Megan: Welcome to She Boss. Today is a very special day for a variety of reasons, but I am thrilled to be joined by Lee Marshall with Kids to Love. For those of you that don’t know Lee, she is the epitome of an angel in this town. That’s what I’m calling you. I told her earlier that in preparation for this interview, I have been having some dreams about Kids to Love lately. I was telling my husband about something last night that we’ll get to in just a minute. But I am so thrilled to have you here and joining us today at She Boss.
Lee: I am happy to be here. Thanks for inviting me back. We were talking- last time we got to chat was when you were very versatile with your platform in 2020, very digital. And so that’s kind of crazy, too, that that’s been four years.
Megan: It’s been a long time. It’s been a long time. A lot of people ask us about what She Boss is all about. And during the pandemic, like most people, we were trying to find ways to engage.
Lee: You did a great job.
Megan: Thank you.
Lee: It was very good.
Megan: Thank you. It’s funny. I was looking back at that interview, and I’m like, “Ah, we were babies.” It seems so long ago.
Lee: You were freshmen, now you are seniors, you have grown up. It’s been four years.
Megan: Exactly but you know what though? Sometimes those things make me cringe, but other times they make me reflect and be so proud of how far we’ve come. So, I actually love looking back at those things, and am very appreciative that we have those as something to reflect on. I’m so glad that you’re here, and this is a very special interview as well, because you are the first She Boss that we will have on twice in our brand new She Boss room.
Lee: I love it- they look so good. If these chairs go missing, I cannot confirm nor deny that they match my office.
Megan: And they’re super comfy.
Lee: Yeah
Megan: I love this fabric, so we share a love of the teal color, which is all over our office for sure. So Lee, thank you so much for being here. A lot of our community are familiar a little bit with Kids to Love, but I want to go back a little bit, and for those that maybe didn’t catch the first interview that we got, just talk a little bit about your background and your history. We have an admiration for Lee and your craft for a variety of reasons. Being in broadcast journalism prior to that’s something that’s very near and dear to our heart as well. But through that opportunity, you were able to share your own life’s experiences as being in the foster care system and with Kids to Love right now. It’s just- I don’t even know how- I mean, I’m just blown away. I am so blown away. So give us just a little bit of overview on you and your background, and just kind of fill our audience in on how you came to be where you are today.
Lee: Well, I was born into foster care and placed with my parents that adopted me when I was six weeks old. They adopted me when I was two. I had a very normal childhood. One of the things that I think I’m the most proud of with all of that, is I’m the first college graduate of my family, and so my parents planned, and my dad worked really hard to be able to give me that opportunity for a college education. And so got a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Murray State University in Western Kentucky- Go Racers- and had an amazing career of more than 20 years in television, I’d say more than 25 years radio and television combined, and got to interview a lot of cool people and tell a lot of amazing stories. I love that part of being a journalist. I’m very much a researcher at heart.
And in 2015, I had the opportunity to retire from television to take Kids to Love to what I feel is the next level, and that’s where we are now. Kids to Love celebrates 20 years this year. In that time, we’ve had a direct impact on the lives of more than 300,000 kids living in foster care. What we have done is we’ve created an ecosystem in foster care that no matter when or where a child enters the foster care system, we have a support system in place to meet them where they are, to help them navigate foster care, to help them age out successfully and independently.
Megan: It’s amazing, and we’re going to talk a lot about that, because the impacts that have been made, and the statistics too, behind a lot of the kids that are in the foster care system, especially as they age out, is a critical time. What’s next after that, right? And if they don’t have the resources they need. But I want to go back and ask you a question about your background. What was the most interesting interview you’ve ever done? Who was that with?
Lee: I can tell you my most interesting interview was John Glenn when he came to Huntsville. We worked- the media was told he would do no interviews so that told me, I had to get the interview.
Megan: Who is John Glenn just so the audience knows?
Lee: John Glenn, I mean, the astronaut, of course with the ties to Huntsville and space. And so there was a parade downtown, I believe the Grand Marshall in the parade and so we were walking by, and his car, his convertible was going by, and I just said, “Mr. Glenn, we’re so thankful to have you in Huntsville.” And he goes, “Well, thanks.” And then, as if the television gods were shining, they stopped the parade. And I said, “Tell us about…” You know, so I just kind of leaned in and so the interview was, I mean, thank goodness my photographer was on it, and he was rolling. And so we got the only interview with John Glenn when he was in Huntsville. And I don’t think it was because he didn’t want to talk to me. He just had a very packed schedule and that wasn’t his priority. So that was, God, that was probably one of the neatest things I would say. I’ve got to interview members of The Temptations and Commodores, and so I don’t know. A lot of people came through when I was doing The Noon Show, and we would do interviews there as well. So yeah, but I think John Glenn was probably my most memorable, just because everybody said I wouldn’t get it. I was kind of like mhm mhm.
Megan: You definitely fall into the category of women that are go-getters. There is no doubt about that. I think when someone probably tells you no, you’re like, we’ll see. That’s what lights the fire, I would imagine.
Lee: Yeah. I’m like, write the date, and then we’ll write the date when I prove you wrong.
Megan: Which I love so much and you’ve seen that come to fruition, and what you’ve done with Kids to Love, because you’ve hit walls throughout your career, for sure, but here we are, 20 years later, and just seeing all of the development and the dirt and the ribbon cutting and all of that, it is just insane. So I was, again, in preparation for this, just doing a little bit of research, but I was blown away to know that kids who are in the foster care system are potentially 75 to 80%, more likely to end up in prison in some capacity, especially if they don’t have some of that follow on care so there has been so many amazing developments at Kids to Love to meet those direct needs, not only from the aging out component with the cottages that were recently built, but then thinking about all of the life skills and the tools that are needed and associated with all of that too. KTECH is mind-blowing to me. So talk a little bit about the organization as a whole. Then I want to dive into what’s going on at Davidson’s Farms, and what’s going on at Whitaker Cottages, and I mean, just all of the things. It’s becoming so much more than maybe what you originally thought.
Lee: Oh, I can tell you, if I would have known then I don’t know that I would have had the courage to do it. I mean, it’s so much bigger than even I imagined. But my faith is very much a big part of my life. God continues to give me vision, and then he continues to bring provision to that. And I think that one of the core fundamentals about Kids to Love that I think is so important to bring out, and I think this comes from me being a journalist at heart is, I am very much about systemic change, and what are our statistics, and how do we change a problem? I don’t want to just put bandaids on it. I want to systematically change it. And so like you said, when you talk about 75 to 80% of members of the juvenile justice system were former foster children, that’s really what birthed KTECH. It was a workforce training initiative to be able to give our kids that are aging out a skill set. We have awarded over a million dollars’ worth of college scholarships to young people aging out of foster care that have the ability, capacity and the drive to get a two year, four year or beyond degree. But I kept seeing there were a lot of these kids that just didn’t have a support system as they aged out. So while they had the capacity to go to college, they didn’t have the support for them to be successful. One of those young men, Willie, was actually at Alabama, pulling like a three seven GPA, living in his car and that’s not sustainable, that’s not successful and so he dropped out. He came to KTECH. We were able to give him skill sets, and he is now a project manager in the Birmingham area, making an incredible wage every year with benefits. And so for us, it is taking the statistics that we know, what continues to happen when we do nothing, and trying to say, it’s a lot easier to invest in these kids today, than as taxpayers to pay for them tomorrow. Because when you look at a prisoner spending a 20 year sentence, we’re talking millions of dollars that Alabama taxpayers have to take that burden for incarceration. What if we spent several thousand dollars training them, they become a productive member of society that makes our community a safer place to live. Why would we not want to invest today, instead of paying for it tomorrow?
Megan: Yeah, I love it. I was looking back at a couple of the videos from the ribbon cutting ceremonies, and I love the quote when you said, “We all know what goes when we do nothing. When we do nothing, we know what happens. This is us doing something.” And I love that so much because it is so easy to have something out of sight, out of mind. It does not impact me directly therefore, it is not my problem. But you are absolutely right, it is that systemic change that then creates generational impact. And even if it is not something that directly benefits me personally, it is going to impact my children, if they are still in this community and the future lives of that family and that kid or the young woman or man who’s in that position.
Lee: And I think when we think about quality of life too, we want crime rates to be low in our community. We don’t want to have that happen. And so I do think a lot of people think, ‘Oh, well, I wish this was different. I wish that was different.’ but they don’t do anything about it, and we’re pretty much doers. So, yeah, as I was preparing my remarks that day. I thought, ‘This is us doing something, and if we don’t, who’s going to?’
Megan: Who’s going to?
Lee: And if we become a leader in that, and then maybe other people are moved to do something, to act in their calling, to have the courage to take a step in faith to make our community better. I think that’s what we have to do. That’s our responsibility as community leaders. And no matter what your title is or what your position is, we all have a leadership role in our community that we have to fulfill. And making it a better, safer, more inclusive place is where we have to start.
Megan: Yeah and I will say, speaking of community and the community leaders, you have such a great network of support, it seems, behind, not only with your team, your team is amazing. I mean, the handful of team members that I know, they’re the bomb, and they’re awesome. But not only that, but your sponsors and your supporters, your board. I know Chris Eisen, love him to death. It just seems as though you’ve got just a great camaraderie, really rallying around the Kids to Love mission. Talk to us a little bit about that aspect. There are so many different industries here that are just thriving and doing all of these great things. What’s needed, kind of, in the community, is there anything that’s needed? A little bit more to kind of help level that up a little bit?
Lee: I don’t know, I’ll have to think about what’s needed. I know for us, our strategy is we are very strategic and intentional. And we want to have a board that understands, first and foremost, our mission, and so there are several on our board that are either at work in foster care or adopted or adopted families, former foster families, so they get the heart of why we serve. But then it’s also strategically, not only the board, but the team and the community of donors that we bring about is building relationships. And I think when we have a chance to sit down and share the need that we have in the community and how we’re meeting that need, that’s very solution based, with a proven track record of success, that’s where people want to invest their money. It’s no longer a hype dream. I remember there were years that it was like, “Oh Lee, that’s just so cute of what you’re doing with foster kids.” And I mean, I still get that to some degree, and then I just have to tuck my red in my pocket and not go real southern on them. But just know that’s just coming from a place of, thank goodness you don’t know what our kids deal with. Thank goodness you have lived a life in a bubble and you don’t understand why the work we do is so important. That’s a blessing for you.
Megan: That’s an amazing perspective to have. I never thought about it in that capacity, but you’re so right. It’s like, fortunately, you haven’t had to struggle in that capacity, right? And you haven’t seen what none of these kids go through. But that’s not to say that that discounts the importance of the issue at hand.
Lee: Absolutely.
Megan: So you spent a long time really selling a vision, and that vision has come to fruition and just continues to grow. So let me ask you this, what’s the next vision you’re trying to stop right now? I know you guys have had so much activity lately.
Lee: So our biggest thing that we’re focusing on is our new Trauma Center. So we broke ground on that last year. The Mark C. Smith Mental Health Center and Linda, his widow, has just been an amazing partner that’s become a friend of mine. I do think the world of Ms. Linda, and then Brad and Stacey Hill have come along with us to fund the trauma portion in memory of their late son, Grant, who was studying to get his doctorate to do trauma, and lost his life tragically, and so this is an amazing way that they’re able to keep his memory alive and to help his dream happen.
So we’re in the middle of a capital campaign for our 17,000 square foot building that will be home to our trauma center. It will also have additional warehouse space, and then we’ll also have the Isenberg Education Innovation Center. What this vision is, when you look at the Children’s Advocacy Center and the amazing work that bud Kramer had, the vision he saw years ago for the need to prosecute those who hurt kids in our community, and the NCAC has done a fantastic job doing that, and now they have a presence nationwide. So, the kids they serve are our kids, and they do it from the prosecution standpoint, because whoever hurts our kids needs to be prosecuted. And so that’s their lane, and then ours is to come in with the social services of giving them homes and helping meet their needs. So we don’t look at them as a competitor at all. We look at them almost as a colleague. But they had this lane to serve our kids, and then we have this lane to serve our kids. But I use the NCAC reference because that’s what I feel our trauma center is going to be. It’s going to be the mother ship here in Huntsville of trauma for children, not only in foster care but all children around the world, because no one else is doing this in the pocket of trauma, we’ve already served over 150 clients with what I would call our therapy annex. It’s already up and running with six therapy rooms. The need was so great, we couldn’t wait to build the building, so we’ll move into the building with a full therapy team in place. We have a vision to put a medical clinic in there to continue to serve our kids, and then in our Education and Training Center, we want to bring other communities from around the country in so we can teach them best practices. And not only will it be a therapy center, it will be a training center. So at every therapy room, there’s an observation room, so we can help train the next level of therapists and counselors, so they can come to us and train with us. Because first of all, I’m going to train an army, and so why not build that training model within your walls?
I see Kids to Love serving deeper, not necessarily wider. I don’t see there being Kids to Love franchises and other in other parts of the country, but I still want to bring those leaders in and train them and empower them and give them best practices and show- just as I like to say, we’re building the plane as we fly it like there is no blueprint to anything that we’re doing. And so I want to help give these other communities more of a blueprint so they can serve their kids quicker. Because when you look at the trauma that our kids are facing right now, it is just unprecedented. And earlier this year, we received our licensure from the Department of Mental Health, so we are licensed to serve all children in Alabama that need trauma and so we serve, when we serve children, we also serve their families, because we feel like if we can be preventative to keep families together, then that prevents more kids coming into foster care. And that’s a win.
Megan: That’s a huge win. That is a huge win. And just thinking about what a child experiences. Generationally speaking, people have different opinions on certain things, but sometimes I think people are like, ‘Oh, kids are resilient. They’re fine. They’ll bounce back. Kids experience divorce or separation or this all the time.’ That’s not quite the case. To your point earlier, if you haven’t seen it, you haven’t lived it, you don’t necessarily know. So in the Children’s Advocacy Center, by the way, I don’t know that a lot of people realize what a huge impact they are making on an international scale, right? I mean, they’re an international hub for which I did not know about until a couple of years ago. So I love to hear that there’s sort of that synergy happening, with both of those organizations. That is fantastic. So capital campaign, actively ongoing?
Lee: Yeah, well, actually, we have two capital campaigns because why not? The cottages at Davidson Farms, so Davidson Farms is our 10,000 square foot home for girls that live there ages seven to 19, we have five cottages that are independent living. So when the girls age out of the main house at 20, they can then move into a cottage. It’s like a studio apartment.
Megan: That’s beautiful, on Isenberg way, which I love.
Lee: My friend Kristi Haley with Haley’s, I went to her and I shared the vision. And she just has such a gift. And I said, “This is what I’m looking at.” I said, “I want Joanna Gaines to walk into Davidson Farms.”
Megan: You nailed it.
Lee: She nailed it.
Megan: I don’t know if there’s shiplap everywhere.
Lee: There is a lot of shiplap. There’s a whole lot of shiplap.
Megan: You know, that’s the Joanna Gaines style.
Lee: I passed that vision to Kristi, and she and her team at Haley’s just came along beside us and brought that to life. So we are very close to having all of our cottages full. So we’ve built the first five and we have room to build a total of 20. We’re about to break ground on the next five, which you know is, what do they say, a suicide for a nonprofit to do more than one capital campaign at the same time. But you know, when I’m getting calls that I’ve got these kids that are 18, 19 are homeless, and we can do something about it right now. One of our young ladies that lives at the cottage is actually a current student at KTECH. So again, that ecosystem that we’ve created to help them break this cycle of poverty. Back to trauma, not to jump around, but you mentioned generational- I’m actually in my spare time, finishing my Masters of social work, I’ll finish in November; please, Jesus, let that happen.
Megan: Congratulations.
Lee: Thank you. But my focus is in trauma, and I’ve had my certification as a trauma therapist already.
Megan: Oh, wow.
Lee: So I see what’s happening and the thing that I think is so interesting that I’ve learned with trauma in the brain is that trauma is generational, and so when you look at our kids in foster care, the trauma that they experience firsthand, and then you piggyback that on the generational trauma of you poverty, abuse, domestic violence, lack of opportunity, lack of education. I mean, it’s nobody’s fault. It’s the hand that they were dealt. That is a lot for our kids to carry on their shoulders. And so for us to help them unlayer and unpack that. The types of trauma that we’re seeing, I mean, severe physical abuse, severe sexual abuse. We’re dealing with kids that were sex trafficked. All this is happening in our community. I mean, these are kids in our community, children that maybe witnessed their parents take their own life, children that had to stay there several days until someone was called. Again, these are not conversations you have at a dinner table, and it makes people uncomfortable.
Megan: But we need to make people uncomfortable to make changes.
Lee: They need to understand that we can no longer stick our heads in the sand. This is happening in our community, and we can’t ignore it any longer.
Megan: Absolutely, there are many ways to support Kids to Love. I love the Denim and Diamonds event. I have not personally been before, but the concept of it, I love it, and I love to hear that things happen, like the van gets hit, and we bring it to this event, and next thing you know, you’ve got a van, and like, the community is just here to do that. But one of the things that you also do to support Kids to Love is Over the Edge, which is insane. It’s insane. And when I heard this concept, I’m like, “What in the world?” But my dear friend Bailey Erickson, with Wafel-Bitte, we had drinks a couple weeks ago, and she said, I’m going Over the Edge, do it with me. And I was like, “Girl”. And so after another glass of wine, I agreed. But we’ll be doing that in a couple of weeks and I am so excited. And I know John is doing it too, and there’s a lot of people doing it. And we loved watching our friends at Invariant do it last year, going down. Talk to us about Over the Edge and how you got involved with that type of effort and fundraiser. And I will say, I have a background in nonprofit. That was my first adult job, was doing nonprofit, hands down, one of my favorite positions ever, to this day. I loved it. And we work with a lot of nonprofits here. You always have to think outside the box to really differentiate and stand out. And man, if Over the Edge does not meet that in so many ways, I don’t know what does? But talk to us about that event and just what that means for you and what that means for the organization.
Lee: When we were looking several years ago at this kind of big picture, how are we going to make enough money to fund all these programs to do this? You know, we’re not a stuffy organization, and I believe everybody in town has a gala, which is great, but we didn’t want to be another gala. And so we were trying to find something that honestly would resonate with the younger generation, that was an event that there was a buy in and experience. And so Over the Edge came on our radar. We watched it for a couple of years, and then, did some sightseeing to other places. It’s kind of like, okay, “Logistically, how do we pull this off?” And so Over the Edge corporate, they are fantastic to work with. They got this down to a science, and now also one event that would be exclusive to us. So we’ve got the market exclusivity on that, no one else can do that. So that was a great thing for us, but it is a big ask to ask someone to scale down the Regions’ building but I do it every year. I feel like I can’t ask other people to do it if I’m not willing to do it.
Megan: How many feet is it?
Lee: 14 stories.
Megan: It’s a lot.
Lee: It’s a lot. If you look in the middle row there may be some scrape marks from my nails from the first year. I’m just kind of kidding, but I mean, it’s very safe. It’s well done. They do a great job training you, so you feel prepared to do it. But to me, for us to shut down a city block for our kids, and for us to have so many people in the community come out and say, “You know what, I am going to go Over the Edge for these kids in care.” So many of our kids and families, we invite them there because we’ve got a Kid Zone and face painting and food trucks. I mean, we make it a whole family fun event, and we invite our foster families down and so for them to see people that they may never meet coming down to support them and the efforts, because it takes a special person to be a foster parent, not everyone is called to do that, but I think we as a community can do our part. And so help raise money. I’d hold our team this week, I said, “So here’s the challenge, if you’re not going over, you have to help somebody raise money on our team that’s going over. So, like, I mean, even from our team, there is a set buy-in of people. It was so funny; earlier this week, we were talking to someone that we’d ask, and they were like, “That is crazy. There’s no way I’m doing that. I’m scared of heights.” you know. And we were like, ‘okay, we’ll give you a pass.’
Megan: But share the donation link with people you know, that way we could raise money. You’re not gonna go Over the Edge, then at least go over the line.
Lee: That’s right, contribute.
Megan: I know that some people have a tendency to dress up a little bit- costume.
Lee: Yeah, oh, my God
Megan: We gotta get our costume figured out. I don’t know exactly what that’s going to be yet, but thinking about something with greenery, of course, what has been some of the wildest outfits that you have seen?
Lee: I went to Miss Claus one year, and we had Santa Claus go over. We had a local company. They went over to sing one thing two and thing three down the rope. You know, you see a lot of superheroes. Brandon Bishop, who’s a local foster dad, goes over as the Grinch in full Grinch costume. Another Tom Billing, he goes over as Gru and then all of the kids at the bottom are dressed as minions.
Megan: Oh, that’s perfect.
Lee: It is so cute. And he and Julie have adopted, I mean, they’ve got a whole football team, so they have plenty of minions, and so all the kids are there with them, and dressed as minions. I don’t know, it’s just been, I love the personality- Mojo from CYP, went over with split pants last year, and he didn’t know that, yeah, so we all found that out at the bottom.
Megan: But makes for a great story.
Lee: So, this year, he’s like, “I don’t know if I’m going again.” I’m like, “You are, but you’re gonna wear some reinforcement.”
Megan: Or pay attention to the boxers you’re wearing.
Lee: Yeah, well, I don’t know if that was an option. I think it was just airflow. It was awkward. So that’s why I said, “Well, you’ve got to go over and redeem yourself.” Everybody was like, “Don’t look up.”
Megan: That’s hysterical. Note to self, though I’m gonna keep that in the back of my mind when seeking out outfits.
Lee: And he said, “Lee, let me, let me stick to helping you raise bikes for your kids for Christmas.
Megan: That’s funny. Have you ever had Mayor Battle do it?
Lee: He will not do it. He will not do that. Dale Strong wouldn’t do it.
Megan: What about Mayor Finley?
Lee: Mayor Finley does it every year. Matt McCutcheon does it. He did it last year. He’s coming back this year. We actually talked to Will Ainsworth, Lieutenant Governor this week and he was like, “You mean, come off that building?” We’re like, “Yes”. He goes, “Uh uh” so he wouldn’t do it. So we’ve had- Dale’s comment was, “If I ever needed to rescue somebody, I’d do it, but I’m not doing it voluntarily.” So I said, “okay”.
Megan: That’s hysterical.
Lee: I love that our city leaders are in support of it.
Megan: Which is no surprise. I mean, we are very fortunate to have an amazing system here and with this very supportive leadership, which we just love so much. I know you know this very much, I’ve personally been in Huntsville for about 20 years, and this community is so special in so many ways, and it’s unlike a lot of other places and not a lot of people realize that until you get here. But what makes our community so special are the people like you who are making the impacts that you are to really think beyond today, and you’re looking at challenges that are so much bigger than what a lot of people can even fathom. And I think that’s what truly makes the city the beautiful city that it is. So I’m so excited that you’ve joined us again; I’m blown away. I am in such an awe of who you are as a person. But honestly, with the impacts you guys are making in this community, it’s amazing, I love it. It gives me goose bumps just thinking about it. So, I’m so proud to know you and just love what you’re doing in the community and just can’t wait to continue to celebrate you. And you’ve got to donate to Over the Edge.
Lee: Yes
Megan: Come out and watch it. It’s going to be an amazing event but Lee, thank you so much for joining.
Lee: Thanks for having me back.
Megan: You bet. You bet.