Marta Rhodes

This episode features Marta Rhodes, Branch 143 President in Findlay, Ohio.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:21

Welcome to the History of Female Leadership in the NALC podcast. I'm Craig Schaefer. I'm a city carrier in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, branch 1015. Today I'm uh honored to have a sister from Ohio. If you don't mind, go ahead and introduce yourself.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

My name is Marta Rhodes. I am the branch president of branch 143 out of Finley, Ohio.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

All right. How long have you been with the NALC?

SPEAKER_00 0:47

I have been a member of the NALC for 10 years now.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

All right. All right. So uh let's go back a little bit. Um what uh brought you to the postal service in the first place?

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Oh um I used to work with people with disabilities, and I worked out of three different counties. Started in one county. The they decided to privatize, go from state funding to private funding. So wages, benefits, everything went down. I went to the next county, worked for the state, and then they did the same thing. And then I went to the third county, worked for the state. And as soon as they announced that they were privatizing, I was like, I can't do this. I'm not, I don't want to go through this again. I need something more stable. And I was driving through downtown Bowling Green, Ohio, and I looked over and there was a mailman walking down the street. And I thought, I could do that. So I applied and here I am.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

Awesome. That's everybody has a different story. That's that I enjoy that question because you just never know what led to being here. So that I I can see why you would get frustrated with that. That that would get old very quickly.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Um, so you know, you've been around now for 10 years. Um, and in that 10 years, now you are the president of your branch. Uh, what led you? Was there something that caused you to decide to pursue a role in leadership in the NALC?

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Honestly, um the leadership role kind of fell into my lap. I'm I'm a natural, uh I always want to take charge. I grew up with three older brothers, um, my mom and my stepdad, and then my real dad. So basically me and my mom were outnumbered my whole life. And I I kind of got like my strong, my backbone, um, my leadership skills from all of the positive male reinforcement around me. And my mom, don't get me wrong, she is honestly a badass. But um, when I started the post office, my goal was to just kind of lay low and do do my job, go home, and that's that. But then the vice president at the time, Don Bonnell, who now is in North Carolina, I was maybe a month in and he bugged me so much. We're having our union meeting, our union meeting come to our union meeting, and I'm like, holy crap. So I went home that night and I told my spouse at the time, and I'm like, I guess I have to go to this meeting because this guy will not shut up about it. So started going to the meetings. Um, six months later, I was a trustee. And then I noticed that the treasurer of our union was very, very knowledgeable. He didn't speak up unless somebody asked him to, but he was super knowledgeable, and I kind of uh set my sights on him, so to speak, and was like, this is a a really smart dude, and I want to learn from him, but he was so quiet and reserved, and I am so not, I am very outspoken and energetic, and I've been told I'm too much a lot of the times. Um so I set my side my sight on him, and it took me about six months to to kind of get him to even crack a smile at me. And once I did, I was like, okay, I'm in. Um his name is Jeff Krance, he is now the state the state president for Ohio State Association. He stepped up into the branch president role and kind of took me under his wing, and I started learning from him, and then I just kind of ran with it after that. And when he retired, I stepped up into his role.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

All right. Well, um, that was kind of going to be my next question. You've kind of alluded to some of it. Uh, what positions have you held?

SPEAKER_00 5:10

I have been trustee, treasurer, president of my branch. I did the tire AP detail for a while. I am a leadership academy graduate of class 30. I had a very successful state women's roundtable at our last state convention. Um, me, Kelsey, Crosby, a couple of other amazing ladies got got the okay to do that and just ran with it. Um, I am the OWCP rep for my branch. I am the formal A rep and I did the first the first rank and file.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

Oh wow, nice. So you've been all over the place. And I did see a picture of uh some of the ladies on your women's round table, and you've got some there's some beasts coming out of Ohio, I'm just saying. Um, and a few of them uh have already been on my podcast, and now I've got another, so that's awesome. So um in your current position, and I mean I know you've got multiple hats you're wearing right now, and but but we'll just stick with the presidency. What is your what are your duties as the president of your branch?

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Um as president of my branch, I am I'm a smaller branch, but I feel like for a smaller branch, we have some um big things that do come up. Mostly I am right now I'm kind of taking a few people under my wing, um, showing them the ropes on like stewardship and getting them informally trained and trying to get you know the next generation of people ready, even though I I am only 36, but I'm just I just don't want the branch to ever be in disarray at any point in time if somebody decides to step down. So getting those people ready, um, I do my my labor meetings, I do the the formal A meetings. Um I do a lot of things like the the branch parties and the the food drive, you name it.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Yeah, it it encompasses a little bit of everything. I I've kind of seen that now a little bit more. Um so you know, as a as a lady, um, and I've you know obviously talk to a lot of them here on this podcast, um, a lot of times you guys kind of have a little bit more of an uphill fight than someone like me. Um have you dealt with any um experiences of harassment, discrimination? And if so, um, how did you deal with that? And do you feel like it was resolved?

SPEAKER_00 8:01

I think that every single woman in this world has dealt with some sort of harassment or discrimination in some way, shape, or form. So, yes, absolutely. I I mean it could be as little as being catcalled on my route or things like that. I most of the time, if it's if it's stuff like that, I'll just shut it down. I, you know, three older brothers, two dads, I got that backbone really early on and I learned how to stand up for myself. So I don't have a lot of a lot of like really bad stories or really bad things that have happened to me because as soon as I sense that something is going to take a turn for the worst, I shut it down immediately because it's it's unwelcomed and it needs to be made apparent that it's unwelcomed. And so far it's worked pretty well. I uh I haven't had a lot of a lot of backlash from me standing up for myself or me standing up from for others. I've actually had people, I've actually stood up for others, and people actually came to me and was like, afterwards, I'm I'm really sorry. Like, I know I was just playing around, but I know it's also not warranted and it's not acceptable. Like it's not gonna happen again. And I'm like, all right, cool. Thanks.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Yeah, it's um we we just dealt with something locally um where we had a customer that for some reason never seemed to be able to have clothes on when he came to the box as the female letter carrier was coming to the coming up to the door. And um I had kind of talked to a couple of the other ladies and found out that, you know, as a guy and especially an old dude, I I don't no one's catcalling me, nobody, no one's uh whistling or anything at me. Um and so you kind of get a little um, you know, it's just not normal. You don't you don't really think about it. But then after I started talking to come of the sub several of the ladies in the office, you know, the stuff that you guys deal with on a daily basis, and the stuff that, you know, like you said, you get cat called or whatever, and you shut it down or whatever, it just um it's wild to me that people think it's okay to do that. And then, you know, it's unfortunate that it's got to the point where I found that a lot of the ladies were like, I would ask them, you know, have you had any experiences with it? Yeah, but you know, I don't it there's a level to it that I start getting concerned, and I'm thinking, you're here to just put mail in boxes and get a paycheck. You shouldn't, you know, we deal with enough stuff, we deal with dogs, we deal with angry customers because they haven't got their mail or you know, whatever it might be. Uh, there's just, in my opinion, there's no room for that. And so I um called all of the ladies over to the side and I said, if you have any issues on your route at all, anything, let me know, and we're gonna shut that stuff down because there's there's just no room for it. It's it's absolutely insane that men think they can do that. I'm sorry, but it is.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

And I also think that it's pretty crazy that it's been done for so long and and so much that women normalize it when it's it's not okay. Like if somebody does it one time and you don't say something, then you're giving them the thought in their head that, oh, well, they didn't say anything the first time. They must, they must be okay with it, but they must enjoy it. Something like that. I've had people come to me after a year of something happening to them, like something little, obviously, happening to them, and come to me and be like, I just don't know how to make this stop. And I was like, How did it start? And they they told me, well, you know, you just did it this one day. And I'm like, were you okay with it that first day? And she was like, No. And I'm like, we have to normalize saying something, you know, you see something, you say something, even if it's you yourself or somebody else. I I am just I have a zero tolerance for that.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

Yes, and that's the way it should be, you know. Um, you're you're like I said, you're there to do the same thing that I'm doing. You know, we're just going in, doing our job, and going home to our family, and uh, there's no room for that. There's there's just not. Um, another question I have for you, um, with all of the different things you've done, which I know obviously you were a leadership uh graduate. You were actually one year exactly before me, I was in 32 with Kelsey. Um you've been away for that. That was a lot, that was a very time consuming. I know personally how a time consuming that was. Um, you were there for the rank and file, um, and you've done various other things with all the time that is involved in your positions that you hold, has that caused you any issues uh with family or friends as far as the time away that you're having to commit to the post or to the union?

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Honestly, no. Um, my family is probably the most understanding family. Um, my wife, I met my wife at the post office, and she is I've I've literally never met anybody like her. She she knows that I'm busy and she knows that I do a lot and that I like I think last year I was gone like nine or eleven weeks out of the year traveling for the union, and she was okay with it because she's never she's never been with or met somebody who's passionate about something, and she really admires the passion and the courage, and you know, the no fear of stage fright or anything like that. She's just really supportive. My my brothers are supportive, my mom's supportive. My mom's probably my biggest supporter, honestly, aside from my wife. She's um she's always told me my whole life that she looks up to me and that she wishes that she could be half of the person that I am. And to hear that from your mom, who you look up to, is a really incredible thing to hear. So I haven't really had any issues now.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

That's awesome. That that's uh seems to be the key for everything is if uh you either have someone if you're gonna be successful, you've got to have that team behind you that are rooting you on, you know, and and pushing you forward. And I I've gotta ask, what does your wife do at the post office?

SPEAKER_00 14:24

She's a letter carrier also.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Okay, I was just making sure she went in management because then I was just gonna hit I was just gonna hit end and we're done here.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

No, no, she would never switch sides. She's she's the union through and through.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

Good deal, good deal. And so she carries in your same office? Yes. Oh wow, nice. Okay, well, uh, well, I have a feeling my next question will probably involve some of the people you just spoke about, but um, what do you like to do when you step away from the union as far as close your laptop, turn off your phone, whatever? Uh you step away, you're gonna take some time to you know unwind, relax. Do you what do you like to do? Do you have hobbies?

SPEAKER_00 15:04

I love traveling. Um, every year we have a a friends group that we take and we just pick a place and get a big house with a bunch of bedrooms and we go somewhere. So um traveling for sure. I love spending time with my family, obviously. Two nieces from my one brother. Honestly, I have too many nieces and nephews to count, but the two nieces from my one brother, they're the closest. And um, I I see them and I love to teach them all of the bad things and then send them right back to my brother so that way he can have a little taste of his childhood with me. Um, I like to crochet. I crochet a lot. I love to read. I usually read about 80 to 100 books a year. Wow. And I am a plant mom. I have between 50 and 60 plants in my house.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

I was going to call you out if you didn't mention plants because I see behind you you've got quite a setup there. So yeah, that's that's pretty cool. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

Yeah, uh love my plants.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

I we we try to do some inside plants and we we are not very successful. We're we're much better on the outside. The inside, we I don't know what it is, they just don't like it in here, apparently. But we keep trying, we keep trying. Um I'm always thinking these plants when they walk in the door that or when we carry them in, they're thinking, oh, here's where we go to die. But we're we're trying, we keep trying.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Um put out a little uh a little tray of pebbles with water in it. Some of them really like humidity.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Uh we'll try it. We will try anything. I would love to have something, anything growing like you have there. Um, it would be very nice just to have that in the house. But like I said, I go in my backyard and I got all sorts of stuff going, but in the house, just not happening. Um so um, you know, you've been around, you've you've done a ton of stuff in your 10 years. Um that's it's it is always amazing to me. I've I'm this this month actually, I'll have 30 years in the post office, and I haven't accomplished the some of you ladies that have been here for 10 years or something have just done so much, and it just is amazing to me. So anyway, though, um, you know, you've been around, you've done a lot of stuff. Um, if someone's listening to this and they're kind of you know thinking about, I might want to be, you know, listening to her makes me want to do something. What would be a piece of advice that you would give to that person?

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Honestly, the first thing that comes to mind is don't let the fear of losing the game keep you from playing it. I uh I know it's a male-dominated world that that we're in, but that doesn't mean it always has to be. Um, my my my advice is open uh open a contract or open the elm or or this is gonna sound really crazy to a lot of people. Read the EL505 about OWCP and learn something because Leadership Academy, I never wanted anything to do with OWCP. And since then I have found my passion in OWCP and I absolutely adore it. So don't be afraid to take a leap of faith and just try something new. You might actually really enjoy it and you might be good at it.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Yeah, yeah. And and what you were just saying, you had no idea that you were even interested in OWCP, and I'll be honest, when we had that three-hour chunk of a class for OWCP, and I saw that on the agenda, I was like, oh no, this is going to be horrendous. And I will say, Kobe put on a class and a half, and I was leaning forward the whole time listening, and I Kobe Jones is like the guru of OWCP.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

He is he walks on water with that stuff, unbelievable.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

And you can just feel his um love for the letter carriers and his concern, and you know how much how passionate he is about it helping other carriers. He he just I that was the first time I ever met met him, and it was just he he left a uh everlasting impression on me. I'll put it that way. He he was an amazing guy.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

I can't believe it.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Um, so um I'm I'm done with my questions, so I'm just gonna go back and throw it to you and just say, hey, is there anything that I missed? Anything you'd like to add? Floor is yours.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Um, I think that there are a few people that deserve uh a little shout out from me, just you know, for all different reasons. Um, my mom, uh, my wife, Courtney, obviously. Uh she's never once told me that I'm too much. She's actually taught me that people who have told me that I'm too much, they actually aren't enough. So her for sure, Jeff for um putting up with me and proving that not all people suck. Um anybody who had a a choice in putting me into leadership, Camilly, Jeff was my mentor, Ed Morgan, whoever, whoever got me into that, like that was life-changing. Absolutely life changing changing. So I, you know, I thank them for that. And then all of the people that support me in my daily life. Um, my best friend, Brittany, Lamanda, Kelsey, Veronica, James, Linda, Casey. They're all just anytime I have union questions, they're just the people that that really they have more experience than me since I'm from a smaller branch, and they really they really know what they're doing. And I'm just really surrounded myself unknowingly by beautiful humans.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

That's amazing. That is, and you're right on, you know, I always say that if it I can't imagine what my life would have been without the Postal Service, but more importantly, the NALC, in my opinion, because if it was just the post office, I would just be in Cape Carry Mill every day and never meet all of these amazing people that I've met along the way, including yourself. Um, and please keep going and keep doing what you're doing because um every time I talk to some young person like yourself, it just makes me know that our union is in very good hands long after I'm gonna be gone. We've got people like you that are just gonna take it to the next level. So thank you for everything you do. And uh thanks to everybody listening. And be safe and be kind of a good thing.