10. Dr. Valerie Thompson - Urban League of Greater Oklahoma City

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

I think you need to be looking for the next success. So I think that's the reason why I've accomplished what I've accomplished over the years. The Urban League in Oklahoma City is really known for two major things and that's employment helping individuals in the African American community, particularly minorities or the poor find employment, and then education.

Aaron Ackerman:

From Hogan Taylor, I'm Aaron Ackerman. And this is "How That Happened" a business and innovation success podcast.

On each episode of the show, we sit down with business and community leaders behind thriving organizations to learn how business and innovation success actually happens.

Aaron Ackerman:

Joining me on the podcast today is Dr. Valerie Thompson. She is the President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Oklahoma City, Valerie, for being here today.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Oh, it's my pleasure, Aaron, thank you.

Aaron Ackerman:

Really excited to have Valerie, I know our listeners will get a lot out of our conversation today.

Just a real quick bio about you, Valerie. You've been the President, CEO of the Urban League since 1999. Is that right?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

That's correct.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

I actually started with the Urban League in 1993, as the director of economic development. So I've been there almost 30 years.

Aaron Ackerman:

Been there 30 years, been in the CEO role for 20 years. So that is awesome.

Valerie got her undergraduate degree in business from Oklahoma State University, and you also have an MBA and a PhD from OU,

Aaron Ackerman:

Also interesting, for the last few years, I know you've been teaching classes as an adjunct professor at Oklahoma City University in strategic planning and program development for nonprofits.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

That's correct. Actually this is my 10 year anniversary of teaching at the Oklahoma City University.

Aaron Ackerman:

Okay, 10 years. Wow.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

10 years.

Aaron Ackerman:

So that's a good segue. You've been doing that for 10 years. You in with the Urban League for three decades, in the CEO role for 20 years. So what is your secret to success or longevity being able to stay in these positions and be so effective for such long periods of time?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Well, I think that the secret, I don't know the secret sauce, but the thing that I think that has helped me along the way is that I have a business background and I operate, although we're a nonprofit, I operate the Urban League as a business.

My predecessors, and a lot of people in the nonprofit space have social service backgrounds, which is okay, as long as you have people in the organization that can help you understand the business of the nonprofit world, but having the business background, the BA and a bachelor's degree in business, and then the MBA helped me really understand that nonprofit work, although we don't have profit sharing, it's still a business. And so the bottom line is you have to have money to operate and be effective in the organization.

Aaron Ackerman:

That's good. And I can attest that. I've worked with Valerie for several years now and I'm on kind of the accounting business side and she does, she knows the numbers, and you can tell she's got that business leaning.

And the Urban League it's not a startup, it's no new organization. It started in what? '45?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

'46.

Aaron Ackerman:

Okay '46.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

1946, the Urban League of Oklahoma City was founded and our national organization is over 100 years old.

Aaron Ackerman:

Okay.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

So we'll be in a couple years celebrating 75 years being an organization in Oklahoma City.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah.

Aaron Ackerman:

And anybody could go to the website or look at other places, but I know that Urban League has a really big mission kind of what I would call an aspirational mission and it's to assist to African Americans, other minorities, and the poor to achieve social and economic quality. So what is in today's time, what is the most important thing in Oklahoma City that the Urban League is focusing on or working on solving right now?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

The Urban League in Oklahoma City is really known for two major things. And that's employment, helping individuals in the African American community, particularly minorities or the poor, find employment, and then education, helping those that are disenfranchised when it comes to educational parity, helping them with the opportunities to have equality as it relates to education.

But lastly, I think where we evolved in the last 10 to 15 years is in our housing space. Right now, we have about $14 million of affordable housing as our assets. And I think that has made us a stronger Urban League in Oklahoma City.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. And so I know there's special programs to help organizations provide that kind of housing. And even now there's new opportunity zones and things that benefit investors. So is that always supplemented with federal dollars? You have other banks or other investors that kind of partner with you on housing?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Yes, all of that. I think again, from my business background, I knew when I walked into the shoes of the CEO position, some 20 something years ago, the organization wasn't very diverse in its funding streams. One of the things that we looked at are housing, which is supplemented through Oklahoma Housing Finance Authority through the US Department of Housing, so federal dollars. But we also look at local funding, state, individual gifts. So we're very diverse and like to have a balance throughout the agency on our funding streams.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. That's good. I wonder do... I know a lot of people probably are very aware of the Urban League, everybody's heard of the Urban League, but maybe some people don't know everything that you all do, like how do you kind of evangelize in the community so that people know what assistance and what programs are available through the Urban League?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

I think that's one of our biggest challenge is really breaking it down so that everyday household understands what the Urban League does, and so that's one of the things we're working on through our strategic planning process. But really if you think of three things that the Urban League does is education, jobs and housing, we really try to make sure that there's equality for everyone that wants an affordable housing, a well paying job and an educational opportunity.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. So you talked a little bit about raising funds from local sources, private sources as well as government. I've read, it's been a few years and so these may be a little out of date, but statistically, Oklahoma has more nonprofits per capita than any other state in the country. And if they're not still number one, I know they're in the top-

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

We've got to be tough up there.

Aaron Ackerman:

So Oklahoma has a lot of nonprofits, which can be really good. There's a lot of good things going on, as the CEO of the Urban League, how does that kind of environment either pose some challenges or maybe what benefits or opportunities accrue to you because of that environment?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Well, there's definitely challenges and I'm always an advocate for encouraging people not to start nonprofits. If you want to work in the nonprofit space, go work for an existing nonprofit or volunteer for an existing nonprofit. There's so many people, like you said, I teach strategic planning for nonprofits at Oklahoma University, and the young people that come and some even senior people, or mature people that come through the class say, well, I have this idea for a nonprofit. That's not really a good idea, because there's so many, like you said, there's so many nonprofit, and Oklahoma's a small state.

So it hurts when it comes to raising funds for our agency. It hurts other nonprofits because there's less opportunity to partner and collaborate because there's just so many nonprofits. And then right now the perception, particularly from the giving community is that we don't partner enough. But in fact, the really good organizations partner a lot, there's just so many nonprofits.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

So it's really difficult, I think to see the impact that nonprofits are having, because there's so many nonprofits.

Aaron Ackerman:

So for fundraising dollars it creates kind of this competition among nonprofits to try to get in that fundraising stream, kind of you're fighting for your space.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Well, it's fighting and it capitalizes what you could do on a larger scale.

Aaron Ackerman:

Okay.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

So it would be better to have a smaller number of nonprofits and bigger organizations to do more impact within the community.

Aaron Ackerman:

Right.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah, that's a great point. So I would guess that some organizations or foundations probably tend to spread their dollars wide, but not very deep.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Right, right.

Aaron Ackerman:

That's a really interesting point. Quick story, I worked for a business owner several years back at a point in my career and he was wealthy and had built a lot of wealth in his family. And this business had done well for multiple generations and he and his wife sort of woke up one day and said like, we're donating lot of money, but I feel like our impact is almost nothing. And so they went through a process with themselves, they kind of put a team together, some marketing people and others in their organization.

So we want to go like sort of choose organization to sponsor in a real meaningful way. And so they took dollars away from other organizations that they'd been supporting in kind of a small way over the years and really sort of put all their eggs in one basket, so to speak, really made a big impact in one area. So I'm sure that's hard for funders when they're making those decisions to say I'd rather say yes to everybody and just hand out a little bit, than to say no, and really have a deep impact.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

And what hurts Oklahoma is that there's not a lot of family foundations. There's not a lot of foundations or corporations where you look at a state of Texas or California, or even Michigan, where there's more foundations that can give to nonprofits. Oklahoma doesn't have that much.

So we're all tapping at the same well, for the same amount of dollars and you're right an organization may get $1000 or 10 organization may get $1000, but would it be more impactful for just that $10000 to go to one organization?

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. So is that a story? Is that something you can talk to those decision makers about, or do you just sort of resign yourself to we're going to take what we can get because if we make too much of a fuss, we'll get to the back of the line or whatever.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

I have shared that story on a number of fronts and there are those decision makers do look at that. I think another challenge in Oklahoma is that the nonprofit arena has always come through with limited dollars. So the perception in the giving community is that the nonprofits will figure out a way to do it.

Well, again, as a business model, you can only do what you can based on your budget. And so if we have more need than we have revenue, you can't serve the people that you need to serve. So from that aspect, it gets more challenging for the corporations or the foundations to give because they know the need is greater now, but they are listening just Oklahoma and the nonprofit giving space needs to, we need to do a better job of educating the public at large on giving to the nonprofit sector.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. I think the flip side of that is people in Oklahoma, individuals and companies, corporations are pretty giving in comparison maybe to other states where it's a little harder to get those charitable dollars, but spreading it so thin just creates a real challenge.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Spreading it thin is creating a huge challenge. And then the way people give is different now. Generational giving is different. It used to be where every year, right before tax seasons, you give your gift, now people can give online, there's different types of giving. And so people are more creative about how they give. And so the challenge for non-profits now is to, you really have to work hard to make sure you capture all those dollars.

Aaron Ackerman:

So in 20 or 30 years, you've certainly seen some cycles where those dollars dry up and the other times they flow a little freer, with you having a business background, you probably have a leg up on other organizations that aren't as business savvy, but in times where it's really tight, I'm sure there's hard conversations and gut wrenching decisions about we are going to have to tighten up the services or the things that we're providing for the underserved people in our communities. What is that process?

Because it can't always just be a business decision, but that's obviously a big part of it. So what is that process like for you when you have to make really difficult decisions about throttling things that you want to do in the community, just because fundraising may not be there due to economics or whatever?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Well, first of all, I don't do this in a vacuum. I work with my leadership team, which I have about four of the more senior people on my team to help me make decisions on a day to day basis.

In addition to that, I lean real heavy on our board of directors, because they set the policy in the direction. I provide them with the information, but I don't think in a vacuum, I always lean on them to help me think through the process. So that's one thing.

I think the other thing that has helped the Urban League is always looking for possible revenue generating programs, which some nonprofits are scared of, but if it's another way of diversifying your funding stream and helping you with your cash flow, that helps a lot.

But I think nonprofits, and we're guilty of, the Urban League is guilty of this and my team and I we're struggling with this right now, is how do you have a balance of not being too lean? Because I think sometimes you can be too lean, and it hurts your organization, but in the same realm you don't want to not be very efficient with the resources that you have.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. That's good. Let me follow up on that. So one conversation I have with a lot of my nonprofit clients is around building operating reserves and can we build operating reserves? And if we can, how much is too much, because then if you've got a million dollars of cash and operating reserves, even though that depending on the size of your organization, that might only be [crosstalk 00:16:18] months of budget leeway there, but then you're sitting in front of a foundation giver and they're going, you don't need our help.

So that-

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

It's a double edged sword.

Aaron Ackerman:

It is a double edged sword, but you talked about sometimes we tend to be too lean, so maybe talk about that a little bit.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Well, you mentioned it earlier as I've been around and I've seen cycles of funding levels. I can tell you 20 years ago, there was no such thing as reimbursable funds where the federal government just wrote you the check or the state, they wrote you a check, or you drew down every month, you did the program you sent in a report and that was it.

Now the reverse is that you have to have the upfront cash to float maybe, and depends on, especially with the federal government, you could go three to four months without the funding. So being able to cash flow that, and if it's a large program, could have an impact on your organization.

So if you can explain that to a foundation, I think they'll be more appreciative of that, but the trend is for nonprofits and I'm hoping that the Urban League can move in that direction is to have somewhere to three to six months of operating capital.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah.

Aaron Ackerman:

I think that's a story that can be overcome if there's objections, I think it's good stewardship ensuring the sustainability of this organization. And I'm a big believer that if a little bit something can be built up in reserves that it just really makes the organization better, but-

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Well, again, back to that business principle, you would expect that a corporation would have sitting on reserves. They have money, why not a nonprofit?

Aaron Ackerman:

Right.

Yeah.

Like I always say nonprofit is a tax status, not a business strategy.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Absolutely.

Aaron Ackerman:

So one thing we talk about on this podcast a lot is innovation. So what kinds of either technological innovations or maybe processes or things have you seen over the years that have had a big impact on not for profits or maybe if you want to take it another direction, what's something going on right now that you see as a big issue for nonprofits from an innovation standpoint in order to stay relevant?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Well, I think from an innovation standpoint, I think I mentioned this earlier, is the social giving, being able to tap into a younger generation on how they give is very important, but also just the way nonprofits work, being the flexibility of having tablets to work with your staff, to go out and meet with clients and using your phone to log certain data, to show the impact of what you're doing. So technology is really important in nonprofit and thinking of it in more traditional ways.

But the other part of that has been, it's more expensive for nonprofits now. It used to be that companies would donate their computers or whatever we get the left over, you can't do that anymore. Technology changes so quickly, and so we have seen over the years, our line item for equipment for technology has increased.

Aaron Ackerman:

Sure. So just kind of a side question on that. Have you all been approached by any donor at this point wanting to give like a Bitcoin or any kind of digital coin, digitized asset as a donation?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

No. No, not from that perspective.

Not sure what I would do with that.

Aaron Ackerman:

I feel like that's coming and we'll have to answer the question, like, okay, that sounds great, now how do we take that, and what do we do with it?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

What do we do with it?

Aaron Ackerman:

We'll figure that out later.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

But I'll just say this, and this was before our relationship with Hogan Taylor, once a point in time, I would say about 10 or 15 years ago, when we were just getting into the housing market, we had someone approach us about donating a house and we turned it down.

I ran the numbers. I looked at what the impact would be on the Urban League and we would've lost money. And from that perspective, I would say to people in the nonprofit space, just because somebody wants to give you something doesn't mean it's a great donation.

Aaron Ackerman:

Right, that's a good point. Yeah.

Some gifts have strings attached.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Oh, well not only that, they could be at [inaudible 00:20:59] at some point.

Aaron Ackerman:

So I think there's a lot of studies around this and just anecdotally observing kind of the young professionals in the marketplace now, this last generational group or two that have come into the workforce have been kind of characterized as being more mission mind about their lives, while their parents and grandparents might have been motivated to provide for the family, get a job with a stable company and retire. Some of these young professionals now are really being characterized as having a much higher need or desire to be fulfilled, to make a difference, which is awesome. And I think that's even evidenced by the fact that universities are offering nonprofit degree programs, you've been teaching for 10 years at OCU in a nonprofit specific curriculum.

So as leadership for a nonprofit organization, how do you view that? Are you seeing more talent available that maybe wasn't there years ago? Is it creating a different dynamic inside your organization? How's that impacting you?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

It's definitely creating a different environment, but I think it's, again, going back to my business background.

What's happening in the nonprofit space is happening in the for-profit space. You see millennials or the younger generations, they only want to stay in a job maybe a year or two, and then they move on to something else. The impact of that for nonprofits is more detrimental because we don't have two or three layers of people behind you to step in. So once we train someone and the expense of training that person, then they move on to the next job it really hurts the balance sheet.

So we have to be mindful of that on what we invest in people when they first come in. The other side of that is that we want youth, we want the creativity, we want their passion, but we now realize they won't stay more than two to three years.

The other side of that too, is that little device that you hold in your hand, that you can Google, that generation thinks that I can just Google it. And when you work in a nonprofit space, it's on the job training, it's real life experiences. It's working with people, you can't Google some of that stuff. It's just really on the job.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

And so by the time they figure out, well, this may not be what I want, or I'm kind of tired of this then move on to the next thing, it's an expense on the nonprofits balance sheet for sure.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. Interesting. Well, I want to pivot just a little bit, ask you kind of about your personal story or journey. I think I read in doing my research here, the second female CEO of the Urban League, Oklahoma City, and you being in this job for a long time, I know you've worked with a lot of different kinds of people, a lot of diversity.

Aaron Ackerman:

What prepared you for this job? Like how did you get into it? And what have been some unique challenges for you from a female CEO perspective that maybe would be different for somebody else?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Well that's an interesting question. What prepared me? I think having the background in business and the MBA, and again, they hired me to be director of economic developments, which I love that job, because I was able to help small business, minority business with my skill sets, teaching them how to expand their businesses or start a new business. So it was really cool job.

And then our CEO, my predecessor, decided he wanted to retire and many people don't know this, but I applied for the position and they said I was too young and I was a woman. Good. Okay. So they hired someone else. Another gentleman that came in, he was from Ohio. He didn't last very long. And then the board came back and said second thoughts, would you like to apply for the position again? Which I was honored, but.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah, so suddenly you weren't too young and being a woman was not a bad thing.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

So I can laugh about it now, but back then they could have caused some legal issues from the organization. But again, I think I was there at the right time and I was blessed to be able to be offered the position because again, with my business background, I was able to help the organization stabilize itself and to grow. But really what prepared me again, was my business background. But once I was there at the organization, there was another lady, her name was Janice Scott, and she had been interim between a couple male executives along the way. And when I was director of economic development, she really saw something in me and just kind of taught me the behind the scenes of why things happened at the Urban League, the way they did.

And although I was very eager, I was like, in my late 20s, I think I was probably 30, early 30s when I was hired as a CEO. She actually taught me why things happened at the Urban League the way they did, and I think the key to my success was listening and being a sponge and just soaking all those things in.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

And then when I became CEO, building a good team around me.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. That's awesome. I appreciate you sharing that, and just to kind of maybe drill down on that just a little bit more, you had this woman who took a special interest in you, was kind of a mentor to you, probably in just an informal way. And I think most people, if they really think about it have had somebody or multiple people that have taken them in the wing and mentored them and I've seen you in action, I know that you're a really good leader, but does that kind of make you feel a responsibility to mentor other people coming up in the-

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

It does and I've tried really hard to do that. The challenge particularly in the nonprofit spaces is that when people really understands the ins and outs of a nonprofit, they go, wow, you really do a lot. On the surface it looks like we just go to meetings and talk on the phone all day. But the behind the scenes running a major business operation is daunting for someone that's up close. But I try to mentor those that really have a passion for it and really want to do good in the community. But I always share with them that it's a business first.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. So I know for the Urban League right now, housing is a big deal. You've got some exciting stuff going on there. Maybe you want to talk about that or anything else? Like what other kind of exciting initiatives or things you have in the works right now that you would want people to know about that the Urban League is working on?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Well, I'm glad you mentioned housing. I think that for us has been one of the key programs that again has diversified our funding stream. When I became CEO of the Urban League, we were approaching our first two houses and now I think we have a portfolio of 12 single family homes. We're purchasing four more and then we have 96 units of multifamily housing.

And so that has really developed into a revenue stream for us that has long term implications to be profit for the Urban League, but that's not without risk. So people have to understand, it sounds really good, but you have to have a good team around you to help you through that process.

Aaron Ackerman:

Oh yeah. There's a lot of places you could trip up on the housing project.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

You have to have a good team around you. But I think the other thing is in education, there's such a need in Oklahoma, particularly in low income communities for people to step up and do things around education and the Urban League is really doing some exciting things in education now.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. Very cool. Well, so we're coming down kind of to the end of our time, we've got a few questions that we like to ask every guest to end with. So if you're ready-

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

I'm ready.

Aaron Ackerman:

We'll put you on the hot seat.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Okay.

Aaron Ackerman:

All right.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

You mean I haven't been on the hot seat?

Aaron Ackerman:

That was warm, it's about to get hot.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Okay, okay.

Aaron Ackerman:

Okay. So here is the first question for you. What is the very first way you ever made money?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

I made money at 16, my first job was with a clothing store called Extension One. And for those listeners that are more senior out there, like I am, it was a wonderful opportunity because it was a retail store, but at that time we were able to work salary plus commission and we sold everything from swimsuits to fur coats and they allowed their employees to have leway, a credit card and of course I got a check every week. So at 16 I made pretty good money so I knew that the business was probably going to be the way I would end up.

Aaron Ackerman:

So is that in Oklahoma City?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

That was here in Oklahoma City.

My first store was in Heritage Park Mall, and I think by the time I was 18, I was managing a store in Shepherd Mall.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

So at 18 I had a lot of responsibility I could make during the Christmas holidays, if you put this in perspective for a 17 to 18 year old could make three to $4,000 during the Christmas holidays, it was pretty good back then.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah, that's good money. That's awesome.

Okay, so second question. What would you be doing if you weren't the CEO, President of Urban League?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Man, that's a tough one.

So I'll just share with you the reason why I went to OSU, it's because I had a scholarship to be a chemical engineer, but I realized that engineering was interfering my social life. So switched over to business because I said, well, I'm really good at making money. And so I thought I was going to work on Wall Street. And so had I not probably met my husband at OSU, I'd probably be on Park Avenue somewhere making a lot money on Wall Street.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. Wow. Okay. I can see that.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Yeah.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. That's interesting. Chemical engineering.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

I love chemistry.

Aaron Ackerman:

A little known fact.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Yep.

Aaron Ackerman:

Well, so in a different way, chemistry, not chemical engineering, is what changed my major from biology to business.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Really?

Aaron Ackerman:

I did not do well in that class and figured I better try something else.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Well, it was the math that tripped me out the, well, I don't even know if they call it that now, but not the calculus, not differential equations. I think I made it through differential equations, but the one after that is where I said I'm done.

Aaron Ackerman:

All right. So next question. What would you like to go back and tell your 20 year old self?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Wow, man, that's a hard one because my 21 year old self was pretty awesome.

Aaron Ackerman:

I love it.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

She had a lot of fun.

Because at that time I was on the Palm Squad for OSU. I was traveling all over the country with the football team. So I was doing a lot of traveling. I was getting ready to graduate from OSU and really good grades. Like I said, I had a little money in my pocket, wasn't engaged yet, but I was doing pretty good.

Aaron Ackerman:

Life was good.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Life was good.

I think I would tell myself that you're going to do great things in Oklahoma City.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah, that's awesome. And you have, for sure.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Well, thanks.

Aaron Ackerman:

Okay. So this question is based on the premise that everybody's life are the contents for a book. So all the things you've done, the places you've gone, where you've lived, whatever makes up your life to this point would be the pages of a book. What would the name of your book be?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

I think the name of my book would be don't park by your successes.

Aaron Ackerman:

Okay.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

And the reason being someone told me that at one point. I think people get really comfortable if you do a good job, then they just sit there, they just kind of absorb the moment, where I think you need to be looking for the next success. So I think that's the reason why I've accomplished what I've accomplished over the years is I never parked by my success.

Aaron Ackerman:

Okay. Interesting. I like it.

Aaron Ackerman:

So you would take a second to celebrate, but then onto the next.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Onto the next thing.

Aaron Ackerman:

Okay, good stuff. Very cool.

Last question. What is the best advice you've ever received?

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

The best advice I think I received was from my mentor and he told me half the battle is just showing up and it's really true. I go to a lot of meetings, raising money, things that are serious issues in the community and half the battle is just being in the room.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah. That's really good. I like that. Because it's a grind.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

It's a grind.

Aaron Ackerman:

You got to keep getting up and battling every day.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Every day you got to be present.

Aaron Ackerman:

Got to be there. Well, thank you so much for taking the time and just kind of on a personal note, I've been blessed by your leadership the last four or five years and so I'm appreciative of that and especially just what the Urban League, which is you and a lot of other people do in our community as a lifelong Oklahoma City kid, I'm just grateful for that.

Aaron Ackerman:

So thank you. Keep up the good work.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Thank you, Aaron.

Aaron Ackerman:

Really appreciated your time today. Thanks. And-

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

This is fun.

Aaron Ackerman:

Yeah, it was fun.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

Hope you have me back someday.

Aaron Ackerman:

All right, thanks a lot.

Dr. Valerie Thompson:

All right.

Aaron Ackerman:

And that's all for this episode of "How That Happened". Thank you for listening. Be sure to visit howthathappened.com for show notes and additional episodes. You can also subscribe to our show on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher. This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Copyright 2019 Hogan Taylor LLP. All rights reserved. To view the Hogan Taylor general terms and conditions visit www.hogantaylor.com.