Episode 84: Stephanie Rawlings-Blake

Join Lori and her guest, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, as they talk about public service leadership. Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, currently serving as the Executive Director of the NBPA Foundation, brings a wealth of experience and insight to the discussion. Stephanie's dedication extends beyond national borders, as she actively works to improve communities in her own country and around the globe. Through her leadership, she exemplifies the potential for positive change that can be achieved when individuals in influential positions commit to fostering social impact!

Here are the things to expect in this episode:

• What the NBPA Foundation is all about.

• What factors influenced Stephanie's decision to pursue a career in politics?

• NBPA utilizes its resources to make a meaningful impact on a global level.

• How did Stephanie leverage her political position to create a lasting impact?

• And much more!

NBPA Foundation website: https://www.nbpafoundation.com/

NBPA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenbpa/

Stephanie’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-rawlings-blake-84951673/

Connect with Lori Kranczer!

Website: https://www.linkphilanthropic.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorikranczer/

Episode Transcript

You're listening to the positive impact the last few podcasts to share the journeys of everyday philanthropists as incorporate philanthropy into their lives. Plans means a personal journey and through the stories we will share here. We hope that it's sparked something in you and how you can make your own philanthropic impact in the world. I'm your host, Lori Kranczer attorney, philanthropic advisor and legacy given strategist. Today we're going to explore what it looks like to be an everyday philanthropist. And make a positive impact in the world. Started, make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss a new episode posted on Wednesdays. So I'm so excited today we have as our guest Stephanie Rawlings Blake. She is the executive director of the nbpa Foundation. And former mayor of Baltimore. Welcome, Stephanie.

Thank you for having me.

Oh, we're so excited to hear your story today. So please, Stephanie. Tell us more about who you are and what you do.

That's an interesting question since I feel like I've had many lives. I started off as a lawyer, but also as a public servant, became the youngest person elected to the City Council in Baltimore at 25. Because of my passion for giving back and my passion for my city, I transitioned from City Council of the City Council president to Mayor of Baltimore for six years. While I was mayor, I served as the first and only black woman to be the president US Conference of Mayors as well as secretary for the DNC during Obama's second term. And during that time, I was very, very blessed to be able to have an amazing impact on the city that care so deeply about. I retired at the end of 2016 from public office and a year just about a year ago, I started a role as the executive director for the NBA Players Association. So the basketball players union, I helped direct their philanthropy and it is a way for me to continue the impact work outside of the realm of politics. So the work that I love to do helping people make their communities better, but now on a global scale, it's been an amazing ride.

Isn't kind of one and then two before we got on the call that you're our first elected official that has been on the podcast and it's it's an amazing way to think about giving back things that I think most people when they think about giving back or being philanthropic or donations or volunteering or board service. But we've also had plenty people that work in the nonprofit sector or work with or in for profits that have mission driven businesses, and I'd love you to share more about your experience of giving back as a public servant.

So that is how I saw my life in politics. It was very little about me and very much about my ability to use my skills and my talents to make my community better. Which sometimes when I had that communication staff they would be frustrated with me because I'm sure you can see in the world of politics and big ego, it makes life a little easier. You know, to want to talk about yourself, makes the life a little easier in that space. But I was saying my ambition. I was very ambitious, but my ambitions were for my city. And so, you know, I I just knew that someone had to raise their hand and say that they were willing to to do the tough stuff. Someone you know, if if our community is going to be better, right, somebody had to be willing to tackle the the failing pension system to try to deal with our vacant properties, our crumbling school infrastructure, you know, someone had to raise their hand and say, you know, I'll do it and I just felt very compelled from a very early age, that that was my call. And so what

we do also on the podcast, because you just mentioned something I really want to dig down into all of that. Where did this come from in your life and your upbringing and the inspiration to give back and just because you you started to work in this field at an early age. So I wonder if you can share people that were inspirational to any moments in time or meaningful moments that affected the way that you wanted to direct your career.

So I was raised by parents who really really valued education and service and taught my older sister, my younger brother and I to each give back and to make a difference in the world each in our own unique way. My mom is still living, but she's a retired pediatrician and went to University of Maryland at a time where there were very, very African Americans in medical school and she was determined to you know, she wanted to be a wife and to be a mother but also very determined to be a pediatrician. She wanted to to make sure that our community had access to high quality health care, because as a young child, she saw what happens when communities didn't have access to quality health care. So you know, she was a living example of what it means to to, to live a life of service, as well as my dad, who was a mathematician by profession, was an elected official from when I was in elementary school, and I was I was born in his birthday and didn't leave aside. I was the one who, you know, went knocking on doors, campaigning, went to campaign meetings and political dinners and I couldn't get enough. I would sit on the steps and while he was having meetings in the living room and just listen to all the different things that were going on, and the struggles you know, people would bring about things and he would talk through how to the weaving winding path to get to where they wanted to get to whether it was you know, dealing with discrimination and institution or looking for economic opportunities, like whatever, you know, problems related on his lap. I just grew up, seeing and hearing the methodical way in which he approached these problems and it inspired me now I can say that when was it but I think it was that inspiration plus a heavy dose of what I think now is brainwashing because my dad would always introduce me to these really incredibly powerful women. And when I was a very, very small child, he took me to the when the first black woman was in sworn in as circuit court that didn't in the sort of locally, the highest court in the city was there and who was their suit, you know, significant African American women lawyers that were you know, much, much older. You know, in their in their probably golden years. And I got to see these women who were revered in our community who were who were unapologetic in their excellence in what they did. And you know, whether it was elected officials or judges or just women that were doing amazing things in the community. My father made sure that that I saw that as a young child, and that really stuck. So

on top of that, your, your political career and what maybe some experiences you had that had the most impact were things that you worked on that really you know, you feel very close to and at according to your values, but also, you had first hand experience of it growing up and I think that's so important to see it and what ways can we bring other young women into the fold to be able to experience this if there may be considering doing something in the public sector?

Whether it's, you know, public sector or any other way of having an impact, I think what my what my parents did was recognize interests and recognize maybe some natural gifts that I had, and to the best of their ability. They put people in front of me so I could see that you know what was possible? In my life, and I've tried to do the same thing. As much as I can with my daughter. I think, you know, the, a lot of times people don't see themselves in the public sector or making a big difference in the world because they never been in the presence of anybody who has, so they what they aspire to and what they can see. So I think the more we expose, particularly young women to the possibilities, let them experience what the possibilities of their life can be. And I think that you, they will often surpass that because they've been able to, to, you know, see what's possible for them in the future. Yeah,

absolutely. And, and then to go to anything that you did, while you were in public service, what programs what, you know, any experience that you had that felt like that was an impact that you saw, you take away like, that was like one of the things that you were able to accomplish

so I'm very, very proud that during my time in elected office, I had several really, really big impact. Well, things that have left a legacy in in the city. Because what I strongly desire to do is to things that other people couldn't like I was in office for many many years, I saw many administration's fail at trying to right size, the city's budget or deal with the failing pension system. I thought people kick the can down the road because facing the our first responders and having to tell them the truth about their pension system is not those aren't comfortable conversations. You know, making the hard decisions to right side is tough, and what is easier is putting a bandaid on it. That'll get you to the next election and knowing that it'll probably be somebody else's problem. But I was very, very determined that that would not be my legacy. I knew that I had a certain set of skills and a sort of backbone that did not allow me to be dissuaded by criticism, especially when I knew that what I was doing was the right thing, but you know, the right thing the right reason, and it would it would serve the city well in the long haul. So you know, did that was a pension system did that with our health care system. Did that with our our budget, I was probably the first mayor in the country to do a 10 year financial plan for the city. But you know, all of those things were again, because I like to tackle the big problems, the things that other people couldn't get done. And the biggest, I think, was our crumbling infrastructure in our schools. We had the oldest schools in the in the state. We had the financial capacity to patch it from year to year. It would have taken us probably over 100 years or more to catch up with our the failing infrastructure at the pace that we were going and I knew that we could do better. I mean, I went to schools where the little kids would have to drag their little you know the tiny little desks that they have for like, first grade and the pre K's that are all connected. They would have to drag them down the hall, out of the classrooms when it was raining because what was coming in kids that had to go to classrooms, where the glasses were all fogged up they couldn't see outside know what kind of feeling that gives a child you know, feeling tiles missing, can't drink from the water fountains because of the contamination in the water. I mean, I could just go on and on and on and on. And I know that I couldn't expect our young people to feel valued and to feel that you should feel optimistic about their future to feel hopeful if we're sending them to a place that was filled with so much despair. And several administrations have tried to come up with ways to make the major financial commitment it would take to fund our infrastructure and they hadn't been able to do it. So I took on the lead the state legislature I took on American Beverage Association I took on you know all of the naysayers and was able to push through over a billion dollars in school construction for the city and when I say that it was probably the most significant thing. I've never had a feeling like that before sentence because as the governor was signing that into law, I knew at that moment if I, if I lived, didn't live another day. You know, that day was my last day that the legacy of my work would live for generations because I saw what happens to us to a community when they get into school. I've seen what happens to parents, when they look at their kids in an environment that they deserve. So I knew, you know, I'm good. Like I have, you know, done a good thing that will outlive me

that is so impactful. That is absolutely amazing story. You're already sharing your legacy right now. We're gonna get to that in a moment. But I think it's it's absolutely incredible. So thank you for sharing that. So let's talk about your work and foundation. So share you know some of the programs that you're working on and the impact that you're having there.

I'm so excited about the work I get to do at the foundation, particularly since Yes, I get to work with veterans and make sure that they're taken advantage of the services that we offer. But when I get to talk to the young players that are just starting to figure it out, like that's exciting. To me, because, you know, these young guys, these elite athletes have worked so hard to get where they are. And you know, they're that many in my mind I'm you know, over 50 So in my mind, many of them are kids but to see them start to process the fact that they have a legacy on the court, but also off the court and what that looks like I'm I'm energized to be a part of that conversation with them and to help them and the people that are you know, surrounding them in this work, navigate that it's it's exciting. And particularly for me, I like to be a connector. So as much as possible. I like to figure out how to connect the the work with whatever city the work is being done in because as mayor I knew that work better when we work together and we leveraged our resources and we didn't the right hand knew with the left hand was doing right like that you didn't just plop down into a city and say that you're going to do this drive or have this event without coordination with the people on the ground. So that's really important for me to encourage them to to consistently think about that. Because that's how you get the most out of your resources to be able to do it not just in this country, but globally. We have about a third I think of our players, maybe nautical third are international. So we get to do this work in this country, but also around the globe and thinking about what that looks like is super exciting as well. And

can you share for listeners some of the work that you're doing?

So one of the things that I was pleased that we were able to bring back was the business of giving. It's a certificate program we offered at UCLA in September where we offered to players and the people that helped them in with their philanthropy. We got to talk about best practices, how to create sustainable partnerships, how to do impact investing, the power of being able to tell your own story. It was a lot about what we talked about, but also about the community that we're building with them because I want them to understand that they we are our own resources in this community. And I was really, really pleased that was able to end the program with a session. Colin Kaepernick was our our last presenter and Grant Williams one of our board members interviewed him and talked about his journey to make an impact and I just really feel like it really resonated with the people in the room. And it was encouraging because they they got to see how people who are elite in in one area can be elite in giving and in in making a difference. So that's just one of the things I'm excited to we've got a partnership with Team Rubicon on disaster relief, as translating my experience as mayor I knew how important was to have resources, you know, like, teed up and ready when disaster strikes is not the time to start vetting organizations and seeing you know who can do what where you. I've found that you need to have pre position resources and that's Team Rubicon for us. We have a partnership where, you know, they've agreed that to be our resources first on the ground and where disaster strikes, to give opportunities for our players who want to participate in disaster relief. You know, they've set up a system for that. And we are helping them to amplify the message and help them to tell the story about veterans who are using their skills and talents and being the resource that they clearly want it to be or otherwise they wouldn't have chosen military service to continue to give back so it's a win win.

It's fantastic. I have a there's so much good stuff in here. I just would love to hear some maybe tips or resources that you may have for anyone I would say you know young women or really anyone that's interested in giving back what what are the, you know, maybe resources people can to or how they can go about taking part in either the nonprofit sector as in public service

so first, I guess I share where they can find out more about the foundation or do that at the end. You can share it now. nbpa foundation.com is our website and what are the different programs that we're doing and I hope you take a look at that. And as far as resources or how people can get involved, you know, we are in a very resource rich time. You know, I grew up you know, before cellphones and you basically having a computer in your hand and you can Google anything and find anything so, you know, I don't think it is a lack of information. That may be a deterrent. I think it is the lack of sometimes confidence that that you can make a difference. So I would urge people to try something to try something new. That if you're passionate about something, don't sit on it in and take the first step. A lot of times, especially when you're interested in complicated problems or something that seems intractable, you feel like it won't make a difference if you do something or not. But being someone who's tackled the big problems. It didn't happen in one day. It didn't happen with one person. It took many many people so you know, I I feel like the way I like to encourage people is to say those problems may continue to be intractable if you don't take the first step. Like we need many people on the journey with us to make a difference. And when we get to that critical mass, you know, that's when things start to change. So it's not that you're just one person, you're part of a huge team that's working on these things though. If you have a voice in your head that is that is you know, nagging and telling you that you want to make a difference in this world. Maybe it's in the environment or maybe it's in nutrition insecurity or if anything if you continue to hear that voice in your head, don't ignore it. You know, it is it's easy to ignore. There's so much going on, but I'm begging you as someone who's been in the work, listen to that voice and come be a part of the solution. Fantastic.

Okay, and with that, so then we get to our last question, which we sort of touched on in the past 1520 minutes as we were chatting about legacy and we ask all of our guests to share what they consider their legacy would be

I I'm on the journey now to finding the next legacy for myself. I feel like I was able to have a huge impact in my political realm. And I'm working very hard to see what that footprint can look like in this new space. And it is, for me, the unknown, and being willing to work to figure it out. You know, I was a kid that knew that they wanted to be an elected official since I was in third grade. Did it right, you know, been there done that got the t shirt. So this new experience is a little bit was a little scary. But it's also exciting because part of the Journey to Understanding your legacy is you know, they think about it, you know, being afraid but doing it anyway. Right. So that is where I am now like exploring how I can use all the skills and the talents and my experience and not just help players create their legacy, but then think, you know, create what this legacy space is for myself. And you know, there's some there's some things scary about that. But there's also something very exciting because it's all about doing the good work.

Yeah. And that's a great way to end this interview. So thank

you for sharing with your listeners that the you know, my LinkedIn happy to, to respond and people want to want to chat through LinkedIn and you're sharing as well that nbpa are our unions, Instagram and where we're consistently telling the stories of the players that are doing the work on and off the court. Great.

Yeah, we're gonna share all those links in our show notes that everyone has easy access to get to that information. Stephanie, thank you so much for joining us today. Your story is really inspirational and I think that a lot of people can take away so much information and inspiration to make an impact in their lives and the lives of others. So thank you so much.

Oh, is certainly my pleasure. And thanks for having me.

Thank you for joining us. I hope we provided some insights and inspiration that you can use for your philanthropic journey. You can tune in every week on Wednesdays when new episodes are dropped. We'd love to hear your feedback. So leave a comment and a rating about what you like and what you'd like to hear more about. And if you'd like the episode today, make sure to share it to raise awareness about the story to inspire other women to take action. I'm Lori Kranczer And until next time, you can make a positive impact through philanthropy every day. Thanks for listening