Scratchwerk ^EDU
"Scratchwerk ^Edu," hosted by Ronnie King, CEO of Scratchwerk Tech and founder of the MyVillage Project, is a dynamic podcast at the nexus of Black communities, technology, business, education, and current events. Each episode dives deep into the role of emerging technologies in promoting equity, enhancing workforce development, and reshaping education.
Join Ronnie as he explores how technology can be leveraged to uplift and empower marginalized communities through insightful discussions with experts, activists, and innovators. From the practicalities of tech entrepreneurship to the impact of community-led initiatives, "Scratchwerk Edu" is an essential resource for anyone interested in the intersection of technology and social change.
Learn about the success of tech incubators such as "Coding in Color", which has trained over 2,000 students in emerging skills and secured over $800k in funding to support young Black tech entrepreneurs, and discover how initiatives like the MyVillage Project Community Fund has united organizations and disbursed over $4M to support 220+ Black-led nonprofits across the country. Tune in to be informed, inspired, and involved in reshaping a more equitable tech future.
Scratchwerk ^EDU
Conversation with Marsha Oliver - The Power of Presence, Purpose & Public Relations
What does true representation look like in spaces where you're not expected? Marsha Oliver, Senior Vice President of Community and Public Engagement at the PGA Tour, takes us on a journey that challenges conventional thinking about career paths, community impact, and authentic leadership.
Tia Leathers and Ronnie King join Marsha in a conversation as Oliver recounts her life-changing experience in South Africa just two years after apartheid ended, the philosophy that guided her controversial decision to serve as spokesperson for Republican Mayor Lenny Curry and how she's helping direct a $100 million commitment from the PGA Tour to underrepresented communities.
Between heartfelt stories about generational differences in approaching discrimination and candid reflections on the current "crisis" surrounding DEI initiatives, Oliver leaves us with a message that resonates with anyone who's ever felt like an outsider yet chosen to show up anyway: "Your biggest accomplishment is the ability to be yourself in a world that is trying to make you someone else."
Hey, hey, good morning. How are you, good, good, how are you.
Speaker 2:Doing pretty well. How about you?
Speaker 1:Can't complain. Can't complain, it's Friday.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a little bit. It's a little bit Friday when you got a big agenda and a long day. It's not capital F Friday, it's lowercase f Friday. Yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 4:Hey, miss Tia, hey, Marsha, how are you? Good, good, good, good. I'm glad that you're here. You know that we spoke with Dr Cole last week. Dr Dr Cole and Ronnie had the audacity to tell her that he had to beg me to allow us to talk to her because she was a Delta.
Speaker 2:So how did that podcast?
Speaker 1:She knew I was joking. She had a. She got a good laugh out of it, you know what I'm saying. She knew I was joking. She got a good laugh out of it.
Speaker 2:Well, I did. I listened to Tony Hill's podcast and I heard there was a lot of deltas and kappas and omegas and my son-in-law a kappa. I mean it was, it was a lot of that going on, so I'm not surprised yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, how did she receive that? Oh, she loved it, and she calls me her sister in Greekdom. Anyway, she doesn't care. She said we can't joke in Greekdom. What can we do? What do we have? It was fun.
Speaker 2:One of my prize positions is a photo of me and Nikki Giovanni. Um, she was doing the delta sign and I was doing the pinky. Um, that's, and that's one of my favorites because I think that was her sentiment. I came to be petty but, um, you know, she, she let me know, like hey, no, we're all sisters that's right.
Speaker 4:That's right. I mean, one of us started before the other, but sisters nonetheless, that's right, hey.
Speaker 2:Originators, not duplicators, say hey, hey, hey.
Speaker 1:I'm just a bystander. I ain't gonna defend nobody, I'm just gonna sit here and listen.
Speaker 4:Stay out of it. Well, marsha, we know you are a busy woman and I have your bio here. I have used chat GPT before to pull up people's bios, so I'm curious if you've ever tried that. Put your name in there to see what it says.
Speaker 2:I have not. I heard y'all. I heard that y'all did that with Tony Hill, so I'm interested to see how it comes out.
Speaker 4:Yeah, actually I will try it.
Speaker 4:And then we'll see if we like it. Fine, if we don't, we're just going to read the real bio. Ok, so scratch for EDU listeners. Here we are back again trying to see what chat GPT will give us, this time about Marshall Gardner. Oliver, did I say that? Right? You did Perfect, okay.
Speaker 4:Marsha G Oliver is a distinguished professional with over 25 years of experience in public relations, marketing, communications and crisis management across corporate, government and nonprofit sectors. Since April 2019, she has served as the Senior Vice President of Community and Public Engagement at the PGA Tour, where she focuses on enhancing the organization's engagement and impact within diverse communities. Prior to her tenure at the PGA Tour, oliver held significant roles, including Director of Public Affairs and Spokesperson for the City of Jacksonville under Mayor Lindy Curry and Assistant Superintendent for Communications for Duval County Public Schools. Her leadership in these positions earned her recognition as one of the nation's top education public relations professionals by the Council of Great City Schools. In addition to her professional achievements, oliver contributes to her community as a board member for Community Hospice of Northeast Florida. She has also been honored as one of the nation's top 100 female leaders, being named to the business journal Biz Women 100 list in 2023.
Speaker 4:Oliver's educational background includes an MBA from the University of Phoenix. Her commitment to diversity and inclusion is evident in her efforts to promote these values within the golf industry. She has discussed initiatives aimed at breaking barriers and fostering inclusivity in golf through various platforms. For a more in-depth perspective on her work in promoting diversity at the PGA Tour, you can watch the following interview oh wow, and it has an interview here. Looks like you're on Golf Central speaking with the man on Golf Central whose name I don't know, but what do you think of your chat? Gpt bio.
Speaker 2:That I'm old. That's what chat GPT has said that I'm an old lady, you could have started as a 10-year-old. That's true. That's true. You know that's amazing because clearly it pulled from probably four or five different bios and sources and you know information. There are a couple of board affiliations that and you know information. There are a couple of board affiliations that they, you know, share that I'm no longer a part of, but yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 4:So, ronnie, on the tech side, what do we do about that? If we wanted it to be accurate, or if Marsha wanted it to be accurate, would we reply there and say, hey, she's not on that board anymore, she's on this? Would? It's not on that board anymore, she's on this. Would it change based on that response?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, you know, when you think about it it's really, you know, like she said, it's just pulling from different sources, so it's not like you can just directly change it. You know it's just a Google search. It would have been no different than us doing a Google search five years ago and it kind of pulling it all together. You know, one of the things I think about, that we all have to think about is, technically, that's kind of her, that's that's Marcia, that's that's your information that we were able to just pull and put into a bio Chat. Gvt gets a chance to profit off of that Right, but Marcia got no, no, nothing from that Right, and so in theory, she should at least get I don't know two cents for that search.
Speaker 2:But that's kind of how that works. Yeah Well, you know, I mean I equate that probably to you know my mom and dad who said be on your best behavior, because you never know who's watching and you never know what people are saying about you. So I just think you know that's just the technical aspect of the neighbors next door and down the street who watching, making sure you acting right and you in the right spaces and places. So yeah, chat GPT, you know I don't. I don't think mom and dad, who are up in heaven, are disappointed with that description. And whether I'm on board A or board B, you know what they said that I'm doing some good stuff. And you know that's what we try to do every single day.
Speaker 4:That's so true. You are continuing to serve and I know making mama and daddy proud.
Speaker 2:Girl For sure, it's an ever ending responsibility. When we wake up and put our feet on the floor, you know you've got your parents, you've got your ancestors, you've got all those who fought for us to just have a right, you know saying hey, girl, don't mess this up. You know, get on up and get out there. So so, yeah, so thank you, chatgpt.
Speaker 4:That's right. And, Marsha, just because you're saying that and I'm hearing it as a mom, tell me how you feel about it, Because I do tage that way. I'll tell her. Like you know, when you walk out of here. Now, at this point we got the same last name. You know what I'm saying. You're taking me wherever you're going, so I, so I don't hesitate to do that.
Speaker 2:Let me be honest.
Speaker 4:However, I do wonder are you okay with the pressure, or do you wish some days that you could just take it off and just let it all hang out, whatever that means you?
Speaker 2:know what? It's funny because, as a mom of a 26, almost 27-year-old son, who he actually has helped me understand how difficult that pressure is by saying I am never coming back home to Jacksonville. Like you know, he was here briefly, worked for the city of Jacksonville and would say I got so tired of people coming up to me and saying oh you're, you know, you're Marsha's son, or you know, you know living in the shadow.
Speaker 2:But I will say that if I did not have the parents, those lessons, I may not be who I am today. You know I joke a lot about how growing up and I am the baby of my siblings we are 14 years apart, my brother and I, seven years apart, my sister and I so we were all essentially kind of raised like only children and I was the oops baby and there was a lot of pressure that was put on me. My dad would get people straight. You do not call her the oops baby, she is the blessing, Because my parents were 42 when I came around.
Speaker 2:So you know it was clear we didn't hear very much. I love you. In the household we heard three words. We heard the most were don't embarrass us, and that was. That was evident. I mean we were in church. You know, every Sunday, Sunday school, my dad was a Southern Baptist deacon at Bethel Baptist Institutional Church, 215 Bethel Baptist Street, Jacksonville, Florida, 32202. And that was. That was the reality. You know my mom was an educator. She was my fifth grade social studies teacher. I was in her class. That is probably one of the worst years of my 55 year old life, 25 year old life. However, it is all of those things that I was taught, that were modeled for me, that, yeah, that made sure that you know I did the right thing and yeah, it is pressure.
Speaker 2:But you know Tage will, she will, she will appreciate it in the long run. But I have seen her do a little dances.
Speaker 4:Yes, you have.
Speaker 2:With her cheerleading and dancing capabilities, so I know she will be fine. And, ronnie, that's a little joke that I would love to catch you up on, because my first time meeting Tej Tej was doing the bike gets routine, and I don't even think she could barely walk, but she had that routine down.
Speaker 1:so so, mama teaching some things I'm about to say we know, we know tears, so I can only imagine I gotta get that story later absolutely, oh y'all showing out today.
Speaker 4:But okay, speaking of Vika and Rain's nature and all that, because she was for the listeners, she was like three and she was, you know, doing some. Uh, she was repeating some of the routines that the girls were doing at this little tryout doing, doing them well.
Speaker 2:And did a good job. Girl had rhythm.
Speaker 4:Absolutely Doing a great job at that, marsha. One thing your chat GPT bio did not mention is your Florida A&M experience. It did not even mention FAMU. So if you don't mind, take us to going to an HBCU. Was that by design? Was that your intent, something you always wanted to do? Did your parents want you to go there? Give me a feel for your HBCU life, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I did not want to go to FAMU. My mom and all seven of her siblings were graduates of FAMU. They got their undergrad and their graduate degrees from FAMU. So they were all Rattlers. I wanted to go to Fisk because everybody was going to FAMU, like I didn't want to do what everybody was doing. So you know, I thought, oh, fisk, nashville, tennessee, didn't know a thing about it. And so mom and dad said, oh, you got this money. Well, if you don't have this money, my money, our money going to Florida A&M University in 1948 because she had all of her children as graduates of the university. So you want to talk about pressure? There was a lot of pressure, but that also meant that people knew my name. So me going there and having the full college experience and independent and having a good time. I knew that was not going to be easy for me, going to a university where everyone knew the Jackson family. But I can tell you that that was the best decision that was made for me. You know I joked with my cousin just not too long ago, you know I said to him I said, hey, do you realize that your mom bought me a set of luggage? This was my mom's sister because I had you know. I was like, well, you know what, if I can't go to Fisk, I'm not going to college and I'm going to get a job at AT&T and I'm going to show them. And it was my aunt, aunt Seal, who bought me a set of luggage and she was like, oh, you going, and you're going to FAMU. And my FAMU experience is single-handedly probably the greatest entry to my success that I have today.
Speaker 2:At FAMU I majored in journalism. Public relations was my specialty area. While there I pledged the Beta, alpha chapter of Alpha Kappa, alpha Sorority Incorporated. I was a part of SGA, I was queen of the senior class, I was senior attendant at Miss FAMU. So I had a wonderful, rich experience. And it was the education that I had at FAMU that allowed me, two weeks after graduation, to go work in my major for a Fortune 100 company.
Speaker 2:So I went to go work at Hershey Foods Corporation in Hershey, pennsylvania, doing public relations. And it was my professor, Dean Hawkins, who said to me at the time because I plan on going back to you know like, okay, after I graduate, my boyfriend was here in Jacksonville. I wanted to be close. So you know, I'm gonna go to graduate school. And he and he pulled me and he's like graduate school, what you gonna do with a graduate degree in communications? Like, you have your undergrad, I mean you plan it on teaching? And I was like, no, you know, I just think I want to get a graduate degree. And he's like, so you're going to just come back and get a graduate degree for the sake of getting one. And so he's the one that told me about the opportunity at Hershey and encouraged me to apply for it. And I go.
Speaker 2:It was originally supposed to be a postgraduate internship and they created a job for me in the PR department and I spent four years there and came back to Jacksonville when we were awarded the Jaguars, because it made me say, hey, our city, the city that you pass through the smelly town to get to Orlando, remember, we have the paper mills and all that. Yeah, to get to Orlando, and remember we had the paper mills and all that. Yeah, hey, we're getting an NFL team. That must mean we're going to have major corporations that are moving to our city, which made job opportunities like public relations and marketing and tech and things of the like you know, more available. So so, yeah, famu was was my launching pad and I am grateful and I bleed orange and green.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. I'm glad you shared that, because when you, when you got back here, then what like, where did your career go? Where did you start when you got back to Jacksonville?
Speaker 2:So when I came back to Jacksonville. I it's funny and I and I think and I can say this among you know you and Ronnie are friends and you know our scratch work listeners are friends too. But you know we had a little complex in Jacksonville. So if you were born and raised in Jacksonville you didn't get a lot of value, you know, like you had to go away and come back. So there were jobs that I had applied for here, where you know, when I was in college and about to graduate, and it was no interest. So it was very good on my part that I had reached out to the William Cook agency when I was in college, had done a paper on them and so forth. So when I decided to come back to Jacksonville and I came, you know, we got the Jags. I was engaged to be married. So I reached out to the William Cook agency and said, hey, I'm here, I'd love to come talk to you all. You know I spent four years at a Fortune 100 company and they, you know, previously, had sent some. You know, thank you for your interest, but we don't have anything available. And this time they said, hey, you know, come on and talk to us. And I did and they created a job for me at the William Cook Agency. You know it was all based on accounts. I had an opportunity to manage all of the consumer based accounts because of my Hershey background the Jaguars was my account, winn-dixie was my account, my account. So I had a wonderful opportunity to do public relations for an ad agency which gave me the ability to work in a variety of different industries and fields and so forth. And from there I went to work for a CSX subsidiary because in the role of the agency life I was traveling a lot. So I was going here, going there and I was a newlywed and thought, okay, if I want to start to have a family I got to start looking at. Okay, I'm not on a plane, you know, three to four times a month. So I took a job with a CSX Corporation subsidiary doing PR for them, was a PR manager for them and did that. That was a male-dominated industry. Being a new mom didn't exactly bode well. And what's funny, y'all and Ronnie I know you two are a big education, you know advocate.
Speaker 2:So this role comes up at Duval County Public Schools as the assistant superintendent of communication. So now y'all heard me say you know, mom and all seven of her siblings were educators, right. So I vowed I will never, ever, never work in education. I would never, ever, you know, be connected education. Like you know, when you think about it, back in the day, that was the only one of a few professions that Black people were allowed. So you could be a teacher, you could be a nurse. So my thought was nobody going to tell me what I can and can't be. So that really, I think initially, was my whole aversion to serving as an educator. But I thought, let me, you know, let me check out this role because, hey, I can work in education.
Speaker 2:My son at the time was a year old when I applied for the job and I was like this may help me navigate, you know, his educational journey here in DeWall County, which would be valuable. So I applied for the job, got the job and my goal was to be there just for a little while. You know I'm going to do this maybe four or five years. And four or five years turned into 16 years and I grew up. I grew up professionally, I grew up personally. I grew up professionally, I grew up personally. I grew up, you know, I think even not just because it was on my the name on my check. No, it is, it's real stuff, and the work that the school district and public education provides is absolutely critical, and I will fight someone down to the white meat if they challenge it in a way that is not healthy and productive for kids.
Speaker 1:I'm loving this. You know we're having all this discussion about our parents and the influence of our parents. You know I'm sitting up here thinking you know my mom was someone who was like the school mom, constantly in the school, always there helping out. I was always so embarrassed, you know, I was just she was the one that was always there and in my mind I'm like I just want to get as far away from volunteer community service work as possible. And then you look up and you get to be an adult and you end up doing almost the exact same thing that your parents was, you know, kind of instilled in you. That's, that's, that's interesting.
Speaker 1:I know, marsha, you know one of the things that you know I've always admired about you has been, you know, you know you see folks kind of playing both sides of the aisle from a political perspective, but you know, from afar at least.
Speaker 1:You know, I kind of viewed you as doing that same thing in the corporate space, you know, and that kind of area, and I'm always thinking about public relations. And again, this is just me not necessarily being in the field, but kind of being a two-way street between that entity, the organization, and the community, and really you know how that relationship works and you know right now we're in and really you know how that that relationship works and you know right now we're in a time, you know, especially with DEI conversations and all kind of different stuff, and I know you've done so much good in terms of building support in communities, but you know what is that public relations space looking like right now, in this particular time with DEI, how? How should corporations be showing up in the moment and how should, more importantly, communities be showing up in the moment in order to build those relationships in this unique time? I would say.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, and thank you for the question. I will say what we're dealing with right now is not even public relations man, it's a crisis. It's a crisis I mean I could certainly, you know, talk and share, you know specific points that I think a corporation should say or can say as it relates to you know, kind of using your words, you know being on both sides of the aisle. But you know, I want to go back to an experience that changed my life. When I was working for the William Click Agency, there was a program and I'd never heard about it. It's a program that the Rotary does and you know, I think the Scratchwork listeners, y'all need to tune in on this but the Rotary has a program. It's through Rotary International. It's very similar to a student exchange program where they select four professionals from a region and they send you abroad and you actually do your profession in that country and then four professionals from that country come over here to the US and they do their profession for four months. So there was a young lady who was a colleague of mine at the William Cook Agency and she told me about it. You know, I think her dad or someone had been a part of the Rotary and she had heard of this program.
Speaker 2:And so I remember thinking, you know, in my resume the one thing that was lacking for me was international experience. You know you talk about kids who have means and those with higher socioeconomic status. You know they get to take a gap year. You know they get to go travel abroad. You know they get to go spend, you know, spend a year or a summer. You know, and that wasn't my mom and daddy. You know, I grew up on the north side of Jacksonville and we didn't have the means by which to go from, you know, Edgewood Avenue to, you know, going to Paris to spend, you know, time studying avenue, to, you know, going to Paris to spend, you know, time studying. So I thought you know what I'm going to apply for this program because, if I get it, that allows me to have international experience on my resume. And so I applied. And when you apply you don't know where you're going at the time of application. So I apply, go through the interview process and I get picked. So I am the Duval County representative of Northeast Florida for these four professionals who are going abroad. So, rotary in a very nice and productive and professional way.
Speaker 2:Before you go somewhere, you know where you're going to spend the next four months. You go through training. They teach you what are the customs, what are the rituals, what are the things that you should say. You know you don't want to go to a community and extend a hand if that's not the appropriate greeting, so they're making sure that you are immersed and have a full understanding. Well, lo and behold, the country that my group of four would be going is South Africa. And so this was 1996, which meant, if you do the math, that was two years after apartheid had ended Only two years. So when we go on through the training, you know, they told us and it was as I said, it was four of us, I was the only, you know, african-american in the group and they said you know, you guys should be aware that there are places that you all will not be allowed to go because Marsha is in the group.
Speaker 2:Now, needless to say, I was married at the time. My parents were like, well, you ain't going. Yeah, it was nice for you to, you know, apply, put on your resume that you applied and that you were selected. But there's no way you're going to South Africa and a place where they don't want you Like apartheid was just two years ago and the folks telling you that you know it's not, they're going to be places that you can't go. So this was probably the only time in my life that I did not do what my parents said.
Speaker 2:Now I'm a grown woman y'all, married woman, but you know I'm like Mom, I got to do this, that you know. I got to do this, and so I made the decision to go and I remember in very much how they do the Rotary meetings here. We were the keynote speakers at breakfast meetings or, you know, lunch meetings. First off, I'm thinking I'm going to see people who look like me. Right, I'm going to South Africa. Oh no, oh no.
Speaker 2:The only people who I saw who looked like me were the maids in the homes where we were staying, because we actually stayed in the homes of Rotarians. So I remember my very first, like our first presentation, our first speech, which was a lunch meeting, and each of us had a part, and after my part, the guy who was the president of that chapter of that Rotary came up and said, oh, are you Hawaiian? I was like, hmm, hawaiian, yeah, ron. I looked at him just like. You're looking at me. I was like Hawaiian. No Well, my daddy, black grandma, great, great granddaddy, everybody that I know are black. However, what I can say to you is that I've had the benefit of an education which, in South Africa, people who look like me have been denied the right and the ability for an education. So I am, I am not anything special, I am simply someone who's educated.
Speaker 2:So every couple of days we would pack up and go to another part of South Africa. We were touring the Western Cape. We started off in Cape Town and, as I mentioned, we stayed in the homes of Rotarians. So, as you can imagine, you know when you're staying in someone's home, you know you can't walk around with the bonnet. You know you've got to be on, you've got to make sure that you are. You know professional dress, you've got to make sure that you are appropriate, you know, and you don't get to turn it off. You know you are, you are on. So we would always get together as a group after we got our housing assignment and met the host family. Well, who you got? Oh, I got a judge. Who you got? Oh, I got someone so-and-so. Well, this one area that we got to, I stayed in a bed and breakfast and y'all, I'm thrilled. I'm like I can walk around with a bonnet, I can put on my bedroom shoes, I could have Noxzema on my face, whatever. So I was thrilled.
Speaker 2:So that evening, the woman who owned the bed and breakfast we were having tea and she said to me she said, well, you know why you're here, don't you? And I said I'm not following you. Well, I am here. Well, why you're here at the bed and breakfast? And I said no, she said well, you're here because we could not find anyone in the town who would be willing to host you in their home. Now, remember y'all, mom and dad and my husband I was married at the time said you ain't going. Oh, I'm going. And I said to them I'm probably going to be the safest out of everybody in the group. They're going to make sure nothing happens to me.
Speaker 2:So that was the only time within that four month stretch where I felt scared and I could probably say that's the first time in which discrimination based upon the color of my skin was up close and personal in my face. And I remember dragging my suitcases to the door and keeping in case someone tried to come in the door, because if people knew where I was, because they wouldn't host me in their home how could I think they wouldn't potentially come to the bed and breakfast and harm me? So every night when I went to bed, I pushed all my luggage to the door as a way for me to shield my safety, and that changed me. That changed me and said first off and I remember my dad saying this growing up you know, people see in the world. What they carry in their hearts and I had to come to the realization of what they saw in me is what they see when they look at other black people, which is, hey, you're just, you're just a black person. And their hearts, they don't know the benefits of an education, they don't know the benefits of training, all of the rights and all the things that I have been provided that the people in South Africa deserve as well.
Speaker 2:So I vow that I would not squander that experience simply for a line on my resume, meaning you went over there in order to make your resume look good.
Speaker 2:In order to make you look good. No, sis, you were sent over there for a divine assignment that when you get back here, you're not going to only sit in the spaces and places that are comfortable. You're going to put yourself in spaces and places and educate people on the benefits of all that come with being a Black woman, being a Black person, a Black professional. And so that is how, ronnie, I began to navigate spaces and places. And not necessarily you know spaces and places and not necessarily you know. And I'll say this, it's very important, and I will say this to young men and women all the time your biggest accomplishment is not what's on your resume. Your biggest accomplishment is the ability to be yourself in a world that is trying to make you someone else. And when I think about making the decision to go work in the mayor's office a Republican mayor who was the state party chair, who I mean and I tell people this today I worked for him during the time that Donald Trump was president the first time.
Speaker 2:And you know when I got the call, because I was at the school district and I got the call saying, hey, mayor-elect Curry wants to talk to you, and I was like, well, what he you know, like, oh, okay, but you know, and listeners, if you get a call that says the mayor wants to talk to you, you do not get to say no, ok, you go get your suit dry, clean and you show up. And so that's exactly what I did. Ironically, though, I thought that he was asking me to come and talk about education, because the previous mayor, mayor Brown, had had an education commissioner on his staff, and I think, oh, maybe he wants to talk a little bit about that. Well, no, he said to me, I want to talk to you about being my spokesperson. And I said to him y'all, oh, google has clearly failed you.
Speaker 1:Like you got the wrong.
Speaker 2:You know that chat GPT messed him up. Like you know, you got the wrong person. He's like no, no, I got the right person. I you know. And he rattled off you know my accomplishments. And he said I want someone at the table who can make sure that diverse voices are represented, and doesn't matter if you have a D or an R next to your name, we want the same thing. You want your street safe and clean. You want your families and your businesses thriving. And y'all, I said no three times. Like I said to him hey, you know, what ChatGPT didn't tell you is that I ain't quiet. I am not a potted plant that you can sit over on a desk or a corner and expect for me to shine when you need it to shine. And he said no, I really want you and your voice to be a part of my administration.
Speaker 2:And I woke up. I remember I had said no, but I woke up a Sunday morning and I was getting. That was I get the Sunday newspaper, turned to the editorial section of the paper and the headline said Jacksonville suffers from an image problem. And I thought OK, here my son was a senior in high school at the time school. At the time I thought, if I want my child to come back to this city, if I want others like me to choose to come back to this city, then why would I not take a seat at the table to be able to help shape and influence a city that welcomes all? And I called them, I called the mayor on that Sunday morning and I said, hey, I know you think I'm crazy, but third time's a charm and if you will have me still, I would like to be a part and join your administration.
Speaker 2:And so he was like well, get here in the morning before you change your mind again and let's, let's meet and talk. And I did, and it was the most rewarding four years for me and, I think, for him. You know, I mean I, I, he and I still talk today where I say it is a shame that we could not be a model for the country to follow, that you can have someone who has very different political party affiliations, views and perceptions. I can tell you all there were many tough conversations that he and I had Colin Kaepernick, the kneeling incident and the Jags, kneeling and how that played out, and the criticism and the criticism. And I could go to him and say, hey, I understand. I have a black son who I pray over every single time he gets behind the wheel of a car, who I say, hey, when you go get the garbage can do not run across the neighbor's yard.
Speaker 2:Like you know, just sitting down and having the discussion and understanding that our perceptions and our beliefs about things that if you discover, you know there are things that influence your life, that influence your decisions, that influence your outlook, but you only get that if you have an opportunity to take the time to be at the table. Like you know, tia's introduction you know from my bio said fostering inclusivity. The only way you can do that is by being there at the table and staying true to who you are. You know, I mean, and I'm going to say there were some people who were mad at me, maybe, who I mean?
Speaker 2:Who looked like us, you doing what, you going where and I said, hey, I'm going to make sure that we have a chance to be able to inform and educate. That's, that's the reason why I'm there. I'm not there to change anybody's minds. He's not there to change my mind. You know, we're there to have conversations about what we find common in our beliefs and, yeah, I mean it's, it is, it is really. It's really sad and disappointing and, as I shared, you know, it's a crisis because when we look at diversity, equity and inclusion, when did that become? When did that become a bad word?
Speaker 1:That, that coming, that story of coming together and those different you know parties, mindsets, whatever you want to call it you know. Particularly that story in the mayor's office I think is is powerful and I can imagine especially folks here in Jacksonville you probably did get a lot of you know folks calling you, you know making sure you wasn't hypnotized in a get out movie or something you know. But I think what I hear at least in that whole story obviously is you know your credentials. Your resume allowed you in a lot of ways to show up exactly how you are even in that space, and I think that's a powerful thing. I know that sometimes in some ways it feels like sometimes we do get picked on to to almost be a token, and I know a lot of folks deal with that that do not have the resume that you have. They can't, you know, or feel like they can't, at least show up how that, how they want to show up. I know one of the things when I was a president here, the local hundred black men chapter.
Speaker 2:When I was a president here the local 100 Black Men chapter.
Speaker 1:We always tried to weigh the difference between someone giving us a grant for us and someone giving us a grant for them.
Speaker 1:We, you know and I know I can be a little radical sometimes, but there was a few thousand dollar grants that we were like, yeah, no, you know that this feels like this is for the photo op, and you know, I know we get that a lot in our community. Or folks are just happy to be at the table or just happy to get the $1,000 grant, so much so that they're missing the bigger picture. Again, you sat on both sides and had the luxury of being able to kind of do good on both sides. I mean, is there something that communities should be looking out for in that space to say, don't just go to have a seat at the table, don't just accept the grant? There is some leverage there. You know, I always felt like I mean, at the time again, we were the 100 Black men of Jacksonville. This photo might be doing more for you than it is for us, but I don't know if you see any of that on your end.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, and I'll say I mean I work in golf. I mean I'm a, I'm a senior vice president for a global golf organization. I was inducted last year into the African-American Golfers Hall of Fame and I cannot play golf, I am terrible. But I will say, and I, and I mean I even remember saying to the organization that gives out that award I'm like how are y'all going to give that to me? That's like how is Charlie Sifford the first African-American to earn a PGA Tour card? I actually called his son, who has become a dear friend of mine, a dear mentor to me, to say how would your dad feel about me accepting an award? And he said Dad would be proud. You don't have to swing a club or know how you know to play golf in order to do good in golf. You don't have to be good at golf to steward the good that golf, that golf does. And, ronnie, had I not taken the job at the mayor's office, I would have never had the courage to take the job at a golf organization.
Speaker 2:And I can tell you I would walk in different environments and people would hand me their plate. You know they saw me as someone who was not there in a leadership capacity. I was there as someone who may have been a waiter and you know I could have turned over the table and, you know, been mad. But no, I respect and understand going back to people, see in the world what they carry in their hearts, and my role was to be able to educate them and I am very grateful that I work for and with a commissioner, a leader, who genuinely believes in doing the right thing. So when I joined the PGA Tour, my role and very same way it was an executive that served on a nonprofit board actually the board. You and I were on Jacksonville Public Education Fund board who came up to me after a meeting and said, hey, I've been reading the paper, ain't no way. You and I were on Jacksonville Public Education Fund board who came up to me after meeting and said, hey, I've been reading the paper. Ain't no way you and Lenny getting along. Like I mean y'all got to be fighting. I mean, are you sticking around for the second term? Like I mean, come on, marsha, all this Trump stuff, there's no way. And I was like, dude, what are you talking about? Like hey, I am looking forward to the second term. You know, like I am here and he's like there's a perfect job for you at the tour. And I'm like, perfect job for me. People who play the sport don't look like me. People who watch the sport don't look like me. People who work in the sport, like help me understand how it's perfect. And so I was more curious about how he saw me than I was about the job. So I was like let me meet with him just to see what lens does he have that he thinks this job is a perfect match for me for. So I met with him and that's when I learned about how the Players Championship, which is our flagship event and that was my first job where I led all of the community outreach and charitable initiatives for how all proceeds from PGA Tour events they go back into the community. So you know, when you think about it, the players has generated more than one hundred and twenty million dollars since its inception going to nonprofits in Northeast Florida. And I thought, hmm, so this gives me an opportunity to help educate and steward support to organizations that were part of my life.
Speaker 2:I was born and raised here in Northeast Florida, so by taking this job it gave me the ability to educate, and the PGA Tour and the Players Championship that there are vast amount of gaps and needs and resources and opportunities that their dollars can help. Because I mean we want to make an impact, we want to make sure that we're doing meaningful work, providing impactful support, but unless we know what are the needs, okay, we're just going to write a check, we're just going to give a check to the local hospital. No, we're going to learn and understand that the Mel Washington Youth Foundation chose to be in the location that had the highest incidence of poverty and crime. We're going to learn about food deserts and the inability for people who live in certain zip codes 322-02-04-06-08-09-5 for zip codes don't have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Having an understanding that you've got organizations and community and after-school programs who may not have ever thought that they were eligible for a single penny from a global golf organization in this big, beautiful, pristine area of Ponte Vedra Beach even cares or has a connection. So the ability for me to be a part of a team to educate and show and create a grant application process and create systems and tools that allow nonprofits to be able to come in and share the problems that they're seeking to solve. That is important and I will tell you.
Speaker 2:You know, when we saw the death of George Floyd, there were all of these corporations that came out and said, hey, we're going to give, you know, a million dollars here, we're going to get a million dollars here, and we're doing it, you know, making these pledges and these commitments, making these pledges and these commitments. And so, and I remember saying, because our commissioner said, hey, y'all, what, what should we be doing? And I was like we don't have to do anything. We ain't the NBA, we're not the NFL, we can keep our heads down. People do not expect. Look at the start line and be like, well, where's golf? Like no, I don't think it's going to rise to the occasion. And the commissioner said, oh no, people who have come to rely on us when there's a hurricane or a disaster in all these communities, now they're not going to come to rely on us for racial healing, that clearly we have communities that are hurting. And so he challenged us, challenged me, to determine how we show up.
Speaker 2:And, to your point, it wasn't hey, let's go bring a check to the 100 Black Men of America, or let's go take a check to a particular organization. No, let's look at the organization. What are the mission, what's the pillars, what are the priorities of that organization? And so we committed one hundred million dollars over 10 years to help underrepresented and underserved communities where we host events. So, when we look across the country, how are we stewarding dollars? And it wasn't this hey, we want you to stop giving to the local hospital and start giving to the NAACP or other organizations. No, we just want you to ask the question what are the needs, the most pressing and impactful needs in a community? And it shakes out. There's. No, hey, let's go help black or brown or Hispanic or disabled people. It's who has the greatest needs in a community and let's make sure we funnel our support and resources there.
Speaker 2:And I mean you brought up the 100 Black Men of America.
Speaker 2:We developed a partnership with them.
Speaker 2:You know the coding and color initiative that you like, that's, educating ourselves to be able to direct dollars you know two hundred and fifty thousand dollars over five years to the 100 black men of America in order to be able to support programs that are within those same communities where we host events.
Speaker 2:That's being intentional and good for you and the organizations who say no, we don't want to take your money. We want you to understand our mission and you know and I say it all the time like as an organization, we shouldn't be just looking only to help an organization meet their needs, like that's why they got bored, that's why they've got, you know, volunteers, that's why they have donors. We have a responsibility to help organizations solve problems and if money can solve those problems and we can direct resources there, you know we need, we need to do it, but we need more Ronnie Kings who say hey, yeah, let's have a conversation, don't just give me a contribution, let me talk to you and explain to you. And that's exactly what you've been able to do, I think, with the coding and color program and just how there's so many different opportunities to align and make a difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah, tia, and I'm not a journalism major or a communication major. That was my small attempt to throw like a little softball for Marsha to say thank you to the PGA Tour for supporting, yeah, coding in Color and thank you for supporting the national organization as well. You know, especially during times like this, I think that has been tremendous. You all have been true supporters of the work that the 100 has done across the nation. Like you said, this isn't just Jacksonville, we're talking about across the nation, so really, really appreciate you all for that. I don't know, t, if you had a question.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and that's professionally, marsha, all for that, I don't know, t. If you had a question, yeah, and that's professionally, marsha, I will say from your support of that effort, the students are now out here doing trainings on AI and the wave of the future and the things that they're able to do. I know, ronnie, I didn't tell you but as we were kind of prepping for the call, I'm like Marsha, any hot topics? I talked about tech. She's like don't ask me about tech, but hearing.
Speaker 1:I talked about tech. She's like don't ask me about tech, but hearing.
Speaker 2:It's all about tech, Marsha, Don't you dare Well and you know, and I'll say I mean when you, when you think about it.
Speaker 2:I mean and, ronnie, you know the Dollar General shooting that happened, that terrible tragedy.
Speaker 2:You know, just based upon a conversation that I had with you at a meeting, you know I learned about coding and color and we have a scholarship that has been named in the youngest victim's honor, aj Laguerre, who was working at Dollar General as a way to be able to go to FSCJ in order to major in cybersecurity, and so you know he was denied that opportunity in that dream.
Speaker 2:But we want to be able to give another AJ the opportunity to fulfill that dream, and so you know, we had a chance to actually create a full scholarship at FSCJ in his name that could be awarded to a student in Health, Zone 1, going back to that 322020406080954 zip code in order to be able to pursue their dream of computer programming, cybersecurity, anything in the related area. So, while I don't know a lot about tech, I know that it is an industry and a field that is underrepresented and, as an organization, if we can do things to help solve that problem and I'm going to say it again, help solve that problem. You know we're, we're all about it and coding and color, and the efforts that are being done by a thousand role models coding and color and the efforts that are being done 5,000 role models. You know, all of those initiatives are designed to help solve the problems that are affecting underrepresented communities.
Speaker 4:That's right. Well, Marsha Ronnie came off mute to do his thing. So you know, I have to take a moment to do it as well. You talked about millennials and them not knowing about Charlie Brown and all that. What they also may not know about is the Brady Bunch and Marsha, Marsha, Marsha and why I'm bringing it up is because my middle name was Marsha growing up. And I tell people it was Marsha because I knew no other black Marsha ever and I did not want to be Marsha at all in any way. So I would say, oh, it's Marsha, there's a line over the edge Like that made it a long way, oh my God. But then I take a job while I'm still in college at the Malavie Washington Kids Foundation at the time and Marsha is on the board and I get to see this beautiful, amazing Black woman with the first name Marsha and I have had the middle name Marsha ever since Now that's until I got married and I dropped it altogether, like it's not even a thing.
Speaker 4:It's gone, I love that.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean and you know how I felt about you Like, I'm like Mal Terry, she's a star, she's a star, she's a star Not even realizing that your middle name was Marsha, which made you even a greater star. But yeah, yeah, thank you for that.
Speaker 4:I did want to take the time to thank you as well, for all of the listeners here. If you think that just living your life out loud is not being impactful in any way, just keep doing it. You don't know who's watching and Marsha, you are one of those people. For me, you are a big sister. I'm an only child biologically, but 100%. Marsha has been very supportive, encouraging and will fight for me like a real big sister. Yes, ma'am, to this day. Yes, ma'am, I just appreciate you. I'm so glad that you were here and being able to join us on the Scratch for EDU podcast. We don't want you to be undone. We thought it was great. You're amazing. I enjoy every story, but is there something you think you would like for Scratch for EDU listeners to also know this? Is there something missing?
Speaker 2:You know. So the only thing that I would probably add is the only thing that I would probably add is just the generational differences regarding inclusion. That I think is important, for you know, scratch, work, edu, listeners to think about. You know my parents who grew up during the time of segregation. I mean, you know they grew up during the 20s and the 30s and you know that was during the time where there were separate water fountains and separate lunch counters and backdoor entrances, and my dad, who was a Southern Baptist deacon at the Bethel Church, who was full of the Holy Spirit, but if you crossed him you got full of something else too Right. And so I mean he was, he was bullish about things that you know regarding what's right, what should be. And I remember one day he had come home from the Winn-Dixie on Soutel and I was there at the house and he was raising sand about something somebody had done in a grocery store and I remember asking mom later on I was like Ma, how did he, how did y'all survive during a time of segregation? Like I mean, if that you know reading people how, how he's still living today, like you know. And and she said to me oh honey, we survived very easily because when we would see a water fountain, you know our parents said you thirsty, you wait till you get home. You know, sitting going through a back door, no, you got to go to the bathroom, you hold it until you get home. So in their minds, they never put themselves in situations and places where they could be treated less than or potentially discriminated against. So they created their own America and in their own America you never had anyone that would mistreat you because you didn't put yourself in that surrounding.
Speaker 2:And when I think about my career choice, even down to where I live, you know my parents didn't want me to move in the neighborhood, the house that I bought. My mom said no, I don't want you over there. My grandmother was a maid two streets over and she said if anything ever happens to you know, my grandson, I will never forgive you for that. And I remember, you know, when Trayvon Martin died and how that struck me, because Trayvon Martin could have been my son, just based upon where I live. Like I would walk the neighborhood and I'd have people stop and say, hey, are you lost? Is your car broken down? And I've lived in this community for 20 plus years.
Speaker 2:So I share all that to say it is so important for us to put ourselves in environments where we may be underrepresented, whether that is STEM, whether that is golf, whether that is any kind of of sport. Because of that and granted, you know, I mean my parents, I'm sure they're probably, you know, in heaven going. She worked well, she doing what she ain't got no business there, but it was because of the mindset and where and how they lived and where and how they live. And I shudder to think what we could be as a country if we took the time and exercise the courage to put ourselves there, not to turn over a table, but to not, to, you know, upset the apple cart, but strictly just to say you know what, I'm here, I belong here and move over, and I think that's just an important part that I think we need to play in the world.
Speaker 1:I'm glad you said that. You know I struggle. That's one aspect of this kind of intergenerational relationships and that kind of stuff. I know I personally struggle with tactics that we use as communities, or you know the opinions around the tactics that we should be using as communities to get to where we want to get to, and you know the way I see it. We have so many folks in our community that want the same thing from different generations. But, man, we have just completely sometimes different ways that we want to go about achieving that and we got.
Speaker 1:We do have to work on that. We have to work on that and I don't think there's any, you know, right or wrong way, but we have to, I think, at any given point in our life, you know, allow those that are younger to just show us different things that they're seeing. You know, and I'll even. My example is even in the tech space. I mean, there's tech ways that we've been doing stuff and developing applications for decades, and for me to even get in front of the students and like this is how you do it.
Speaker 1:Oh, you know, you keep doing it like this. You know for them to show me like, well, mr King, there's a different way to do it now, you know, and you got to kind of step back and like, okay, and there's still a role, I believe, for me to play in that space. I still think there's a role for those that are older than me to play in that space, but we have got to get to a point where we're just a little bit more open to what younger generations are thinking and their strategies, because they are vastly different. And but I still see right now we have this. I guess you can say community leadership again parts in the right place, but we need to, we need to diversify that across generations, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know there's a. There's a saying that disruption is a process, it's not an event. So when we think about it through that lens, it is understanding that if someone has a different way of doing things or a different way of transforming it, understanding that it's. You know it's a process. It's not just boom, it's done, let's shift, let's go. Like it is understanding from each other. It is a long process, as opposed to a single thing like OK, you know this is what, this is the way it is. Thing like okay, you know this is the way it is. No, it's a, you know it's a process.
Speaker 4:And understanding too that what each of us are created to do may be totally different things, and that's based on our own divine design.
Speaker 4:So we could stop trying to also have to understand why somebody else is moving in a particular way and just trust that, when we all wake up and look in the mirror and see these colors on our faces, that we have a shared um, a shared experience where we should all desire to see things be better, and our route there and our experiences are shaping the way that we do that differently, one by one. So I think part of it is also not having to understand why you work for Mayor Curry, or why Ronnie wants to see us be super, pro, pro, just all things black and brilliant in our own space, or you know why I just sit in the middle trying to figure out how to help out. You know, everybody has a role to play and I think if we just owned our own spaces and kept pushing, that, people will fall in line wherever they're supposed to. We give we give each other a lot of support, but sometimes a lot of grief too. That's right.
Speaker 2:And we don't have to get it, we don't have to have it all figured out. You know, we don't. We don't know if, if I had it all figured out, know, we don't know if, if I had it all figured out, um, I would not have had the all of the different jobs and roles that I had. You know the you know my mom dad said you know, you get on one job, you got one good job and you stay on that good job for the rest of your life. You know, and she used to joke and be like, oh, it's been three years, I guess you, you know you got the itch, you're going somewhere else now.
Speaker 2:But but, yeah, you don't. You don't have to get it all figured out or scripted. Trust the process.
Speaker 4:Trust the process. That's it, that's right, All right. Well, thank you for adding that. I was going to ask Juan. You want me to ask her for some of the $100 million now? Oh my God, no, no, no.
Speaker 1:She's doing her money in a good way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's good for the community.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we want to help her do more of that, absolutely, that's right, marsha, really glad.
Speaker 2:Thank you, mr King. Thank you, well, let me know.
Speaker 4:I got you. We're glad that you were able to join us today. We promise to keep you at an hour.
Speaker 1:We do need to hit her up on these PGA Tour tickets, though I'll take some of those I couldn't have a little shame, man DB.
Speaker 4:I offered her some garlic crabs, but it didn't work. Yes, let's do. It Sounds like a plan, marsha, thank you. She gone, oh, she gone, and probably didn't even mean to.
Speaker 1:That's how you do it. I gave you some crap. Bye yeah.
Speaker 4:Let's do it, bye.
Speaker 1:Whatever, bye, oh gosh Right.
Speaker 4:That was good, I enjoyed her. I enjoyed her stories, absolutely I enjoyed her stories.
Speaker 2:Let me tell you here I am. I'm trying to put it on mute. This goes to tell y'all how bad I am with technology.
Speaker 4:Right, I'm trying to put it on mute because my dog walker is about to walk in. I'm like let me find the mute.
Speaker 2:Let me find the mute we thought that was a public relations strategy.
Speaker 1:She leaned in and everything leave. I was like okay.
Speaker 4:We thought that was a public relations strategy. Hey, uh-oh, people are like she leaned in and everything. I'm like where's the mute button so I can get the?
Speaker 2:dogs walking. She was getting ready to come in. I was like, okay, I ain't need her yelling my shirt.
Speaker 1:We ain't getting no tickets no time soon.
Speaker 4:No, no tickets. She's like get the crabs. Bye.
Speaker 1:Give me crabs, I'm out of here.
Speaker 2:Hey, we get two tickets per day for the Players' Championship and I will save. Y'all want two tickets for next year's Players' Championship. I will save two for Scratch Work EDU.
Speaker 1:Yay, we appreciate that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know how that goes, we understand. Those are hot commodities in Jacksonville.
Speaker 4:But with the recording still going, just to make sure.
Speaker 1:Just to make sure you get that on wax.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 4:Mark, we did laugh when you disconnected. We were like oh she was like yeah get crammed bye. Thanks for joining us again, though alright.
Speaker 2:Thanks guys for the opportunity. I enjoyed it thank you. I'm pressing leave this time on purpose leave over here.
Speaker 4:Mute over here oh, on the other side okay alright, y'all bye, alright y'all bye.
Speaker 3:Take it out of Now. We're all screwed when we play our roles and ignore the problems. I like to be away in my patient, stay up. I feel so outdated. How can we look the other way? Sun is out, but the sky is gray. What would happen if I took a chance? It's always hard at first glance. I don't wanna, but I know I gotta do it. The truth is hard to swallow. I think I gotta do it. The truth is hard to swallow. I think I'll chew it. I wish I knew how much I miss not knowing that we're all screwed when we play our roles and ignore the problems. I wish I knew how much I miss not knowing that we're all screwed when we play our roles and ignore the problems. I wish I knew.