Parental Power and Voice: Meet Changemaker Angela Masden

What does it mean to  be an advocate, a parent, and a community leader? Angela Masden is all of those things. In this episode, Angela shares her story and shares her lessons learned.  She shares her inspiring journey as single parenthood who found her voice  advocating for her son in a system riddled with systemic biases. We cover a myriad of topics from Angela's impactful community work to the pivotal role of parent involvement in the education system.

Our conversation explores the deeply troubling biases in early intervention, spotlighting Angela's experience with her son's overlooked needs due to his race and insurance status.  Angela's spirit is undeterred as she continues to champion advocacy and community engagement. We hope you will listen and be empowered to make a difference in your community.

Angela shares her powerful call to action: to amplify voices, empower parents, and tirelessly work towards creating a better world for our children.

Angela's Bio:
Angela believes in the power of collective action and constantly encourages others to join her in the pursuit of a more just and equitable society. She is a passionate and dedicated community change maker.  Born and raised in Louisville Kentucky, Angela developed a deep love for her community and a strong desire to create lasting change from a young age.

Education played a significant role in shaping Angela's journey as a change maker. She pursued a Bachelor's degree in Education, and a Master’s in Higher Education where she gained valuable knowledge and skills to address social issues effectively. Angela's academic experience fueled her passion for social justice and equipped her with the necessary tools to make a meaningful difference.

 Angela designed and implemented programs focused on mentorship, skill-building, and advocacy, creating a safe and supportive environment for young individuals to thrive. Angela's dedication and innovative approach garnered recognition as the 2020 Blue Door Hero, and her programs became models for other organizations striving to make a similar impact.

She is the Director of Civic Engagement with Play Cousins Collective. She also is co- founder of a organization called "The Prophecy Foundation ". Angela ability to articulate the concerns of marginalized populations and propose practical solutions earned her respect and credibility among decision-makers. She is the owner of Rose Dove Consulting.  Angela is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2022 Black Women of Excellence and 2022 Trailblazer Award. She sits on numerous boards such as Project Community Center and Kentucky Black Festival.  

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Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
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Transcript

Ann Price: 0:00

Welcome back to community possibilities. You know, when I started the podcast, I really wanted to talk to community leaders who were really making a difference Not just talking about the work, but doing the work. And Angela Masden is just that kind of community leader. She is passionate, she's a dedicated community leader. She is a mom with a mission. Born and raised in Louisville, kentucky, she has a deep love for her community and her family. From organizing cleanup drives, community gardens, to working to engage families in a way that celebrates diversity and promotes inclusivity, angela is all about it. She founded her own business, rose dove consulting. She is a speaker. She is a nonprofit leader. Like I said, she's a mom with a mission. She really does exemplify the qualities of a true community change maker. I know you are gonna be inspired by this conversation. It's just the boost we need at the end of the year. So enjoy my conversation with Angela Masden. Everybody, Hi, everybody. Welcome back to community possibilities. Hi, Angela Masden, thanks for joining the show.

Angela Masden: 1:26

Yes, thank you for having me. I'm super excited.

Ann Price: 1:29

I'm super excited to have you here. I heard you at AEA. We're gonna talk about that presentation in a minute and for people who are going, well, what is AEA? That's the American Evaluation Association Conference. We just had our conference in Indianapolis in October and I went to your presentation Saturday morning and I told someone on your panel. I bumped into him in the lobby and I'm like, okay, that was the best panel I saw.

Ann Price: 2:00

Yes thank you. It was the last one I got to see before I had to hustle the airport and it was like, oh, should I go, should I not go? I really wanna go and I'm so glad I did.

Angela Masden: 2:12

Let's tell people what time it was in the morning. That's why you had to think about it.

Ann Price: 2:17

No, no, no. Well, I'm up at the crack of dawn anyway. If I remember right, it was 8 am, maybe.

Angela Masden: 2:22

Yeah, it was 8 am absolutely.

Ann Price: 2:25

Yeah, prime spot, 8 am on a Saturday.

Angela Masden: 2:27

It was the last day of the time I was friends, so I'm a family right now, but it was amazing.

Ann Price: 2:34

So before people wonder what the heck are they talking about, I wanna like hush for a second and just let you introduce yourself. Who are you? How did you come to be who you are?

Angela Masden: 2:46

Wow, that's a heavy question because you know, it's really hard to talk about yourself sometimes.

Ann Price: 2:52

Yes, it is.

Angela Masden: 2:53

You know, like you said, my name is Angela Masden and I am from Louisville, Kentucky, so not Louisville, not Louisville, but Louisville. For all those people out there, Louisville they say it wrong. Louisville Okay, it's Louisville. Yes, we're pretty much known for the derby. You know the horse racing, and so I've been here pretty much all of my life. I left Louisville for about five years to attend college at Western Kentucky University, so in Bowling Green, so that's the only time I've really been out of Louisville to do school.

Angela Masden: 3:31

I think the most important role about myself right now is that I'm a mom, and the work that you're gonna hear me talk about today is really because of that. I've been a mom in different capacities. I've been a mom in school capacities, community capacities, my own children, taking kids in when they needed and trying to help create some type of stability for them. So I've been a mom in different capacities, and I think that's the reason why you're gonna learn about why I do the work that I do and why I feel like being a parent is very important and you should have a voice and not be quiet. I think my friends would describe me as a disrupter a little bit, and so I always joke with them like if I'm a disrupter, I need to make sure you all have your money together, because I don't know, at least somebody might bail me out if I'm a disrupter you never know. So I always joke and tell them that I'm on my way out the door to fight the power. And so they're like wait a minute, I don't have enough money. Absolutely, y'all better get some money. You never know what might happen.

Angela Masden: 4:45

So, and the crazy thing is about me, is that I really don't like to be in front of people, and so that's something that a lot of people don't know. It makes me nervous. It makes me nervous to talk in front of people. It makes me nervous to do a lot of those things.

Angela Masden: 5:06

But the roles that I'm in, I find myself really doing that, and I think that is probably just the purpose that God has put me on this earth to do, even though I'm nervous about it. All the time, he gave me that gift of voice to be able to talk and fight for people that don't want to do that at all or don't feel like they can, and so I'm that person. I think that's a little bit about me. I just think that the most important role I have right now in my life is me being a parent, me being a mom, and being a single mom at that. So that's just a whole other, different type of thing. I've always been a single mom. I've never really had a partner in my life to help navigate how to raise a black boy at that, and so that also brings the reasons why I do what I do.

Ann Price: 5:59

Yeah, absolutely. I think we should probably chat it for a good five or 10 minutes before I even press record on just being a mom and being a mom in this COVID generation. That is happening and I agree. I think that's our number one role. We wanna make this a better place, this world a better place for our kids. Yeah, for sure.

Ann Price: 6:24

It's funny when you say that you don't like to speak in front of people because we're gonna talk about your session in a minute, but I felt like I'd been to church. Oh man, that's helpful. Yeah, it was awesome. But all right, so let's talk about all your roles and then we're gonna get into that, into that presentation, and your advocacy work is so important. So I did my homework. All right, here we go. I'm a little stunned, right so? Ceo, founder of Rosedove Consulting, vp of the Prophecy Foundation, but and you're also the director of civic engagement at Play Cousins Collective, and then, by notes, I said that's a lot, oh yeah, and you're a mom and you take you know it sounds like you're also a mom and an auntie to all these other like extended children in your life.

Ann Price: 7:22

So let's just break that down. Maybe you can talk about each one of those things or wherever you wanna start. Yes, okay.

Angela Masden: 7:30

Yes, it does sound like a line, and when people say it I have to take a deep breath, and then sometimes I'm like, wow, that's really me, like I can't believe that I am doing all of that. But let's talk about Rosedove Consulting. I started that company in October of 2022. So it's fairly new.

Angela Masden: 7:50

I used to work at a nonprofit organization for about 10 years and within that organization, I was the director there, and so I had to do organizational things. I had to develop staff, develop programs, and so I knew it was so difficult, and so when I left that position, I started to think like, wow, it's hard to do all of that and maintain a building, and I had a lot of connections and relationships with other people that were running nonprofit organizations, and the thing that they always said was we just don't have enough time to develop anybody. We got people in these roles to take care of kids and do these things, but we still have enough time to do this, to do extra. So that's when I was like, oh well, I think that I should be able to create a business for people in organizations that deal with kids, to help them organize, to help staff development and program development, and so that's where Rosedove comes in. I go in, I consult with people, organizations and just to try to take off that workload and I do it for them and so that they are still getting everything that they need right.

Angela Masden: 9:10

But I could typically work with organizations that have a lot of behavior challenging children, because what happens is they get kicked out of those programs because the staff is not really versed in how to handle challenging behavior, kids with what I call invisible disabilities. So I created a whole toolkit and I go out and I teach that toolkit to organizations and staff so that they can use it and implement it and execute so that those kids can stay in a program and learn the things that they need to learn. So that's what I do with Rosedove. And then I have a nonprofit called the Prophecy Foundation and I absolutely love my nonprofit. I'm the co-founder, I was the founder. His name is Rikki Callaway and he was really the inspiration behind it. He has a phenomenal story. He might need to be the next person on your podcast here, but he has a phenomenal story.

Ann Price: 10:10

Send it my way.

Angela Masden: 10:12

Yes, I'm gonna sit. Yes, yes, it's like I can't even you know how you share someone else's story. It's still just. It's not gonna be the same.

Angela Masden: 10:21

But in the gist of it, he made some mistakes in his life and he ended up being in a federal facility for over 16 years, and while he was in there, he just started thinking, like when I get out of here, I'm not gonna have any help. And so the Prophecy Foundation came about around 2019 as a thought. And then I came around in 2020 and he was like you're the person that was sent to me to execute what my vision is. And so the Prophecy Foundation started out as just having a reentry program and it was because of him, right. And so when he got out, what does he do? Who does he go to? He needs the resources, the basic needs.

Angela Masden: 11:05

But then my love for the youth and my love for families and parents came where we added two more pillars, which was the youth prevention program and then the family engagement programs, and so we take all of that and we're really proud ourselves in making sure that we have wraparound services and that what I do with a child, I want the parent to receive that same type of resource and information. So that's where the Prophecy Foundation came in. And then, finally, me being the director of civic engagement for a nonprofit organization called Play Cousins. That came about because of the work that we did. When you heard me speak about the storytelling at the AEE, I was at first doing the listening sessions that Play Cousins were doing about parent voice and I just liked everything that Play Cousins were doing, but they did not have a civic engagement department per se and I was like, oh, we need one of those. We need to have a voice.

Angela Masden: 12:17

And so they listened. They have what we call call a response. And they listened, they created a position and I received the position, and so that's how became the director of civic engagement at Play Cousins.

Ann Price: 12:36

When you say call and response, that resonates with me. That's church language call and response. Is that what you?

Angela Masden: 12:43

mean. So call and response is a church language for a lot of people, but it's also very culturally for the black culture where we call, the community calls and the church back the impresponse to the need of the community. So, for example, if somebody passed away, this is where it happened a lot of the times, where somebody had passed away and the church would call on the community to make food for that family right, and so that's where that call and response comes from. It's Play Cousins really. Their mission is really to make sure that the African American culture is embedded into all of the programs and workshops that are happening and that we know where we come from, that we know, to make sure that we know where to go, right.

Ann Price: 13:38

So there's a need and there's a response from the community is what I think. I hear you. That's awesome. So when do you sleep?

Angela Masden: 13:50

I probably do sleep right now, but I don't know. I mean, I would say the work is tiring and that's just with anything that you do, right and so. But it's just so passionate and so invested that I know that self-care is important. Trust me, I do take self-care, and that was hard concept for me. But I also know boundaries are important, and so the art of saying no is important as well, and I teach that as well to many people that the work environment is gonna be here, but we're not gonna be as successful in the work if we don't take care of ourselves. So I do sleep every now and then it might be like two or three hours, but I do get it Good. But even when I sleep I'm thinking about things that I need to be doing for the next day, right?

Ann Price: 14:43

Well, there's a lot of hurt in the world.

Angela Masden: 14:46

It is. It's a lot of hurt and I don't know if I ever will see the change, like we were doing all of this, or I'm doing all of this and I'm helping other people do all of this, but I don't know if I will ever see the change. But I know that my son sees me and I'm hoping that if I pass away in this world that I know that he will see what his mom was doing. He'll see that effect because he'll keep on going and keep trying.

Ann Price: 15:19

Yeah, so I saw you at this 8 am presentation at the American Evaluation Association and you were speaking about the power of parent voice and it was a panel discussion about a Robert Wood Johnson funded initiative the Center for Evaluation Innovation was the evaluator and then partnering with the Ecology of Early Development. But you were particular speaking of the power of parent voice and I wonder if you can kind of talk about that, that work a little bit either. And you can, you can start wherever you want. You can talk about maybe your work as a parent advocate rather, or maybe that initiative, whichever direction makes sense for you in your head.

Angela Masden: 16:10

Yes, I'll give a little background for the audience out there about why we were even doing this in the beginning. So at first there was a collaboration with different states that the organizations that you mentioned. They did a lot of things with different states. So Kentucky was one of the states and Louisville happened to be one of the cities, so we were PlayCups Collective. There was the Hispanic Organization, last a seat I'm probably damaging their name Kentucky Youth Advocates and Jack B Nimble were four organizations that deal with families.

Angela Masden: 16:53

At first they were talking to families about early education, early intervention Is it available? Is it not available? What was your experience with it? So, because each of these organizations dealt with different types of families. So PlayCups was African-American, las Vegas was Hispanic, kya was just an overall organization that we have here that put us together, and then Jack B Nimble was special needs.

Angela Masden: 17:25

So all of us dealt with different types of families, so those experiences were going to be different. So what they did is they created listening sessions and they had these listening sessions over months and months to try to really understand what was early intervention for people. So I was on a listening session one time and then I told my experience about my son, the lack of early intervention that I had. Then they liked what I said so much that they asked me to be a leader of the rest of the listening sessions so I would be facilitating them. So I ended up facilitating the listening sessions and, man, wow, it was a lot. We have a lot of work to do in that early intervention.

Angela Masden: 18:22

There's people out here that do not get that because, ironically, the color of their skin are because they have government insurance. So that means because you have government insurance, you don't get treated fairly. So these are stories that families were having. So then those stories that came about, that's when the organizations came together and developed this data. And what is that? What you heard in the presentation? So for me, it's when I knew I think I've always wanted to be a parent advocate. I think when you become a parent, you're already an advocate for your kids, but it becomes just for your kids, right, and you can either be very quiet or very loud.

Angela Masden: 19:13

And so I knew that my son, I, had to be a huge advocate and probably speak louder than what I really wanted to, because he ended up being diagnosed with autism and severe ADHD and so because of that he had several challenges. And then, unfortunately, he already had a stamp on him because he was a Black boy and they felt, like the schools that he was in he was already very aggressive, they were scared of him and they didn't want him in classrooms. So they secluded him, made him sit by himself because they didn't know what was going to happen. And at that moment I said, no, there's so many other kids that I found out that were being treated that way, and so for me, I had to speak loud about my son and about these other kids, because some of these parents did not know, they had no clue what was going on.

Angela Masden: 20:17

I was lucky enough to have my son talk to me about it and say, you know, just like a casual conversation, how school today. He was like oh, it's fine. I mean I sat by myself at lunch today and I'm like why did you sit by yourself at lunch? Well, the teacher said that I was getting mad, so she was scared that I was going to do something, so I have to sit by myself.

Ann Price: 20:39

And how old was he, Angela?

Angela Masden: 20:41

At that time he was seven years old.

Ann Price: 20:44

Oh my goodness, what's that?

Angela Masden: 20:45

He's nine now.

Ann Price: 20:46

Is that second grade or something First or second grade?

Angela Masden: 20:50

It's second grade. Yeah, second grade. Yes, he was in second grade. So to me, what possibly can a second grader do? That is so scary, thank you. So scary that he has to sit by himself at lunch. I didn't understand that, yeah, so I made a voice and that's what I knew. I had to stamp on it that I am going to be a parent advocate for him and for other people that are just like that. When I posted on Facebook one day and all of these people just making comments like, oh yeah, that happened to my son, oh yeah, that happened to my daughter, oh, you should hear this Inboxed a field of parents and I'm like, wow, and I'm like no one said anything.

Angela Masden: 21:40

Oh yeah, I mean, they just say OK. So I knew I had to be a little disrupter and I had to speak. And so I think that's when I became a parent advocate and I knew that parent voices needed to be integrated into the community, the regular community, school community, whatever kind of community you think of. We needed to be inside there, we needed to have our communication be heard, we needed to have things like that. But I also knew that some people just didn't know how to.

Angela Masden: 22:16

I hate to say how to speak, because I hate to say that but we needed to improve our communication. We needed to kind of be taught how to say what we mean, the facts and not just more or less like venting or the passion about it. Like we want to be passionate but we also don't want to be where we're just yelling Because no one's going to listen. We want to be passionate, we want to be loud, but we want to have facts and we want to make sure that we're calling them out on things so that they could be like oh, they're mean business. So let's make those changes Right.

Ann Price: 22:55

Exactly. Yeah, I think that you get the action that your child made, because I think that is part of the story you told on the panel. I seem to remember you sharing that story and talking about I think you talked to his physician, if I remember right about some early intervention that you needed.

Ann Price: 23:15

And I had a friend years ago who's there was like an accident. Well, no, no, no, it was an accident. Her child had a heart defect and had a stroke, if I remember right, and so he was an early intervention from a very early age, as soon as possible, right? Of course he's a white child, right? So when you were telling that story on the panel, I was having a flashback to that little boy, who, of course, is now a grown man, who got the intervention that he needed. So can you tell a little more about that, how that, how that kind of played out for you, because that's another example of how your son was overlooked.

Angela Masden: 23:59

Yeah. So I didn't have. I had government insurance. I still do. I mean, I don't know. But here's another thing I would say some people think they have a government insurance is like you don't talk about that, it's insurance. Okay, like it is right. So I had government insurance.

Angela Masden: 24:19

At that time I Knew something was wrong, something was kind of challenging because he wasn't speaking Quote-unquote normally like the rest of the kids, right. So when I took him to the physician they just kind of said, oh okay, okay, you know, okay, he'll be okay. But I also was getting treated fairly bad, like I. They came in, came out, I wasn't really. He wasn't really given a thorough exam. I couldn't have any conversation with the doctor. I remember hearing and I didn't share this in the In the speech that I gave but I remember hearing outside in the hallways the nurse would say, oh yeah, they have. They have passport, which is a government insurance here. They have passport. And I remember the doctors saying well, let me just go in here, hurry up, because they don't even pay for anything. And I was like wow, and so that that hurt me to the core because I am trying to give services for my son.

Angela Masden: 25:26

I'm trying to help him. And I don't know how to help him because I no one told me what to do. No one told me about Resources or anything else like that. The only thing that I ever knew was to go to the doctor, and the doctor is supposed to help you. I find your resource right.

Angela Masden: 25:43

So when that doctor walked in, that doctor treated me like I was nothing, like I was a low-end, dumb mom, incompetent From the hood because I was a black mom. And I remember him saying Well, you know, I'm sure your neighborhood is not the best. What the fudge Like how do you know that my neighborhood is not the best? And I responded him I forgot you know that my neighborhood is not the best. He says, oh, because I could see the zip code and the zip code I know those areas are not the best. And so I said well, regardless of where I live and what my zip code is, I Still need help in. My son needs resources. So he replies and says he's gonna be okay, just have some time, he'll be able to talk. And so well, right now he's like being very aggressive and he's like kidding, you know, showing nonverbal skills that could turn into something kind of bad. The doctor says again he'll be okay. I mean, just teach him not to hit, that's all you have to do.

Angela Masden: 26:55

And he walked out that door and never came back. And so when that nurse came back in and I said to the nurse, I said is he coming back? Because we wasn't finished? He didn't give me no prescription, he didn't give me no resource, he didn't give me anything she said no, that's typically what he does. That's how long unfortunately is because you have passport. I'm just gonna be honest. You have passport, so he doesn't treat you. He doesn't treat you kind of people the same as his others. She gave me that sheet. She gave me that sheet, that checkout sheet, and said I hope you have a great day.

Ann Price: 27:29

You know and we know, early intervention is so important and it shouldn't matter Whether or not you have insurance, or what kind of insurance, or what color you are.

Angela Masden: 27:44

Right. All I wanted to know was like where could he go to get each services? How?

Ann Price: 27:51

can I get him help? How can I get him help? How?

Angela Masden: 27:55

can I get him help? If I wasn't that mom to like Google or do research, I still would not have known. And I researched and the reason why I found out where I need to go is because of his daycare. His daycare was like oh, you should go to first steps, is what it was right about. Then First steps only takes you to three years old. He was like two and a half, so he only got really six months of services.

Angela Masden: 28:25

But, we were fortunate enough to be able to go to the preschool and still get speech services and Physical therapy and occupational therapy and stuff like that through that, but I should have never left that. Had to leave that doctor's office in tears, um, hurting from my son, uh, feeling like I was nothing. That's what I felt, like, um, and I already felt that way because I had already been through so much Previous to have him. I had had five deaths Before. So he was born in 20, 20, 2014 and in 2013 I had five deaths, deaths Back to back.

Angela Masden: 29:15

So my grandmother, godmother, my father, my uncle and my cousin all passed away and I found out I was pregnant, I was going through a divorce, I was doing, uh, transitions and then to find out that my son is not Her state speaking the way he needs to, I automatically felt like maybe that was my fault, because while I was carrying him, I was very depressed and crying and maybe I didn't take care of him the way I needed to when he was born because I was going through PTSD myself. You know I was. I was having a lot of triggers. I didn't really want to be close to him because I was going through so many obstacles, mental obstacles Like he I'm the reason why he's this and then to go into the doctor's office and he making me like it was like he pretty much confirmed all of my thoughts.

Angela Masden: 30:13

So when I walked out I just was devastated. I cried probably that entire night and I almost said I'm just gonna give up. And I walked into the day for the next day and I told him what happened and they were like he should have told you to go to first steps. I said, well, why didn't you tell me that? And I would have never had to go to the doctor. They was like well, I don't know. You know, sometimes you need to go to the doctor to see if they have any other resources, and so it was because of the daycare Um that he got the services needed. But I just think about I'm not the only story like that.

Angela Masden: 30:48

I'm not the only parent like that, and I'm a single mom so I didn't have any other support. So what does that look like when there's parents that have multiple kids and they don't get that support? And why does it mean? Like you said, why does my insurance, the color of my skin, the gender of my kid have anything to do with what you're supposed to do? You go to school To be a doctor.

Angela Masden: 31:12

You go to school to be a doctor for everybody. If you don't want to do that, you don't need to be in a facility that takes that type of insurance or takes those type of people or have those type of genders. You need to go somewhere it suits you so that you could be the best for them, because you are hurting people like us.

Ann Price: 31:31

You're hurting, you're hurting people.

Angela Masden: 31:33

So it was very um, it was very traumatic and and triggering. And then when I put that experience again like on facebook to hear, it just melted me even more to know that all of these People are experiencing this and they shouldn't have to be.

Ann Price: 31:52

Is that the? Is that what led to you becoming A parent advocate and really kind?

Angela Masden: 31:57

of getting in touch with your voice absolutely.

Angela Masden: 32:01

Um, I know that I needed to say something about my son and I needed my son to know what advocacy looked like and what standing up for yourself look like. I don't know if he knows that right now, but I'm hoping that he does as he gets older. But also, just having all of those statuses, I knew when I asked the question, why didn't you say anything? And when they say for what? Why nothing's gonna change, they're not gonna look at me like I'm important, I'm by myself in this. I knew that I was like no, you got a, we got a. I had to base, build and create those group of people and to have that voice. I knew that that was my calling. It was like you know how? Um, what do you call? Like a thing like the light bulb? That was why it was like a dean to me. It was a thing, yeah most definitely.

Ann Price: 32:56

Yeah, yeah, well, you certainly discovered your voice.

Angela Masden: 33:03

Even though I really don't like talking in front of people.

Ann Price: 33:05

But yes, yeah, it's a. It's a powerful story. I'm having flashbacks to like way, way, way back, like Like junior college days and my first internship was in a, uh, a special school for, uh, kids with disabilities. And that's back when we didn't have the word, or maybe people, people were starting to think about autism. Right, it was a long time ago, and I know the teacher whose classroom I was in, didn't she just felt like they were, these kids were mentally retarded. There was no such thing as autism, right.

Ann Price: 33:44

But I remember there was like a black teenage boy and he had been, um, he had been misdiagnosed like his whole entire life he had here, he had severe hearing loss and then with that came all sorts of frustration because he couldn't communicate right. But he had been, he had been, he had been misdiagnosed as retarded. He wasn't retarded, right, so that's, I mean this. And then I then I think about doing like um focus groups with um african-american moms, and they were talking about how their kids didn't. I mean, this was before covid, of course, and back when, um, you know, we there were books, right, kids had books, yeah, yeah yeah, they, they were several months into the uh school year and their kids didn't have, still didn't have books.

Ann Price: 34:38

Oh yeah, they did not have books. And I'm thinking my very overprivileged, my very overprivileged white children, they, they've had books since before the day the school started. Right, and if they, if they didn't, there would be people with pitchforks. Right, they were gonna get right, but but it was all.

Ann Price: 35:01

It was. It was kind of it was kind of crazy and it was Like you were, you were, um, you were talking about like Some people didn't, didn't know, or they're overwhelmed because they're trying to feed their families and they're trying to do all the things and right.

Angela Masden: 35:17

It's just like pro-orities that unfortunately, like Education, are if their child is not talking right now, that eventually they will. But I don't have any lights on today, or? I don't have any food to feed him, and that's more important than me trying to figure out what disability that he has or what something. You know whatever I mean, because there are still black kids out here that are getting misdiagnosed all day long.

Angela Masden: 35:47

Um there, but it's also because of the not maybe the lack of knowledge that parents have. And it's not to knock the parents, but it's just because, like I said, we just have so much other things to think about that If my son or daughter is functioning in the best way that they can, then I'm just going to let it go. You know, just let it be and it will take care of it, but I don't want to walk into my house with no lights on or I don't want to walk into my house and not have no food for my kids.

Angela Masden: 36:16

That's more important.

Ann Price: 36:18

So so you have. You had this experience and these experiences that I imagine like continue every day of your life. And how did you grow from like that and hearing all those stories to kind of where you are today? What's the what was the trajectory there?

Angela Masden: 36:40

um, it's been very difficult. My um journey has been up and down like anything else in the world. Right, I've had a lot of struggles, um, I've a lot of things that have happened, but I think that I know that I can't give up. I know that sounds like oh, what a cliche kind of answer, but I know that I can't Give up because if I do, there's no one to Take over to speak yet or to be that advocate yet, and we don't have that yet. We don't. We have people, but we don't have people, right, um, and so, as as the journey has gone on, there have been more and more things that have happened where I'm like, okay, I'm gonna sit down for a minute, I don't need the voice, we're good, he's, he's finally in a school or he's doing good, but Did something else? Happens and I'm like, man, I said y'all never want me to sit down, are you? I gotta keep going.

Angela Masden: 37:48

So from then until now, it has just increased on the level of Education that I have brought to myself.

Angela Masden: 37:55

I've done a lot of research, I have done a lot of um, I've heard a lot of stories, I've been a lot of things and I think, really what Makes me different and why I'm where I'm at now is because I am going through the same thing that I am talking out loud. I'm not just talking this out loud, I'm not just advocating for this because I think that it needs to be advocated for. I'm advocating because I'm going through the same journey as somebody else. These are like these. These things that I'm talking about are from from my, for my heart, for my passion, for my own journey, and so that makes a huge difference. It makes me stronger now. It makes me fight harder now. Um, it makes me understand that if I gave up back then, when I was out of that doctor's office, my son wouldn't be where he's at right now, we wouldn't be striving where we are right now and I wouldn't be able to help the people that I've helped because I stayed in the dark.

Angela Masden: 38:56

And so I think about that, because I always gotta make sure that my light is shining. And then I I think that's what my job is to make sure that these parents that have problems or challenges is that their light is not being dimmed by anybody, that it continues to keep being shined, because if you put us in the dark, we're never going to be able to to light up what we need to yeah, absolutely.

Ann Price: 39:20

So what does advocacy look like for you? Are you, I, I, you, uh, you know, march it on street corners talking to legislators, you know, working for policy change, educating parents? What does it look like?

Angela Masden: 39:34

Yeah, so typically I support, I try to represent the interests of like parents and families that call and response. I um try to provide resources. I'm definitely in frank furt. I'm definitely in the offices and doing policy changing Um. I've worked with other organizations that work with just policies when it comes to education and maternal health, um houselessness, food, insecurities, those kind of things. So I'm trying to be that voice between the parents and the institutions or the parents and the policy, workers, movers, those types of things. So I'm not necessarily on the street like Back of the day with my, you know, with the picket sign. I'm not doing those things. I'm in the rooms. I'm at the tables now um Making people listen to what I have to say and taking the stories that I have been encountering and putting those out on those tables, like that. Yeah.

Ann Price: 40:45

Awesome being being a voice for maybe some of those parents who can't yeah can't be there, correct, yeah, so I work a lot with community coalitions, community-based organizations and, um, some do a better job of engaging Community members and parents than others, so I'm curious as to what kind of advice you would give said community-based organizations about engaging parents, families, community members in in the work, whatever that work looks like.

Angela Masden: 41:19

Right, right, um. So you know, my nonprofit focuses on family engagement, so we're huge on Doing that. So a lot of times I do get that question asked like how do you all do it, like what are you all doing? And so we kind of focus on 10 kind of things of how we try to get Families engaged. A few of those things are like creating outreach programs. Um, those programs have to connect with the families and parents for them to come in, right.

Angela Masden: 41:48

Um, if it's you know, about something that has nothing to do with that neighborhood. You're not going to get any family engagement, um, as, as we move forward, offering like educational workshops, such as like family literacy, uh, how to budget your money, those kind of things, um, just even parenting skills, like support groups, those are those educational workshops that we do. Uh, we have those support groups that we try to function as well. We definitely utilize social media a lot and I think sometimes I tell um organizations that it doesn't always have to be an in person to get engagement. It can be social media and using that to leverage your engagement as you do an in person. So anytime we do an in person, we're going to do an in person, a Engagement event.

Angela Masden: 42:43

We use social media To leverage that. We get those parents and those families engage on social media. Then they're like oh, we got to go to this event because that seems cool. But we also do. You know we're in the world of virtual life, right, and so we do those virtual things because we know barriers are transportation or child care, xyz, so we try to create things that help them. There's no really just top on the screen, right.

Ann Price: 43:11

Um.

Angela Masden: 43:15

We do a lot of, you know. We try to tell people to collaborate with people, schools and institutions. The most important one for me is, uh, listening, listen and take that and use that feedback. Um, if you're just out here doing whatever you want to do, so I know one's engaging with you because you're not listening to the people. The people are going to tell you what to do.

Angela Masden: 43:38

And then, of course, providing resources is another thing that we say. And then we also talk about cultural diversity. Yes, I'm black, but I also know that there's other cultures, so, like, we need to recognize that and recognize those and respect those other Different types of cultures. So, if I don't know anything about being Hispanic, obviously that I'm going to collaborate and have a partnership with a organization, that Organization that is, um, hispanic, and we will be able to engage and have those two type of cultures engage. So we have african-americans and spanish In this engagement together that maybe never would have done that before if it wasn't for us collaborating.

Angela Masden: 44:25

Yeah, um, and then, of course, finally, just Telling families that they can advocate for, for themselves and policies and practice that, if you can encourage them that we're doing this because we're advocating for you all and we want you all to have a voice. We want that to be amplified. Come to these engagement things, and so we'll have the people there that you could talk to to amplify that voice. So those are kind of the 10 things that we do.

Ann Price: 44:57

Yeah, that's awesome. So what do you? What do you think it would look like if we really, uh, engaged and elevated that parent voice? What would what? How would? How would our communities be different?

Angela Masden: 45:11

Well, we would have empowerment. I think our community would engage that empowerment. We would learn how to Become one, work together. I mean, community has unity in the word, for a reason right, and so that would be where we're not in our silos, we're together. I think it would also create um inclusive decision making. Um, that's important because People don't think that their voices are being heard and their decisions are being made because of what they're saying Um.

Angela Masden: 45:46

So I think that would influence a lot of things that initiate the impact for families. Um, it also would create collaboration and shared responsibility and I just imagine it being like. I cannot think of that Um show that my dad used to watch, but it was Andy Griffin. What was it? Um? Is it mulberry?

Ann Price: 46:14

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh gosh. So now you're talking my generation. So I should definitely know that. So I know exactly.

Angela Masden: 46:24

It was. I think it's mulberry, I think that was the town.

Ann Price: 46:29

Um, yeah, so.

Angela Masden: 46:31

I have a time to be.

Ann Price: 46:31

I know what you're talking about.

Angela Masden: 46:33

I think about that town and when I was little and I saw it on tv Everybody just looked so happy and everybody just looked like they liked each other and the community was A small community, but there was responsibility. You knew that you could go here. You knew that you could get help here. I mean, even the jail wasn't even really that bad right, um it's. It was just like and that's what I like dream of If people would just listen to us parents. No one knows better than what we need for our kids, ourselves and the community. But the people that live it and aren't, yes, well, I just like. I imagine it being like that, or even like cheers everybody knows your name and they always come in and they just always thought just happy about being with each other.

Ann Price: 47:30

Oh my gosh. I can't imagine what that day would have been like if the doctor had come in and said your instinct as a mother is right and I'm gonna help you.

Angela Masden: 47:44

I don't think I would be where I'm at.

Ann Price: 47:47

So there's the blessing, I guess.

Angela Masden: 47:49

It was a blessing Side note. I did go back to that doctor for a few years.

Ann Price: 47:57

Oh you gotta tell me how did that conversation go?

Angela Masden: 48:00

So, because I felt very inspired, I went back to that doctor specifically and asked for that doctor and I told that doctor, one, that I thanked him for treating me like a piece of crap what? And two, I asked him. I said I don't know if you went home that day, or I don't know if you still go home every night and get a good sleep, because I'm pretty sure you still treat people like a piece of crap and I don't know how that makes you feel when you walk out of these doors. But just to know that my little black boy that you said was whatever or that I'm incompetent, I just want you to know that I'm not incompetent.

Angela Masden: 48:47

I've actually held this many awards. I've done this, I've done that. I printed out like a sheet that had all of my accolades and things that I've done in the community and I gave him that and I said I just want you to remember my name because I'm coming for you as soon as I can. I promise you I will and I'm gonna make sure that no one ever comes to you again. Whoa Now that.

Angela Masden: 49:15

I have my voice. And he was like well, I can't remember that. I was like well, just remember that you gave the wrong mom a voice, because if you did not treat me like this, I probably would not have been like this. I do thank you for that. I just think that it sucks that you feel the need to treat people like that. And so I had to tell him about how he treated me. And I had to tell him that just because I had passport and I was the black mom. And I said you don't remember the zip code, the zip code comment? And he was like oh, I do. And I said why do you remember that zip code comment? And he says because I've said it before to people. And he said I've never had a mom come back to me and tell me that I treated her like crap.

Angela Masden: 49:57

I said, well, this mom did, and I'm gonna find out how many other moms you have done that to and that the ironic thing about it was the same nurse that told me to leave. She was there and she gave me a hug when I walked out the door and I was like I said well, I had to take a pause because I really wanted to say something to her too, because I felt like, well, why did you say something? And she was like because I needed my job. But you don't know how many times I go home crying because he treats people like crap and I have to witness that. And she was like I'm so glad you came back and said something to him. And she was like it just makes me feel like I need to go. And I was like that's your voice. Your voice is you don't have to work with that doctor anymore, you don't have to say anything, but you can transfer and not work with that doctor anymore. That's your voice. And she was like I just appreciate that you came back and told him that.

Ann Price: 50:56

Yeah, that took so much, that took so much guts and says a lot of she did. She was nervous. I thought they'd go kick me in. Yeah, God, good for you. Wow. And I wanna go back and tell you, Angela, when I said it's a blessing, I didn't mean that that experience was a blessing, but there was a, there was a purpose and a blessing in that for you not to discount the racism behind that or about that or the hurt that you experienced, but that you use that to be who you were called to be.

Angela Masden: 51:32

Yes, well, I think that I'm a true believer of God, and so I think God made those experiences happen because he knew what he was, he knew who I was supposed to be, and so he was taking me on this journey. And if it wasn't for that situation I think he had a few more situations, as I've experienced that he knew that one of these situations that, as I was going through a journey of life that I was going to have that click to say that my light needs to go and he knew that it just happened to be the very first couple of times.

Angela Masden: 52:14

So I don't know if he, I don't know if God knew that it was going to hit that quick, but it did. And I've been slowly going right, slowly amplifying my voice as I've become older and going through the journey. I haven't always been like this, so it's been a slow journey of amplifying my voice.

Ann Price: 52:41

Well, I gotta ask you the question I ask everybody before I let you go. Angela, when you look to the future, what community possibilities do you see?

Angela Masden: 52:54

I'm going to continue to do this work, but I think this time, as I navigate, what's next is that I give this power of voice and power of storytelling to other parents. I think that's my next journey is to continue to do the work and advocate, but share and teach others how to do that, so that they're never in the same position as I am and not feel like they can speak. So I think that's what's next for me and then for the community is for me to teach that to people the power of storytelling for parents and the amplifying their voices.

Ann Price: 53:42

So, angela, if people listen to this and they like what they hear and they want to hear more about you and from you, how did they get in touch with you?

Angela Masden: 53:51

So I'm definitely on all social media platforms. So just look me up as Angela Madsen. I'm on Facebook and Instagram as Angela Madsen. Those are the two that I really am on the most. You can look me up on TikTok as Angela Madsen too, but you'll see most of my son on that TikTok. So if you want to see how he is and how funny he is, you can see that. But yes, I am on all of those social media platforms.

Ann Price: 54:17

Yeah, and I think you have a website for Roast Up Consulting as well. Yes, it's the same thing.

Angela Masden: 54:22

It's all on social media, so if you click my name, you'll click on. You'll see all of the other things. Okay, all right and I will.

Ann Price: 54:30

I will make sure I put all of those links in the show.

Angela Masden: 54:33

I always tell them it's easier just click my name and then you'll see all of the stuff. And then I'm also on LinkedIn. I always forget about LinkedIn, but I'm on there as Angela Madsen too, awesome.

Ann Price: 54:44

Well, angela, I'm so glad I woke up early and I went to your session because I gotta tell you I was. I was wowed. It was really powerful and I'm so glad I got to chat with you today. You came on the podcast. I'm very appreciative.

Angela Masden: 55:00

Yes, I'm so excited. That makes me feel really good, because all I want to do is just I just want to touch people and just try to inspire people to just continue the work that they're doing, and just to know that that people have stories, and just to take a moment, to take a pause and listen to those people's stories, because they really are going to make your positions or whatever you're doing in the community better because you're just listening. So I'm so excited that you did that and I'm glad that I gave that to you, so that that means a lot to me Well.

Ann Price: 55:38

thank you, angela. Yes, thank you. Hi everybody. Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of Community Possibilities. Before I let you go, I want to point you in the direction of some resources that might help you out. We have designed them just for nonprofits and community based organizations like coalitions. So if you go to the website communityevaluationsolutionscom slash resources, you're going to find a brand new logic model template, a theory of change template, a coalition assessment and a mini course designed to help you share your data, to tell your story. So there's lots more there.

Ann Price: 56:22

I hope you check it out. I hope it's helpful. One thing you could do to help me out, if you would be so kind, is to leave a review and maybe share an episode. Those likes, those shares, those written reviews, really help us get in more ears. And, oh my gosh, I totally forgot to remind you that my book with Susan Wolfe is out. It's called a guidebook to community consulting, a collaborative approach. So lots of resources, lots of things going on here at communityevaluation solutions. Hope you have a good week, everybody. We'll see you next time.