Jesma Reynolds
I’m Jesma Reynolds, and I was the creative director for Walter Magazine for six years. I helped start it, and I recently stepped down. Since then, I’ve been doing my own sort of creative freelancing work.
“Nonprofit” is a word that almost mischaracterizes what a lot of these organizations are because the word nonprofit almost makes you think, “oh, well, they’re not making money therefore they’re not as valuable.” But I think the value really is investing into the community and the people.
I think they need to know what’s going on in their community and what the needs are. Instead of that top-down approach, it’s sort of living within the community and then seeing where there might be some injustices or there might be some barriers or there might be a way to help people flourish that right now is preventing them.
I think you have to be willing to fail, willing to try and willing to experiment. Again, I think it starts with listening to whatever is going on in your community, what the top priorities and the needs are and responding to those.
But then you know… if one thing’s not working, then having the dexterity and the flexibility and the capability to pivot and shift, and that’s what any good start up can do.
I think if you have a bold idea and you’re willing to take risks, I would start small and then get the buy-in and then bring people in.
See more from the People Matter series here.
