Alicia:
Hello and welcome to Soul of a Leader podcast, where we ignite soulful conversations with leaders. In today’s episode, Dr. Alicia and Dr. Eileen sit with Jennifer Smith to discuss leading with one’s intuition.

Alicia:
Welcome to Soul of a Leader podcast. On today’s episode, we have Jennifer Smith Turner who has been a member of Newman’s Own Foundation board of directors since 2016. In addition, she served as the organization’s interim president and CEO from May to December 2019. Newman’s Own Foundation is the nonprofit created by Paul Newman to continue his legacy of giving to charity, all net profits and royalties from the sale of Newman’s Own food and beverage products. Also, Miss Turner was a retired CEO of Girl Scouts of Connecticut. In addition, she was also the president and CEO of Berkeley Camp network. And the list goes on with a phenomenal leadership role, so we’d like to welcome again, Jennifer Smith Turner, to the Soul of a Leader podcast. It is such a pleasure to have you.

Jennifer:
Thank you so much. It is wonderful to be here. And thank you for having me on your podcast. This is great. I’m enjoying this. Thank you.

Eileen:
Well, thank you so much for being in our podcast. And Jennifer, I have a question. Being on Newman’s Own, tell me what that is like. Because obviously, I buy your sauce and your lemonade and all the other items, so tell me. What’s going on here?

Jennifer:
Well, first of all, thank you. I’m glad you’re buying the food products because it’s really good food, right?

Alicia:
Yes.

Jennifer:
It is. As a youngster, I was a big fan. I’m a big movie buff. So I was a big fan of Paul Newman. And you know how sometimes you can see a person, even on-screen and just have the sense that there’s something about them beyond the screen image that you see? And I never knew what that was, but I just always felt that about him. And then when I was approached to serve on the board, I was just beyond thrilled because unfortunately, I never got to meet him, but it was just being that connected to somebody who I’d known.

Jennifer:
Well, so now that I understand the organization and realize what a class act Paul Newman was. To be all that he was, in terms of celebrity, but to care about other people and to set up a foundation that is focused purely on those who were not lucky. That was always his thing. He said, “Not everyone was lucky like me. Not everyone had blue eyes and blonde hair and I want to help them out.” And it’s just an amazing thing. So I love it. It’s a very special organization to be a part of and his legacy is pretty profound.

Alicia:
Oh my gosh. I’m smiling because it’s just a divine… You have this goal or this ideal to just wondering what this individual is about. And then all of a sudden, someone just says, “Hey, you want to serve on the board?” That’s just divine to me, to have the thought or the goal in your mind one day to probably work there and now being asked to be on that board. So my next question to you would be is, how do you serve on a board like that and deal with the faith or shared vision? As a big board, big organization, has been around for a long time, what process do you have to go through to have faith in that vision and have it be shared among others? How do you get people to get involved with that?

Jennifer:
Well, I think we’ve been fortunate on this particular board because the founder, again, Paul Newman, if you speak to most people in the organization, they will speak about the impact that he and his philosophy and his just focus on caring about other people, it affects them personally. And so it really, for here, it’s not a struggle to get people to share in that vision of philanthropy that he has put out there because it just permeates everything that we do. And when we’re working with the organizations who are the recipients, for instance, of the funds and the grants that we make, they are so appreciative, but we in the organization, get the chance to see the impact of that philanthropy, even long after his death at this point, and it’s just heartwarming.

Jennifer:
It’s just absolutely heartwarming. Camps were the first place actually, that Paul started with his donations and they were camps for children with disabilities. And so to spend time going to the camps, and they’re all over the world, in fact, I had a chance to go to Ireland to visit one of our camps there, which was just… And they were cancer patients, all the kids. It was just amazing. But to see the looks in the kids’ faces when they’re at camp, they get that period of time when they’re free from dealing with what they’re going to deal with their whole lives and that their families are going to deal with. And then suddenly, they’re at camp and they’re free.

Jennifer:
And of course, having been in Girl Scouts, camping was a big part of what we did in Girl Scouts. It had a huge part of that, so it has the same impact, but with a far deeper sense because these children, that’s all that they will ever have that takes them out of the struggles, the medical struggles, that they’re dealing with. So we all go back to and what I’m careful to go back to was always go back to, what did Paul want and what was his vision? What was his belief and his caring and can we continue to replicate that, these years later, and go forward from that? So I think that’s really how we get there.

Eileen:
Well, I’ve been to camp before in past work. I worked at Muscular Dystrophy Association and the joy that is on these children’s face is amazing. So, what I observed, and I don’t know if you’ve observed this too and if you could add more is, being alike with other children who are alike them at these camps, is a huge confidence builder. And also, learning and then they build friends for life. So as part of the observations and the outcome of the children attending the camp, could you share with us what some of that is and how it stays with them as they heal and move on in their life?

Jennifer:
Yeah, you’re absolutely right about that. It is profound because again if you think about children and families dealing with difficult medical issues, that child feels so separate from everything else, in the normal school and all of those sorts of things. And they show up for one week or two weeks at camp and everyone there has the same illness, which suddenly they become normal. In that moment-

Eileen:
You’re totally right. They become normal. And then all guards are dropped and they forget that they’re dealing with something.

Jennifer:
Absolutely. One of the camps, I was out in California at the camp out there, and the weekend I was there, sometimes the camps, they’ll just be a weekend event for parents and children. And this one was for children with diabetes and they have a rope climbing. Now, imagine this. So I’m watching, I’m petrified watching these kids [crosstalk 00:07:48] and the parents were there and they were in a wheelchair. And so the other thing about our camps is that they’re medical facilities. So we have to have a full contingent of medical professionals to be there for the children. So I’m watching children get lifted in a wheelchair up to… What do they call those ropes that you’re going to slide down the ropes? And they put them up on a platform-

Eileen:
Zipline, right? Zipline.

Jennifer:
Right.

Alicia:
Oh my gosh.

Jennifer:
So they get them up to the platform, the zip line, the parents are down, I’m standing with the parents and the parents are like, ” This look on their face like, “Oh, no,” and they were petrified. And then the guides take the child out of his wheelchair, put him in the zip line and then he goes down the zip line and there’s somebody to catch… And the squeals of excitement and laughter-

Eileen:
The exhilaration.

Jennifer:
It was so fun. And you can see the parents were in tears. They were actually in tears watching their child feel so free, at that one moment. So it’s not only good for the children, but it’s so good for the families and the parents as well, to see that moment of freedom a child could let go. So it does change them significantly. And the children, you talk to them later and they will always give their testimonials about how much they… And they do stay in touch. Lifetime friendships come out of this. And sadly, some of them are not going to survive and so they’re staying friends for as long as however, they can, but that was a wonderful moment for me. I just like, “Oh my goodness.” You feel like, this is why, to your first question, why being on this board and involved in the organization is so meaningful because you see the impact and it’s very special.

Alicia:
It’s nothing like seeing the impact or seeing the smiles and the energy of kids. There’s nothing more rewarding to do that, to feel that at the moment, these are kids become normal in the sense at the camp, forgetting whatever they have to deal with day to day. So one of my other questions would be, as a board member in the organization, what would be the most challenging moments in your role on the board for the organization that you had to either make a significant decision about something? What would be something that was very challenging for you?

Jennifer:
Well, [inaudible 00:10:20], you saw from my bio that I served for a good part of 2019 as the acting or interim president and CEO. So we had a sudden change of leadership and none of which I’ll go into what we just did. And so the decision, for me, when that happened, and it’s not unusual when a board has a sudden change of leadership, whether it’s a nonprofit or commercial enterprise, that you turn to the board to say, “We need somebody to help us through this transition.” And I retired, even though I do some consulting and I’m writing and I do all of those kinds of things, but I had retired from organizations, per se, in 2012. And I live on Martha’s Vineyard and our meetings are in Westport, Connecticut is where we are. So when the board approached me about taking on that interim role, knowing that my background, I had done all of the things, but it was a big decision.

Jennifer:
And it was a big personal decision because my husband and I are both retired living here on the Island. And so in order for me to do this temporary assignment, it meant that I would have to get from Massachusetts to Connecticut on a weekly basis to be in the office. And not just Massachusetts, from an Island, but Massachusetts. So that was a tough decision on a number of levels and yet, I knew that in my heart, that your background prepares you for things and then suddenly, there they are in front of you. And my background had prepared me to step in a difficult time to run an organization, such as this, and my husband and I, we spent a lot of time just praying over it and talking about it and the implications for us and agreed to do it, with a limited timeframe. So I agreed to do it to the end of last year, 2019.

Jennifer:
And so it was from May to December that I commuted from here on a weekly basis to Westport, Connecticut. I lived in a hotel basically, and on planes and trains and ferries and all that kind of stuff to get back and forth, but I would spend anywhere from two to three or four days a week there and then come back here to the island. And it was an organization that we were just going through a lot at the time and so there was just that pressure as well. So it was a tough decision, but I’m glad I did it. I think it was helpful for where we are now with the organization, getting through our leadership transition and we have done that. And sometimes, as I say, you just know that the things that have happened in your life prepare you and you don’t know what that thing is that you’re going to be asked to do, but then suddenly it’s right in front of you, you say, “Yeah. Okay. I’ll do it.”

Alicia:
Yeah, you’re absolutely correct. And Dr. Eileen and I always talk about things happening in our lives, at that time you don’t know why and then fast forward years later, a month later, you’ll be like, “That’s why I had to go through all of that through.”

Jennifer:
That’s true.

Eileen:
That’s absolutely true. And Alicia and I have a little story about that, but we’ll say before, one of our ones on one podcast about why she went for her Ph.D. to get where we’re at now, so we both made it through it. So it’s kind of funny. But with that, Jennifer, I heard when you were telling your story about being the interim, something about writing and how you write and you’ve wrote books and your poetry. We would love to hear a little bit more about that. Tell us what the passion is there and how did that seed bloom?

Jennifer:
Well, thank you. Yeah, so I had a debut novel that was published in April of this year called Child Bride. And so a lot of my time now, in the middle of the pandemic, is trying to have book tours, which doesn’t happen, but we’re working through that.

Alicia:
Yes. You just have to do the virtual book tours.

Jennifer:
I do. I’m on Zoom a lot, but I will share with you that, I spent, as you can see from my bio, a lot of time in the business, corporate and public sector world. And I share with people that every time I would see my mother, who she and I were best friends. I lost her in 2000, I miss her dearly. I would tell her about all my accomplishments. And here’s a woman whose formal education ended at the seventh grade. And she was such an inspiration of what she was able to do in life and what she did for all of us in terms of how she raised us and just embedded that notion of education in our lives when she didn’t have it herself.

Jennifer:
But I would tell her about all of my accomplishments and she would say, “I’m so proud of you, Jenn, but you know, you were a good writer.”

Eileen:
Oh my gosh.

Jennifer:
She said this to me for 20 years. And then when she passed away, and it’ll make me cry, but the night that she passed away, I was with her, as was my sister and my aunt, her oldest sister, when she passed away that night, that’s all I could hear were her words, “You’re a good writer,” and that was in 2000. And that propelled me to say, “I think I’m supposed to do that.”

Eileen:
Yeah. That’s divine. That is divine intervention there. She knew. She knew.

Jennifer:
She knew. And you know how mothers are. And `I’d always done poetry as a kid. I always liked writing. I always liked literature. She introduced me to all of the books that I would read, but it was that moment. And since then, I’ve been committing myself to writing. And I have published two books of poetry since then and now this novel. And I have to tell you about the novel, because… So if you can see the cover, that’s the cover of it. Here’s the thing about the cover is that it is a picture of my mother holding my oldest brother.

Eileen:
Oh my gosh. Talk about full circle about writing. She was there with you writing that.

Jennifer:
She was there the whole time.

Eileen:
Oh my gosh.

Jennifer:
She would be so proud. And for me to see this book now, in other people’s hands, to see it on shelves and know that that’s her, it’s incredible. And all I can think is, I know she is so proud.

Alicia:
Yes she is. She was just dropping those little nuggets in those little seeds. Oh, wow.

Jennifer:
She was. She absolutely was.

Alicia:
Amazing.

Jennifer:
So that’s where my writing, that’s where my passion came from. My mom said, “Jennifer, you are a good writer.”

Alicia:
She had said, “Oh, you know, you’re really a good writer.” So she heard all the other stuff, but she really didn’t really hear. She’s like, “But you’re a good writer.” That’s what she kept. Yes.

Jennifer:
And as moms will do it, very subtle and very soft, but consistent. Consistent.

Alicia:
Yes.

Eileen:
And where can people find that book? On Amazon, everywhere?

Jennifer:
Yeah. Wherever books are sold, it’s available and on Amazon, as well. It’s an e-book on iBooks or Kindle, any of that as well.

Eileen:
And your website is jennifersmithturner.com, is that correct?

Jennifer:
Yes, it is. Yes.

Eileen:
So if people want to check out more of the story, that’s great. Oh my gosh. It’s just so full circle. I have goosebumps. It’s amazing.

Alicia:
Me too. Jennifer, we’re talking with you, not even half an hour went by and two divine moments in your life…

Jennifer:
I know.

Eileen:
Newman’s Own, so everybody, let’s just keep supporting Newman’s because when you buy their sauce and you buy all their sandwich cookies, I won’t call them Oreos because they’re better than Oreos. And figs, they have figs. That all goes back to bring joy to these children.

Jennifer:
Yes, it does. Absolutely.

Eileen:
So that’s divine one. Divine two is your writing. So wonderful, thank you for sharing that.

Jennifer:
Yes, thank you so much.

Alicia:
I have to tell you my favorite Newman’s sauce though, for the salad. The Caesar. I love the Caesar.

Jennifer:
Although I have to check now, here’s what I discovered in quarantine, is that we have wonderful lemonade. And-

Eileen:
I know, I mentioned it earlier. It’s good.

Jennifer:
It’s a great mixer in drinks, I’ve discovered. So when you don’t have what you need in the house and you say, “I really would like a whiskey sour or something, the lemonade. So I discovered that at this moment.

Alicia:
Okay. For all the drinkers, I’m not a drinker, but you have to tell them, use the lemonade. Newman’s lemonade.

Eileen:
It’s really good for Arnold Palmers too, where you put half ice tea and half lemonade.

Jennifer:
It is very good, you’re right.

Eileen:
It’s really one of the best lemonades out there, pre-mixed.

Jennifer:
Yeah, I agree. Thank you.

Alicia:
I have to try the lemonade now.

Jennifer:
You would like it. It’s very good.

Alicia:
So I have a question for you. I know that the organization is making a difference in others’ lives and you guys do it so well. Is there anything else that you feel the organization could add or do to continue on the legacy of making a difference in others’ lives?

Jennifer:
Well, with all that is going on around social justice, I just think there is a place for us to have a voice there as well. And we are starting to do that, but not only because of what’s happening in the world at large, but because Paul was very involved in social justice and civil rights. And I did a fair amount of research to see, well, where was he? Because, again, he was a very shy and unassuming person, which was part of his personality, but then I found these photographs of him marching. So he was part of some of the marches that took place in the ’60s. It was remarkable, but there you would see him in the background and it was so good. So he took to heart, everything that he did, and that just reaffirmed for me his sense that you need to help out others, particularly if you have the power to do so.

Jennifer:
And that was his… Well, the other thing I discovered about him is that, and I’m going to forget his name, but the first black race car driver who wanted to drive in the Indy 500, and this was a number of years ago, there was just a documentary about him. So I’m watching this documentary and in the middle of the documentary, of course, Paul was into racing, that was one of the things that he enjoyed doing, is that this guy was trying to get sponsors and he couldn’t. No one would sponsor him. No one wants to sponsor a black… You know how you have the names on the cars and everything else. Paul Newman opened the door for him to sponsors. And the first sponsor he got was because Paul called him one day apparently and said, “You’re really good.” They were competitors in what they were doing.

Jennifer:
And the guy said, “Yeah, but I can’t get sponsors.” He said, “I’ll take care of it.” And a month later, he opened the door for this black driver to get sponsors, so he could have his business. So I think the whole, for us, as Newman’s Own, is to take, again, Paul’s view of helping people and social justice really is what he was doing at that time. And to have more of a voice around that platform. We do that anyhow and it is very much a part of what’s embedded in everything that we do. The question is, how out front do you want to be? We tend not to be an organization by design because it’s partly Paul’s personality, that we’re not way out front with a lot of things. We do things and we do them quietly, but that might be an area, particularly in this environment, that is time for us to have maybe a little more of a voice.

Alicia:
And it’s okay. See, you don’t have to move loud. You don’t have to make big, bold statements. You just need to make a difference.

Jennifer:
You need to make a difference, that’s right.

Alicia:
And let the people find you. Moving quietly is okay. It’s the impact on the lives that you guys are doing and changing lives over and over and over. And that’s why I want to ask that question because there’s so much to get done. The world is always changing. The needs are changing. The requirements for the nonprofits are changing to meet those needs. And so when you think about making a difference in other lives, you just think about where’s the organization at? What else can we do? And how do we do it? We don’t have to scream it loud, we just have to make it happen.

Jennifer:
Yeah, no. I agree. Thank you. And you’re right about that, very much so.

Eileen:
Yeah. My mom used to always say, “Actions speak louder than words.” And it seems like the Newman foundation is doing that and living with that. So as we close our discussion, we always ask our hosts this question: If you could leave us and our listeners with some words of wisdom from your life, from your leadership, that would be great.

Jennifer:
Oh, thank you. Well, I guess the words, one I’ve already spoken about it, and I would say, listen to your mother. And so I think that’s an important one. And the mother can be many different people, but I’ll use my mother as the proxy that there are people out there who know you and see you in a way that you don’t always see yourself, who are people that you can and should trust. And sometimes, you need to hear them and hear that voice and it gets you through a lot of difficult things, when you know you have that voice that’s with you. So for me, it clearly was my mother in many ways, but I think there’ve been other people in my life as well, but you don’t always stop and slow down enough to hear the voice.

Jennifer:
And sometimes you need to hear that voice. So that would be the one. And the other is, trust your instincts. I find that with all, as you can see, the very things that I have done through life, people in my career, people will say, “What? You don’t know anything about that. Why are you doing that?” And my instincts would be, I get concepts and you apply a concept to most situations, you can find common ground in what you need to get done. So trust your instincts. Don’t let people sway you away from doing things that your instinct is saying, “I should step into this,” and trust that and trust yourself and step into it.

Alicia:
Wow. Trust your instincts.

Eileen:
Thank you so much. Trust the divine, trust your soul, trust what’s talking to you inside. It really summarizes exactly what we’re trying to share with our listeners. So thank you, Jennifer. Thank you so much.

Alicia:
And I liked that other parts of like you were saying, trust your instincts and listen to your mother, but you need to be obedient to be able to receive it. So even instincts and the mom, you still have to just be in the position to say, “Okay, I hear that voice, my mom’s voice or that instinct is telling me, ‘go ahead and try it. Go ahead and do it.'” You said something that was key, before we end this, is that you can apply a concept to just about anything. And if you can do that, that’s the brilliance of understanding that though. You can apply the concept to anything. You just have to understand what it is that you got to get done, and then you put the concept with it, and then you just go from there.

Jennifer:
[crosstalk 00:26:19]. You realize I’ve actually been here before. It’s not brand new to me.

Alicia:
Yes. and you learn that what they are, a couple of weeks out, this is not new now. It has been such a pleasure of speaking with you. You’re such a joy and we have to get this book because we know your mom said, “Jennifer, you’re a really good writer.” And you truly have angels watching over you. To accomplish two, three books, you’re probably going to have more, I’m sure you probably got some more down the pipeline. Because it takes a certain kind of love and ability to be a writer. I find it to be hard, but I think once you get into it, it becomes natural. So blessings to you because I know it has to be fulfilling it and it’s just an adaption that you have to create, to write. You got to get in that space to do it.

Jennifer:
Right. No, thank you very much. And yes, I hope there will be many more, so I’ll keep writing. And think about mom the whole time.

Alicia:
I know, right?

Eileen:
She’ll continue to be nudging you. Thank you for joining us on the soul of a leader podcast. We are knighting a new way of leading with your soul and interviewing ordinary people with extraordinary impact. Thank you for listening to the stories of our leaders who will help and guide you on your leadership journey. For more information on our podcast, please visit our website at www.soulofaleader.com. Thank you for listening.