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Servant Leadership & Building a Thriving City | Mayor Laurie Bianco
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In this episode of the Market It with ATMA Podcast, Bryan sits down with Mayor Laurie Bianco of Dalworthington Gardens, Texas to discuss servant leadership, city growth, and long-term planning.
With a background in education and public service, Mayor Bianco shares how leadership rooted in relationships, trust, and accessibility shapes a thriving community.
🔑 In this conversation:
• What “servant leadership” really means
• How Dalworthington Gardens is becoming a destination — not a drive-thru
• Attracting businesses without raising residential taxes
• Why structure, documentation, and transparency matter
• Developing future leaders through civic involvement
This episode is for entrepreneurs, city leaders, and anyone building something meant to last.
👉 Subscribe for more conversations on leadership, marketing, and growth.
Available on YouTube & Spotify
Guest Information
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100067621638146
🎙 Market It With ATMA Podcast
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Sponsor Thank-Yous & Setup
SPEAKER_05Welcome to the Atma Podcast, where we give you the tips, tools, and strategies you need to build, launch, grow, and scale your business. My name is Brian, I'll be your host today. Today's guest brings a unique perspective, one rooted in education, faith, service, and community leadership. She's led with heart, vision, and a deep commitment to serving others first. Our guest today is none other than Lori Bianco, mayor of the city of Dalworthington Gardens. Lori is a teacher by training and merit heart. She spent 20 years in education, teaching elementary, and gifted and talented students both in the United States and internationally in Genoa, Italy. After stepping away from her career to raise her family, she re-entered public service through the Citizens Public Safety Academy, an experience that sparked her passion for city government. Encouraged by community leaders, Lori ran for mayor in 2018 and considers it a blessing to serve the people of Dow Worthington Gardens, a concierge city founded in 1936 that is preparing to celebrate its 90th anniversary. Lori, welcome to the Atma Podcast. But before we get into the show, let's say thank you to our sponsors. Today's episode is sponsored by Nouveaux Desk Co-Working, the home of Arlington's most accessible production ready podcast studio. Whether you're launching your first show or leveling up your content game, Nouveau Desk gives you a professional studio environment where you can walk in, hit record, and create. But NouveauDesk is more than just a podcast room. It's fully equipped business hub with private offices, conference rooms, and workshop and event spaces designed to help you host, collaborate, and grow. If you're ready to elevate your brand, your business, or your voice, book your next recording or your next tour at nuvodesk.com. Create here, work here, build here. Today's episode is brought to you by Nuvio, the all-in-one business platform designed to help you build, manage, and scale with confidence. With NuVio, you can build your own website in minutes, manage all of your leads and customers through a powerful CRM, and if you're in the restaurant industry, you can run your entire operations using Nuvio's modern point-of-sale system. Whether you're a startup, a service provider, or a full-scale restaurant, Nuvio gives you everything you need in one place. Simple, connected, and built to grow with you. Discover why entrepreneurs are switching to Nubio. Visit Nuvio.com and run your entire business on one platform. Well, welcome back, everybody. Welcome to the Atma podcast. And we have uh the formidable mayor, Lori Bianco, on us with us today. And uh she is a character and she is fun to interview. I'm excited about this interview and to talk a little bit about Thal Worthington Gardens, right? And so uh, you know, Lori,
Meet Mayor Lori Bianco
SPEAKER_05why don't you introduce yourself and just talk tell us a little bit about Dal Worthington Gardens?
SPEAKER_00Okay, Brian, first I want to say I am so humbled and thankful to have this opportunity to sit down with you. It is truly an honor. And um I come from a small town in North Carolina, and I will tell you, Dal Worthington Gardens is where I'm gonna lay my stakes and die. I love this place more than anywhere that I have ever lived. And Dal Worthington Gardens is just a place where we've got community, we've got love for each other, uh, and we've got a strong group of patriots uh who really support our country and love uh Texas. And a lot of times when I talk to people, especially if I'm traveling abroad, they'll ask, well, where are you from? And I will say, I'm from the country of Texas. Because to me, Texas is my heart, Texas is my home, and it's everything I could ever dream of.
SPEAKER_05That's awesome. That's awesome. And so you you're the mayor of Dal Worthington Gardens, and um it's a concierge city founded uh on service, right? And so how does that philosophy shape the way uh your team approaches leadership today uh in Dal Worthington?
SPEAKER_00Well, whenever we say we're a concierge city, our citizens and our businesses are our first priority. And in order to be of service to others, you put yourself personally
What A Concierge City Means
SPEAKER_00at the back of the line. But whenever we answer the phone, we say, Good morning, this is uh Diana at Dal Worthington Gardens. I can help you by giving a sense of importance and a sense of assuring folks that we are there to serve them. We name we may not be able to solve the problem, but we're there to absolutely help. And DWG, as we call it, which is a much smaller form and much easier to say, we um absolutely try to serve the citizens. When they call, I answer the phone. Uh my phone's on 24-7. And my police chief gets on to me and he says, Is there anybody that doesn't have your telephone number? And I pretty much say, No, not if they know me. But uh it is our city is a service city. So when businesses come into DWG, uh we really try to not make them jump through hoops. Everybody that works at City Hall are the people that you are going to be working with. So if a new business comes to us, we invite them in, we introduce the entire staff, and these are the people that will be serving you. We don't we have a couple of uh third-party uh services that we don't have in-house, but for the most part, we make everything happen inside that special circle of trust.
SPEAKER_05That's wonderful, that's wonderful. And and you know, just like a business, you know, local government uh entities and cities, they operate on a foundation, right? And so we we talked about this and kind of like you know, as we were talking discussing this podcast, uh this podcast is about build, launch, grow, scale, right? And um, and it sounds like the build is a foundation of and any any organization. It sounds like service is the foundation for for what you uh you know anticipate for your for your staff, you know, you know, so um, but you've had some influencers in your uh your life and and have helped you, you know, talk about a little bit about Mayor Jeff Williams and Judy Rupe and how they shaped your leadership style.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness. Okay, I will tell you I am the most blessed person in the world. I'm not gonna say lucky because it's not about luck, it's about a blessing. And so many people have been mentors to me that I look up to. Um, Mayor Jeff Williams is one of them. He has been not only a personal friend to me, but uh anytime that I need advice on how I should perceive something and act and respond, uh, he has always been a great sounding board, just as Judy Rupe, who is a very, very dear friend of mine, one of my best friends in the whole wide world, um, Judy sets the example. And my daughter actually said to me last week, whenever we met with Judy, she said, when I grow up and I am fully into my career, I want to be like Judy. And that's probably the highest compliment that a person could be given. Uh both of them pour into me, invest in me, and try to help me be the best version of myself that I can be.
SPEAKER_05I love it. I love it. And for those who don't know, Judy, if you've seen Mayor Jeff Williams on the show and podcast earlier, but uh Judy Rupe is the uh the CEO and owner of uh Arlington Today magazine. And so um she's a wonderful person and and uh very involved in the community. Uh and I think that's it's it's rudimental. Like when you when you talk about building a foundation, you have to surround yourself with like-minded people and people that are gonna pour into you and lift you up, right? It's so easy to have a circle of influence um, you know, when you start becoming successful, especially you, and you're the mayor, right? No, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00It's everybody else that makes our city a success. Yeah. I wish I could take credit for it, but there are so many wonderful humans that not only work at our city, but that really um invest in us and help us be uh the best that
Mentors Who Shaped Leadership
SPEAKER_00we can be.
SPEAKER_05And that's wonderful. You you have to surround yourself with the right people. Um so your goal is to attract businesses while still protecting the character of the city. Uh what found uh you know foundational uh challenges like land valuation make that difficult?
SPEAKER_00Okay, so what we've done as a city, because we really do, we want to be a city where people come, we want to be a destination, we don't want to be a drive-thru. And um too many times we've got a great traffic count on Bowen, but people don't stop in DWG. So what we've done as a city is develop a comprehensive plan that we just passed last year, and so all the land between um California and Bowen, all the way up to Key Elementary, we would like to do uh a commercial corridor along that area, not to impact what's on the inside of the city. So we've protected the integrity of the residential part of the city, but we need those tax dollars so that we don't have to raise tax, raise the taxes in order to provide the services that our citizens deserve. So we pass the comprehensive plan and we reach out to everybody that we know that we think has a business that fits the culture of the community. Now, what do I mean by fits the culture of the community? There's certain business that that we're not trying to attract. Of course, we will never say no because we can't, but uh we want to maintain uh the foundation of our community. It's a residential area. For example, the perfect example is Greens Produce. They bring homegrown, very high-quality uh foods and plants to the community, and they are a perfect example, as is Grounds and Gold, Baklava Bakery, Pan Pan Bakery has just gone off the rails with uh their success. But those are the types of businesses that we want to attract. But the problems that we've encountered are sometimes landowners uh don't perceive the true value of their land. Because if it's something that's near and dear to your heart, it has way more value to you than it may to someone else. So the valuation of the land with what Tarrant County says it's worth and what the landowner thinks that it's worth are two very, very different things. So we've had a hard time acquiring parcels of land because of a difference in the price. Most developers will tell you it's maybe six to seven dollars a square foot for development, and some of the landowners are asking uh quite a bit more.
SPEAKER_05Ah, okay, okay. So there's always gonna be obstacles when you know and it's funny because everybody, you know, always the the when your bill launch grow is scaling anything in an organization, a city, or business, uh, you're always gonna have obstacles, right? And um to to work through those obstacles and and to re maintain your character and as far as service is extremely important. But since you've become mayor, several new businesses have opened up in Dell Worthington Gardens. Uh, what does a success say about uh accessibility, responsiveness, and city leadership?
SPEAKER_00Well, I will tell you this we are always accessible. And like I said before, uh whenever we get a new business in, uh, we're there for them. They have direct
Balancing Character And Commerce
SPEAKER_00access to everybody there, and you're not having to jump through a bunch of hoops to get what you need done. For example, permits, we can get those easily uh, you know, passed out immediately with grounds and gold. Maurice and I actually met at a um Maurice Ahern, he's the owner owner uh the Kinley family of Grounds and Gold. And so I met him at Pies for a purpose that Derek Kenney sponsored several years ago. And I told Derek, I said, I gotta meet this guy. And so uh we met and I said, You don't know this, but you're gonna open your business in Del Worthington Gardens. And he just kind of laughed. And I called him the next day and I said, Well, I'm waiting on you when you're gonna show up. We we gotta we gotta meet about this because we're gonna open you a business here. And sure enough, through several months, they now have one of the most successful coffee shops in the Metroplex.
SPEAKER_05You know, it's funny you say that because uh um I was just talking to Maurice the other day uh at the 40 under 40 uh event. Yeah, he uh I was just telling him that it's remarkable because uh my church, Church in Rush Creek, um like they all the employees, all they have their ones. Oh I know they they love that place. It's so great.
SPEAKER_00Uh I see a man, your former pastor.
SPEAKER_05They're always there, they're always there. And uh um, but you know, it's funny, you you said something earlier about making yourself accessible. And I think a lot of people and a lot of businesses um forget this concept when they're starting a business or starting an organization or starting any kind of um launch, right? You not being accessible is a big problem, especially if you're trying to launch a new product, a new campaign, new service. And you said it, hey, you have to be available on the phone, you're ready for meetings, you're having one-to-ones. Um so so why are those simple practices still powerful in in uh what you do today in the government?
SPEAKER_00Oh, the foundation of everything in life, honestly, is about relationships. And if they don't have that relationship of trust and knowing that they're gonna be able to reach you and that you truly care about what they're doing, you're you're gonna fail. Because trust and accountability, accessibility, all of those things are extremely important uh, you know, to forming foundations, whether it's in a business relationship or a personal relationship. Right. Because it's not about how much money you're gonna bring in, it's about the quality, how it's gonna make that person successful, because the foundation of most things is to create a path for success. And that includes making a plan uh and articulating that to the best of your ability, but you must have you know city backing and everything else to make the business as successful as it can be.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, absolutely. And I think that uh uh we get carried away, especially if if through the obstacles, we talked about obstacles earlier, um, about making sure that it's mutually beneficial, right? And so like a lot of people get away from that um um, you know, because I don't know if it's desperation, they need to they they're so involved in trying to make something successful that they forget the route is, hey, I gotta make sure that this is a mu you know, mutual beneficial uh uh, you know, campaign, launch, product, service, w what have you. Uh and like you said, it's about relationships, right? So how do initiatives like food truck parks uh help shift the city from drive-thru to true destination?
SPEAKER_00Because you have to take your little sweet car, park it in that parking lot, and spend your money in DWG. It makes you stop, and when you stop, uh it makes you look around look at your surroundings to see what else is there. And it provides the possibility, you know, for a person to spend money in uh another location. For example, um Ghost Food Truck Park. They've done an
Accessibility As A Growth Engine
SPEAKER_00exceptional job. They have their own uh business there, plus the food truck park, and we're really trying to develop that parcel of land at the corner of Bowen and Arkansas because it's a great piece of land, um, but that has lots of possibilities. So we're hoping that things like Ghost Food Truck Park will attract other businesses into there. I'm not gonna say what unspeakable we would love to see on the corner, but you can use your imagination.
SPEAKER_05That's awesome. So now we go into growing the systems, people, and evolution, right? And so you've spoken openly about learning from mistakes, uh, especially sharing too much, right? Too soon sometimes, right? How was uh how have those lessons like uh shaped you as a leader in maturity?
SPEAKER_00Okay, I've learned several fundamental lessons in life. I will tell you, I get excited about something and just want to blurt it out. And I live with my shoelaces hanging out of my mouth because I usually am eating my words. But um I've learned to kind of maintain um my excitement internally rather than going out and blasting it to the public. Yeah. Uh that's very important, but I just can't help it. I get so excited about it, and I see the potential for the development, and so I I've really tried to work on um doing that. And another thing, another big lesson that I learned this year, um was with the redistricting issue. Uh Dal Worthington Gardens was not affected one way or the other by the redistricting, but uh I was asked to make a decision um very quickly about something, and I didn't have all the facts, and I felt pressured to make a decision immediately, and that was a mistake. So one of my goals for this year is to truly uh gather all the information, even if it takes a long time, before I make a decision on behalf of the city. And I always try to do that based on biblical principles because that is the foundation of our country, that should be the foundation of our lives, or at least it is for me. And um, so those are two extremely important lessons that I've learned. And I don't mind saying I'm sorry, I made a mistake and moving on, because if we don't make the mistake, um, you know, how are we gonna grow and learn?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, exactly. And I think that uh it's okay to get excited, but if we um there's a time and place for everything, right? Absolutely. I've caught myself doing that on a personal level as well. When you get too excited, you sp you you tend to try to speak it into existence, but that isn't always the best, uh that isn't always the best approach, right? Uh especially when there's certain things that um you you know other people are involved and affected by that, right? Exactly. And so um, you know, we talk about um uh growth requires alignment. How was how has a cohesive city council sustained uh progress in this momentum?
SPEAKER_00Okay, oh my goodness. We have the best city council ever. Everybody gets along and we have a shared vision that we're all working toward. Now, do we have opposing ideas? Absolutely, but you don't want to have a group of people making decisions for the city that all think exactly alike, because then you may not be representing everybody in the population of our city, and that's something everybody deserves fair representation. So we have folks with different points of view, but we all strive to work toward that common goal, and we are very open with each other, we're very honest, and we're kind to each other, and having those relationships is extremely, extremely important. There's no um
From Drive-Thru To Destination
SPEAKER_00competition, there's no um combativeness between the council members. Everybody has the goal of serving the people of Dow Worthington Gardens with intention.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I think it's funny, uh, you know, um we all have different gifts, different talents. And uh, and you kind of said this, but uh but when we all have the same uh priority or prior or goal, right? It it's and uh Mayor Jeff Williams actually said this in his last podcast. It's amazing what happens that we're all different, but there's something that can unify us to go in the same indirectly.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_05Um so you define success as the ability to Keep it going regardless of outcome. Uh, how does faith play a role in your resilience as a leader?
SPEAKER_00I will tell you, God blessed me with this position in 2018. And uh there were lots of things going on in my life at that time, and I prayed hard about it and said, you know, if this is what I'm supposed to do, show me. Well, I'm very hard-headed, obviously, and semi-blind, because he sent me several signs. And I was like, nope, that's not my sign. And he would send another sign. I I don't think that's my sign. And finally he took uh a bat and banged me on the head and said, This is it, babe, take the opportunity. So I did, and then I started praying, Lord, please do not give me competition because I could never take somebody else down or make somebody look bad, you know, in a public forum. I would never do that. Yeah. Um, but prayer is the foundation of everything that I do. Jesus is the first guy we invite to every council meeting, and we always ask for his protection, his guidance, wisdom to make sound decisions, um, the ability to keep peace in our city and put a hedge of protection around us because I got to put in a plug for our DPS. Go ahead. We absolutely have the most phenomenal DPS of anywhere. We are safe, we are protected, and if you leave your garage door open, we're gonna call you in the middle of the night. We know your dog's names, we know what kind of car you drive, we know each other, and we have a community that truly loves on each other and deeply cares.
SPEAKER_05That's wonderful, that's wonderful. And and it I think it is important to have uh faith, right? Um, you know, we're a faith-based organization as well. Not everybody shares the same faith, but it's okay as long as um there's principle, right? There's principle in everything that we do, and everybody's steering in the right direction as far as how are we supposed to be treating people and how and do we love people, right? And so I think that's extremely important uh in any organization, right? Because you don't want to bring in the wrong people. Uh and even though they may come from a different religion or or what have you, um, once thing stays the same. We're here to serve, we're here to love, and we're
Lessons From Mistakes & Maturity
SPEAKER_05here to be kind, right? I love that. And uh uh so we talk about scalability. You believe strongly in raising future leaders. Um how does DWG, because I'm gonna say that because it's easier now that you've you've taught me that, intentionally involve students and young people in the civil civic life?
SPEAKER_00Okay, so we work closely with the schools in our community. For example, Key Elementary, which is part of AISD. Uh we have a program with our DPS where they recognize students every six weeks for being stud the student of the month. Maybe it's every four weeks. But anyway, student of the month, and our DPS folks go into the schools and present an award to those uh students who have uh absolutely exemplified what we think is a model student with ACA, which is Arlington Classics Academy. It is a charter school, and we work with them with the Salvation Army because every year at Christmas we have the Mayor's Red Kettle Challenge, and when we do that, we ask the students there at ACA to all participate in a fundraising effort for the Salvation Army, and then several of them, those in uh student council especially, will come and ring the bell out of service uh, you know, to help collect money for those that have much greater needs than we do. And I also a lot of times, if there are fundraisers in the community, for example, um with the AISD foundation, uh, I did cookies with Mrs. Claus, and then another one we did uh Day with the Mayor, and I will take a student, uh, and they did this at ACA for an auction item, and we take a student and their mayor for the day. So I will take them out to eat, we take a tour through the city in the fire truck, and then they lead the first part of the council meeting until we get to the regular agenda.
SPEAKER_05That's wonderful. That's wonderful. Well, I think that's important too because uh at the end of the day, it's about giving back to the next generation, right? And uh these are the folks that are gonna be looking after you and me. Exactly. When we're retired and you know, you know, they they're gonna have to take care of us, right? And so um, so you really wanted me to specify this. There's three things that we talk about um that are important in administration, and that is one transparency, yes, two, documentation, and three, structure. And so why are these essential to a long-term city planning?
SPEAKER_00Okay, so let's start with the structure part. Um, we come up with a plan, we come up with the steps to articulate that, and in order to pave the path to success, you have to have that plan. If you're just running haywire and being reactive instead of proactive, you may not be able to achieve your your goal as fast as you want to.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So that's very important. Now the documentation part shows you am I successful here? What do I need to change? And uh, as I always tell my sweet daughter Emily, you know, your feet are never stuck in the concrete. If the plan changes or if the situation changes, change, change the outcome of it by making a better decision. You are not founded and stuck to a particular, you know, path of doing things. If things change, be flexible and work to still achieve your goal, but you just may have to, you know, pass around a corner. Yeah. And then the transparency is fundamental to trust. Um, we have always open books. Everything, you know, is accessible to our citizens.
Council Alignment And Shared Vision
SPEAKER_00We're very upfront and honest. We have an excellent finance director who makes sure that the financials are in order. And one gentleman, when I first got in office, um, you know, he was questioning every single thing that we did. So I started taking him our quarterly report investment and putting it on his front doorstep. And um finally after a couple of years, he said, Okay, I get it. I trust you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05So I think it's funny you say that because uh the owner, um, so many believe that I'm the owner, but I sold the company back in 2021. And he's he's like an owner, but he's also like a mentor to me. And he always says, uh it's funny because he always says, I don't like surprises, right? I don't think anybody likes surprises. So transparency, just making sure we have clear expectations, making sure that we are all aligned, right? And so I think that that has to do a lot with scaling because if no one's aligned and no it you that's like the root of all relationships is when you um when you you don't have those expectations set and then things happen that you're like, Well, I didn't talk about this or I didn't expect this. And and so um finally you've said a good leader is uh the last of the buffet line. What does servant leadership look like in action at a city level?
SPEAKER_00For me, our staff uh runs the city beautifully. We have a great city administrator, a fantastic city secretary, and every single person who works at our in our city side and our DPS side, um they're extraordinary individuals. And uh in order to make them successful, we have to give them the tools that they need. But if someone goes into a position like I've been blessed with with the intent of self-service, meaning service to oneself, right? Um it never works out well because your job as a leader is to make sure everybody in front of you is successful because that's what paves the way to achieving goals and doing what your ultimate um goal will be.
SPEAKER_05Wonderful, wonderful. Well, I love it. Well, thank you again, Lori, for uh coming on to the show. And we talked a lot about leadership, we talked about transparency, and most
Faith, Service, And Public Safety
SPEAKER_05importantly, having a servant's heart, okay, and how it's important in any kind of business that we do is remember that we're doing you know business with other people. And at the end of the day, we we we like to define it as B2G, B2C, uh, you know, B2B, right? Business to business, business to consumer, business to government. At the end of the day, we're all A to H, which is human to human. And so we have to be able to build those relationships. So thank you for sharing your wisdom uh on on the show, and thank you for being a part of the show. I hope you enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_04I have thoroughly enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_00And one thing that I want to end with is it's all about the relationships and caring for each other. Um, many times people will say, I I often tell people I love you. And I sincerely mean that. Uh, because without that genuine love for each other, we're nothing. Right. And so just so you know, it is sincere, it's from the heart, and I truly want to invest in others as I've been invested in.
SPEAKER_05That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, where can people find a little bit more information about the city of DWG or Dal Worthington Gardens?
SPEAKER_00Well, honey, just give me a call and I will tell you all about it. Or you can go to our Facebook page, which is the City of Dal Worthington Gardens, or our website, which is cityofdwg.net. Uh, follow us on Facebook. Um, but we're always accessible and there for everyone.
SPEAKER_05Awesome, awesome. Well, there you have it, everybody. That was uh Mayor Lori Bianca with the Dell Worthington Gardens. She had a wonderful story. Thank you again for telling us your story. And once again, welcome back to the uh Atma podcast, and we will see you guys next time.