14: How a passion project led to a career change (Hispanic Heritage Month)

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, I speak with Isabel González Whitaker, founder of the Sara J. González Memorial Park in Atlanta—the first park named for a Latinx individual in the state of Georgia. Isabel’s mother, Sara, was a Cuban refugee who became a leading immigrant and minority rights advocate in Georgia.

What began as a passion project for Isabel—memorializing her mom with the founding of a park—eventually led her to a career switch from celebrity journalist to social entrepreneur.

In this episode, Isabel shares how she used her journalism skills to raise funds for the park, and how her hard work caught the attention of a large children’s healthcare charity, where she is now a principal advisor. She is also a senior fellow for Encore.org, the leading think tank on intergenerationalism.


Learn more and support the Sara J. González Memorial Park at www.sarajgonzalezpark.org

Instagram: www.instagram.com/explore/tags/sarajgonzalezmemorialpark

Facebook: www.facebook.com/sarajgonzalezpark

92nd Street Y’s Women inPower Fellowship: womeninpower.org

Presidential Leadership Scholars Program: www.presidentialleadershipscholars.org

Encore.org: encore.org

Music credit: TimMoor from Pixabay

Podcast info:
What's your career switch? What do you think about this episode and the show? Tell us at careerswitchpod.com. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Transcript

Lixandra: Hi, everyone. I'm Lixandra Uresta, and this is Career Switch Podcast. This show is here to encourage you to take action with whatever career change you've been considering or are working on. In some episodes, I talk to people who've made their own career switch, whether by choice or circumstance. They share the good, the bad, and the truth about their journey, including what worked for them and what didn't. In other episodes, I speak with experts who offer their best career advice on issues that can come up during the process of making a career change. After all, it takes guts to switch things up, and it's not easy. However, it is possible. So. I hope you hear something in this episode, an idea, a suggestion, a piece of wisdom that'll spur you into action with your own career switch, whether it's taking that first bold step or trying something new. Welcome. I'm glad you're here. 

As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, I speak with Isabel Gonzalez-Whitaker, founder of the Sara J. Gonzalez Memorial Park in Atlanta, the first park named for a Latinx individual in the state of Georgia. Isabel's mother, Sara, was born in Cuba. In 1960, she and her family fled to the U.S. and eventually settled in Atlanta. Sarah served as the president and CEO of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and led the establishment of the Hispanic American Center for Economic Development, which helped create 11,000 new businesses and educated more than 35,000 entrepreneurs. 

What began as a passion project for Isabel, memorializing her mom with the founding of a park, eventually led her to a career switch from celebrity journalist to social entrepreneur. In this episode, Isabel shares how she used her journalism skills to raise funds for the park and how her hard work caught the attention of a large children's health care charity, where she is now a principal advisor. She is also a senior fellow for Encore.org, the leading think tank on intergenerationalism. 

Today, the Sarah J. Gonzalez Memorial Park honors equity, diversity, and inclusion and is a popular community gathering space in Atlanta's West Side for many immigrant and Latinx families. Welcome, Isabel. Thanks for joining us today. Let's dive in. Your career switch started with the founding of a park, a passion project for you. How did this project come about?

Isabel: The genesis is actually quite sad because it was sparked by the loss of my mother, Sarah J. Gonzalez, who was a leading immigrant and minority rights advocate in the South where I grew up. I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. She was a Cuban refugee. And after several sort of false starts into seeking the American dream, eventually landed on this role of advocacy, especially through economic empowerment. And she got to be quite well known in Atlanta and in Georgia, where she had a lot of impact. And when she passed in 2008, I just knew I wanted to honor her contributions to the city and to the state. And so I worked with, you know, numerous stakeholders to get a park named after her. And as it turned out, it's the first park in the state of Georgia to be named for a Latino. So it came with a lot of responsibility, too, and something I'm very proud of.

Lixandra: At the time, you were working as a celebrity journalist and were going through some personal issues. Can you tell us about what was going on in your life?

Isabel: I had a wonderful job at InStyle Magazine, which I loved as features editor. It was a great job. It was a lot of fun. I was also trying to start my own family and we were struggling there. But I can tell you that around the time my mother passed, I had started to crave something more and I was seeking, but I didn't know which direction to seek in or how to set foot on a path of purpose in my career. Now, I will say at this magazine, I was able to raise my hand and anytime that there was a story that had to do with celebrities and causes that were important to them, I always wanted to write those stories or edit those stories. So I found myself sort of drawn to social impact at that time, at least through a celebrity lens, but I knew I wanted more. And so when my mother passed, You know, I often tell this story about going to her funeral in Atlanta. It was a memorial service and there were thousands of people there, right? They filled the church and it was mostly people I didn't know. And people coming up to me in Spanish saying, your mother was an angel. She helped me so, so much. And my outlook of what success was at that moment completely changed. And I left that service knowing two things, that I wanted to do something to memorialize her and I wanted to do something in my career that was more impact driven. And I don't think at the time I realized that the two things would be linked, but I just sort of had this little voice in my stomach, in my gut, in my head, in my DNA that said, something's going to shift here. And to be honest, I'm sure some of it was so that I could continue to stay connected with her, right? Like to do a park in somebody's name, to honor somebody in that way, means that you stay connected with that person. And I wasn't ready to say goodbye to my mother. She died sort of suddenly and tragically. And so I think the park also, without me even realizing it at the time, was a way for me to stay more fully connected with her through this mourning process. But what ended up happening is that the park became as much of a salve for me and my healing a beacon for the community because especially of the fact that it became something quite significant as the first park in the state of Georgia to be named for a Latino.

Lixandra: How did you get started with founding the park? I know you started off small with just 20 minutes of research a week.

Isabel: I was pretty overwhelmed with my life at that moment. You know, having lost her, we came from a small immigrant family. My life was sort of rocked from its foundation. And I had a very busy, very demanding job in New York. And so I thought to myself, and frankly, I'd never tackled any other project this way. And I probably gleaned it from some self-help book. But it was basically like, find the time that you can carve out and dedicate yourself to it in small increments. And you'll eventually get to the final product. Or you will at least make movement on it. So I convinced myself that, okay, I have this sort of audacious idea. I've never built a park, founded a park in my entire life. I'm a journalist. I can figure things out. I'm curious. So it lends itself to sort of discovering new knowledge. I will dedicate 20 minutes of my week every week to this and eventually something will manifest. And that's literally how it started. And of course, you know, some weeks it wasn't always 20 minutes, but I was really dedicated. And sometimes emotionally, that's all I could do. And then other weeks, you know, I had a little bit more free time, so I could spend more than 20 minutes sending emails and exploring and investigating. And in the end, it took a year. It took a year to find the property and to get it named after her.

Lixandra: So what actual first steps did you take?

Isabel: The first steps were really identifying who could help me, who were going to be the partners that could champion this idea. Because I was living in New York, this needed to happen in Atlanta where she had had a foothold. So I connected through her network. I knew that she had a certain level of influence in city government. So I started there and I called those folks that I had a relationship with and said, look, I have this idea. What do I do? And people, I think, because of the impact she had had, were willing to say, well, I don't know what to do, but call this person or this is the person in Parks Department you need to talk to. Or this has been my experience with getting things renamed. And so I'd say for the first two to three months, it was really research based and navigating who I needed to talk to that could like sort of switch the lever to make this project happen.

Lixandra: And what were some ups and downs that you encountered during that year that it took you to found the park?

Isabel: I'd say that first year was that it was mostly ups. The downs were when you work on something to honor somebody that you loved, you're living with them in a way that's different, obviously, than when they were alive, but you're still having to sort of confront the memory of them on a daily basis. So it's an emotional journey. That's the hard part. I'd have to say that once we landed on this idea, there is that sort of sense of when something's meant to be, it's meant to be. I got in touch with the right people pretty easily, you know, that were willing to advocate to make this process happen. I mean, we had to have a law changed at one point because in Atlanta at the time, to have something named after somebody, they had to be deceased for 50 years. My mother had earned enough equity in terms of her impact on the community that the powers that be were able to push through a law that said that doesn't necessarily need to be the case, especially in this particular case. So things happened in ways that I saw and that I didn't see that made this journey pretty seamless, I'd have to say. Now, once it was established, I personally raised the funds and write the grants. And I've certainly not gotten all the funds and all the grants that I've sought out. And it's always crushing a little bit when people don't see your vision for what a park can be, because this park is more than just a park. This park is a green space that's dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion, specifically targeting Latino and immigrant communities. So that's frustrating. But anybody who wants to do anything knows that doors close and windows open.

Lixandra: How did you use your journalism skills to raise funds for the park?

Isabel: Writing really good emails. A lot of it is doing what you do when you write a good story, right? What's the data to support your argument? Open with a compelling lead that's going to get people sucked in and show sort of the narrative arc and inspiration through their engagement, what can be if they allow themselves to be invited along into this journey, but also substantiate it with hard facts. I mean, I always say I never write with empty calories, right? Like you've got to always have substance to what you're communicating. It kind of comes second nature to me, but I think that it's often an overlooked, underappreciated skill to think, how can I substantiate this case that I'm trying to make by pulling in data, doing the right sort of vetting and research and pulling examples that lend to the proof point or the case that I'm trying to make.

Lixandra: So during that year, did you ever think that this passion project could lead to a career switch?

Isabel: No. It took several years for me to say, whoa, this is taking a life on its own. This is becoming more meaningful than just a nice park in a neighborhood that needs a nice park. I remember feeling a tremendous sense of pride when the name went up, when it said the Sarah J. Gonzalez Memorial Park, not so much because people were going to know who my mother was or that name, but because people would recognize that Gonzalez is Latino. And that representation was so absent in my life when I was growing up in Atlanta in terms of, you know, signage and just in general representation of our culture in public facing domains. So I was really proud of that. And I thought, you know, I'm learning how to do something new. Like I've just sort of navigated my way through political bureaucracy to do something historic. I was like, how do I put this on my resume? It's not a job, but I am sort of like the CEO of this volunteer project. And so it sort of started to dawn on me that I could shape a narrative around this that would reposition me and take me out of sort of the pigeonhole of celebrity journalism that I had locked myself into after 18 years.

Lixandra: Now, when we first spoke, you said that you believed that if you followed the path your heart was aching for, it would lead to a job. What did you mean by that?

Isabel: Yeah, I mean, I believe in congruency and I believe that when your heart wants something, that it's important to seek out the opportunities that fulfill it. I don't think I realized at any point like, oh, one day I'm going to get paid to do something that will call on the skills that I developed in the creation of this park, but I knew it was defining me as somebody that could create something driven by purpose and impact. I was becoming a social entrepreneur. That felt right to me in a way that previous jobs had felt great in terms of what I was achieving and the output, but wasn't necessarily congruent with my heart in terms of wanting to give back to my community.

Lixandra: So how did all your hard work founding the park eventually lead to your career switch?

Isabel: I started applying for fellowships and I started applying to be part of cohorts The first one that I did that rocked my world was the 92nd Y in New York had a women in power fellowship that I had heard of. And I thought, well, I don't know what that is. I've never been part of a cohort or a fellowship, but let me see what this is. And I applied and I got it. And it was a sort of one year training ground around leadership and women to try to help women continue to maintain and sustain in positions that they were ascending to in power. How do you create networks and tools to sustain yourself in very competitive environments? So that's sort of, I got the bug, right? Like, oh my gosh, it's so amazing. I'm meeting like incredible women, different fields, different sectors. And the park started to give me impetus to reach out beyond my core group of connections. And so there was a program called the Presidential Leadership Scholars, which is an incredible program that is funded by the Clinton Presidential Library, the both Bush libraries, the Johnson Library, it's bipartisan. They sort of scout 60 rising social impact leaders annually to help them cultivate their ideas and impact through the lens of presidential learnings and access. It's really an incredible privilege to be part of and I applied for it and I didn't use my career. I used the park as my sort of proof point that I was ready to explore a new chapter where impact and social impact in my community would be sort of my driving core. And that program was another sort of stone on the path of what I was building toward. That network helped me elevate the park to even higher heights, such that when we moved from New York to where we are now, to Memphis, I was sort of approached by a very large nonprofit that is here, it's a children's healthcare charity, to help them with their purpose, to help them with impact in the community, and ultimately to advise them on communications and executive communication strategy. If you would have told me three or four years ago when I was the deputy editor of Billboard magazine and my life was celebrity covers and music trends, that, you know, one day I would be advising the executive suite for, you know, a very large, important healthcare charity on how best to channel their purpose and tell that story in the media. I would have been like, how do I get from point A to point Z? And yet, the park, the fellowships, the diversified network, the belief in myself to figure out ways to have impact. And then, of course, this foundation of media and foundation of journalism. We know how to tell stories. So the impact that I've been able to have has been amplified, I'd say, and optimized by the fact that I know how to share those stories with multiple audiences. And that's proven to be marketable.

Lixandra: you've been able to combine your journalism skills with your social entrepreneurship.

Isabel: And that's the career switch. And for me, it's congruent with who I am because I love journalism. You know, I never didn't not love journalism. I always want to be embedded in that world. I just wanted to be embedded in that world with more purpose and more impact. And now I'm sort of at that ideal intersection.

Lixandra: How did you actually connect with the large healthcare nonprofit when you moved to Memphis?

Isabel: The year that we moved here, I was working really hard on the park. Obviously I'm not getting paid for that. And so I maintained a freelance career as a journalist and this particular institution, you know, I thought, Hmm, they probably need writers, right? Like they're telling amazing stories. I see it all the time in media outlets. And I got connected to some people there and they got to know me and they sort of learned, huh, you've got this interesting intersection of journalism and communication skills and being able to write and tell a story while also having a tremendous appreciation for purpose and stories with heart and impact. And I think they knew that they would benefit from my unique skill set. And it was sort of a match made in heaven.

Lixandra: Okay, now tell us about the park, the Sara J. Gonzalez Memorial Park, and where it's located in Atlanta.

Isabel: So it's located on Coronet Way. It's in town. It's one of the last remaining Hispanic legacy neighborhoods. This has sort of been a neighborhood that has attracted immigrant populations for several decades. My parents actually had a small Cuban sandwich shop right across the street from the park. And so when I say that things fall into place, when I approached the city about wanting to rename a park, there were only two parks available in the entire city for renaming. One was way out by the airport. I had no sentimental connection to it. And one was this one that I played in when I was a child across the street from where my parents had a little Cuban sandwich shop, which was their first business when they came to the United States. So, I mean, it was meant to be. It was destiny.

Lixandra: That's amazing. And how can listeners learn more about the park and get involved or support it?

Isabel: please visit sarajgonzalezpark.org, and that's G-O-N-Z-A-L-E-Z, park.org, and you can learn all about the park, the impact that we've had, and certainly about how to support. I want what exists in advantaged neighborhoods to exist in less advantaged neighborhoods. So for us, that's a dedicated learning nook, a dedicated community garden, that is a mini soccer field, a community gathering space. I want to make sure that this park maintains its relevancy and impact as a beautiful jewel in an urban setting that when I was growing up in that neighborhood, we didn't have.

Lixandra: As we wrap up, what advice do you have for our listeners who are working on their career switch?

Isabel: Don't underestimate where your passion project can take you. The park was my passion project, but I had no idea that it would eventually open doors for me, but I just knew to follow it. I'd also say I had tremendous success with programs that established me with new networks, just seeing what's available. There are a lot of those types of programs and opportunities just to broaden your network.

Lixandra: Thank you so much, Isabel, and continued success with the park.

Isabel: Oh, thank you. This was wonderful. This was very exciting.

Lixandra: Special thanks to Isabel Gonzalez-Whitaker for being our guest today in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. To learn about Sarah J. Gonzalez and her work for the Latino community, visit the park's website at sarahjgonzalezpark.org. Also, check out the show notes for more information on the 92nd Street Wise Women in Power Fellowship and the Presidential Leadership Scholars Program. 

You can find links to the resources mentioned in this episode and more helpful information in the show notes and on our website, careerswitchpod.com. While you're there, join our mailing list and follow us on Instagram and Twitter at careerswitchpod. So what's your career switch? Are you excited to take action after listening to this episode? Tell us at careerswitchpod.com. We'd love to know, along with any feedback you have about the show. We're a new podcast, so please rate, review, and share with your friends and colleagues. It'll help get the show out there. Thanks for listening today. Till next time.