Advocating Change with Niconda Garcia

Imagine growing up in a neighborhood where every day was a lesson in resilience and community. That was the reality for our season three opener guest, Niconda Garcia, a social justice advocate whose story of transformation from the Hillcrest neighborhood of Asheville to a champion for financial and social justice is nothing short of remarkable. Niconda's candid reflections on her formative years, including attending predominantly white schools as a social experiment and her unwavering commitment to helping marginalized communities, are at the heart of this conversation. She also shares the inspirational tale behind the founding of a medical office that provides stigma-free healthcare to transgender and HIV-positive communities, a testament to her dedication to creating a more equitable world.

Have you ever considered the impact of intuitive consulting or the significance of nurturing community relationships that last? This episode also offers a deep dive into my journey, leveraging organic connections to foster a reliable reputation in Asheville's consultancy scene since 2016. The spotlight then shifts to the transformative Consultants of Color program by WNC Pathways, where, as a facilitator and coach, I had the privilege of contributing to the elevation of diverse voices in nonprofit consultancy. This initiative, designed to confront racial disparities and foster financial empowerment for people of color, is a breakthrough in turning voluntary efforts into a respected, compensated profession. Through engaging discussions and specialized workshops, this episode is an invaluable resource for anyone eager to explore the convergence of consultancy, community, and social justice.

Website: https://nonprofitpathways.org/
Facebook: Niconda Garcia
Instagram: Niconda_Forever
LinkedIn: Niconda G. 

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Balanced Virtually

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Transcript

Veronica : 0:38

Welcome to the Veronica Edwards show where we have fun financial conversations that everyone listening can apply to their personal and professional life. I'm your host, veronica Edwards, and I'm so excited to be back here, season three on bizradious. So always, I want to thank the V team. I've been doing a little bit more on social media. I hope you guys are liking the stories and we're also on TikTok now. So we're really trying to push to hit over 4000 downloads before we hit season four in the fall and I know today's show is going to help us get over that hump.

Veronica : 1:18

So today's guest has worked in a social justice capacity for almost 20 years. She is currently a program coordinator for WNC pathway, specifically the consultants of color program, where I met this beautiful young lady, and she is also the owner of the chain, the owner of change the rubric. This guest has served as the pre child release manager of Buncombe County, as well as the director of administration, customer services supervisor and referral coordinator in the nonprofit health sector, serving 18 counties in western North Carolina Wow. As an avid volunteer in various local organizations, she is committed to continued personal growth and service in the community. So, without further ado, I would like to introduce my friend Ms Naconda Garcia. Welcome, naconda.

Niconda: 2:12

Oh, good morning Veronica. Thank you so much for having me. I am honored to be here with you all.

Veronica : 2:18

Girl, I'm honored to have you. I'm just just a little little snippet of your bio and I'm like, wow, girl, you've been doing a lot over these last 20 plus years.

Niconda: 2:29

Well, you know it doesn't feel that way. You know it's for me it just feels like life. But you know, when you put it on paper it does look like huh.

Veronica : 2:36

Yeah, I like to put it into this little bit, just a little snippet. Oh, so that leads us right into. We always start the show asking the guests to tell us about you, where you're from and your story that led you to entrepreneurship.

Niconda: 2:52

Okay, so that's a loaded question. But yeah, let's dive in. Where am I from? I'm a native of Asheville. My family goes about four or five generations back and started out as sharecroppers in Mars Hill. I'm a single child. I have three children. I'm a mother of three plus a dog.

Niconda: 3:19

I'm a dog, but I count as human I'm, so I don't hear her in the background. I hope she didn't see a squirrel, because no matter how many doors I closed, you might hear her from it, and so, like I grew up in Hillcrest, I'm proud of that.

Niconda: 3:34

Yes, Hillcrest, you know started out, went to Randolph Elementary School and at that time it was like I didn't realize what a jewel it was. It was an all black school with black, mostly black, educators. That's where these days. And then, at the age of about 11 or 12, my parents moved to South Asheville, the shallow community, and so I love that. The shallow community, frequented the community centers, and that was that was my second home.

Niconda: 4:11

I graduated from TC Robertson, but what, what that experience did, that I didn't know. It was a social experiment for me, going from all black neighborhood and black schools and black teachers to an all white neighborhood. Well, the neighborhood wasn't white, but the school was all white school and teachers, and so what it did at an early age that I reflect on now is it challenged all of the assumptions and biases that I had for both and gave me a grounding for who I am today. So that's a little background. And then I went off to college at NC State and came back to Asheville looking for a job and I landed. I literally was walking down the street of Haywood Road in West Asheville just going to every business seeing if anyone was hiring I know that's right.

Veronica : 5:06

Nobody does that anymore, just door to door.

Niconda: 5:09

Just door to door. And what was interesting is that I went to this building that I had seen in every, you know all the time, but never noticed you ever had that happen. Yes, you see it, but you don't see it. And so I get to this building and it's been there for years and it's a medical office, and I started talking to a lady in the lobby and she was just telling me how impactful the place had been to her life, how the people had been so kind to her and this I was like you know, after hearing her talk about it, I was like this is it, this is where I want this job and I got it and I started working at the front desk as a receptionist and I think we had about 5,000 patients at the time Wow. And but what I loved about it was it served my community. Like it started in his review apartments, miss Minnie Jones. He used to have marched with Dr Mark Luther King and she was the first person to integrate public housing here in Asheville. I didn't know all these things.

Veronica : 6:16

Wow, you're teaching me something in Women's History Month.

Niconda: 6:20

I don't know about that.

Veronica : 6:21

You said Miss Minnie Jones.

Niconda: 6:22

Yes, Miss Minnie Jones, Check her out. You know he and Carlos Gomez and Dr Polly Ross started that doctor's office and it was exclusively meant for the underserved and I had no clue. So you had to live in 2806 because 2806 was the lowest income community at that time and that's what the code currently shout out to 2806.

Veronica : 6:46

God bless you for letting me get a house.

Niconda: 6:49

Thank you, that's OK. Repping that 2806, honey, come on West.

Veronica : 6:53

Side, so we die All, right, sorry, go ahead.

Niconda: 6:56

That was so good, and the only exception to that was you to live outside, live in the Aitlin County area and be transgender or HIV positive. The reason is that I did not know, but what I learned was that exception was made because of the stigma that comes with those things and they wanted people to have access to health care without experiencing stigma. So that experience really laid the foundation for my social justice work, even though it wasn't intentional. I worked alongside of people that were typically marginalized and developed the true love and understanding and that spearheaded my career and how I look at people and life in general.

Veronica : 7:47

Wow, there's so much I could touch on the condo. Where one? I just want to say wow, fifth generation Asheville.

Niconda: 7:54

Whoa.

Veronica : 7:55

You really don't see that a lot. And then the history that you have when it comes to social justice You're not just doing this when it got cool In recent and everybody when I want to be woke the fact that this is what you've always have done and it's almost like you were destined to do it. You were just drawn to it.

Veronica : 8:15

And I just love that and I like that you're still doing that, while also being able to be an entrepreneur with your business. So I love the name of your business. Change the Rubric. How did you come up with that name? And, please, to the listeners, what are your services? Are you taking new clients? How can we support your business?

Niconda: 8:34

OK, well, change the Rubric came out of just lived experience. You know, like I did the 20 years in health care, and then I went to Buncombe County in the criminal justice sector, where I used what I learned to create processes that were equitable and open access and provided more support in my sphere of influence, and what I realized is the ultimate Human beings are human beings and organizations were created by human beings, right, so even organizations with the best intent are swimming in the waters of what we all been swimming in, which is social constructs, hierarchies and some are, you know, I've not seen any of them are bad, but what I realized is me, as a person in my own agency, understand that you know, people are people and not intended to be managed.

Veronica : 9:40

Yes.

Niconda: 9:41

We manage. We're supposed to manage resources and not people, and so that's something that I learned when I supervised. You know I worked my way up from front desk and you know I always supervised large teams and one of the biggest things that became a joy when I learned to let go of the mental constructs in my mind of, like me and I have control and and ownership and the scarcity mindset and whatever. When I started to develop leaders and delegate and like really get to know them and help them, like see in themselves what I saw and maybe some more, that gave me fuel that still gives me energy, that Like while I'm still on my journey to becoming doing that for others as well like fuels my soul. So that's where to change the rubric. Where you know I work with, I do some consulting work and and I do it intuitively, like I am taking new clients but I don't go looking for people. People come to me because I build relationship with people.

Veronica : 10:53

You definitely do. I tell people in the kind is the plug like, even if it's in a completely different realm from what I know, the condom like, well, just talk to her because she knows people and she can get you in the right direction. So I appreciate that about you because, again, that's one of the many strengths that you have. With also just being here for as long as you have been, you've built so many good relationships. And one thing I will tell you, being somewhat of a newer person in Asheville, I moved here in 2016. You get a lot of people come in Asheville real hot and they leave really fast too. So it says a lot that you've been here doing the same work and I can't find nobody that says anything bad about Miss Nakana Garcia. Okay, so I just appreciate the work that you're doing and how consistent you are, because I know in this work it could be draining and you and you have to as much. As you said, it feeds your soul. We want to make sure that you know we're pouring into you as well.

Niconda: 11:49

Oh, I can appreciate that and you definitely do with that energy and you bring every time I'm in a space with you.

Veronica : 11:56

I either I tell people you either gonna love it or you gonna hate it. I appreciate that from you and I would. That leads us to how we met. You know Naconda reached out to me some time ago about this amazing program that WNC Pathways has here called the Consultants of Color, and you were kind enough to ask me to facilitate a few workshops and, you know, do some coaching. So I would love if you could tell the listeners about what is the consultants of color, why it's necessary and, if folks are interested, how they can sign up to participate.

Niconda: 12:28

Yes, gladly so. That leads into my body of work with WNC nonprofit pathways. Shortly after I left the county I met, had the pleasure of meeting Some of the Searing Committee members and Jeanette Butterworth, the senior consultant at Pathways, because they were looking to bring on a consultant to help with programming and curriculum development and things that I had some Experience in. And what drew me to the work with Pathways the most is that it tied into that social social justice spirit side of me Because at that time you know she To. She had given me a lot of background about what Pathways does and Pathways helps Non-profits build their capacity and become stronger. The whole 18 County region which I had already been familiar with.

Niconda: 13:22

From my 20 years in health care. So those things sort of lined up. But what I really loved about it at that time, you know, I learned that they had started this consultants of color program out of a explicit awareness that the consultants that they Relay on to help provide support for the nonprofits in the 18 County region were predominantly white. Being able to acknowledge that and then also taking steps to Build up consultants to bring diverse voices into those 18 counties was like okay, I can rock with this. I can rock with this because this was, and this was happening before George Floyd.

Niconda: 14:09

Before it was, mm-hmm, you know, a Fad you know, before the radar like that resonated with me, and so the consultants of color cohort. There was a small cohort. That happened in 2017, before I came on to Pathways, and when I came on, you know, one of the things that they were very passionate about was making sure that to start that back up again, and so so I did and brought in people that were a ride wide range and variety of skill sets, of Levels of consulting, because what we often don't name is that people of color are often doing the work, especially the boots on the ground work, and have the lived experience and expertise, but do it for free period. So, yeah, I was like, okay, well, we bring in some of those into the fold.

Niconda: 15:06

We're bringing some that are doing it, and doing it on a larger scale, so that they can network, shopping each other and Support the nonprofits in the region and so that's where we met, because I, you know, reached out to you after getting some information from our first cohort, like trying to figure out when the gaps were that I could help fill in, or not even gaps, like how could I amplify the program, and one of the things that came out of the first cohort, and I dropped some names from that first cohort. You'll know the employee. They speak around here. They ain't gonna say nothing, right?

Veronica : 15:45

right.

Niconda: 15:46

There's all Jimenez leaving cows. I feel it's hardly like these were people that were doing things and still are like Aisha Adams. Those who were in the first cohort. Like, and they are, it's Miko and Rose Murray, like, who doesn't know these people that are doing the work in Asheville, you know?

Niconda: 16:02

And so in talking with these people in the first cohort, you know they're doing well, they're living their missions, they're changing community, and they were like you know what I wish I would have known a little bit more about the financial piece. I wish I would have known then what I know now, and hence that's why I've reached out to you, because it was like, well, we have to get someone that can sort of ask. You know that people can ask those questions and lean on for the. You know the, the, the have real talk about finances, cause we often don't do that in communities of color, cause most of the time it's because we never really had money to manage.

Veronica : 16:38

Exactly.

Niconda: 16:40

But then you know I was like so let me reach out to Veronica Edwards. I had heard all kinds of good things about you from Wade. Oh yeah, and I was like let me reach out to Veronica, because the other important part was you know, I really wanted to bring in someone of color in finance. Yes, and I don't know if you know, but y'all are like unicorns. We don't know about people of color.

Veronica : 17:05

Yes, I just want to shout out for Iindia Pearson, who was running for city council. I had just met her and she is a woman of color from Asheville that's an amazing bookkeeper, caterer, all of these things, mother of five, I believe, and so, yeah, it's like outside of Iindia I really don't know many people of color, specifically in accounting and finance. So that's why I so appreciate you, naconda, for reaching out and also just your appetite for education, cause when, when we get all said and done, naconda might be a junior accountant, cause you are very oriented and you have the interest, and so that's something I'm definitely looking into as another stream of businesses training more bookkeepers, especially bookkeepers of color.

Niconda: 17:49

Holler, chagirl, I am interested and you know, like the, the, the, the coaching that you provided me was so helpful. Like you are so easy to to to. You explain things very well, very clear. You make it. You know you take that stress out of money. When people think numbers sometimes it comes with a connotation of, like a level of difficulty that may be maybe, you know, a little scary for people, but you definitely broke it down in ways that I can understand.

Veronica : 18:20

Well, I appreciate it and you know that's something I tell people. If I can do accounting, anybody can do it. It's just that it's a foreign language. So a lot of times if we're children and we're learning a foreign language younger, it's easier, but a lot of times we go through our whole life until we have a business or until we're ready to get a house and we really never had that financial literacy. So, in the kind of before we go, we know we always ask the guests to give the listeners some tips, some jewels, and with your many years of amazing experience across all areas, but now you're really settling into your entrepreneurship journey. What is something that you wish? Somebody told you at the beginning of that journey that you would like to share with the listeners, Maybe if those listening are just starting their business or they're thinking about getting into it. But they might be a little nervous.

Niconda: 19:08

What I would say is often that we, when we think about wanting to step on our own, we often are visioning, trying to create something new in our mind or we. What I mean to say is we often don't take the time to pause to really think about the experiences and the resources that we currently have that brought us to this moment and.

Niconda: 19:38

That's often where your glory lies, that's where your peace lies, because nothing you know, the gifts that are our, gifted to us, are not foreign. It's not something that we have to create. They're already in us and life has a way of Giving us the training that we need to do exactly what we're supposed to do. So I would say, like, take a pause, look at your resources, look at, look at your experiences, because all of those things didn't happen haphazardly.

Veronica : 20:10

Yes, I Definitely have had. One of my cousins was on the show some months back, reverend Tamika Milton, and she says there's power in the pause. And you're absolutely right. Sometimes we're just going, going, going, going going and people like, well, I don't know what my passion is and I don't know what my purpose is. All these peas got a pause. You got to figure out, well, what exactly has happened that led me to this. It wasn't by chance that you walked by that building and you went inside and you got the job you know and that you followed through with that and that you continued. Even after 20 years of experience and you know I still there's something still pulling at me that that all of these things helped lead me to that point. But, nikon, I'm just so thankful for you and the work that you're doing in Western North Carolina and, as complimentary yard to me, I have to be the same to you. I love your energy, I love that you just keep it straight up, which I can appreciate. You're not gonna get 50 shades of gray with Nikon.

Veronica : 21:11

You gonna get black or white and I'm the same way and I appreciate that because we really don't have time to waste, especially in the work that we're doing. So, just like that Nikon to, we're already to the end of the show and we Definitely are gonna have you back. You know, I'm all about a quarterly segment and I would love to keep talking with you about some of the things that don't get Highlighted in regards to social justice, especially in Asheville, that we kind of want to keep people accountable to, especially like reparations, child, but as a whole, nother story.

Veronica : 21:42

But but, again for anybody listening that wants to get in contact with you. How can we reach you if you have a website, social media, all that stuff?

Niconda: 21:52

So if you want, if you are non-profit and would like capacity build and support, you can reach me at Nikonda at nonprofit pathways. If you are looking for leadership development oh and that's nonprofit Nikon at nonprofit pathwaysorg. If you are looking for leadership development or coaching, you can reach me at change the rubric at gmailcom and, to be determined, I'll let you know about the website. It's something that I've never wanted to do and mentors have been saying you have to do it, you have to do it. So that's in development and I'll update you at our quarterly, quarterly meeting whenever that happens.

Veronica : 22:31

Yes, well, thank you again for the work that you're doing it, regardless if you have a website or not, you're the plug, so we know how to get in contact with you and your work speaks for itself. So thank you again, and I hope that we have another 20 years of you here in Asheville doing the work that you have been doing, because it's very much Appreciate it and need it.

Niconda: 22:49

Oh, I appreciate you so much. I'm sending you positive energy and light until we meet again, my friend.

Veronica : 22:55

Yes, and I just want to Thank all the listeners for tuning in to biz radio dot US for the Veronica Edward show on Wednesdays across all platforms is when it airs and if you miss the live area, you can listen to all prior shows at Veronica Edwards. That buzz brought calm, I.