Meet Nekia Washington

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nekia Washington. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nekia below.

Nekia, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

My resilience came from my mother. Young when she had me at 17 born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland she did the best she could with what she had and taught me to do the same. My father was in my life and I had a Step-Father that was a great influence on my life as well. Young women don’t always see their mom for the superheroes that they are until becoming an adult and in some instances a mom themselves, but I saw it in my mom early and watched how she was able to make a way when there seemed like there was no way but somehow she figured it out everything in life that should have knocked her down gave her purpose and as I grew I realized how much she had influenced my life and the decisions that I made as an adult.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I created a nonprofit called What Next. The name comes from the desire to always have something to look forward too. Life can feel anticlimactic when you are a part of a lower socioeconomic group. The youth have nothing to look forward to and sadly many fall victim to the streets and make decisions when young that follow them for the rest of their lives. I was intentional about wanting to change that. I have worked in the airline industry since 05 and my children grew up traveling all over the world. As they grew older I started allowing them to be a part of doing the research and telling things that we could do and see when we went to a place and how excited they were to go and be able to return and tell anyone that would listen. So I thought what if I could do what I do with my kids for other kids and what next was born. We would plan and plan and then go come home and have to ask What Next. The thing that makes this organization special is the number of children that travel with me that are experiencing their first: first flight first international trip first cruise first passport first college tour first time traveling outside of metro Atlanta. Because I launched right as the pandemic was a thing I got discouraged working for the airline I lost my job so I decided to take some online courses to get my LMSW and I took a grant writing course and educated myself more and as things started opening up I started off small and only in the states. But I want them to see culture and try new foods and explore so I knew I had to go international 2024 was our first international trip and they loved it to se the kids blossom and the parents so grateful I knew I had to keep going in 2024 I had funding for 6 people total but in 2025 after the students came back and discussed I was able to secure more funds and this year I have funds for 15 to Cartagena, Columbia I am very proud of that.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Determination is a quality that I will say is important and impacts what we do at What Next. The trips that we take domestically don’t cost us alot but when I decided I wanted to do international the cost went up substantially but I was determined that I was going to make it happen. My family, friends, random donors and organizations I volunteer with all believed in what I was doing so much that they would introduce me to other likeminded people and I would get the opportunity to bring awareness to What Next and I felt supported.

Transparency/trustworthy it takes a lot for a parent to trust you with taking their child anywhere so to get them comfortable with taking them out of the country we do meet and greets the students volunteer with me, parents play a role, the chaperones are all fingerprinted and all information is provided to the parents so that the feel that their child is safe with us

One of the most important qualities is flexibility as much as we plan beforehand something will not go according to plan in 2024 3 of the children had to be dropped of and the forgot the travel consent forms so we had to load up and go by their house to get the documents or we could not board the plane. The students were distraught but we made it to their house and to the airport so crisis avoided.

When starting anything just understand that it takes time most people that you view as successful have been working behind the scenes for a very long time give yourself some grace!

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I think collaborations are a great way for small businesses/nonprofit organizations to get involved in the community. As I grow I want to be able to take more students. Currently I am incorporated in Georgia where I live and Maryland where I’m from and both places can benefit greatly from the services provided by What Next. A collaboration with other agencies could introduce me to a demographic I don’t currently have a connection to. Many of my students come from the Clayton County area and attend title 1 schools even though I would love to service the Metro Atlanta area when people don’t know you they are not always trusting especially with their children. Collaborating with other organizations that work with the youth could create a path for the community introduction and open the program to more students AND open the students that we currently serve to new organizations as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Whatnextnonprofit.org
• Instagram: Whatnextnp
• Facebook: Whatnextnp
• Linkedin: Whatnextnp
• Twitter: Whatnextnp
• Youtube: N/a
• Yelp: N/a
• Soundcloud: N/a
• Other: N/a

Image Credits

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