SPEAKER_00 0:00

Coming up on this episode of Media Rebel Unplugged, what advice would you give for somebody who's looking to take that leap from corporate America into a nonprofit leadership role?

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Have a good handle on what's going on locally within this community. And I know that um there's a lot of nonprofits, and there's a lot of nonprofits doing it well. I think a lot of times uh people think that nonprofit people, the mission and the passion are what pays us, but you know, we still are employees trying to make, you know, our end meet, and so paying a fair rate is very important, and I think look at that before you make any sort of jump.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Welcome back to Media Rebel on Flugs. I'm Janice Becker. Today we're talking about leadership impact and what it takes to grow a nonprofit that's changing lives in Northeast Ohio. Joining me is Amber Barkukas, Executive Director of Embracing Futures, a nonprofit that helps underprivileged kids access orthodontic care and oral health education. Amber, welcome to the show today.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Hey, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

I'm so excited to have you here. Would you please give us a brief introduction into who you are and what you're doing at Embracing Futures?

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Yes, I am Amber Barkukas, and I'm the executive director at Embracing Futures, which I started in January 2024. The organization itself is at 80 years old.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

We are here to serve orthodontic care needs as well as oral health education. You stepped into this role, like you said, in January of 2024. What led you to joining them? Where were you prior to that?

SPEAKER_01 1:32

I started my career in corporate event planning at an insurance company and absolutely loved it. I was planning big events and really entertaining in a way that was like really fun. And I found a nonprofit organization called Torchbearers, which was for young professionals. And in doing that, all the doors opened up to all the nonprofits in the community. And the exposure to that really led me to feel like maybe corporate wasn't my path, and maybe I should explore the nonprofit field. At the same time, I was getting my master's in communications from the University of Akron. So I felt like as I was finishing that education journey, it was a logical step to kind of move away from what I had been doing into a new role. And at the time it really worked well because I moved into a role at the Barbadine Community Foundation in Philanthropy. So I got to see a very unique perspective of nonprofit of giving money away and that process of what it takes to be an organization that really funders want to fund. So after a few years, I really wanted to try out the nonprofit side and be on the mission-focused piece of the pie. And so I went to an organization that's really well known in the area called Ohio and Erie Canalway Coalition, which is the Topath Trail. And it went through four different counties. And I had great mentorship there with the executive director, and he was able to show how partnerships and collaborations really are the key to making a nonprofit sustainable. And so we did that work together and went through COVID. And I changed in that time that I was working at that nonprofit. And before I left, I was opening myself up to the possibilities of what will be my next step. And the the the opportunities aligned themselves where somebody was retiring and a board member from Embracing Futures reached out to me through Torchbears, but it really gave me an opportunity to lead the organization and be the executive director and be a part of the strategic leadership.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Wow. It's so different when you're in big corporate America and you feel like you're just a number, you're very easily replaceable to more purposeful driven work within the nonprofit world. What you're doing is so important, especially in your space. I can't imagine what that shift must have felt like for you at first to go from oh, big corporate to the nonprofit world and make these connections that have helped lead you to where you are today.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Yes. And I have been so lucky that every job has been difficult to leave because I've enjoyed every single one of them. But I feel like a lot of my success in my leadership journey through nonprofit, it has really come from the ability to look back at my corporate experience and understanding the rules and the process and all of the systems that are in place in a corporate space that really does lend yourself to really be strict about what you're working on, knowing what's important, what's going to be measured.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

What advice would you give somebody who's looking to take that leap from corporate America into a nonprofit leadership role?

SPEAKER_01 4:40

I think anybody who's making a switch to anything should really consider all of the landscape, right? So as you look at a nonprofit, I was just recently talking to somebody who works in nonprofit and they didn't know about GuideStar. And going into GuideStar and looking at the back end of the financials of every organization, before you join, you should make sure that it's financially healthy, making sure that they're paying fair market rate for employees. Big thing if you're interviewing somewhere, you should always ask to meet with the team. Not just one person, not just the board. You really should be meeting with the team so that you can fully understand the culture that you're gonna be getting into. Everybody wants to go into an interview process with rose-colored glasses, but regardless of where you work, is going to have the hard days and it's gonna have the things that were unknown to you. The trickiest thing in a job description is other duties as assigned. So you just definitely want to make sure that you fully understand what is written in your job description and how they're gonna measure success. Um, I think it's while it is really important work to do nonprofit organizations, you do want to make sure that you're considering it completely as you're looking at everything that you might need as an employee, whether that be the HR, the health benefits, the the pay, but the flexibility that might come with it might be a good trade-off. We certainly need to make our own bills so we don't work for free. I think a lot of times people think that nonprofit people, the mission and the passion are what pays us, but you know, we still are employees trying to make, you know, ends meet. And so paying a fair rate is very important.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

And I think you should look at that before you make any sort of jump. That's great advice for somebody who especially has never been familiar with the nonprofit space and very beneficial for anybody that's considering taking that type of leap right now.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

And it's important for board members as well. If you're going to be asked to be on a board, you should also do your due diligence of going in and checking the financial health of an organization, as well as making sure that the organization has liability assurance for you as a board member. We see a lot of times that nonprofits don't make it past 10 years. And you you, as a board member, need to make sure that you're joining in on something that is uh financially healthy and that you're not going to be liable if something happens.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Very true. One thing I love about your organization is how you're women-led. How does that show up and how you run things and how you lead your team?

SPEAKER_01 7:08

So we are three staff members strong. Uh, we've had as many as four with an intern and uh seasonal, but all of us are women. We're also mothers, we're also mid-career to late career. We've done the corporate uh dance, we've worked in different environments, and so we understand how special where we work is right now. We're very protective of our culture. We want to have that flexibility. We're in a situation where we are very prescriptive in how our programs are ran. So nobody's coming to us for emergency assistance. That is a freeing thing that you know that you can take some time off. Because I think all of us from a mental health perspective need time to turn it off. And our organization really understands that. Our board chair is also a woman, and it's been refreshing for me stepping into the role. She's asking questions. How's your workload? And are you working nights and weekends? How is this event going to play into your schedule? I think having those honest conversations and having her know how important it is for me to have work-life balance is so beneficial as I start year three in knowing that I have those supports in place.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

And so do my team. You know, I feel like female leaders understand that. I think it's a different understanding of how we lead as mothers or wives. We talk a lot about empathic leadership and how important that is for all leaders, not just female leaders, in order to be a successful organization and to be the best that you can be at the job that you're doing day in and day out.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

We're supportive of each other uh through hard times. We're people who have family members who have other things going on. And each of us has had to have a team member step up in the in our absence and having that ability to call up a team member and making sure that we're all on the same page. My most senior employee, she's actually going to be celebrating 25 years this year, and stability within the organization is so important. And while she reports to me, she mentors me. She's been doing this role so much longer. She has the stories. I think that being in an environment that lets you step in and immerse yourself to let go of things that's happening at home, but also being able to step away from work to deal with what's going on at home. So it really does have to be like this perfect alignment of knowing what you need so that you can communicate what you need to your organization.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Yes, communication is key. It's so many areas. Being part of an organization where you feel like you can be open to communicate, you know, essentially being one of the most important things. I've been in situations where I was in an organization that you were shamed for communicating what was going on or how you were feeling or what you needed for management. I want to have it for people who have never heard of you because, as you know, we're broadcasting nationwide. So tell us a little bit more as to what exactly you do and who you serve outside of the five counties in Ohio.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Yes, and and that is one of the biggest hurdles that we have as our organization is reaching those who need us because we're never gonna put up a billboard that says free braces. This is not gonna happen, right? So, how do we find the kids who need the braces to make sure they know about us? We try very hard to serve all of the five counties, but we do predominantly see the most of our applications come from Summit, Stark, and Portage, uh, because that's where orthodontists are. So embracing futures, we work with partnering orthodontic offices that work as part of our network. And when somebody applies to us, it's typically somebody who either the first type of person is on state insurance and they've submitted to the state to have their braces covered and they've been denied by the state. So that's the first type of person who applies to us. The second is somebody who might have private insurance, but it doesn't cover the full cost of braces. That's amazing. Yes. And so last year in 2025, we were able to help 49 families.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

As a parent who has put a child through braces, I'm familiar. I I joke with him that you have a whole car in your mouth, right? I mean, that's technically what it does cost. And I mean, there there's payment plans and such, but to have that belief that that gives a family and then for the child to have that confidence is uh you can't put a price on it. So it's just absolutely amazing. But I think you did also mention about how you go into schools too, right? And you educate the schools.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Yes. So we have a secondary program called the Dr. Milton Rubin Oral Health Education Program. What we do is we offer every third grade classroom in our service area a presentation for their third grade students. We bring in puppets and they each get a bundle of a toothpaste. Uh they love this. And this is when body autonomy is becoming more aware. And so we find that this is a really important stage of oral health.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

And I think what you guys do is just so great for someone that's listening right now and they want to help your organization. How can they get involved? What would you need most right now?

SPEAKER_01 12:09

There's a few ways to get involved. One is just spreading the word. It's very hard to reach those who need us. Just getting our information to people who need us is really important. So we do work with a lot of the school systems, we work with the individual county health departments, we work with youth organizations that have access to um low-income students. So we're really just trying to get our application and the word out there. We would love to see an increase in our application. So that first and foremost, connecting us and letting people know about us. It is confining to those five counties, and you have to be under the age of 18. It's very hard for me to tell somebody on the other line of the phone, sorry, you don't live in our county, or you're under the age of or you're over the age of 18. But for those that we can help, like we would really love to be able to reach those kiddos. Secondarily, uh, of course, we're a nonprofit and we uh, you know, exist on the generosity of our community. We're very blessed to have a very strong network of funders and partners and collaborators. And so it's it's always good to have new donors and interest in that for a very small cost. So $100, we'll give an entire presentation to an entire classroom of kids. And so when you think about that cost, it's about $5 a kid to give them that bundle. It's it's so much fun for them. And they get this little toothbrush calendar, it's so cute. And they cross off brushing their teeth in the morning and brushing their teeth in the afternoon, or I'm sorry, the evening. And so at the end of that toothbrush calendar completion, they can turn it in for a free admission to a local children's entity. So right now it's the Children's Museum in Akron, it's the Akron Zoo in the Football Hall of Fame. So those are incentives for those kids to complete their um their calendar. So $100 will teach that program to a third grade classroom, which I think is just, you know, really good cost uh return on investment for that amount. Um, and then as well as just um following us on social, like keeping people engaged on social media, I know is is difficult, especially for a nonprofit like ours, because we're meeting people at a time in their life where they don't want to smile. So it is very hard to put a picture to the need because we also want to meet people where they are and we don't want to overexpose them in a moment that like they don't like the way that they smile. So we're not going to put their smile on all of our materials. And so, like that push and pull of social media of like how do you get the word out there without overexposing the people that you serve. So follow us on social media, learn more about what we're doing. And you know, a like costs nothing, but it does mean a lot on the other end, so that we can meet other people out there and get them to know about our program. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

So that leads us to where can they learn more about you? What's your website that they could visit and uh connect with you?

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Yes, so we're at embracingfuturesinc.org as well as on Facebook and LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Wonderful. We'll make sure to include links in our description for you so people can come and learn more about your organization and how to get involved with you directly. If somebody happens to be located outside of your service area, are you familiar with other nonprofits similar to yours that you could help connect them with?

SPEAKER_01 15:31

There are two national organizations that do an orthodontic care program. Fortunately, unfortunately, depending on which way you're looking at it, we are a very unique nonprofit and there are no other partners in other areas of the state currently. It I have had people reach out from Pennsylvania that are looking to start something similar. And so always happy to have a conversation about how we run our organization if somebody is looking to maybe start something similar in a different service area. I say fortunately, unfortunately, because I am able to talk to partners and donors and really show the uniqueness we don't have up here in this space. And so when somebody's giving to us, they know that it's going for a unique purpose. And so that's the push and pull of it. We are unique, but hopefully this sort of thing could take on in other areas because I think it is an underserved need in the community.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Thank you so much, Amber, for coming on today and for giving us the insight into your world and your organization and to yourself and your leadership. I really appreciate you being on today. So I really appreciate the opportunity and getting to come in and speak with you. Thank you. Thank you all for listening to Media Rebel Unplugged. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe or share it with someone who needs it. And I'll see you next time.