Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tamira Samuel. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Tamira, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

While I’ve taken many risks both in my personal and professional life, last year I took a major risk to attract, recruit, and select talent to The Urban Leaders Fellowship national flagship program by reactivating over three years of declined candidates and inviting them back to snap interview to ULF. As many organizations, companies, and businesses have been faced with hiring shortages, revenue and funding shifts, this proved no different for me and ULF. Annually, ULF has anywhere from 1,000-1,600 applications. As myself and our regional director and alumni teams work effortlessly to select fellows we noticed a sharp decline and silent of interest in our applicant pool. As an Executive Director I am constantly having conversations with my peers, my board of directors, reading and studying economic shifts to gain better context on the changing job market. In February 2022, after much consideration and brainstorming from my advisors, sponsors, and mentors, I pitched to my board the ideal of revisiting previous finalists or declined applicants to get an understanding in where they are professionally, their values, the impact of the pandemic on how they view change, policy, their families etc. What many deemed as a long shot – it was – our pool not only doubled, but we built a cohort of 114 amazing fellows with incredible stories of resolve who ultimately by and large brought so much richness and expertise to the fellowship that in years past wasn’t the case. Many of the elected officials and regional partners were blown away by the range of talent. In addition to taking this risk, I changed eligibility requirements for professionals applying to our program that they did not need a bachelors degree to apply. I am a firm believer that every single one of us – needs a chance, an opportunity to be put on to demonstrate their God-given talent. I myself am living proof of that. Prior to ULF, I have never led a national organization, but there were others around me that saw my potential and took the risk to trust me to lead ULF in one of the most challenging times in the organization’s history. For that I am grateful, and want to continue to pay it forward to other individuals. The hundreds of calls I participated in – the tears of stories and reflection were inspiring. And in turn to hear someone who had been declined 1,2,3 times – now gain acceptance and be an incredible consultant and advisor in our local community is what this work is all about. ULF is predicated on providing access and opportunity to individuals who otherwise would never have an opportunity to influence local and state policy. Without taken these two risks – would have meant going against who we are and why we exist as an organization. Furthermore, I believe that we have everything we need – sometimes we just don’t see it or embrace it. We could have continued to go extremely hard and keep recruiting talent (which for a while we did) or we could have taken the road we did and say, what is this person up to? Why didn’t this work out? How can we create an experience that leverages and meets people where they are to do the most good across 10 different cities in the US?

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tamira Samuel.

Hi Tamira, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in Jackson, Tennessee, outside of Memphis. I had what many deem as a village upbringing – I was raised by my mother, grandmother, uncles, aunts, coaches, mentors, teachers, and pastors that spoke in my life very intimately. According to my mother and late grandmother, Celeste, I started playing school in my mother’s bedroom at age 4. By 7 I watched the Miss America Pageant without fail. I was a precocious and creative little girl – so If I was exposed to something, I tried to emulate it. The truth can be said through my previous career in education and my current work in policy. It wasn’t until I navigated the school system and continued to grow the village of individuals who would shape me, particularly; 4-H. Although I was precocious, I was very shy, especially in middle school. This is where I began to really lean into what my exposure was leading me and revealing about myself. 4-H showed me I could be a leader and serve the larger community at the same time. I took those lessons learned through the activities, competitions, conferences, and mentoring and honed in on them in every area of my life. By high school and college, I was active in Student Government and attended the 2001 Tennessee Volunteer Girls State and became the City Mayor for my dorm group. This was the earliest memory of me really desiring public policy or government. My love for teaching others didn’t go anywhere. In fact, I think it helped bring both worlds together. Once I finished Austin Peay State University after high school, I became a high school English teacher – a wonderful calling that continues to teach me today as a wife, mother, and nonprofit leader. Being a teacher taught me a different level of empathy, compassion, and patience that doesn’t come over time, but through understanding the lives and stories of young people who are navigating life the best they can. It was during my years in teaching that I realized that so many factors happening both internally and externally were beyond my control. After year 3, I left the classroom, and got accepted into Northwestern University for Public Policy and Administration and completed two internships one with then Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and with the Beacon Center of Tennessee. These experiences sharpened my perspective on the issues and factors that impact children and their families both in and outside of the classroom. In Nashville Metro Government, I learned the grim realities of domestic violence and how many survivors’ children become drifters. Additionally, the Beacon Center is where I learned what charter schools were, school choice, and the growing conflict between traditional public vs charter public schools looming across the country. It was after this year that I decided – I can’t just be a teacher in one setting and not understand the other settings in public education in order to impact policy. At the time, I had already became a trained lobbyist on capitol hill, represented the United States at the World Youth Congress in Canada, and in a place to see that what we struggle with in the U.S. are also struggles in Uganda, Argentina, and several other countries around the world. My network of leaders began to shape and that’s when I moved to Texas in 2012 to join KIPP: Houston and spend the next 7-8 years in a number of capacities in education and policy. In 2020, the then ULF Co-Executive Director announced she was stepping down from leading the organization and asked me if would I consider and that someone of my background would be a great fit to lead the organization in the next decade. Long story short, with prayer and guidance from the Lord, and my village, I applied and the rest is history.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The road has not been smooth, but God’s hand has always been there. Major struggle for me was navigating a sense of abandonment. My father was killed before I turned a year old. So I spent some time with a lot of questions and wonderings between both sides of my family trying to understand him to understand me. Additionally, it didn’t help in many instances being the only kid without a dad in the picture or the only black student in some of classes. While I had tons of love and support around me, sometimes appreciating myself and this part of my journey was tough. I also think having important role models and examples of people with similar values are vital to have the courage and mindset to pursue particular goals. In 2008, I didn’t see a lot of black administrators in education and if I did, they spent a lot of time in one position rather than gaining a depth and breadth of skills that would better position them to be more effective campus and system leaders. The same and even less so in policy. When I was in Nashville Metro there were only two other department directors and I was the only black intern. Then when you step foot in a room with 50 of the city’s leaders; judges, attorneys, chief of police, numbers were abysmal. So you take a step back and start examining yourself; Is this meant to be? Do I have what it takes? Where are the coaches and mentors to help me improve myself to be in those spaces to have more leaders become chief decision makers? I’d also be remised to say that being Miss Black Kentucky USA and navigating the Glamour Magazine Top 10 College Women Competition and USA Today Academic College teams were eye opening. You see how other college women are approaching their collegiate years and future. You also have to navigate insecurities. I remember when I spent six months preparing for Glamour Magazine someone at my college said, “Hey do you think they are going to pick a black girl from the South from a state university?” At that moment, I went back to my upbringing and the questions I had been asking myself and said, “Why not! Why must I always have to have a model to be a model. The spring before my senior year, Glamour named me to their Top 22 list. Again – this isn’t about the achievements themselves, its about the constant struggle we all face in saying to God if this is what I’m called to do-can I do it? Why are people telling me I can’t? I’m always reminded of both Ester and David’s journeys in the bible. Ester competed against hundreds of women to win the King’s favor to free her people. She had to look past the insecurities, doubts and look inside – she was chosen to free her people. David, the shepherd boy called upon the Lord to defeat Goliath. That’s essential life – we will have struggles, doubts, insecurities, and even seek validation in the process-when instead, we should be focused on our purpose in serving and helping others. That focus will surpassed everything else. When I was working to help co-found one of the charter schools in Houston, TX our team didn’t acknowledge the challenges, we acknowledged that there were black and brown families who needed a school that loved and embraced them.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am the National Co-Executive Director of The Urban Leaders Fellowship (ULF). ULF is a nonprofit organization based in Denver, Colorado that aims to develop early to midcareer professionals to transform communities through public policy exposure and community embedded nonprofit work. Simply put we develop professionals from all walks of life, ideologies, affiliations, backgrounds, and industries in public policy alongside a local or state elected/appointed official with a goal of enacting policy within two years. ULF is in 10 cities across the US; Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Indy, Kansas City, Nashville, New Orleans, Tulsa, Oakland, and Washington, DC. ULF sees that the only way to create more equitable communities is by having the voices and perspectives of every citizen that answers the call to join our program each summer. We’ve had teachers, attorneys, underwriters, public relations analysts, medical students, anthropologists, architects, entrepreneurs and more complete our fellowship and help to write and pass more than 120+ policies within the last decade. As the Co-Executive Director I lead the organization in management, strategic planning, recruitment, alumni engagement with our board and other Co-ED. In my current role and throughout my career in education, I’ve always had a niche for strategizing to solve a problem. How I approach my work is by being a strategist that centers on the people and root causes of an issue. For example, when I worked in central office in one of the local school districts; the district had established mentoring relationships for beginning teachers, but not consistency in vetting mentors and holding campuses accountable for ensuring the best mentors were supporting beginning teachers. I immediately conducted an audit and began cross-walking all parts of the system, meeting with beginning teachers and campus leaders to determine the disconnects in the process both on the campus/district and state end. All of it (as most educators know) was timing and lack of talent. There are only so many hours in a day and a task such as assigning mentors and not always having a more seasoned and willing teacher to mentor (with capacity) as an option. What does one do? I think now we are also in a similar if not even dire state in education, but the pandemic brought a different awareness on all levels and unearthed divides to a great degree. For me, I see every situation as an opportunity and not as a problem that had great probability of helping a lot of teachers that in turn showed up better for kids each day. Walking the campuses and seeing teachers say, “My mentor works with me after school on lesson planning. My students are more focused, because my lessons are more focused because I have a mentor focused on my growth.” I would also say that over time I love to learn and connect all of my experiences to each other. The audit example is essentially what I had done nearly 7 years prior in Nashville Metro. Though completely different lanes, there was a fundamental bottom line – how do we react faster to domestic violence calls AND how do we prepare beginning teachers with peer support?

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think what has helped my build my reputation within my market is three things: A). My policy and education experience B). Ability to prioritize values, relationships, and connections with people – particular my team and coach them to success C). Strategically problem solve, vision cast, build and sustain within an organization. While my nonprofit work with local and state officials is a mixture of direct/indirect, I have experience as an appointed commissioner, lobbyist, a policy fellow, an associate, writing opt-eds, providing public commentary, analyzing policy for loopholes, building community coalitions of trust with stakeholders – several of the the things necessary to implement effective policy. When I engage in the work, our partners, directors, and leaders know that I’ve been there. I’ve done the work in more than 20 states now and I’ve failed, made mistakes, made people upset, or didn’t get a policy passed. That type of credibility matters. Second are people – which is really number one. There is not any form of work through an industry at any given point of the day that DOES NOT function off of relationship. For an example, a significant chunk of clientele for most business owners comes from word of mouth. This is powerful because what it signifies is that people do business with people that they can trust or have an established rapport with. I believe that by starting with people first – who they are, their stories, their value system, and their vision – you have the North star of why you are doing what you do. We are servants in the work that we do. This is regardless if you’re an attorney, a doctor, construction worker, manager, hostess, hairstylists, etc – you are providing a service to someone. You can’t truly be in service to someone unless you know who they are. My first initial 10 minutes of interaction is always rooted in – who you are and what makes you the person you are. This gives me the groundwork for who I am supporting, advocating, coaching, or collaborating with. Lastly, I’m a problem solver. I actually don’t use the word problem; I use the word opportunity because every situation that we are faced with rather in business or personal – we have an opportunity to respond in a certain manner. While some people immediately come with solutions, I attempt to strategically think about context, the people/humanity at stake, least disruptive approaches, questioning, and perspective – do we really have a problem? What I’ve learned is that 50% of the time, in business we don’t have a problem, we have points of tension that are uncomfortable because we’re tasked with decisions that we don’t want to make. For an example, being over budget. It’s really easy to view the term or word budget as limit. But what we are attempting to identify is priority. A budget is simply a list of priorities in which we are steward of. When we are over budget in our businesses, organizations, and companies we have to think about what am I saying yes to with the resource of money. That’s not a problem, its a tension a constraint. This mindset or approach has helped me to demonstrate not only success with ULF, but also in my consultant work with clients at TNTP and for TASE Consulting.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best source of new clients or partners for me have been current partners. This goes back to my statements around all business moving at a rate or rooted in relationship. I think it is extremely important to scale and market as creatively, authentically, and intentionally as possible. But there is so much power in leveraging the unique networks, ecosystems of current partners. At ULF, each year with work with nearly 90-100 partners across the country and many are for-profits, nonprofits, corporations, school districts, start-ups and etc. What I find most endearing is that if we work to create a heat map of all of our regional partners (we’re actually enlisting in this work now), we would unearth another 10-15 possible partners just from 4 of our current ones. Each year close to 10-15% of new partners want to partner with ULF because their counterparts had a great experience with one of our fellows, or attended national programming and learned of an initiative or company one of our alums started and believe in our mission and purpose. This is important because we want ULF to continue to scale, with folks who can attest to a great first hand or second hand experience and see the results and impact through a peer.       

Contact Info:

• Website: tamiraasamuel.com
• Instagram: @TamiraSamuel
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tamira.cole
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamiracolesamuel
• Twitter: TamiSamuel2
• Other: ULF Website – https://www.urbanleadersfellowship.org/our-team WPLN Website – https://womenspublicleadership.net/impact-council?utm_medium=email&_hsmi=246010971&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8HbXvkNiYDGUsvboOleJbSOG7jPGfTls1TpKbauFIi4JEbiv2UUfcoh_yPlyFV96xqDZ1tBJIDqhEYadOtbh1rXh23AOWOtruTd0r8Cexk31h_bJ4&utm_content=246010971&utm_source=hs_email

Image Credits
Personal Photo (Black/Yellow Attire) – Credit – Because of You Photography, Nathaniel Jones Jr. Business Portfolio (Black/White Attire) – Credit – Al Torres Photography, Al Torres 40 Under 40 Social Media Graphic Designs – Credit Ajeeb Digitals and Michael Carr Photography, Michael Carr WPLN Announcement – Credit, Communications Team Women’s Public Leadership Network