We recently connected with DeAndra Jones and have shared our conversation below.
DeAndra , thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?
My optimism is truly rooted in gratitude and the belief that things quite simply can and do get better. I always remind myself of the ways one year or season has been even better than the previous one and reasons why I’m grateful for the lessons and learnings. Regularly honing in on gratitude through prayer, meditation, journaling, and speaking it out loud to myself, loved ones and those around me keeps me hopeful, excited and ready for what’s to come, all under the guise that it will be good and serve me well. It’s a practice that’s helped me stay grounded, grateful, attract good energy and good people, especially in this current season of my life.
My optimism and positive energy is by no means a consistent baseline for me though. I have to work to choose joy, positivity and hopefulness on a daily basis and sometimes its a fight depending on my circumstances and the environmental stressors. However, one of my biggest lessons and realizations in my 30s is that I have the power to choose how I want to move through a moment, a day, an experience, etc. In short, my optimism comes from knowing I have the power to choose it, every day and every moment if I’d like. So why not work to choose it as often as possible?
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
First, I’m a sister, daughter, friend, cousin, mentee/mentor and auntie to many little ones and I take all of these roles pretty seriously. 🙂 By profession, I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and have been in the non-profit sector since my undergraduate years at UC Berkeley. I started Mid-City Meals in 2016 after living in Mid-City, Los Angeles, witnessing the homelessness and food insecurity experienced by many, and feeling a need to start an initiative that served the community, but also empowered the community and others willing to participate. Food access has always been important to me. It’s something my family and I struggled with often as a child, and I believed that through collective effort, it was something that could be addressed and alleviated to a certain degree with volunteers, donations, and quite simply compassion for others.
Mid-City Meals has shifted from primarily doing community food distributions in Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area neighborhoods to largely partnering with like-minded organizations serving our target population to help ensure we are helping the most vulnerable. This shift was expedited due to the pandemic, where our traditional food distributions had to pause. Currently, we are excited to be working on one of our largest initiatives. As part of our Holiday Sponsorship Program and in emergent situations, Mid-City Meals has leveraged food delivery platforms to get food to families and individuals quickly, especially in the absence of regular community food distributions. As a result, Mid-City Meals was selected as a subcontractee to serve the Watts/Willowbrook, West Athens, Broadway/Manchester and Compton communities in South LA through a grocery delivery service. We are currently delivering hundreds of grocery orders to families in need in these neighborhoods. At a time where food prices have increased significantly, we are honored to be able to support others in this way on a larger scale.
One of our primary goals the last 2 years has been to continue to find ways to increase our impact and influence to serve those who need us most. We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to serve these communities more intentionally and look forward to future opportunities to continue this necessary work.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Wow. Only 3? 🙂 There’s so much that has impacted my career and personal journey over time. I think the top 3 that are most important in this season are 1. Embracing mistakes and shortcomings, 2. Asking for help and seeking mentorship, and 3. Radically prioritizing health and wellness.
None of us enjoy making mistakes or not getting things “right” or according to plan, but it’s apart of life and living. I have and continue to be intentional about reframing my mistakes or shortcomings as opportunities to know what not to do in the future or understanding what isn’t best for me. Taking the time to unpack what could have been done differently or what to try next that might lead me a step closer to what I’m working towards has been a game changer. I try to view a mistake or loss as another lesson learned and wisdom earned.
I still struggle to ask for help, even at my big age. I’m incredibly grateful to family, friends, colleagues, and mentors who have explicitly called me out on this over the years and stressed to me the consequences of trying to do it all by myself. I know I don’t have all the answers, but historically I’ve easily been a lone wolf in things, trying not to be a burden to others. Accepting help from others, removing my ego and false sense of burden to others has not only allowed things in my professional and personal life to flow better, but it has opened me up to so many new ideas, resources, opportunities, and ways of thinking that have had such a positive impact. I have some amazing people in my life who have served as mentors and guides, sharing resources, connections, opportunities and wisdom that has been invaluable, and our relationships would not be as strong and life changing as they have been if I continued to resist the help and guidance.
It’s interesting how I’ve lived most of my life not actively practicing what I’ve preached when it comes to self-care and overall wellness. Part of the reason is because I previously subscribed to the idea that wellness looked a certain way, and that I didn’t have time, access or money to afford it. The reality is, we have to define what self-care and wellness looks like for our own individual selves and it often requires exploration. I had not done that until recently. I’ve grown to understand health and wellness for me, to be rooted in radical love and value for self. It’s been so easy for me to put my health on the back burner, especially in a helping profession. However, I am not as effective, intentional, and full when I am not caring for myself consistently and wholly. I’ve had to learn this the hard way, navigating various health issues and understanding that grind culture quite simply has to be apart of my past.
I would encourage anyone to make space and work on these things sooner rather than later. If mistakes are debilitating or you can’t fathom asking others for assistance, explore that and understand the root cause. If you struggle to care for yourself and your health first, try to understand why and really look at the circumstances and systems that might contribute to you feeling this way. In essence, slowly strengthening in all 3 of these areas has helped me have more grace for myself and furthermore, grace for others.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
The first thing I do is acknowledge that I feel overwhelmed. I used to try to hide it and believed it was a sign of me just not having it together, but it’s really a sign of our humanness. Life gets hard, things come at you fast sometimes, some challenges are harder to overcome than others, and that’s okay. So I start by naming the overwhelm and working to point out how the overwhelm is showing up physically. For me, stress easily manifests in my body physically so I have to address that immediately through breathing exercises, walks, stretching, and if I have the time, a full blown workout to let off steam even before trying to resolve or “fix” things. Talking through and processing the overwhelm with someone else is also critical for me. Whether it be my therapist, my close friends or siblings, I often find it helpful to talk through what’s causing anxiety or feelings of stress because sometimes it’s self-imposed pressures that I’m overwhelmed by, things that do not have to overwhelm me, but instead I am allowing. My loved ones and people close to me are gracious enough to point out my blindspots and help me understand things may not be as overwhelming as they seems if I shift my approach or perspective. Ultimately, I’ve learned that it is totally fine to have a few different practices, plans and people in your toolkit to navigate overwhelm and stress and as life shifts and evolves, how we cope and move through difficult experiences can as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.midcitymeals.com
- Other: [email protected]
