Alumni Spotlight: Tuere Butler, Plywood People

This interview was conducted on Wednesday July 17, 2024.

Tuere Butler is currently the Director of Operations at Plywood People, a nonprofit in Atlanta training and supporting a global community of social impact leaders. The Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership spoke with Tuere about her experience working with nonprofits and startups and her experience in the Center’s Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership Program.

CPNL: Tell me a little bit about your background prior to working at Plywood People.

Tuere Butler: Before joining the Plywood team, I had a 22 year career in politics. I served the late great Congressman John Lewis and today is the anniversary of his death. So this is kind of a special day for remembering his deposits and impact that he made in this country and in Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District. I started off as a staff assistant and served him as district director towards the end of his career. That meant I was in charge of the Atlanta office and worked in tandem with the Legislative Director and Chief of Staff to advance the concerns of his constituents base to Washington D.C. In my portfolio of expertise was immigration, homeland security, military and veteran affairs, just to name a few. I was in charge pushing a lot of that information to the forefront, so the Congressman could always be made aware. I also had the opportunity to travel not only throughout the United States, but also around the world on his behalf representing the US House of Representatives on congressional delegation trips.

CPNL: After an extensive career in the government, what made you move over to the nonprofit sector?

Tuere Butler: I was fortunate enough to be serving as a board member of Plywood People for two years prior to my coming over to this side of things. The way that came about was that our executive director wanted to interview the Congressman for a conference that we have every year called Plywood Presents, and I was able to facilitate that connection. A year later, the executive director asked that I come and serve on the board. I realized through my serving on the board of Plywood People that it’s in my wheelhouse of service, meaning I am a servant leader. I believe in using my skills to help bring others along, and cut through bureaucracy, whether it’s red tape or frustrations. The opportunity came at a time that I needed to break away from politics because The Congressman had passed. The transition was challenging because I needed to heal from losing someone who I worked for for almost half of my adult life.

CPNL: What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve encountered while supporting new entrepreneurs and startups, and how have those experiences shaped your approach at Plywood People?

Tuere Butler: Some of the challenges that I face here are kind of universal. We help nonprofits, we help social impact leaders, and we help people who have an idea and they’re trying to get it off the ground. They are looking and longing to make some sort of good deposit in the earth, whether it’s in their community, their city, or beyond, and we do that through programming and training. Most times the challenges come from the dreams and expectations that people have for themselves and for the organizations that they want to build. It doesn’t go as smoothly as they expect it or it becomes a bit overwhelming. These leaders are in a very unique time. They’re owning their organization, their idea and they want to see it come to pass. I think the biggest challenge for me is realizing that me being here, whether to provide advice, to point them to some of our training or just to be a listening ear will help them in the long run. They don’t have a sounding board– a role I can play and help them address their challenges in real time.

CPNL: What trends are you seeing in social entrepreneurship/social impact that excite you?

Tuere Butler: At the start of my tenure at Plywood People, “social entrepreneurship” was a phrase that was thrown around but people really didn’t have an understanding of it. Now the phrase “social impact leader” is being thrown around and I feel like it’s starting to finally sink in. I think the trend now is people want to do work to address problems that have been nagging them. They want to be a part of the solution. That to me is very exciting because of all the things that are going on in our world and our country and society. It’s a glimmer of hope that there is still goodness and kindness and intentionality.

During the pandemic, the homeless population didn’t have hand washing stations to keep their hands clean and to practice hygiene. Terrence Lester saw that as a problem and he stepped in to fix it. It’s called Love Beyond Walls. Terrence is the founder and president and he was able to partner with the city of Atlanta and other entities to get hand washing stations throughout the city so that the homeless could wash their hands. It’s something as simple as that that makes a longer impact.

We had another woman, Kitti Murray, who started a coffee company called Refuge Coffee as she went through our programming. She did that because her and her husband, Bill Murray, set up their residency in Clarkston, Georgia, which is the pinnacle of refugees and the immigrant population. Most of the people who come over, and I know this first hand because of my work in Congress, are not always treated with the respect that they had in their home country or their career or job doesn’t translate over here. Kitti Murray wanted to give back to the immigrant population to help while they were getting themselves situated. They could work in a coffee shop and become baristas, become the Director of Operations, be the marketing person, learn a new skill, and go home with a sense of dignity, dignity, because they were doing a job where people were appreciated.

All of those things are very exciting to me, because there are thousands of organizations like that that are doing this type of work that we don’t get to see on television or the news and on Tik Tok and on Instagram because we’re so focused on other things. There are people out there that still have a heart for humanity and society and want to do something great and I’m just excited to see what ripple effects will happen as they continue their work and we’re able to walk alongside them.

CPNL: What do you envision for the future of Plywood People?

Tuere Butler: Right now we’re going through a three year strategic planning process that we started right before I came to the Certificate Program. We have been in existence for 15 years. Now we’re starting to reimagine what the needs are right now. We’re very open to determining where we take the organization in the next three years and potentially an additional 15 years. I think when you get to this point of doing something well, you have to be open handed and open minded so that you allow new perspectives to come in, to really sit in the space and recognize what’s happening in culture and in society. A lot of universities and colleges are starting social impact and innovation fellowships and cohorts. I dream of connecting with them because they are the future and I think young people are in a space where they don’t necessarily want to go into the traditional roles of work, but they want to start something of their own. We have partnered with Georgia Tech University . They have a social impact fellowship program. We did that for four years by taking it a step further, and making sure that they know who Plywood People is and what we do. I feel like that partnership right there is going to be the game changer.

CPNL: What motivated you to enroll in the Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program?

Tuere Butler: I had no intentions of going back to school ever, but it was the best decision that I’ve ever made since being out of school. It was in the summer that I started to see advertisements, like on LinkedIn and on Instagram. It stuck with me and then I saw that there was an opportunity to join an open house virtually. I was able to listen to the professors, listen to Luisa and Kathy. I heard from some of the alumni who did the virtual component and also the in-person and I was just blown away. I’m a big believer in genuine connectivity and organic collaboration, and I felt that with the testimonies of that alone. I was very intrigued by some of the subjects that would be discussed during the program. Having been in politics and then coming to the nonprofit space, even though I had a certain skill set which has served me well, I am always looking for opportunities to better hone my skills but also to make sure that I’m doing the best job possible for the role that I’ve been hired for. I felt like this program would give me that knowledge and the connections of other people who are doing great things.

CPNL: How do you anticipate the Certificate Program will help you in your career?

Tuere Butler: I think anytime you put yourself in a situation to learn, those skills are going to be added on to you no matter what. For example, I majored in English in college, and a lot of people were like, “Why, why did you do that?” But I always felt like if I could articulate myself and have a good understanding of the written word, then I could get any point across and I can apply that to any career path I chose. The same goes for the Certificate Program. Being in the program for those eight days allowed me to learn the ins and outs of running a nonprofit from a professional standpoint, starting from the bottom up. I feel the program did an excellent job of giving me that snapshot. Those skills are going to stay with me. The governance component was amazing to me. It just opened my mind that you don’t have to be so singular with an organization that you’re running. Another component was the budgeting aspect. There are things that happen in our nonprofit that I don’t have my hands on just because that’s not my lane, but now I have an understanding of it. If I need to jump in, I’m not so afraid or hesitant because it’s not foreign to me. Now that I have a solid foundation, there’s nothing that will stop me.

CPNL: What advice would you give to professionals who are considering participating in the Certificate Program?

Tuere Butler: I would say that there’s no better investment than to invest in yourself and I think a lot of times we as a society push out what you can get. But this is an opportunity to give to yourself in order for you to develop and learn and honestly to have fun. I woke up everyday and I was on time to learn what was next. The people, the intentionality, and the care that you all put into this program was not without notice. It made the learning process easier. You did such a great job of interacting with us and the setup was perfect. I just really enjoyed having that space to step away from my day to day and give back to myself. And that’s what I would encourage other professionals who are on the fence or thinking about it. Make the investment in yourself because you are the best investment. You have to believe that it starts with you. How can you do anything for anybody else if you’re not willing to invest in yourself?