We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kerryann Tomlinson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kerryann below.
Kerryann , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?
Absolutely! My parents made me the woman I am today. Everything they did had intentionality. Although both my parents are dead, daily I see glimpses of them in me. I see them in how I live, how I make decisions, the things I do and say. There is a running joke with my sibling, when we do or say something mum or dad would, we call each other on it, saying that was a “mum-ism” or “daddy-ism.”
Plus, you can’t miss how much I physically resemble them both.
My parents showed me how to live an authentic life, being fully myself, without apology. My dad was a visionary; some would say a dreamer and he always held true to that side of himself, regardless of the obstacles or people he was up against.
My mum showed me how to be a servant leader, the best version of myself and give my all to anything I do, whether a project, relationship or job. She was the hardest worker I knew and she was always serving others in some capacity. If she was responsible for something, you bet that it would get done and it would have excellence written all over it.
Through my parents, I saw how much people mattered! They showed me that people should always be treated with love, care, and respect. In my childhood community everyone knew my dad’s name, not because he was famous, but because he was kind and generous. If someone needed something, my dad was always their first stop and he always showed them love and kindness. My mum was beloved by so many people. She poured out love by always celebrating others. She loved to cook and bake and always made people feel special through feeding them. If someone needed a ride or a shoulder, my mum was right there every time. People always tell me how much they felt loved by my mum.
My strong identity also came from my parents. They taught me to be proud of my heritage, proud of our home country (Jamaica), to celebrate our people, our food and our traditions. I am a woman of color, identifying as multi-cultural from the Caribbean. My roots are incredibly important to me and they have also determined my challenges as a leader in our society. Every time I show up in a leadership circle, I show up as my full self and I cannot (nor would I want to) remove the color of my skin nor will I deny my womanhood or femininity. This strength of identity includes defining what others call me and what I will answer to. My name is Kerryann. It is not Kerry; it is not Ann. Ann is not my middle name. My first name is Kerryann. It is one word, with a small “a”. I share that because they taught me names are important and I have spent my entire life correcting people for calling me names other than Kerryann. They took great care in choosing my name and did so with specific intention. I love my name and take much pride in it. It is one of my identifiers and symbolizes me, just like the color of my skin. I try to celebrate who I am daily and teach young women of color to do the same.
But the most important thing my parents taught me was to live a life committed to Jesus Christ. That Christianity was not just about going to church; it was about having a relationship with Jesus and living his commandment to love my neighborhood. My parents were living examples of how to love my neighbor throughout my life.
My values are evident in all facets of my life because of how my parents lived their lives out loud; they modeled living a life for Christ for their children and others to experience. If you knew them, you knew they loved Jesus and loved others.
I intentionally work on keeping true to myself and my values, giving more than 100% at anything I do, treating people with kindness and love, working hard and doing my best. When making decisions as a leader, I always ask myself, how will this impact the team and what are unintended consequences of this decision for team members? These questions ground me when I am faced with difficult decisions and help me to stay committed to the values I was taught and now uphold for my life as an adult.
I remember once when my mum and I were talking about a problem with a college supervisor. They told me I had to report an inflated number of attendees at an event because it would garner more press. I told my mum about the directive and asked for her advice. She asked me, “Would doing what your supervisor requested allow you to be your best self, are you representing Jesus the way he has commanded you to, what does your instinct tell you?” Those simple questions reminded me to pause, step back and assess how the directive my supervisor gave me, aligned with the values my mum taught me. Well, they did not! After speaking with my mum, I was able to stand up to my supervisor. It was not easy to do, but it was the right thing to do.
I must admit, I don’t always get life right. I fail like everyone else, sometimes more than I would like. But the values my parents instilled in me allow me to step up, every time I mess up and try again. And again. And again. And again. You get the picture.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
You already read about my name, so I will jump to what I do. I hold the role of a nonprofit executive, currently serving as Vice President, Field Operations for Playworks. I have always been drawn to organizations and roles that allow me to impact children positively. I was not looking for a role when I was approached by Playworks over four years ago. The aspect that drew me to the organization, other than its mission, was its ability to clearly measure the results of their impact and tell their story.
Playworks is the leading national nonprofit leveraging the power of play to develop social and emotional skills in children. It was established 25 years ago in California and the Arizona region was established in 2011. Since inception, the organization has impacted over 2 million kids in over 3,000 schools. In my role, I run the Arizona region and oversee three other regions, CO, UT & Pacific Northwest (OR, WA, ID).
Playworks’ vision is that one day every kid has access to safe and healthy play every day. And the mission is to improve children’s health and well-being by increasing physical activity and safe, meaningful play. Playworks accomplishes its mission in three ways, offering capacity building service support to schools and youth serving organizations, providing training in our methodology to professionals working with youth, and inspiring a more play to happen every day through raising awareness about the benefits of play. Our primary partners are Title 1 elementary schools. We work with each school to create an ideal recess environment where students and adults are engaged, empowered and safe. Our process includes setting actionable goals at the beginning of the year, with benchmarks incorporated for reflections and adjustments as needed. Playworks methodologies have impacted both the playground and the classroom positively. For example, results like decreasing bullying & injuries and increasing cooperation & independent conflict resolution.
I am most proud of the impact our Playworkers have each day at each school! They work tirelessly to ensure that students and adults at each school are empowered to create a recess space & time that is welcoming to everyone and is fun for all.
If an elementary school or youth organization is looking for support and resources to help structure recess/play time or professional development for adults working with children, Playworks should be their first stop!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I find this question quite humorous, because my entire career has been about resilience.
Almost every role I have held was faced with major challenges or obstacles. The challenge may have looked different at different places, but the need to persevere was the same. Whether it was when two team members handed in their resignations on my first day as team leader, or my boss being fired one month after they brought me on board, or the person that vacated a position prior to me taking it raised only 10% of the significant financial goal before they departed and I only had two months to raise the remaining 90% or my first day in the role as the boss, I was told by the CEO that I had to lay off 12 people and the day before my promotion those individuals were my peers. These are just a few of the challenges I have had to tackle in my career and each one has made me stronger and more resilient and ready for the challenge.
Let me share a quick story…
I was headhunted and relocated for an opportunity. During my interview process, I was told I had carte blanche to create and do as I wished, including build a team. I should have known it was too good to be true. Shortly after I started, the person who hired me and was my direct supervisor was fired, and then the one full time person I inherited decided to leave. The team I was told I could build came with stipulations, everything from you can only hire two people and by the way one needs to be the top boss’ nephew. Carte blanche actually meant you can do whatever you want, as long as we agree with it.
You would think that would be it for surprises.
Nope!
Within another two months, a major fundraiser was being held and I was on the hook to raise half million dollars.
To say the least, my first six months felt like torture. I probably screamed, cried and threw my hands up a million times, but I stuck it out. You won’t believe for how long……10 years. Yes, you read that correctly 10 very long years that often felt like 50!
Trust me when I say the tough times did not stop after six months. Some months felt 100 times worst. But I have to admit, as hard as it was, I learned so much, had many amazing moments and met friends for a lifetime. I grew as a person and realized the gift I had for building and shepherding teams. I also found my love for mentoring others and planning/executing major events. Needlessly to say, I would not trade those ten years for anything – it was all worth it.
In my current role, after being there only two short years, a global pandemic hit causing major challenges and obstacles of many kinds. For the last two years, I have had to do jobs of six people, and juggle more demands than possible at times. Can someone say challenges?
Challenges are always going to happen, it’s called life. What we do with the challenge is important. Falling down is not the problem – staying down is! Resilience is a choice! I have a daily mantra and it’s actually pretty simple, “this is a new day, I have a fresh start, I am going to do my best and amazing things are possible!”
Please don’t misunderstand; the mantra doesn’t always work. I am human, I get overwhelmed. Sometimes I want to stay in bed. Sometimes I skip the mantra altogether because I am frustrated or it just doesn’t feel like a new day, fresh start and sounds more like blah-blah, blah-blah, blah-blah. Sometimes I just want to scream. But what matters is; I TRY. That’s it, as simple as it sounds. I TRY!
Resilience is only possible when we are tested. If anyone wishes to be a great leader, they have to be willing to be tested. I truly believe hardship is a critical part of the leadership journey. It helps you to grow and stretch in ways you would not otherwise, especially if everything was always fine. As I write this, I laugh out loud, because I literally told one of the leaders today this very thing.
For me, resilience has everything to do with my faith in Jesus Christ! There is a bible verse that says, “When I am weak, He is strong.” Trust me, I lean on that truth daily and it’s what gets me through.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
This question is simple for me – Jesus Christ, my peeps and taking risks.
First and foremost, I go to Jesus for all my needs! He is my ROCK, my STRENGTH, my PROVIDER, my ALL!
Second, are my peeps! I believe that surrounding myself with people that will keep me accountable, as well as push me to be a better person is important to growing and becoming successful.
As you read this, you are probably thinking about your peeps, the people who speak into your life. Well, I am very intentional about my inner circle. I consider my inner circle to be critical in my life, because they are allowed to speak things in and over my life, to tell me when I am being a brat, to scold me when needed, to see me cry, to encourage me when I face a loss and of course to celebrate all wins big and small. The group of women in my inner circle seems to have five similar qualities.
First, they are authentic and integrity filled. They are truly committed to being their true selves, to have and uphold values, and bring honesty to our relationship. I know I can trust them; what they say and their intentions.
They are generally positive and joyful people, they bring life wherever they go, and they see rainbows before they see grey skies. It does not mean they are naïve or oblivious to bad in the world or that they never get down or sad. No, they simply choose to not allow the negative to change their perspectives or who they are, because they believe all things are possible. For those who know me well, this is natural space for me – I am known as the one always smiling, bringing energy and joy. So having people in my life that can also do that for me, matters a lot.
They are teachable, always willing to learn; they seek out multiple perspectives and are constantly personally growing and encouraging those around them to grow. They push me to always want to grow learn and be better.
They are humble. They are willing to serve, willing to admit when they are wrong and able to step back so others can have the spotlight. This brings balance to our friendships and allows everyone moments to shine.
Once there is Jesus and my peeps. Life then requires me to take risks!
As some of my pictures reflect, taking risks is a part of my life. To me risks make my life more interesting and of course more fun!
Life is a risk! You have to take risks to be successful in life. In actuality you have to take risks just to live. Whether it’s getting out of bed every day or jumping out of a plane, both actions have risk. Every choice we make has risk to it; some risks are greater than others. Without risks, you will never know what’s possible and you will never know what you are capable of. Being a leader who takes risks means you are willing to believe in others, believe in the unknown and believe that something can be done!
Leadership = Risk!
Contact Info:
- Website: playworks.org/arizona
- Instagram: @playworksaz
- Facebook: @playworksarizona
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerryann-tomlinson-msw-20126539/
- Twitter: @playworks
- Youtube: playworks
Image Credits
1. Group photo – Eric Daniels
2. me in front of step & repeat – Julio Copelly
5 & 6 – Lindsay Borg (kids trying to give me high five and me playing rock paper scissors with student)