Ebonie Simpson: “It’s not just about the end result; it's about how you get there and the people that you're getting there with.”

Ebonie Simpson is Executive Director for the Mid-Atlantic region of Generation Citizen, an organization that partners with school districts to transform how civics is taught.

I first met Ebonie through our shared work at the Lower Eastside Girls Club, where I served on the board and she rose into a senior leadership role. Her leadership during COVID alone could fill an entire novel!

What I most admire about Ebonie is her deep understanding of the communities she serves and the way she uses her leadership to advance equity and access through meaningful civic engagement. Her work is grounded, strategic, and deeply human.

We recently reconnected to talk about her journey, the impact of her work, and what truly matters to her. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

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🗨 Hello, Ebonie. I'm going to start off by asking you to tell us who you are and what you do.

Thank you so much for having me. I am Ebonie Simpson. I live in Harlem, from Texas originally, but have spent the last almost 15 years working in New York City, across policy, government, community development, nonprofit, and youth development. I am currently working at an organization called Generation Citizen. They are a national nonprofit that advocates for youth-driven democracy and civic efficacy, and I am lucky enough to be the Regional Executive Director for the Mid-Atlantic region which includes New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

🗨 That is such a fitting role. When I first heard that you were even meeting with them, I was excited because knowing you over the years, it's a culmination of so many of your interests and strengths. I know you have a lot of focuses, but what do you do to sharpen your creativity?

For me, creativity has to be spontaneous. And I need a lot of time just to restore and to be in a place where my mind can wander. And for me that tends to be on walks with my dog, Nola. One thing I do is doodle and color just to get my brain going. I used to be into drawing and coloring as a kid, and I started to rediscover it, because it is not only very calming and great for your mental health, but it does allow my brain to activate and turn on.

🗨 I'm with you. My 6 year old rekindled my love for coloring, it’s quite meditative. What pivotal experiences in your life or career have been influential in shaping your leadership style and values?

My upbringing has played a huge part in how I lead. I am a child of military parents. And that required very early on, within the first six weeks of being born, a high level of independence. My parents both went to war when I was six weeks old, and I spent almost a year without them. When you think about child development, that first year is super critical to the formation of a child's personality. It required a lot of self-reliance. But it also facilitated me being empathetic and aware of other people, and made me strive to be as much of an asset as I could be within my family, to my siblings, or whatever it may be. That has played out in my professional life as well to a great degree. I can be very thoughtful about what I want things to look like, but I'm also willing to be accommodating and empathetic.

🗨 What's something you've had to unlearn, or rethink as a leader?

Rigidity. It’s not just about the end result. It's about how you get there and the people that you're getting there with. That requires flexibility, and it requires a level of empathy and willingness to accommodate other people's styles. The way they receive information, the way they disseminate information, whatever it may be. If left to my own devices I can be very Type-A. I color code my to-do list. I can be very rigid, and I know that doesn't work for everyone.

🗨 That's smart. Being able to flex like that is important. How do you see talent and culture strategies evolving in the coming years?

I'm new in my current role, but what I've learned is that the team that I’m working with are incredibly talented and passionate about the work, and when you're a new leader in a national organizational context, there can be new norms and expectations that may need to be adjusted and amplified. In leading this team, it's important to me that we're able to set a tone of trust and be transparent with each other, and that they can entrust me to be their biggest advocate at the leadership level. I want to make sure that folks have the ownership and autonomy and agency to do what's best for them, while maintaining fidelity with the wider standards of the organization. The team that I have the honor of leading has been through many changes and its important to honor our team's needs, as well as our collective goals.

🗨 Big challenge. You're the one for the role for sure. How can we better prepare young people for their careers?

I love this question. If I had an opportunity to create a second career, it would be to coach young people. I think about this question a lot, not just because of the rapidly changing digital environment, but the political and cultural shifts that are happening, especially for black and brown young people. I have younger siblings: a 22-year-old year old twin brother and sister, and obviously all the amazing young people that we've been able to work with together at the Lower Eastside Girls Club, who I've continued to mentor. There is a big opening for young people to say “This is what I care about, and this is what I want to do.” It’s about helping them find that and there's a wealth of information that allows them to pick a trajectory that they want. It's all about experiences. What experiences can you put yourself in? Whether it's a camp, whether it's an internship, whether it's going to just network with people and understand what their professional experiences are. Giving them the opportunities to be exposed to as much, and as many different types of people, and then helping them figure out the lane that they fit in, and allowing them to lean further into that.

🗨 I'm glad you had that in your life. It is magic, when you can find something you're passionate about and match it with your skills. Last question: what's a book or a podcast that's shifted your perspective lately?

I really enjoy Michelle Obama's podcast. She's unfiltered about the trajectory of womanhood, and motherhood, and independence, and intellect, and all these things that people don't talk about enough. She's 61 years old, and is still learning and reflecting on her own experiences. I admire her ability to go back to a certain time in her life and communicate where she was psychologically. And one thing that stood out for me is that her self-confidence in her ability was always the throughway. No one could ever tell her that she wasn't exceptional.

People say all the time, "Oh, be confident." To know what that feels like is different for everyone, and it grows and develops over time. And I've had to develop my own level of confidence in a lot of different ways, and I continue to have to. But I have never lacked confidence in my abilities. That’s the lesson for everyone. My little sister struggles with confidence. It's a big thing that we talk about all the time. I try to help her through example.

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