Just when you thought the True Colors Fund team couldn’t get any awesomer (yes, that’s a word), Selina Lee joins our staff! We’re so excited to welcome Selina as the True Colors Fund’s new Development and Operations Associate!
Selina’s stellar communications skills, paired with her grant writing and research experience make her a formidable addition to our development team! But it doesn’t end there. Selina has an impeccable eye for detail and an array of interests ranging from music to literature to office supplies (highlighters, in particular… her words, not mine). Selina’s diversity of skills make her the perfect fit for this new multifaceted position, in which she will contribute to grant writing, process donations, manage expenses, assist with events, keep our office up and running, and much more. It’s a big job, but we know she’s up for the challenge!
Let’s get to know Selina a bit…
Fun question first: What do you geek out about?
I’m pretty nerdy about books and music. I can happily spend all afternoon at a used bookstore, and my shelves are diligently alphabetized (when they’re not arranged by publishing house). I don’t make any music, but I still manage to spend a ton of time in front of the computer organizing my iTunes library. I have to make sure that artist names are completely consistent, whatever pretentious genre name I come up with for an artist is maintained throughout their catalog, and track listings are song titles are immaculate. Music is so personal, and there are so many abstract thoughts and emotions tied up with the music we choose to listen to–I feel like a well-maintained music database is a way to organize and catalog that pesky gray area. I definitely geek out on maintaining it.
I can definitely relate. So we know how you stay organized at home… What does it take to keep a whole organization running day in and day out?
That’s a great question! When it comes to social justice work, I think it’s easy to get lost in the glory of the cause and forget that we’re still an organization that depends on systems and operations and efficient processes. If anything, we rely on that more than most places because there’s such a sense of urgency to our work. The first thing I learned: file folders are your friends! So are highlighters and binder clips. There’s a lot of paperwork to keep track of, and I had to get over my fear of Excel real quick (luckily, we use the just-as-effective but significantly less intimidating Google Sheets.) It also means being aware of all the moving parts–which events are coming up, who is traveling where and for what reason, which grant deadlines are approaching, what packages and deliveries we should be expecting…it’s a lot, but there is a fun sense of power that comes with having such a detailed level of knowledge about the organization.
Tell me a bit about your life pre-True Colors Fund.
I was an English major who was adamant about not going into teaching, so I did what anyone would do in that position and worked retail for three years. But I got to hone my gift-wrapping skills and learn the names of obscure European toy train manufacturers (I worked at a toy store), so in addition to helping end lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth homelessness I am also brimming with suggestions for baby showers and birthday parties. That job also helped me sustain two internships – I edited manuscripts for the indie publishing house Europa Editions and handled communications for a civil rights org called the Andrew Goodman Foundation. I spent the last couple years at an accounting/consulting firm, where I edited publications, researched accounting guidance and private equity transactions, and pretended to understand sports every time the March Madness bracket rolled around.
So that brings us to today. Why the True Colors Fund? Why LGBT youth homelessness?
I grew up in NYC, a place of huge (and growing) income disparity where seeing a homeless person – be it veteran, young person or the mentally ill – sleeping on the sidewalk next to a luxury condo is considered normal. I became desensitized to that reality at a pretty young age, and it wasn’t until college that the blinders came off and I had my eyes opened to the many, many injustices of the world and my responsibility as an able-bodied, sound-of-mind, liberal arts-educated Strong Mount Holyoke Woman to help fix them. Mount Holyoke is a women’s college, and I was immersed in an environment that placed a huge premium on diversity, intersectionality, and social justice. There are a million causes out there, but I find LGBT youth homelessness in particular so insidious because it punishes already vulnerable populations and is a result of institutional and ideological barriers that young people often have no way of addressing on their own. And unlike similar organizations, the True Colors Fund operates on both the micro and macro level, meaning it works with shelters and service providers to make sure their practices are safe and inclusive for LGBT youth while also working with congressional leaders to pass bills outlawing discriminatory practices at shelters in the first place. It plays the long game without ignoring the short-term reality, and that was something that drew me to the organization immediately–it does more than apply a band-aid to the problem, but it recognizes that before you perform open heart surgery, you gotta stop the bleeding.
Have a question about fundraising, events, or the True Colors Fund in general? Give Selina an email!