#careers

TCI Voices: Spotlight on Nyla McFadden for Black History Month

February 22, 2023March 30, 2023     By Nyla McFadden

00:00:05:03 – 00:00:27:04
Nyla McFadden
One of the hardest tasks someone can ask another to complete is one that requires them to introduce themselves. That’s just my opinion. I don’t ever know where to start. I don’t know how much information to give. What’s that first line that’s going to grab your attention and hook you in and make you interested to want to know more?

00:00:27:07 – 00:00:50:20
Nyla McFadden
But that’s what I’ve been asked to do. Introduce myself to you, TCI’s audience, so that you can get to know me and my voice for our new segment, TCI Voices. So I’m going to do it. I’m going to tell you over the next few minutes about who I am. I’m going to share my perspective and my perceptions.

00:00:51:00 – 00:01:18:03
Nyla McFadden
I’m going to tell you about how I feel being a black woman in this climate space and what I hope to accomplish in working with my team members at TCI. But first, let’s start with that hook. That one liner that captures your attention and the one that I’m going to use is the one that I used to use with my students when I was in the classroom. On the very first day of school,

00:01:18:09 – 00:01:45:27
Nyla McFadden
I would ask them to stand up and answer this question. If you were a piece of fruit, what piece of fruit would you be and why? Immediately it took them off guard, which was part of my point. But it also gave them a good glimpse into my personality and maybe where I would be coming from as their educator.

00:01:46:24 – 00:02:14:20
Nyla McFadden
But this is the same question that I’m going to answer to introduce me to you. So if I was a piece of fruit, I would be a bunch or definitely at least a few red grapes. Why red grapes? Because I’m a firm believer, firstly, that the blacker berry, the sweeter the juice. So that’s why they’re red. But also you can’t just have one grape and feel satisfied.

00:02:15:00 – 00:02:49:13
Nyla McFadden
So too you can’t just be one perspective of me and feel like you know me. I am equally a mother, a wife and a woman, and I balance that trinity in my everyday life as I strive to be better in each of those aspects. For my family, my coworkers, my friends, and this world. And so over the course of the next few minutes, you’re going to learn a little bit more about each of those lenses, those perspectives, each of those parts of me.

00:02:49:23 – 00:03:10:28
Nyla McFadden
I’ll tell you briefly some good details about me as a woman, a wife and a mother. But for the most part, the remainder of the podcast will give you a better glimpse as Nyla, the professional, the Assistant Director of Programs and Education Lead for TCI.

00:03:15:09 – 00:04:03:00
Nyla McFadden
If you’re familiar with TCI’s Learning Labs, you know that the three lenses lesson is one of the cornerstones of all learning labs. The three lenses lesson Ask our audience to think about climate issues from the viewpoints of socio economical and ecological, and look at the whole picture of how the climate issue can impact a person. Just like the three lenses in our learning labs, I have three lenses that I think impact me to being a wife and a mother has impacted me as a person.

00:04:04:21 – 00:04:41:04
Nyla McFadden
All three of those collectively are my trinity as a wife. One of my takeaways is commitment and our steadfast ness to stay together and overcome challenges that come our way. As a mother, what has impacted me most in that journey of my life is balance. I have three teenagers, two daughters. My oldest daughter is Emma. She’s 16 and my son in the middle is Isaiah, and my youngest daughter Nia is 13.

00:04:41:05 – 00:05:17:00
Nyla McFadden
Three teenagers. You got to learn balance, creativity, compassion, patience, drive. Because I want to be better for them. I want them to see me hustling. I’m focusing on a goal and trying to complete it, giving myself the freedom to switch gears as I did when I became move from the classroom to TCI. I’ll talk about that in a little bit.

00:05:17:21 – 00:06:08:01
Nyla McFadden
So I think all those skills or values between marriage and commitment and those I listed with motherhood have shaped me. My perspective, my outlook as a woman and inform me in my at my job at TCI. I briefly talked about two facets of myself. Two parts of the Trinity. My “grapes.” 🙂 And now I want to further the conversation by talking about Nyla.

00:06:08:03 – 00:06:56:07
Nyla McFadden
Last part we’re going to start with what my professional journey was and how I came to TCI, and then the three lenses I’m experiencing in this climate space. So how did I move from the traditional classroom and became education adjacent? I don’t really know. What I do know is that for a long time I was happy and I was passionate about teaching, facilitating growth, and I was really good at it.

00:06:56:07 – 00:07:26:20
Nyla McFadden
Like not trying to toot my own horn, but like I was really good at it. And I think the reason why I was so good at it is because I loved it and I was passionate about it. And I poured into those babies I used to call my babies, my extended babies poured into them. The reason why I poured into them so hard is because I had babies that were in school and I wanted someone to pour into my own babies.

00:07:27:03 – 00:07:58:16
Nyla McFadden
The ones I gave birth to, the way I was pouring into somebody else’s. So that was my hope. And I didn’t give my students any more or any less than I would give the ones my babies that I gave birth to. And I wanted them, my students and my own children, to be better. Better than I was. Better than the adults that I share the space with.

00:07:59:13 – 00:08:32:14
Nyla McFadden
And so one of the ways that I thought I can do that or impart that wisdom on my students and my own kids was to uphold four principals four pillars. See I was a strong advocate, and I’m still a strong advocate of critical literacy, a philosophy that teaches students to be vocally an advocate for social change in their world.

00:08:32:28 – 00:09:07:15
Nyla McFadden
In short. But for me, a way that students could be critically literate is they needed the four pillars and what those four pillars were, or are, are critical thinking, the ability to read with a purpose, the ability to write for a purpose and speaking up, being empowered to speak up and share their mind and their thoughts and their actions with each other and with people who are outside of their community.

00:09:08:01 – 00:09:44:25
Nyla McFadden
So every lesson that I created for English, I was an English teacher, was centered around critical literacy in those four pillars. And I just I loved it. I still have students who call me Mama McFadden and they’re like 20 something year olds or close to 30, and they have their own kids and or they’re on their second degree, but they still call me Mama McFadden and say, Hey, I thought about you because I remembered this lesson.

00:09:44:26 – 00:10:25:06
Nyla McFadden
I remembered to attack the text and I got my cosmetology license because I organized. I thought with the end in mind, I use my resources. I wrote with a purpose and I proofread or whatever it was, and it makes me smile. And so I know I, I, I left education, imparting something and leaving something behind. But I guess the reason why I left is because I lost my passion for it.

00:10:26:17 – 00:10:53:26
Nyla McFadden
I lost my drive and I only taught for about 15 years, but I couldn’t do it anymore because I passion was my compass. I promised myself when I became educated, I would do it until I didn’t love it anymore. But I love hard. And so I loved hard for those all those many years. And then I stopped loving it.

00:10:53:26 – 00:11:26:17
Nyla McFadden
And I didn’t think it was fair to be in a space and not have that same energy, that same commitment, that same level of intensity and creativity and passion and balance. I miss all those skills that I had had learned from just being married or raising my own kids. And so I look for something that would replenish to those.

00:11:27:28 – 00:11:53:07
Nyla McFadden
And I came across TCI, and it was interesting because I had applied to so many jobs and Leia who is the Deputy Director of programs at TCI, she emailed me and was like, Hey, I want to interview. And I was like, The Climate Initiative? I’m an English teacher. This is the thoughts that I had in my head when I read the email.

00:11:54:18 – 00:12:19:02
Nyla McFadden
But at this point I was like, okay, cool, You know, I’ll take it. I’ll have a conversation. I’m worthy. And the first time Leia and I talked, it was just a conversation. It didn’t feel like an interview. I had to remember at certain points that I was actually, you know, being interviewed. And when she came on, she said she had a certain amount of time to interview me.

00:12:19:17 – 00:12:47:12
Nyla McFadden
But I do remember we went beyond that. But leaving that initial conversation, I felt good. I felt a little nervous, and nervousness was a trigger for me, a warning, because every first day of class when I did teach, I would be nervous. But that told me that I’m still excited, right? Like, I’m excited and I’m nervous because I don’t want to fail.

00:12:47:12 – 00:13:08:21
Nyla McFadden
I don’t want to fail my students. And so I knew that I was going to put through that energy. At some point. I had lost that nervousness, but I regained it in that conversation with Leia But the nervousness was like, Oh, like I want to learn more. I want to be a part of whatever organization this TCI is.

00:13:09:11 – 00:13:38:03
Nyla McFadden
And so I was nervous that I wouldn’t get a second opportunity to show myself and how I can be of value to TCI. But I did. And in that second conversation it was with Meagan Cooper, Director of Marketing and Communications for TCI, and Janki is a former employee of TCI as well as Leia We had another conversation.

00:13:38:04 – 00:14:13:05
Nyla McFadden
This one felt more like an interview because Janki and Meagan did throw in interview questions. Leia was more so observing. And what I can remember about that conversation interview like was that I felt like myself and and it was okay to be myself. It wasn’t about like, how much do you know about climate change? How much science do you know?

00:14:13:15 – 00:14:39:28
Nyla McFadden
It was just like, what do you value? What do you feel like you need? And I was able to talk about that, and I felt as though when I was talking about it, something was resurfacing. And what I learned that was resurfacing, it was passion. And that made me want to work at TCI because I was like, Oh, I wanted to I want to do this.

00:14:39:28 – 00:15:51:18
Nyla McFadden
I want to get in this fight. I want to learn more and I want to give my all again. And so that was how I came to say yes when they offered me the position, because they reignited something that I thought I lost. And yeah, I’m glad I’m here. What do I hope to accomplish in this role? I think my first hope is to again, give voice to and educate and empower and activate marginalized groups, Black and brown communities, indigenous communities about the climate crisis, to spread our resources to those groups, but also learn from those groups and what they have to offer because there are associations that do work with marginalized or underrepresented

00:15:52:04 – 00:16:22:06
Nyla McFadden
BIPOC communities. And I want to give and get That’s my greatest hope. I also want to educate youth and empower them and activate them to look at careers in sustainability, to look at pathway to work in those careers, because everyone doesn’t need to go or has the opportunity to go to college or feel like they need to go to college.

00:16:22:06 – 00:16:58:15
Nyla McFadden
But there are other vocations that work with sustainability, and I want to be able to share those resources with young people. I hope to be and learn to be and get better at being a good leader for my team. The regional coordinators that work tirelessly across the United States to be the local conduit for empowering education and activation for this mission.

00:16:59:04 – 00:17:49:09
Nyla McFadden
And I hope I can support them and lead them to even greater successes. And in doing that, you know better. My own skills in that that leadership area. I hope that I continue to help shape and inform our our instructional resources to advance the interdisciplinary opportunities that our instruction affords. Because this climate crisis doesn’t just rest in the hands of the science teachers, it needs to transcend all instructional areas.

00:17:49:09 – 00:18:42:24
Nyla McFadden
And I know that our learning lab resources do that already, but I want to even further those opportunities. I’m really passionate about that and I hope to make again connections for TCI with other local, state and national organizations so that we can link arms, so to speak, to help combat this climate crisis. So those are my those are my larger hopes and I hope also to be able to persuade even just one person that they should care on a practical, real life productive level.

00:18:43:10 – 00:19:11:02
Nyla McFadden
Sometimes people are like, but how does it affect me right now? All right. Like I need to see how this affects me right now. And so if I can get just one, maybe then that will turn into three and five and then so on and so forth. So I would also throw that into my hopes because that is just as important to me.

00:19:11:02 – 00:19:46:12
Nyla McFadden
One of the things that most resonated with me about TCI is that we had similar missions. My mission, again, in the classroom was to encourage kids to critically think to me with a purpose. To write with a purpose and speak up to this mission is to educate, empower and activate. And in the lessons. There’s so much crossover between my understanding of what students need or youth need and TCI’s

00:19:46:26 – 00:20:25:20
Nyla McFadden
So it was it’s an easy transition and it makes me want to pour in and give educators now the tools that they need, the resources that they need to continue to be on the front line. I’m no longer on the front line, but I’m supplying. Right. I’m in logistics. And that was the easy. Easy-ish transition. Sometimes I long for the classroom but every educator, every facilitator has to learn a new role.

00:20:25:20 – 00:21:17:25
Nyla McFadden
Right? And so this is my new role, but I still look for ways to feed, literally and figuratively, educators so that they feel empowered so they can activate themselves, so they can educate themselves to do the same for their youth. So that’s cool. I’m learning a lot in that role and I hope that I continue to learn and I do a good job for not only the educators but the youth that they are working with every day.

00:21:18:21 – 00:22:10:06
Nyla McFadden
So I talked a little about my journey professionally. Now I want to share a bit of myself culturally, I’m a Black woman and being black or living as a black person of color in the United States, as we you may have seen on the news, is not always easy. Being a black woman in a climate change space is interesting. It’s not necessarily a field that you traditionally think of people of color involved in.

00:22:10:20 – 00:22:42:09
Nyla McFadden
I know when I came to TCI, I was like, Wow. Like, I see the viewpoints and perspectives of people who live in suburbia who are white, who live on the coast, who you know, who can afford to live on a coast or in an agricultural sense, but I always see it through seen it through the lens of a person who is not of color.

00:22:42:09 – 00:23:21:10
Nyla McFadden
But when I came to TCI, I started to think of it as an US issue and not a color issue, but understanding that culture really that is important too. And just because it’s a US issue doesn’t mean that we don’t have to think about how this climate crisis affects us or people on ethnic and cultural level too. And I wanted to know how we can pay more attention to people of color who are not necessarily thinking about climate change.

00:23:21:10 – 00:23:50:12
Nyla McFadden
And this is my perspective, right? I know there are organizations out there, climate organizations out there that represent people of color. I know there are. But again, when we see this issue, to me, it’s not always an issue that we think of the BIPOC community. And I want more representation for us as part of the larger us. And I’m striving for that

00:23:50:29 – 00:24:27:22
Nyla McFadden
at TCI. I want kids in the inner city to think about climate crisis. I want historically black colleges and universities to have more outward degrees and representation about climate change and the climate crisis. I hope that they will pick that up. I hope they do. I’m going to continue to do my research. I’m going to you to advocate for that because it’s important.

00:24:28:19 – 00:25:03:17
Nyla McFadden
This climate crisis is not something that any group of people can take care of by themselves. It’s going to take all of us. And I hope that I contribute to that movement with all the other grassroot movements that are doing the same thing that I may not know about. I hope that I can make those connections and help propel us forward, which probably might make me out of a job if we actually succeed.

00:25:03:17 – 00:25:50:29
Nyla McFadden
But I’m okay with that because we’ll be in a greener and safer world for all of us. I want to conclude by outlining my goals for 2023, my short term goals for 2023. I want to continue to support my team, the team that lead the regional coordinators who are our local conduits in each region, connecting educators and youth and local organizations and supporting them for them to do and continue to do all the excellent work they’re doing.

00:25:50:29 – 00:26:23:11
Nyla McFadden
I need to be and want to be excellent for them and support them in all their endeavors. I want to continue to support educators, find ways to continue to feed them figuratively and literally, give them opportunities to shine and strengthen the resources that we can give them. Connect them with other educators. And at the end of the day, I want to be able to go to educators and say, How can I help?

00:26:23:22 – 00:27:04:24
Nyla McFadden
Because I see you and I know you’re doing awesomely. And even if it’s just to say that, then then that would be my mission. Part of my mission. I want to continue to propel his mission forward in 2023. And however that looks with my teammates from development to MarComm to programs where I’m housed, I want us and I want me to help move the mission forward, expanding our reach and strengthening our ties and our connection where we’re already at, because that’s just as important as expansion.

00:27:04:24 – 00:27:36:27
Nyla McFadden
Deepening those relationships in any of the states that we we may be in sprinkles. I want to collectively take all those sprinkles and fill a bucket. And so I definitely want to strengthen our ties as well as expand our mission and move it forward. And I want to enjoy the successes, the wins, even if they’re small and the laughs.

00:27:36:27 – 00:28:06:09
Nyla McFadden
And I think it’s important to take time to enjoy the little the little moments because they have big impacts. So I want to remind myself and my team and my coworkers that it’s okay to take the time to be silly, to continue to take the time, to be silly, to smile, to, you know, take a step back sometimes and rest and relax.

00:28:06:09 – 00:28:42:11
Nyla McFadden
And so I hope that I can bring that to continue, to bring that those values to TCI and remind not only myself, but my team members about the importance of those too. And lastly, I hope and my mission is just to be great and to continue to strive for greatness. One of my favorite authors, Shakespeare, who I used to call my dead white husband, I still call my dead white husband,

00:28:42:11 – 00:29:03:13
Nyla McFadden
says, “Be not afraid of greatness.” And that’s, that’s what I’m going to do in 2023. Is not be afraid of greatness. And I hope that I do that.