WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:02.090 My name is Tamara Wilkerson Dias 2 00:00:02.090 --> 00:00:04.460 and I'm the Executive Director of a nonprofit 3 00:00:04.460 --> 00:00:07.050 called African American Teaching Fellows. 4 00:00:07.050 --> 00:00:09.140 line:15% The mission statement is to recruit, support, 5 00:00:09.140 --> 00:00:12.720 line:15% develop, and retain a cadre of African American teachers 6 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:14.950 line:15% to serve the students in Charlottesville City 7 00:00:14.950 --> 00:00:17.170 and Albemarle County Schools. 8 00:00:17.170 --> 00:00:19.000 So because the organization is so small, 9 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:20.310 I do just about everything. 10 00:00:20.310 --> 00:00:22.480 line:15% I'm the only full-time staff member. 11 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:24.010 line:15% I have a part-time Program Director 12 00:00:24.010 --> 00:00:26.110 line:15% and she works directly with our fellows, 13 00:00:26.110 --> 00:00:27.720 line:15% so I handle just about everything else 14 00:00:27.720 --> 00:00:29.840 line:15% from budgeting and finance 15 00:00:29.840 --> 00:00:34.030 to fundraising, engaging community partners, 16 00:00:34.030 --> 00:00:36.700 organizational and strategic development, 17 00:00:36.700 --> 00:00:39.080 vision mapping, all of those things 18 00:00:39.080 --> 00:00:40.930 that you really do kind of like you would 19 00:00:40.930 --> 00:00:42.200 if you were leading. 20 00:00:42.200 --> 00:00:44.310 I'm essentially an entrepreneur 21 00:00:44.310 --> 00:00:46.700 doing just about whatever needs to get done 22 00:00:46.700 --> 00:00:47.870 at any given time. 23 00:00:47.870 --> 00:00:50.890 So my Admin Assistant usually is the person at the office 24 00:00:50.890 --> 00:00:54.410 handling the phones, checking our general email. 25 00:00:54.410 --> 00:00:57.090 She's kind of like the primary contact within the office. 26 00:00:57.090 --> 00:00:59.380 Program Director directly works with fellows, 27 00:00:59.380 --> 00:01:01.550 so anything pertaining to them or their training 28 00:01:01.550 --> 00:01:03.913 or a need that they have, she handles. 29 00:01:04.869 --> 00:01:07.110 And then everything else pretty much would fall under me, 30 00:01:07.110 --> 00:01:10.380 line:15% but typically 70 percent of the work that I do 31 00:01:10.380 --> 00:01:12.710 line:15% is building relationships with donors, 32 00:01:12.710 --> 00:01:14.710 line:15% building relationships with community partners 33 00:01:14.710 --> 00:01:17.470 that we can either partner with who have similar missions 34 00:01:17.470 --> 00:01:19.890 or who want to support the work that we do. 35 00:01:19.890 --> 00:01:22.540 And so within that, they all kind of work together. 36 00:01:22.540 --> 00:01:24.810 I like to say that I do the background work 37 00:01:24.810 --> 00:01:27.160 to make sure that the mission kind of happens. 38 00:01:27.160 --> 00:01:28.970 Sometimes I'll write grants. 39 00:01:28.970 --> 00:01:30.380 I'll spend most of my time doing that. 40 00:01:30.380 --> 00:01:33.140 Sometimes I'm spending time searching for grants 41 00:01:33.140 --> 00:01:35.210 that fit our mission or that we align 42 00:01:35.210 --> 00:01:37.880 with a foundation's mission that wants a support. 43 00:01:37.880 --> 00:01:39.850 Other times I'm leading with someone 44 00:01:39.850 --> 00:01:41.710 from the city or county schools 45 00:01:41.710 --> 00:01:45.570 to talk about work that can be done to address our mission. 46 00:01:45.570 --> 00:01:47.470 Other times, I might be visiting a fellow 47 00:01:47.470 --> 00:01:48.810 while they're in the classroom 48 00:01:48.810 --> 00:01:51.720 line:15% just to see them in action, to take photos 49 00:01:51.720 --> 00:01:53.140 line:15% so that I can update donors. 50 00:01:53.140 --> 00:01:55.540 line:15% I mean really, I think the beauty of the job 51 00:01:55.540 --> 00:01:57.700 line:15% is that no day is alike 52 00:01:57.700 --> 00:02:00.070 and that pretty much I do everything from. 53 00:02:00.070 --> 00:02:01.960 We just had an event this past Friday 54 00:02:01.960 --> 00:02:03.910 and I do everything from running to Michael's 55 00:02:03.910 --> 00:02:05.280 to get event supplies 56 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:07.720 to writing grants for 50 thousand dollars. 57 00:02:07.720 --> 00:02:09.670 It really is just all across the board.