’re good at. One, it makes it easier, two, everyone feels included, and three the product is gonna be better in the end anyway.

Ray: Yeah I understand. What has been, or who, it could be a who, has been your greatest influence?

Sen. Akbari: Another great question. Several people but I’d say, I grew up in a small business so my mom and dad are small business owners, and kind of seeing my mom show up in spaces that people didn’t expect her to be in, seeing her, if she didn’t know something to teach herself how to do it, or to engage with people who can help her get to that next point, I think that has been encouraging to me. That like anything is possible, even if you don’t know how to get there, it’s possible to just work and try to figure it out, and to kind of show people, my grandmother always used to say, you can show them better than you can tell them, kind of show them through your actions and how you represent yourself. So yeah I would say my mom, my parents.

Ray: I completely agree with you, I would probably say my mom is my greatest influence so I can relate there. What are two or three actions steps you believe are essential to enable others to be successful?

Sen. Akbari: One I think, being open-minded when you engage with them. Is that what you mean, like how you would try to help someone else to be successful?

Ray: Yeah

Sen. Akbari: Yeah, being open-minded when you engage with them, so that you know, you’re willing to hear their perspective, I think being honest, and using your experience and wisdom to try and help almost mentor slash help them navigate it, and then I think of course your availability, like a lot of times, we all ger so busy, it’s very difficult to keep everything that’s on your plate, but being intentional about checking in with them and giving of your time

Ray: Yeah, absolutely, I can attest to that, you and your team as very easy to work with when scheduling this whole thing so

Sen. Akbari: They are very good, yes

Ray: I am very appreciative of that. So just a few more questions then we’ll wrap up, I’ll be respectful of your time. Given your involvement in so many organizations, what advice do you have for building relationships and trust within these?

Sen. Akbari: I think, one, you kind of know who you connect with right, like there are people that I respect and I work with and then there are people who have become some of my dearest friends, and so I think trusting your instincts is always helpful, if you say you’re gonna do something, sticking to that commitment because then that allows people to trust you, and I think trying to lean into what interests you right, but not be afraid of what you don’t know, and be willing to learn, so like, when I first got elected, I practically went to everything I got invited to because I’m like look, I need to be as well rounded as an elected official as possible, so I think that’s helpful too, but if you want to get to leadership within an organization you’re gonna have to be willing to put in the sweat, equity, and the work so people trust you, they know you understand the organization, and they know that you’re someone who has a vision and an ability to move it forward.

Ray: Yeah, absolutely, So one more question then we can begin to wrap it up. This one is kind of a big one so if you need a minute to kind of think about it, but what do you want your personal legacy to be?

Sen. Akbari: That is something. I think I would want it to be, where people could say, she tried to help folks, like she tried to do the best that she could with what she had, and try to bring people along with her, because, I always tell folks, this is my tenth year in the legislature, if I’m not effective and I’m not having fun, I don’t need to be there, and I don’t want to be there. I want people to day she worked hard, she brought folks with her, she tried to help somebody, she tried to leave the world a better place than it was when she got there

Ray: Absolutely, I like to ask people that question a lot, it makes you think a little bit. Is there ANYTHING else you would like to add?

Sen. Akbari: I’ll just say that the pathway to leadership is a continual one, you’re always learning you’re always growing, you’re always kind of pushing the boundaries of yourself and sometimes your pathway is gonna look a little different, don’t let that get you down or make you think you ‘re not gonna get where you need to be, a lot of times people forget that the road to success is not a straight one, and sometimes when they get to their goal, they forget about kind of the struggles that they had to incur but don’t give up, and keep moving forward of something is important to you, and mentors are extremely important, because a lot of times they have navigated those spaces, and they can help you as well

Ray: Alright and lastly do you have any questions for me about any of this?

Sen. Akbari: No, I just am happy to be a part of it, and I hope that it will help you in your project

Ray: Oh yes, absolutely, I have had a lot of fun with this, I’ve always been interested in government, and I am looking into pursuing something within it so I thought I would try and get someone in the Senate, so thank you so so much for giving me this opportunity, and just being so open to all of it, and easy to work with

Sen. Akbari: Of Course