This month’s member spotlight is a feature on Shabnam Nolan (she/her)! Shabnam has been a resident of Vermont for 13 years and works in the nonprofit sector. As the Executive Director at King Street Center, she has been leading impactful work to support youth in the community. Learn more about the work being done at www.kingstreetcenter.org, and connect with Shabnam on LinkedIn: Shabnam Nolan.
Tell us a bit about your background before arriving in VT and what brought you to the state!
I was born in Washington. D.C. and grew up just outside of the city in Alexandria, Virginia. As the first generation in my family born in the United States, I spent a lot of my childhood straddling the line between what it meant to be simultaneously American and Iranian. By the time I was in Kindergarten, I had learned what it meant to not be from here or there and had adjusted my identity to live somewhere in between those two worlds. As my school years went on, I pushed towards the American side and away from the Iranian side – doing what many first-gen kids do: giving myself an American name, speaking back only in English to my family, feeling embarrassed when something seemed too Iranian when a friend was over. I graduated high school and went to a college that was predominately white and female. I joined a predominantly white sorority. And I just tried to fit in. Now, for those of you who know me, the desire to fit in might be a surprise and not behavior you would associate with me. In many ways, that is true. I have always had a deeply rooted sense of fairness and justice and from an early age, stood for what I thought was right and spoke up when I saw harm being done to someone because of who they are. In that way, I did not care about fitting in. But that is how cognitive dissonance works. I fought for others, but not for myself. Towards the end of my senior year of college, my now husband and I were trying to decide where to start our lives. I had thought I wanted to be a lawyer and everyone around me my entire life told me as much. So we came to visit Vermont Law School. I knew being in a courtroom was not the way I wanted to fight for communities, but it wasn’t until a professor of mine told me about public administration that I thought there was any other way besides law. With a strong financial package offered to me from UVM, I decided to instead attend graduate school and received my Masters in Public Administration. After graduating UVM, I went into child advocacy work, had two children and stayed in Vermont for 8 years. Then, feeling like this place was not my place nor the place I felt certain I wanted to raise my children in, we moved to Virginia in 2015. Then Trump was elected and Richmond, Virginia was also not my home. We decided to move back to Vermont. Somehow in those 8 years, Vermont had become home. I just didn’t know it until I left it. This time, however, I moved to Vermont with a different intention set. I knew that if I came back here, I needed to curate a community around me that reflected the more Iranian side of me. And so I did. Now, I have an amazing community of friends that hold a variety of identities that feel connected to my own and I get to come to work every day to a place that works to support communities of color. I also stopped using “Beth” and went back to my real name, Shabnam. But that is a story for another time.
How did you get into your career?
I always had a strong sense of justice. When I was young and all the way through college, I thought law was the way to justice. Then, in my last year of college, I had a professor who introduced me to Public Administration. I had always known the law degree would only be to go work in a nonprofit for little money but big impact on communities. So I took that LSAT score and secured a scholarship at UVM in their Masters of Public Administration program. During college I participated in Alternative Spring Break and volunteered in nonprofits. In graduate school, I continued working for nonprofits, as well as working as a substitute teacher in the Burlington School District. At the end of grad school, I had found a love for teaching middle school and decided to apply to a teaching program. In the same week of getting my placement at Edmunds Middle School for the program, I received a phone call from the executive director of Voices for Vermont’s Children, where I had done a project during grad school. She told me they had received a grant to do advocacy work to increase access to dental care for low-income pregnant women and children and would I consider applying for the coordinator position. This was a critical choice point in my career. I had to decide, would I go towards teaching, which I didn’t know I loved but had started to in the last two years, or do I move towards the career that my degree had prepared me for. I chose the latter. I spent six years in total working for Voices for Vermont’s Children. During that time, I built a statewide coalition, organized, collected stories, lobbied in the legislature, and learned what it meant to be an advocate for children and families. It fundamentally shaped who I am today as an advocate. Carlen and Sheila were my mentors and colleagues at Voices and they showed me what it looked like to fight for communities. They showed me that being outraged is not only okay, it is necessary. They built up the fight in me that I use every day to support the communities who come to King Street Center. They gave me the tools to truly advocate for change and have a systemic and lasting impact that moved the world towards justice. From there, I continued to work on behalf of communities. And that is still what I do today.
Why are you a member of the Vermont Professionals of Color Network?
VT PoC helps me carry out that intention I set when I moved back to Vermont in 2019. It gives me a sense of belonging and connection to a beautiful community of people that could otherwise go hidden. VT PoC brings the voice of people of color to the forefront, and that is important – for all of us.
What aspects of life in VT do you find most fulfilling? What about your professional life here stands out to you?
There is a beauty in this state that is difficult to describe. I like walking down the street and knowing the faces that walk towards me. I like knowing that if I need something, there are people who will come to support me. There is a real sense of community. In my professional life, it isn’t all that different. Those same things apply. There are people I know I can rely on to help guide me through being a community leader. I also feel so fortunate, because it is quite rare in this state, to work in a place where the majority of people are folks of color and experience the richness of this diversity.
Looking back, what advice would you have appreciated receiving about being a professional of color in VT before you arrived?
Find your people as soon as you can. They won’t just show up on your doorstep though. You must go out and seek them. That is where VT PoC can help.
What are some challenges that you’ve faced on a professional level since living in VT?
There are not many leaders of color or women leaders of color in Vermont. I’ve found it hard to find the right mentor – someone who has led an organization and also holds a shared identity with me. The way I see the world and my work has everything to do with my own personal story and identity and it can be difficult to not have that lens to rely on when I need guidance.
Can you share any strategies or resources that have helped you overcome these challenges?
If it doesn’t exist, create it. I’ve created some personal and professional community circles that mitigate the lack of a mentor. We rely on one another and there are more times than I can count where I’ve called them up to vent or ask for advice. We figure it out together.
Tell us about the work you’re currently doing and what drives you in your profession!
I’m the executive director of a youth development organization, King Street Center. We serve children and families who have been pushed to the margins of society in a number of ways. Many members of our Center come from Burlington’s immigrant/refugee communities and the majority of our youth are first or second generation Americans like myself. They are what drives me. I believe they deserve to feel a sense of belonging and safety, be invested in, and be given the opportunity and resources they need to thrive and achieve the future they see for themselves.
What future opportunities do you see for your industry, particularly in the context of the state?
We need more youth programs in our state. King Street Center only serves Burlington and some surrounding towns right now but every community could benefit from a place like this that connects kids to opportunities and supports families so that their basic needs are met. My hope is that one day, more kids can access a place like King Street.
In your opinion, how can VT better support its BIPOC residents, both professionally and personally?
I cannot underscore the importance of investing in our youth. It sounds corny but it doesn’t make it any less true: they are our future. If we care about Black and Brown bodies, if we value diversity, if we believe BIPOC folks deserve access to the same opportunities then we cannot forget about our kids. They must be prioritized, mentored, shown that they matter. That we, the BIPOC community, are here for them.
Are there other things (events/opportunities/jobs/etc) you’d like to share with the VT BIPOC community?
You can learn more about King Street Center and our work at www.kingstreetcenter.org. I hope to see you in our halls. More importantly, our kids need to see you in our halls.
