Gillian Helm, Literacy Kansas City executive director, talks books, Royals, investing in education and more in The Pitch Questionnaire
Twitter handle: @gshelm
Hometown: Lincoln, Nebraska
Current neighborhood: West Plaza
What I do: Lead Literacy KC, a growing nonprofit with a crucial mission. Snuggle baby, Case, play ball with toddler, Griffin, high-five my brilliant hubs, run, read and eat good food.
What’s your addiction? Stove-popped popcorn in olive oil. Peanut butter. Smelling my babies’ skin. Biting my fingernails. DIY and mommy blogs.
What’s your game? Right now? Hungry Hungry Hippos. It used to be bartending and brunching, but since having babies, I’ve lost all the cool I ever had.
What’s your drink? Black coffee until noon. Pinot blanc after 5. Water in between.
Where’s dinner? My husband and I love to cook, so it’s usually at home. If we’re going out, it’s Port Fonda, Room 39, sushi or Chinese.
What’s on your KC postcard? My 3-year-old in his Alex Gordon jersey.
Finish these sentences: “Kansas City got it right when …” That World Series celebration was unreal. And I’d put the philanthropy, good will and overall neighborliness among Kansas Citians up against the people of any other community out there.
“Kansas City screwed up when …” We didn’t invest more in our schools 10 years ago.
“Kansas City needs …” Better grocery stores in mid- and downtown. More indoor play places. An organized resource referral network among service agencies. A smoothie shop.
“As a kid, I wanted to be …” A lawyer. Not to defend the helpless but to prosecute the bad guys!
“In five years, I’ll be …” Hopefully more at peace and self-aware, less controlling and spending a large part of the winter at my new second home in Sonoma. (A girl can dream, right?)
“I’ve been known to binge watch …” Parenthood. Property Brothers.
“I can’t stop listening to …” Right now, the Peppa Pig theme song is running through my head, so besides that, it’s NPR.
“My dream concert lineup is …” I’d love to see Prince and Adele onstage together. Also, the Beatles, Otis Redding, Madonna and (for my mom) John Denver.
“I just read …” Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go (like, a million times).
What’s your guiltiest pleasure? Miley Cyrus or the Kardashians.
The best advice I ever got: “Model leadership.” “If you’re explaining, you’re losing.” “Show up.” “Let it be.” “Be nice.”
Worst advice? “Just live off your student loans for a while!”
My sidekick? One of my kiddos. My cell phone. Or my breast pump. The things that seem to never go away when you have babies.
Who is your hero? Nelson Mandela. Mark Twain. Mary Shelley. The students at Literacy KC.
My favorite toy as a child: Books
My brush with fame: I worked at a Planet Hollywood in Hawaii for a while and met David Hasselhoff and Mario Lopez (big time, right?). And James Valentine, the guitarist for Maroon 5, and his sister, Amanda Valentine, who is probably the coolest young designer working right now and a finalist on Project Runway, were basically like family to me growing up.
My soapbox: Investing in education is the only way to get what everyone wants: an effective, inclusive, high-achieving citizenry and productive economy. And we have to do it in a way that makes sense for all different types of people and learners. We also have to invest in the parents of the children we want to grow up to be successful. They are a crucial piece in the puzzle of lifelong achievement. That means not only providing generic support services, but also realistic, tangible and meaningful solutions to personal growth and achievement. It all starts with literacy and education. Literacy isn’t just about kicking back with your favorite novel. It affects every aspect of life, from paying bills to navigating the Internet, from filling out a job application to helping a child with homework. And it is the great equalizer. Having access to information and having the ability to read and comprehend that information are the vehicles of education (formal or otherwise) which, in turn, is the road to, well, everywhere.
My recent triumph: I was appointed executive director of Literacy Kansas City just a few months after coming back from maternity leave. So learning how to juggle two little ones, a dynamic organization and still find time for dates with my hubs and the occasional run around the neighborhood is definitely a work in progress, but a triumphant one!
