Passion Over Ambition: A Conversation with Toni Akin

In the latest episode of The Water Trough, Toni Akin shares her incredible journey from public housing to a key advocate for education and housing in Rhode Island. Her story is one of resilience and passion. Don't miss it! 🎙️ #Inspiration #HousingAdvocacy 

You can reach Toni at takin894@gmail.com.

Transcript

Ed Drozda 0:10

Welcome to The Water Trough, where we can't make you drink, but we will make you think. My name is Ed Drozda, The Small Business Doctor, and I'm really excited you chose to join me here as we discuss topics that are important for small business folks just like you. If you're looking for ideas, inspiration, and possibility, you've come to the right place. Join us as we take steps to help you create the healthy business that you've always wanted. Welcome back to The Water Trough, folks. This is Ed Drozda, The Small Business Doctor, and today I'm joined by Toni Akin. Toni is a former school board member and current ex- officio health and wellness committee member. Previously, she was the public housing commissioner for the city of Providence. An administrative specialist at Tech Connections Academy, Commonwealth Virtual School, TECA, and the Board Secretary for Terracor, serving Rhode Island and Massachusetts. She's an active member in the New England Educational Opportunity Association, and she has over twenty years' experience in the public education and housing fields with a focus on administrative financial health, wellness, safety, and security. Toni, welcome.

Toni Akin 1:29

Oh, thank you Ed. Thank you for inviting me on the show. Pleasure to be here this afternoon.

Ed Drozda 1:33

Nice to have you here. How are things up in Rhode Island?

Toni Akin 1:37

You know, there's a lot going on in the neighborhood in both housing and educational forums It's great to be here to be able to enlighten you and others with some of the work that I'm doing as well as my personal stories.

Ed Drozda 1:50

Well, let's start right in with that personal story. I'd love to hear it.

Toni Akin 1:54

Thank you. I've been in the education management field, in public housing, for over 20 years. I'm actually a product of both in my younger days. So have a lot of knowledge of both as a public housing resident and attending public schools. Working in those areas today is extremely exciting and challenging. I had a hard upbringing I lost my parents as a teenager, and like many young people in that situation I fell behind in my studies, and had to attend summer school to graduate. But I still finished top 10 in my class so I'm very proud of that accomplishment, and I consider that one of my lifetime achievements actually.

Ed Drozda 2:43

That's awesome.

Toni Akin 2:44

I'm very passionate about education I went on to enroll in community college and I had to drop out to support myself, Ed. So my career track was not a straight line into public service. But it taught me a lot about resilience and hard work, and I gained exposure into a lot of businesses. With my high school diploma I was able to get experience in bookkeeping jobs, secretarial positions in various sectors like transportation, healthcare, the legal field, all while chipping away at night at my college degree. I also received that with high honors. At that point I wanted to work directly into the educational field administratively, to be able to help other students that might have been struggling to stay on track with their own journeys, as I did once. So, working in public education there's not a lot with salary, especially administratively, so I had to develop a small business plan for myself. I had to think of something that I was very passionate about and that was housing, Ed. Something I wanted to invest in, something that was tangible. So I launched a small business, focusing on rental services. Both commercial and residential. And I had properties throughout New England They were small, mostly commercial units, some housing. It was a deep commitment for me to be able to do that, to be able to offer work life model, if you will. When I was living in public housing, when I reached the age of majority I had to face immediate eviction proceedings, because I was no longer on the lease. I was essentially homeless, and facing that as a young person stayed with me throughout my life. That's why I went into that as my personal business model. It was challenging. Going into that and offering the housing service and the commercial services, most of my small business providers were massage therapists or tattoo artists or retail which was very challenging in itself. But, it was very meaningful to me. Some of my tenants were students, first time renters, some of them were elderly or handicapped. It was also local preference that I put in selecting a lot of my residents, and a lot of the commercial residents as well, because I felt like they were already part of the community and they wanted to stay and they were struggling to find properties that were feasible. They'd always say, "oh your rates are so reasonable" and it was a good working relationship. I don't feel like I made a lot of financial benefits on it, but it was very rewarding. I've since sunsetted a lot of that small business empire if you will, and now as a commissioner in public housing, I'm focusing more on the regulatory, the compliance, the contractual. And I'm finding my experience as being a property owner and a manager, very beneficial in that as well. And I work a lot with the residents, and it's rewarding because a lot of the services for the residents I didn't have when I was in public housing, the mental health and wellness programs, the financial programs. So, it's great to be able to see that shift in public housing.

Ed Drozda 6:39

I think it's important to take a closer look at how, at such a young age, you were able to take the steps that you did. I mean let's face it, then there were a lot of young people in that position It's even more common today, and I imagine that many of them, perhaps most of them, feel desperation and hopelessness. What was your first glimpse of hope that you could do something? I mean, you didn't wake up in the morning and it happened. It must have been a process.

Toni Akin 7:12

That's actually a really good question. It was all a work in progress, after nearly two decades It wasn't an overnight situation for me. Something that I chipped away at. I would say for me it was being mindful of my passions being mindful of where I came from, the experiences that I had to endure, the hardships. Made me work harder, made me work more effectively in those areas of public education, working with students. I've talked to so many students that came up to me and said, Toni, your story about going into summer school to get your high school diploma made me want to stay in school. Or, how you were chipping away at night on your college degree and were the oldest student amongst 18, 19 year olds, and you being 30, 40. They didn't want to be in that situation, so many students were re-enrolling because of my stories, and continuing on with their studies. So that really motivated me as well. I come from a long line of public servants. Teachers, educators. My sister retired from the Department of Revenue. My brother was a city worker for the Department of Public Works, and my other sister worked in a school as a cafeteria aid We all had a passion for public service, and it was instilled into us by our parents. That was another factor. I think for the housing part, it's something that didn't come overnight, but I know I wanted to make a difference. I really did wanna make a difference in giving people a home. I just love that work life model, which actually derived right here in Rhode Island, and it is a way to be productive, have a home, and be a real integral part of the community. So it's something that resonated with me. No, it didn't happen overnight and it did go by quick. Like I said, I'm now looking into sunsetting that business model, but it's something that I'll always stay in, even in an advisory capacity. And that's actually what I'm doing now, is I'm working with small businesses, right here in Rhode Island that's accessory dwelling units, to be able to make that more cost affordable with the regulations, relaxing on that. It's very exciting shift in that. Trying to get more exposure with these accessory units that are self built, eco-friendly, and just affordable to be able to expand that in somebody's backyard or a cluster for transitional housing. I think I'll always stay in it in some type of fashion. Because of that passion, and because of the times that we're looking at currently with housing, with the shortage and the crisis that we're seeing.

Ed Drozda 10:22

I've always thought that passion was important. But then you hear a lot of people saying, you need more than passion to get things done." But I've learned that the further you go away from the need to make revenue, to scale, and all those things, the more powerful your passion becomes. When it's visceral, it's in your belly, in your heart, that's when passion, I believe, has the power to be transformative. And that's what I'm hearing you say. The passion is enough fuel. If I make good money, great, but there's much more to it than that. I need to make enough money to get by, but I don't have to be wealthy with this thing. I'm wealthy by virtue of what I do. Does that resonate with you?

Toni Akin 11:11

It actually does. I always put cause over ambition, because of my humble beginnings. But remaining solvent is very important too, especially when you have a business. And I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that I am concerned. I'm concerned about seeing so many small businesses closing, especially here in Rhode Island. Restaurants, dry cleaners, convenience stores, even larger corporations like Hasbro moving away from us. It's deeply concerning to me. Small businesses are the heart of America. So, it's important to have financial solvency. I always feel when you go into a small business, like a convenience store or a laundromat, and you talk to the people, behind the counter, It's almost like a mini anthropology class in of itself because you're seeing real life people, you're hearing real life stories and how they got there, the grit that was needed to open that small business and keep it open. Business trends are important, but they come and go and adaptability is so paramount, right? Gone are the days when people come in to a job or even have a small business and retire with that one career track Again, we're seeing the shift in housing, where corporations came in and took over a lot of that sector. I'm very pleased with the passage of what's called the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, whereby corporate ownership of housing is being abolished and I fully support that. These large investors and corporations coming in are purchasing single family homes and they're not allowing local residents. They're pricing them out basically. I'd actually like to see that expanded to multiplexes as well. That would open the door to smaller entrepreneurial people like myself, and also increase these ADU's and naturally lower rental rates. Something I'm very passionate about in advocacy as well. When you talk about that overnight aspect, especially in government, you know things are slow. The tides are slow to change, but small wins are still wins and there's still a lot to do, especially with this new act But I'm really pleased about that and I think that's going to help the housing situation. And it was in such a bipartisanship manner, and that's what we need. We need more of that.

Ed Drozda 13:52

The common ground here is the affordability of housing, that people actually have a place to live, and that homelessness is not so much of an expectation. Albeit it has to remain on the radar, but there should be more opportunity for housing so that homelessness becomes less and less prevalent.

Toni Akin 14:15

I believe that we will start seeing more of that opportunity presenting itself, Ed. I'm also a big advocate for land conservation and environmental protections. As we expand housing in the 2030 plan, and I believe it's over 15,000 permits across Rhode Island, which is historical, we do have forestry and green space that we also have to protect in those building designs. I'm working collaboratively with legislation to be able to advocate for our future generations to be able to enjoy that green space.

Ed Drozda 14:56

I imagine there's a lot of people who'd like to get involved in things like this, advocacy and the like. But it doesn't just seem like you walk up and say, "I have an interest." There must be some viable pathway to become involved. Just curious, do you wanna comment on that?

Toni Akin 15:15

You raise a good point because a lot of people ask how did you get on all these panels and commissions and how did you get appointed? Why did you run for office? And I just say get involved with your local officials. Work with your local leaders, work with your state leaders, regionally, and even on a federal level. I stay involved with them as well because even though locally, what matters here in Rhode Island, because we're such a small state, with the current administration turning over a lot of the decision making in both education and housing to the state side, it's just so important to be aware of your officials, be aware of your leaders. Work collectively with them and really in a nonpartisan manner because you can't let politics get in the way of these important services.

Ed Drozda 16:15

I think a lot of people myself included, would be afraid to get involved in these things for the precise reason that we figure you gotta pick sides, and that the sides just, they just don't get along. But what I'm hearing you say is maybe that's not necessarily so. You can still be engaged without having to pick a side, as it were?

Toni Akin 16:39

Absolutely, because it's about real accessibility. It's about your community members. When you're an advocate, an appointed official, or even an elected official, you have to be able to look at all viewpoints, and be able to work with everybody. I think one of my strengths is I can work with people from all sides of the aisles, all different parties, people that are non-affiliated. And because education and housing demand advocacy for everybody, I always tell people that are interested in these areas just remain flexible, remain committed to improving. There's always something new to learn. There's always something changing. As soon as you learn it, they're gonna change it with regulations or compliance, but there's a lot of cross sector work that is pressing. I get a lot of compliments from the people that I work with saying that my goals are focused on the right reasons. Not just supporting the larger leaders, but even the local, small guy, the small people, if you will, like myself. At the end of the day, it's just about being a good community member.

Ed Drozda 17:57

The ability to walk into a room and to mediate conversation that's gotten out of hand is really a gift. I imagine it happens often in situations like the ones that you work in. Do you find you can actually be influential in helping to soften that tension?

Toni Akin 18:19

That's my goal. I've been in rooms where people are yelling at each other or they're yelling at me, or they're not being productive. You're not gonna solve anything that way I always try to bring down the temperature, if you will, because these are passionate areas. People worry about their children in schools and safety, and education, and academics, and on college campuses we want students to be safe, we want them to thrive in their studies. You know, I get that but I feel that I'm able to bring down the tone and keep things respectable in order to keep the conversation moving in a productive way.

Ed Drozda 19:04

I agree with you. If you're able to do this, things may actually get done or at least move in the right direction. Whenever emotions are brought into the equation, it certainly is difficult to keep things on a, hmm, a comfortable, and a productive level.

Toni Akin 19:22

Absolutely, Ed. I mean, I think a positive attitude really helped me stay successful in everything I've done, and everything I plan to do. I know that these matters are not easy. There's so many programs to learn. There's just so much red tape, if you will. You know, laws, regulatory, compliance, and taxes, there's a lot to it. And then there's the people side. And I'm really enjoying all of it.

Ed Drozda 19:49

For me, particularly in the political arena, I have a jaded attitude, and I find it very difficult to believe that people can really get along, and get to the important things. I attribute this largely to the emotional content, and perhaps even to a greater degree, the desire to maintain the power that comes with the position. But it's good to see that people are here that have this enthusiasm, this drive to deal with things such as this, such as you do.

Toni Akin 20:29

I have to beg to differ. I think that there's some very committed leadership, especially here in Rhode Island, and in Providence. I see how difficult the environment, the political environment, the working environment, and with the high cost of living everybody's a little bit on edge these days. But I disagree because I think as we tackle these issues of fair housing, and equitable educational endeavors we're all gonna be in a much better society

Ed Drozda 21:01

I really do appreciate that insight, but I still gotta say, girl, you've got your hands full.

Toni Akin 21:08

I absolutely do, and it's gonna get a little bit fuller actually, because I'm being nominated to be a board member of Volunteer Service for Animals in the Providence chapter. It's been around since about 1972, and animals also play a big part in helping calm our stress levels. So I'm a big rescue animals advocate. All my pets are rescues. We need to protect our animals as well, and make sure that the laws are strict enough for anybody that abuses animals, but also make it affordable to own pets, because that's a big part of enjoying life.

Ed Drozda 21:53

Well Toni, we have run out of time, and with that in mind I wanna ask you, is there anything you'd like to leave us with?

Toni Akin 22:02

Well, again I thank you for inviting me on your show. I think it's very thought provoking. I appreciate you bringing light to small businesses and entrepreneurs, and I appreciate the work that you are doing. I also want to support young entrepreneurs if I can be of any help. I do work on a pro bono basis if I think something is compelling enough. So hopefully if some of your listeners are interested, they can always reach out and contact me.

Ed Drozda 22:37

We'll be sure to make your contact information available as well. I think that's fantastic. Once again, I've had the pleasure of being joined by Toni Akin. Toni is making a difference for the state of Rhode Island, its educational endeavors, as well as its housing endeavors. And she reminds us that regardless of our beginnings humble or not, we all have tremendous potential. Toni, I thank you for that.

Toni Akin 23:06

Thanks, Ed. What a great pleasure.

Ed Drozda 23:08

Folks, this is Ed Drozda, The Small Business Doctor, and here at The Water Trough I wanna wish you a healthy business.