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Finding ways to make your impact is tough. Brett Hollenbeck interviews a wide span of people to learn how they make their impact and the journey they took to find it. Spanning national best-selling authors to local community members who are taking on big projects making a difference, Brett covers similar topics in interview form. Each episode contains powerful information to help you grow personally and professionally, and find your path to make your impact!
Brett Hollenbeck (00:00.748)
And you know what? It can either stop you in your tracks or it can propel you to go forward and say, am I really going to be me? Am I going to be me or I'm going to just be the version that other people want me to be? And that is a question you will face whether you're a teenager or you're in, you know, after your kids leave the nest. You, we always keep
getting to figure out who we are and who we're going to be.
Brett Hollenbeck (00:37.037)
Hello and welcome to the Impact Code, where we unlock the blueprints to success, innovation, and making a lasting difference. If you're ready to level up your mindset, business, and life, you're in the right place. Every episode, we dive deep with top entrepreneurs, leaders, and change makers to uncover the strategies that build real world impact and drive you to be the best version of yourself. So tune in, get inspired, and let's make your impact together.
And before we dive into today's episode, I want to take one brief second and thank our sponsor. This episode of the impact code is brought to you by tower community bank, your trusted partner for personal and business banking at tower. We're committed to empowering you to grow your business and build your future. You can learn more about us at www.towercommunitybank.com. that, let's dive into today's episode of the impact code where we will be diving deep into the world of local politics.
community leadership and the art of music with Beth Lathers of Nolensville, Tennessee. Let me tell you a little bit about Beth. Beth is a former mayor of Nolensville, Tennessee, and she was a pivotal figure in shaping the community's landscape, fostering growth and spearheading significant projects that have enriched the lives of residents there. Her leadership extends beyond governance and is deeply rooted in the preservation and celebration of Nolensville's rich historical heritage. Beth is also co-author to book, Nolensville Images of America,
which highlights her dedication to documenting and sharing the compelling history of her hometown. Through her narrative, Beth invites readers to explore the past, understanding its impact on the present and future of Nolan's film. Adding another layer to her versatile career, Beth has also made her mark in the music scene, her engagement in local musical events and songwriting reflects her commitment to enriching community life through the arts, fostering a vibrant cultural environment that enhances community bonds and celebrates local talent. Join us as Beth shares her journey through local politics.
passion for history and her musical adventures, offering a unique perspective on how arts and leadership intertwined to craft a thriving community. Without further ado, here's my conversation with Beth Lathers.
Brett Hollenbeck (02:57.261)
You know, it's interesting when you go to college, you don't always know what to major in. And I'd always been involved with with student government. So I became a political science major. I thought, that's what I'm supposed to do. And that definitely is part of me. But the funny thing is, I've learned through the years that I love public service, but I'm really not a political animal.
So after college, I had worked for the vice mayor of the city of Phoenix. It was an intensive job. It was great experience. I also had done an internship with then Congresswoman McCain and then the state attorney general's office. But I found that it wasn't feeling like the right fit long term, that I wasn't loving party politics or that just wasn't me. I took a break as a writer. I wanted a job that would give me support to be a writer.
So I worked for an airline for almost 10 years that was cross utilized and allowed me to travel. It also allowed me to move to LA for a period of time. And then it got me to Nashville. And it's interesting. I put politics behind me. that's over. That isn't me anymore. And then I moved to Nolensville with my husband and just loved it. You know, have a child and went on the way. And I noticed
when the sewer was connected to Nashville, that it wasn't if it was going to change, it was how it was going to change. And I understood how development worked, how, you know, comprehensive plans worked, you know, what you need in place, what visioning you need to have. It's very community based. So I just showed up and started asking questions and I came to this tiny little strip mall office and I didn't even know when I moved to Nolensville that it was so recently incorporated.
Yeah. And our town recorder, she's my hero. I mean, they incorporated out of the trunk of her car. Really? So I show up in this town that I've moved to and that's going to grow. And, you know, I had so much respect for all that they have achieved, but I also had a lot of apprehension for what was coming and if people were prepared. So, you know, I started attending meetings and I felt a little bit like the, I think I was called at one point, not from around here.
Brett Hollenbeck (05:20.913)
Yeah. That outspoken woman, that Johnny Gimlet Lee, and that's okay, you know, but a friend of mine said, I'm going with you. Yeah. So we just started attending meetings, asking questions, and then we realized with the direction, we really felt they needed to do an update residential development survey. And that was a challenging process to have the mayor at the time agree with that. But we just kept on
I'm being positive and we called herself the Reaganettes. There were a couple other women that were involved. So long story short, I really got involved almost like a staff role of creating a residential development survey, getting that through all the channels. We got the feedback back. So basically what the outcome of that survey revealed is that, you know, people wanted to protect open space. They also wanted to grow at a slow rate. It was very much a
rural slash kind of suburban community. So I eventually, through that work, you know, there was an opening on the board and they asked me to serve as an alderman. And I said, well, you should pick someone else. I'm never going to run for office. I've got kids. And, know, then, you know, the mayor race came and during my time as an alderman, we got to look at architectural design standards is something I'm very passionate about.
We had a great team. They included an engine, you know, the engineer, architect, a pilot who brought visuals from all over the country. So we were able to get in a place, our architectural design standards. And then with the mayor role, people asked me to run. They kind of wanted that the vision protected into the future. And that's really why I ran. I had a lot of hesitation about running.
didn't know what I was getting into. But I also felt I, my, my, my campaign slogan was vote for the vision. Okay. I didn't care if people liked me or didn't like me. I didn't care if our kids go to school or we play bunko. Like I don't want to be in that position. Yeah. If you're not supportive of that vision and the hard thing to try to communicate with folks that I really care about that were long-term residents that didn't want any change. Yeah. Is trying to communicate.
Brett Hollenbeck (07:47.277)
That's not an option.
It's going to change. So how do we make it change in the best way possible? Architectural design, keep the old, make the new look great, create walkability. That was part of the land use plan before I came on. Yeah. Connectivity. How do we have trails? How do we come together as a community? You know, what do we invest in that preserves a small town feel as we grow?
And some of those answers were outdoor seating, outdoor areas you run into your neighbor. You go to Nolensville, you'll find almost every restaurant has outdoor seatings or benches. So anyway, that's really what got me into running as mayor. And the interesting thing, the mayor is not a mayor in a small town. The mayor is also the CEO. It's also the HR department.
You get 300 a month to work over 60 hours a week. So all of that was really such a great learning experience. And then in politics, you're popular, you're unpopular, you're popular. So at the end of my term, I was kind of popular, people wanted me to run again, but I knew I wanted to serve, but my family needed more of me. So I ran for alderman and I supported someone who was running that I felt would
you know, continued a lot of the things that we as 200 volunteers, I like to say, helped create. This is fascinating to me. And there's about 20 things I think we could talk about in that story. I think I want to start with this. So you did get into politics fairly young in your career. It sounds like was that something that you had intended to as, know, as a child or maybe in your teen years, or was that something that you more stumbled into
Brett Hollenbeck (09:43.317)
And you found sort of an interest that way. So it sounds really corny, but I always feel like who I am now is a version of who I was in high school. I was writing songs and I was doing that every lunch hour at high school. you know, the choir would sing my goofy little songs and I wrote a graduation song for the ensemble group. And then I was also like class president, student body president. Those weren't titles to me. Those were opportunities to create really great
events and experiences. And so I was kind of hooked on that part. So when I got into college and I picked political science, I did learn, you know, how politics works and all of that. But I found that every role that I was in, I loved the service part. loved collaboration. I loved problem solving in the decision making process. I'm just not wired as a party person. And I don't mean to be
elitist or disrespectful to anybody who is, and I completely understand how things work. But I loved in the municipal government, know, in coming back to that part of myself, it was nonpartisan. know, day one, you you're serving and I'll be honest with you and all of our many committees that we formed, you know, I didn't know or care if someone was a Republican or Democrat. And we just worked side by side.
was just a wonderful experience. you know, I have great respect for those who lead in all levels of government and understand how that works. I just was fortunate that I could kind of serve at that time, maybe not now, but I could serve still being me. That makes sense. it's not like I'm the, I'm not a political animal. I'm not watching the news all day. What the back and forth is. I don't have time for that.
But I do have time to write grants and like, you know, meet with great people and that's the work. I always have loved the work. You know, I don't want to be, I never wanted to be a figurehead. I wanted to do the work. Yeah. I think that's really fascinating. I think you even demonstrate that in your campaign slogan that you were talking about, which is really this idea of how can we come together under a vision instead of towards, you know, a partisan party.
Brett Hollenbeck (12:05.197)
I think that's really cool. One of the things that you mentioned that I think is worth talking about, because I think it applies to politics, I think it applies to your personal life, I think it applies to business, is this idea of change. I think you said it as change is not an option. I'm curious, there are always people in life, no matter what you're doing, that are going to...
be resistant to change and not like the idea, be uncomfortable with it, maybe fearful of it. Maybe they just genuinely love the way things are. How did you go about engaging those people in your campaign and throughout your term in a way that helped garner support over time? One of the divisions that I saw from my perspective was there was kind of a long time and a newcomer divide. And there was even
kind of a rural subdivision person divide. not, you know, I think that my, what I communicated in terms of responsible or controlled growth appeal to both of those populations, but I discovered that we needed to do some work to come together. Like obviously through sports and schools, people come together. one thing we did early on is we formed a town events committee. We had our first,
townwide July 4th celebration, which continues on today through the wonderful town events committee. And these volunteers work tirelessly. We honored our veterans for the first time through a veteran celebration that continues, a breakfast or lunch, where the elected people, state and above, would hand with each name a gift saying thank you. And then when you see the veterans coming down Nolan's Hill Road with
kids holding thank you signs, I go, this is what community is about. And so I think to try to bring people together, they're obviously going to always be pockets. I think through these events and activities, trying to make sure everybody is seen or known, we had so many committees that were formed. I really tried to have representation from every neighborhood or when people come in on rural areas, but it's difficult.
Brett Hollenbeck (14:27.493)
thing that, you know, a one older woman told me, she said, Beth, because we did a vintage traffic signal for our first signal. got, I got grief for that. They called it the chick, the chick signal because it's vintage. You know, it was actually selected by a male by the way. but you know, we thought, okay, we got these road impact fees. This comes from development. How do, when we make these decisions, do we want to string or do we want a vintage signal just to mark? This is our town.
And, know, those decisions, you know, I'm thankful that other mayors had followed that or done it better than I did. You know, it's kind of like all those little choices add up to what you see today. When you see now we have two, three vintage signals and people feel that, it's a small town that's really growing. It's desirable with our school system and all the things in place. But, you know, the thing that I thought I didn't realize
We, we had a trees and trails committee formed and I give a shout out to Joyce, if she ever could hear this, she was our first trees and trails chairperson. And our committee worked tirelessly trying to figure out out of this community with just two lane country roads, how we were ever going to connect. The administration before us did a great job of requiring sidewalks and all existing subdivisions. But beyond that, we were disjointed.
And so we ended up really forming something that was advisory to the planning commission. We got to review every residential development, every commercial development coming in, we required connectivity, and then we wrote grants. And that's where, you know, two of the awards that I had written, and I'm so grateful.
have been put in the ground is the small town connections project that is a multimodal trail from our historic district over Mill Creek all along at 1.1 miles, you know, through to the rec center, the museum, historic school museum into the town center. So that was a big part. And then all these neighborhoods were required to connect. mean, developers would say, we're not coming. We're not doing that. I'm like, you know, the mayor after me held, held firm and said, well, okay, don't come.
Brett Hollenbeck (16:48.779)
Yeah. But you know, when everybody does it and you connect now, when you talk about literal connection, people passing on the trail, seeing each other, you know, all of this off road, you know, through, you know, like a greenway system to me, that is one of the most powerful things for our community. Now, some of the old timers are really funny. One guy in particular, I was running for county commission at the time and he was, he was there.
holding signs for a different level of government. And so when people would walk up, he'd go, did you take the trail? He liked to tease me, you know? But this many years later, they're still there and a committee is going forward to do really great work. So I think a community, it just requires so many different parts. And that's what I'm thankful having been a small town mayor. Like, you don't, you don't, you have to care about everything.
You have to try to have your eye on everything. And we even had to create a stormwater advisory board. We got a top, top engineer, environmental engineer, Tom Allen, who sadly has passed away, but he mentored us for a year. For our trails, we were guided by the Greenways and Trails Coordinator from the state. He took us under his wing. So, you you have to learn. You have to be open to learn from all these folks that have been doing this and how they did it.
And so I think that is also something I'm passionate about. And then the networking and collaboration and that happens with all of it. I love that. I think that's a great answer. Is there something Beth that stands out to you when you look back on that time as mayor as something that you're particularly proud of, maybe a project or initiative? I know it's going to be hard to choose, but is there something that stands out? You know, I'm really proud of all our committees and the work they did. It's never a me, it's a we.
I think, you know, I knew that we needed a town hall. We were renting, were hundreds of thousands of dollars renting. That was a really hard project to get in the ground for many reasons, for many locations that were considered and a lot of discord on our board. So I'm very proud that in the end, we built a town hall that everybody thought was the Taj Mahal.
Brett Hollenbeck (19:09.613)
And now they say it's too small. I think that was a win, but I think the bigger win was probably sewer in the historic district.
love to travel. continue to travel. And when I do, the first place I will go is a historic district. Why is that? I want to see the original architecture. I want to hear the stories. I want to see in a lot of communities how they repurpose them into art museums or shops or little eateries. It's really the soul of that original community.
And then sometimes you see the more modernistic things in the surrounding area, which you need. You need to provide services and all that jazz. So, you know, on our historic district, it was always kind of rustic. We don't have, we've lost the Kings Inn. We've lost some grand buildings. We had a wonderful woman, Evelyn Gillespie Hyde Bennett and her husband, Reverend Bennett, who saved several historic properties in our district. But we had septic failure.
situated between Mill Creek, the tributary. And, you know, I, don't own and operate the sewer. If you told me we need sewer historic district, need, I'm like, Micell asked me to go to the moon by myself. I didn't know. So again, it was just an example of asking questions, partnering, and eventually it was through a grant that we got funded and we partnered with Metro Water Sewer.
and the property owners adjacent did something called principal loan forgiveness for a very small portion of that to contribute. But I think that when I look at the vitality of Nolensville, that that was protected the heart of our town. I don't want to say that I'm proud of that because I really give credit to all the people that helped us. I'm going to be honest here, I'm a person of faith.
Brett Hollenbeck (21:13.165)
I mean, if there was any project that I you know, I prayed, I cried, I prayed, I cried, it was that one. And someday I will write the complete story of that because it's really quite extraordinary because there were so many stops and starts internally that not everybody knows about. so anyway, I guess,
I guess that's something I look at the trails, the town events, you know, but at the same time, I want people to hear me like, loved the work. I love the foundation we laid. I worked after that as an alderman writing grants and working on tourism and the mayor at the time just let me work on stuff and I loved it. And then, you know, as a county commissioner did the work, but you know, a community belongs to the person who moves in yesterday. Yeah.
And I never wanted anybody to feel like I did sometimes like you're not from around here. So if you come and you come with an open heart and you want to serve and love the place you moved to, welcome. I love that. There's room for you. And we all have to make room in our hearts for people coming in. They have ideas, they have skill sets. At the same time, we have to also honor the past.
and respect the people that laid the foundation far before me. I the pioneers that came over the compland gap. I mean, we have a great county, in my opinion. We have a great county mayor and leadership. We also have, you know, really great pioneers that built the framework for it. Yeah. Yeah. For those listening, I want you to take note of
of something that Beth said here, which is this tension between welcoming the new and protecting the past. And I think that's something that exists not just in politics that exists in business, right? There's always the people who are trying to protect and preserve and honor the legacy that has built an organization to that point. But then there's also the tension between that and looking to the future.
Brett Hollenbeck (23:29.739)
and where we need to go and how we can welcome new people into that project or into that organization or into that family unit. I think it applies across a lot of areas. How did you find balance in that tension between honoring the past and building a new vision that was more inclusive and more open to more people moving in and more people joining the vision? Was that difficult for you or was that something that kind of comes naturally to you?
I think it can be difficult because just like all of us have an individual fingerprint. Is that amazing? Yeah. There's not one other person with my fingerprint. So we come into community as individuals and then we have to learn with very different ideas, no matter how long we've lived there or where we've come from, because frankly, you came from somewhere in America. You know, unless you're a Native American.
sorry, but you came from somewhere and then we have to figure out how to come together. What I found is service. It sounds corny, but trying to value people and see people that may not have felt seen. Then all of sudden it's a we. And I give you an example. I had a woman in our community that was just very, my goodness, historical roots is an understatement, but really struggled with the growth and
probably didn't want me as a subdivision person. She liked me, but that subdivision wasn't popular. And their first veteran celebration, it was at the breakfast. And she was there with her husband who sadly, he was a World War II veteran, sadly he has passed away. She came up to me with tears in her eyes. She said, this is so beautiful. To honor our people and
I said, do you see all the people with the t-shirts? She said, yeah. I said, well, they're the town events committee. And I think every single one of them is from a subdivision. And they've worked over six months to honor you and to value you. And I want to make sure that you value them. And that was one of the conversations that hit me that
Brett Hollenbeck (25:52.673)
Only by serving one another can we feel part of it. And there can be sometimes I call it reverse rejection. I'm afraid you're going to look down on me or you're going to reject me. So I'm going to reject you first. And, know, I said it before in Nolensville when I had an airline pilot at Cub Scouts sharing about aviation one week. I had a wonderful
farmer bringing baby chicks the next, that's a great life. And to embrace all is always going to be a challenge. And I guess I would also say as much as we need to welcome others, I've also learned to try to give hints to new people to be like, you need to approach things with
as a learner and with humility. I love that. When you come in guns a blazing, just assuming you're smarter than everybody, I'm sorry, we all can struggle with pride. We all can, you know, I can. There were days as mayor, I have a day and I would be like, why is XYZ not in place? What were they doing? I had this arrogant moment. How dare I think that way? But I did it in that day. And the next day I was so humbled.
did they do all this? They don't have a huge staff like where I came from city of Phoenix with huge departments and huge, they had volunteers and people rolling up their sleeves. So, you know, I just ask people that do come first learn what has happened and why don't assume they never thought of your idea before, but do bring your ideas. there's a way to always approach to say, I was wondering about this. Have you thought of that? Or
You how can I contribute? How can, if we approach people with respect and humility, then we're welcomed into that inner circle that becomes decision making and implementation. I think that's an absolutely, absolutely phenomenal answer. Thank you for that. I want to switch towards the book that you wrote a little bit. And then we can talk more about some of the things that you're currently doing, but
Brett Hollenbeck (28:20.181)
Writing, I can just see in your eyes, Beth, as we're sitting here talking. I love the ability to be face to face. I'm thankful that we are face to face and not on a computer. I love my interviews via computer as well, but there's something special about sitting in the same room with someone and being able to sort of feel the emotions. And for everyone listening, it's
very obvious to me sitting here, just how passionate Beth is about the city of Nolensville, the work that has gone on there. can see, especially as she's talking about the people who are volunteering and giving their time on the committees, that there's just an emotion and a respect, just a big respect under her words in that area. So it's obvious to me that Nolensville is very special to you and even more so, think, demonstrated in your book.
I would love to hear about some of the surprising things that you maybe discovered in your book about Nolan's Hill. Maybe some facts that you were shocked even after your time living there as you got into the research for the book. Thanks, Brett. That's a great question and I'll try to keep it short because there was so much to learn. And Vicki and I, Vicki Travis, my co-author, she had written for the Tennessean. She's a writer.
When I had been approached by the publisher, I didn't seek it. They sought me after they knew about my grant writing and stuff. I realized that we had some good journals and we had a wonderful red book on our history, but we didn't have an image-based published work that could travel. So that's what we started working on. We, of course, paid homage and respect every historian that you read their work. mean, history is really based on other perceptions and collections of information.
When we started our book, we interviewed families that are willing to sit down with us and I bring my scanner to their house and they brought out their photographs. So there's a large amount of oral history that is not in the book that we're trying through the Nolensville Historical Society. We really want to make sure it's preserved because I'll tell you a couple of specific things that were really interesting to me. For example,
Brett Hollenbeck (30:34.829)
really looking at the Civil War in our area and what was happening. Well, with occupation, you you need occupation. Just think of the women left behind trying to feed and keep things going. And sometimes, you know, soldiers would raid, grab their livestock. So one really smart woman in the hollows, Hollows, she took some hair from her
the tail of her horse and bound it. So he looked lame.
they wouldn't take her horse. That's brilliant. Isn't that brilliant? Yeah. There was a story where they talked about how the kids had run home and told their families. There was an elephant on the road. There's an elephant on the road. Stop telling stories, right? Yeah. Well, guess what, Brett? There was an elephant on the road because the circus would, at that time when the railroad was there at College Grove Depot, they would unload the animals to march them toward
Nashville and they come down the road. I mean, this is not the road today that you would get creamed on, you know? This is the road before there was an I-65 or an I-24. And then it changed everything looking at a small town. And certainly I don't know, I know an inch to a mile of what is out there to know, but it made me think of history totally different because of this. You study history, World War II really happened over there. This happened over there.
And really looking at what was it like here. And I was shocked that there were World War II tank maneuvers occurring in my community. They had tanks that were maneuvering on this open land and it was like a contract. I have to figure out how that worked and the locals would come and kind of watch it. And sometimes the army
Brett Hollenbeck (32:36.749)
guys might have a little sweet that they had gotten and because of rationing, there was very little sugar or sweet stuff and would hand it off to a local child and make their day. you know, it gets me emotional because I think, wow, they were on their way. You know, they were on their way and that wasn't just our local people serving, it was people coming in to be trained. And then the other piece of that, I remember the day I was interviewing a woman who they were, had farmland and
She said, yeah, during World War II, they would bring the POWs from the camp South to work the fields. And I don't know that I registered the German POWs that were in camps in our country. I mean, you think about, you know, the Europe, you know, campaign and like, what would you do with POWs? Well, we brought them here. And so they would come in a bus.
You know, they're all speaking German in the field. She remembers that. And then they would call out to say, get indoors, because they would strip down and wash in the creek before they were brought back. it, you know, besides the stories of the heroes from our community, which there are many that served overseas in every campaign, including the Vietnam war and, and others, it's also what happened there with the story.
that happened other places. There's always stories within stories. That's what I think is so interesting. Yeah, I think it's fascinating. I think your approach is really interesting too, that instead of just looking at a list of events that you may have previously thought had occurred, you actually went out and talked to the people. sat and talked with families. You took your scanner and actually scanned in their pictures.
What inspired that approach? Was that something that, I'm sure it was intentional, but what was the idea behind using that methodology versus going to a library and sourcing a bunch of different things and piecing together? Well, we definitely had to rely on libraries and books. And I'll tell you, our county historian, Rick Warwick, is priceless. Yeah.
Brett Hollenbeck (34:53.217)
You know, when somebody, somebody after a book called me a historian, said, you know, don't ever use that title for me. That, that belongs alone to Rick Warwick and others that have really studied history extensively. But the book publisher that we had, for images of America, it is a photo based book. You know, it's, it's kind of like that theory that a picture is worth a thousand words. I still feel that way. Yeah.
But what we're realizing is we have some photographs, but there are a lot of photographs that families have that, you know, are not circulating. So it was terrific because the book required images. We had a release that they would sign to say, if we select any of these, can we put them in the book or do you want to have a further conversation about it? Also, we had a release. Are we able to share these with the Nolensville Historical Society? So they can have a photo archive.
Also, you know, it's not just our book, but it has a greater purpose of, you know, supporting preservation and history in the future. So what was exciting about that, I love that it was photo based and there were some, a lot of photos that had been in some other, you know, journals or the big red book, but there's some that weren't. And some folks might feel like, wow, why did they kind of focus that family had more photos in it than other families did. You know why?
because they had the photos and they had the photo of the era that communicated everybody's story. When you have an image, especially the rural section, we have a cream in the crops chapter. We have a road to everywhere chapter. We talk about Nolan's and Vord and all of the things happening. You know, to tell the story, you want those photos that communicate. We can only pick 125 photos and we had close to a thousand.
So I told my neighbors on the days that Vicki was over and we were selecting photos, because we liked different photos, you know, and I told them, said, if you see two women wrestling in the front yard, put a hose on them, okay? It was hard. It was hard to say what image communicates the story of Nolensville for what we're trying to show. So it's, you know, the image-based work, we have the introductions, which are not.
Brett Hollenbeck (37:18.197)
overwhelming. And then we have the captions underneath. So it's not meant to be an all comprehensive history book of Nolensville, but it's to give these snapshots. And I hope it generates interest of young people or their historians to do more graduate work or do maybe a really in-depth cemetery study of our community. You know, listen, you know, it's just continually to build on other things, learn from our mistakes, you know, Rick Warwick said to me, Beth, I never published a book where there wasn't something I found
that was different by the time it was published. So we have a name that needs to be corrected and we had a typo and a date that's embarrassing that the next issue is not gonna have. And so it's humbling because you're doing the best you can, but like all of us, we only know what we know and we don't know what we don't know. Yeah, yeah. No, that's so true. I have so many stories like that of something that I've...
you know, put out a piece of marketing collateral or an ad. And then after it's live, I'm like, man, there's one word in there that's, you know, got an extra letter or that I made a completely different word by adding on a letter.
I forgot a word. So yeah, no matter how many times I read it, sometimes I don't find it until I hit that send button. And then I'm like, well, there it is. There's the typo. Well, this is such a cop out. I don't want to blame them, but we had professional editors looking at her work. We kind of counted on them. know, no, no one thing was internal. They would have known. But yeah, the date part was I've gotten a lot of harassment over that. We laugh about it. Yeah. But, you know, I'm going to admit to you that when I was mayor of Nolensville,
even an alderman. I was really focused because there's so much coming in with growth and trails and ton of events and what I'm going to do. you know, I love, I love history and I go to some meetings and Evelyn Bennett was my great source of history, but I wasn't, I was buying the journals, but I wasn't as deep into it because I was so into the present and the future. And so I really relate to maybe our current leaders.
Brett Hollenbeck (39:21.687)
that, you that's nice that happened back then, but they have on their plate a lot of present decisions and going into the future. So the gift for me was really when I left elected office and then the publisher had approached me and we worked on this. I've told Evelyn and others like it was such a present to fully appreciate my community in a depth I hadn't before. I think that you'd be surprised even having served as mayor
what I didn't know as far as cemeteries and different things and what I'm continuing to learn. Yeah. I think it's really interesting. And I think it does go to show, I think as well, like there's this learning curve that we all have with any subject, is at the beginning, we know we don't know anything. And so we learn a lot and we hit this point where we feel like we know it pretty well. And that's usually the point where we're just starting to learn. Because usually, you know, we've maybe crested the first hill at that point of knowledge, but
we're unaware of how much we still don't know. That's right. And then suddenly something happens that brings us to that awareness of like, man, I really thought I knew a lot about this and I'm just realizing now that's kind of the maturity phase I feel like of knowledge is realizing how much you still have to learn. And I'm sure even someone like Rick would say he still has a lot to learn about Nolensville. But I think the biggest experts do say that they, they realize they know a lot, but they have the awareness to know.
what's still out there to learn as well. He works on the entire county and then the Heritage Foundation of Williamson County. You know, they have been incredible partners, not only the event that we may speak about, but even in us saving and moving the house, you know, we didn't know what we were doing. It was CEO Barry Beasley who just kind of took us under her wing and, you know, partnered with Mary Pierce who had served in that role and other preservationists and
You know, you just realize, and that's the whole goes back to what I said about being a small town mayor. Not one thing just matters. Right. It all matters. It matters for the new architecture to look great. It matters to have trails that connect to all of your schools and communities and those things that look great. Yeah. But it matters to save your historic record through buildings and special places.
Brett Hollenbeck (41:47.698)
that that is the soul of your community. You know, I think I'm going to quote Aubrey Preston and I hope this is okay. He said to me once, you know, Fleepper's fork fame and other much more. He said, you know, Beth, anybody can create Disney world or Disneyland. You can wipe it all out, but you will lose who you are. And I'm like, you're right. So I think the goal had been, and I know we're losing some historic buildings today. It's just very hard to save everything.
but when you can repurpose a building and continue the story, but then where there was no architecture, have that look terrific. I think that's a really neat balance. And I don't always think it's just one or the other, it's both and. I admit, young families moving in, they want places to gather and places for their kids. They have needs and desires and maybe newer things.
But you know what I hear all the time from everybody who's moved to Nolensville, they fell in love with that little village area. That's what makes it kind of unique. And now having the bridge that goes over Mill Creek, it has been the place of our Buttercup Festival years past. But sometimes that's the hardest work to preserve. And I have found that with the Morton Britton House. It's a hard job, especially when a pandemic hits.
I can't imagine. And you're nonprofit. You have no paid staff. How did you all make it through that? Well, our current president, Michelle Jenkins, I just think she's amazing. And I think a lot of the other leadership in the years past, and we had Greg Bruss, who was the first project manager. you know, it's almost like if you feel this, like you can't save everything.
But this house was on the National Register of Historic Places. It was one of the very few structures that we have on the National Register, okay? So if it's gonna be demolished for a strip mall and we can't do something to save it, who are we? Like if you're gonna pick something to fight for, I think that's worth it. And I will admit to you that, and I'll try not to get emotional, ha!
Brett Hollenbeck (44:14.14)
I got involved too to honor Evelyn Gillespie Hyde Bennett's memory because she had moved the Nolan house to its present location to save it. She restored it. They found the original log from William Nolan, our town founder's house from the late 1700s. If you go ever get to go in that house, it's there. It would have been demolished. She saved it. She saved the home place. She saved, she would
worry so much. And this is the very end of her life. She had a whole life, amazing life, where contracting polio in her teens had been sent to Warm Springs, Georgia. So she had sat beside FDR during meals, while he fed his dog under the table. Now, with her disability with polio, she still put herself through college to become a teacher.
and then a principal. And then what's so fascinating, you know, she had roots of a grand plantation home and all of that that season had. And she was so passionate about inclusivity and that we all are the same. And so as a teacher, like I have understand that she was like smuggling some books from her school to the black schools before it was equal.
and slipping. mean, she was a hero. So guess who she got to also go to dinner with, which is Martin Luther King. Wow. A group of people got to with him. And then, then it's interesting, there's a very famous Dave Ramsey was one of her students and she had really influenced him. So he has had a library in her honor. So she had this whole life. And on a weekend, she comes to Nolensville for like a farmer's market and she sees a house being
demolished and she buys it on the spot.
Brett Hollenbeck (46:12.67)
So anyway, long story, but we are inspired by and we stand on the shoulders of others. But I've laughed and I wanted to go to her grave site and talk to her and Alfred and say, I don't know how you did it. Because you were so much better at it. It's taking so long. Yeah. No, some people they just intuitively have that. I think it impresses me too. Well, I hope I didn't talk too long about them.
Yeah, she's amazing. Inspiring, inspiring. I appreciate you sharing those stories as well. I think they'll be meaningful to the people listening. So I want to switch gears just a little bit and talk about music because music is one of the first things that you and I talked about. We sort of connected on as we were connecting for the podcast. And I want to talk about how you first got involved in music and then also connect that to how you integrate that passion sort of with your community passion.
And sometimes, Brett, I don't do it very well. Sure, sure. That's right. I'm going to admit that to you. So I was that kid writing songs in my lunch hour. And then I was involved with Arizona Songwriters Association. And then when there was a Los Angeles Songwriters Showcase and I had songs that were picked up at Songwriter, things. And I was very encouraged. Finally, one of those songs made it on award records.
album, I found out I was competing against like 53 staff writers and I was very excited to get a song placed. So there's always this songwriting part of me, but then there was this all also this other part of me. So what's interesting is very few people know fully the songwriting part of me. And I made a decision and maybe it wasn't a good one, but I kind of felt in being a female public servant and not a
from the Southwest, but not the South, I didn't know if I would be taken seriously sharing that part of myself as much. So I kind of compartmentalized and it was interesting with the show we just did at the Franklin Theater because Tom Douglas, who's like the most amazing songwriter on the planet, he came and he sang with Jenna Clair. And I realized even in this moment, like I'm the coordinator of a show, I'm not a songwriter here.
Brett Hollenbeck (48:36.882)
So I've learned to a fault to carve myself out that way. But the beauty is I've kept writing. I've been with publishers, I got released and I don't want that. I want to learn a different way that I want my songs to travel. But I think when I get so passionate about public service, like I am right now with my role and some exciting things happening, sometimes that is the first, not the writing part, but
that's thinking about a song plugger or like, what do you do? And I'm getting older and I always have loved that I never wanted to be an artist. I love being a writer and I love that you can write till you die. No one sees you. They don't know that you're wrinkly or whatever. But anyway, to tell you the only time it kind of coincided when I was mayor, I wrote a song called, Pray Them Home Safe.
And it was recorded by a wonderful artist, Ronnie Freeman and another vocalist. And so that was included in our veteran celebration. And, you know, some of the veterans asked and got copies of that, but I was kind of ghost wrote it. People didn't really know that I wrote it. with music, I love that in, in every veteran celebration, there's music. I love that we have now places in Nolensville where live music is performed.
a very amazing woman has really gotten behind the Broken Wheel Festival to bring amazing acts and stuff into Nolensville. So that's very exciting. And then I've seen, you we used to have artists and art happening, but it just couldn't get launched. And now we have more actual art through an art guild and leaders in that area. you know, it's kind I always said it's kind of like Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
you know, when you're trying to get sewer in the ground or trails or, you know, your, these are the things you need. And then at the very top of that are the arts and the things that are really enrich our lives. But I'm like, like, maybe that is a metaphor for my own writing life that I tend to write. What is that? that's the nuts and bolts. That's the thing that's going to get money to put something in the ground. And then sometimes
Brett Hollenbeck (50:59.506)
the other can suffer. You I wrote a song that's really corny, but I, I had shared it with somebody recently. I wrote a song when I loved Nashville so much and I was trying to write a song that explained to the people I left behind in Arizona, why I had to go. And I'll try to remember some of the words, but it was, you know, you are someone I love, someone I left to find what was missing for me, but I'll never forget what you've given to me.
I needed to go where stories are told, where poets play their hearts for free and melodies dance with me. Words circle the air and songs whisper like half-spoken prayers. I needed to go where stories are told. Even my soul knows I'm home. So I want people, whether they're writers or whatever they do, I hope they feel that connection to where they move in Tennessee and receive
all the good things I have.
Brett Hollenbeck (52:02.106)
If you're comfortable, want to talk about one thing briefly because we do have just to talk about our audience. It's a lot of people who are really figuring out life. They're finding their direction. They're searching for their purpose. Maybe they've tapped into it and they're trying to figure out how to get to the next level. And one of the things that you said stood out to me because it's something that I went through as well, which was you said you felt at one point that you wouldn't be taken seriously if you shared the songwriting part of yourself. And so
I'm curious what you would say to someone listening who's maybe scared to share a certain part of themselves because they're afraid they might not be taken seriously. And I'll just let you kind of go from there if you're comfortable. So what I would say is I am like you. I don't know what it is that we feel embarrassed about parts of ourself that we don't know if they'll be taken seriously. And to be honest with the arts,
to me, it's not if you've had a top number one hit or you've had, know, for me, some of the best experiences are going to a writer's night of up and coming writers or people that just moved to town. And listen, you know, I admire the craftsmanship of the top writers and you start realizing how all that works. whether, whatever it is, like I found out that my surgeon does art on the side, okay?
My other surgeon, I've had a lot of surgeries here, other surgeon, you know, plays guitar in a band. So what I would say to that, I'm gonna speak for me. I think I get embarrassed or I feel some kind of self-imposed shame, which shame is never good. That, I think I'm a wannabe or a dilettante or,
They are just really enjoying the part of bath that they're getting. I'm really meeting their needs this way. We want you to keep doing that. So I don't know. I don't know if we can think about you as anything else. I don't know what that is, but I do believe in large part it's self-imposed. And I think you should anticipate and expect people to misunderstand you. Maybe not be interested.
Brett Hollenbeck (54:25.544)
maybe say something that's not encouraging that they don't intend to. And you know what? It can either stop you in your tracks or it can propel you to go forward and say, am I really gonna be me? Am I gonna be me or I'm gonna just be the version that other people want me to be? And that is a question you will face whether you're a teenager or you're in, you know, after your
Kids leave the nest. We always keep getting to figure out who we are and who we're going to be. And one of the songs that I wrote right after public office, I was processing a lot and the song came out called, Are You There?
And part of that was me realizing I had disconnected from some other parts of myself because of the other took so much of me. you know, I cried all the way through. I wrote that song, music and lyric without getting away from a piano. And I don't know how that happened. And then when I shared it with my husband, I kind of cried through it because I said, you know, there's a line, you know, even the photographs
make me sad, even of the great life I've had, are you there? know, like, you know, all the to-do lists that we have, the things that, you know, especially, you know, as a family person, your priorities have to shift. Some things, you know, and so that's the adage like, well, maybe you can have it all, but you can have it at different times. And so my encouragement would be to anyone to say, I don't have the answer for you. I wouldn't be that smug, but I'm on the journey with you.
And at my age and what I'm doing, I'll let you know if I get better at it. And let's just all try to have a community of people that don't measure each other by having a record deal or whatever, you know, an art award or, know, do it, be it. Yeah. Celebrate it, let it travel. Don't be embarrassed if it's a little art exhibit in a little town where
Brett Hollenbeck (56:42.184)
you know, 50 people are going to see it. You've just blessed somebody. Yeah. I just, this weekend, when I go on a trip, I stop at Suwannee. Yeah. I love Suwannee. I love going to that cathedral. Well, there's also a little art museum. A lot of people don't realize an art gallery and you- I haven't been there yet. you just, you just go into the art gallery, you take in the art, then you take in the architecture and the beauty of this cathedral. And then, gee, if you really want to knock your socks off, take a hike to the waterfall. Right.
You know, these are the things that feed our soul. And I do think from creative writing classes I had in college, a really great mentor and a lot of books that I had read, you have got to feed your creativity. Yeah, I agree with that entirely. And for some people, it may be the joy of going through an antique store that's beautifully displayed where it just makes you, fires everything of like, what was this object? And look at how pretty that is.
you know, going places to where people are good at things that you're not. That, that inspires me. But anyway, I just want to cheer people on. And there's so many stories upon stories of people who put things on, on the side. And then when they came to the front, really blessed people. make it not about you. Make it by, what do you have to share? What do you have to say that can
maybe touch one person. the last thing I'll say on that, this is how much shame I can have about songwriting because, you know, I wrote a song years ago called One More Time. It's very personal. about suffering. I don't know. I was kind of embarrassed by it because it's so personal. And it's a spiritual song and it was recorded by a woman locally and she does it at women's retreats and so forth. And she gives me feedback, you know, that
Beth, that's the song that I'm hearing from women who have miscarried or going through these really hard things, have really spoken to them. And I'm like, well, that's good. And I just go, okay, she's got that. And then I had a friend die suddenly in New York and his widow is really suffering. And I sent her a copy of that woman's version of the song. I never heard from her. And I thought, this is I did. that was so embarrassing. I bet she didn't like it. It was too personal.
Brett Hollenbeck (59:04.51)
Who am I to think that's what she needed? And I'm, why did I do that? And I really felt so much shame around that. And those are kinds of things that we can do to shut herself down from sharing her art. So a whole year went by and I got this card in the mail and she said, Beth, this song showed up at Doug's computer and I don't know who wrote it or where it's really from. And I was out of the time.
but it has helped me every day. The last year she said, is this your song? I know it's not your voice. Is this your song? You know, I just took that card and I sat on the couch and I cried. And I thought, you know, who am I to decide what will touch a heart or not? And even when I was listening to Tom Douglas at Franklin theater and Jenna Claire do that beautiful rendition of the house that built me, I thought, you know, no one's full.
for all the joys and there's been also a lot of heartache. Nolensville has been the town that's built me. I've helped in a very small way, build a town and come alongside others. And there's people now, know, building a town, but you know what they're gonna learn? Why you're doing that? It's gonna build you. Yeah, I think that's a really beautiful answer. Thank you so much. And I know everyone listening will appreciate that too.
Well, I wish I had the answer. Well, we all like to have the answer. This is the formula. Yeah. Step by step. Ta-da. If only, if only it were that easy. But I do think there's a lot of, there's a lot of joy in learning through the difficulties. And I, think without those things, we would never develop to the point we do. mean, without those difficult times or the times of self doubt, the times we're going through shame.
the times where we're taking a part of ourself and maybe isolating it and not believing that anyone would want to see that. Those times teach us about ourselves. They help us be more resilient. And that's one thing that I try to work with my kids on a lot too is, is really understanding that not everyone will always give you a positive feedback about something, but if it's something you love about yourself and it's something you enjoy doing, keep at it. Because if you work hard enough and you stick with it,
Brett Hollenbeck (01:01:27.91)
at some point maybe it sticks and if not you're doing something you love and that's reason enough. Like in a life that's so challenging, doing something that you genuinely enjoy doing is worth the effort. You know, Brett, I wanted to back up just to say one way I came to Nashville, this is really funny. I was just a songwriter in Arizona. I wasn't a band or anything. I was just a songwriter. Sure. They used to have this thing called the Morrill Borough Country Music Contest.
So I just had a fluke. like, I'm going to just submit a tape. know, I did the most country song that I thought I had and I got accepted to keep going. Well, I had to get a band together. We played all the clubs in Phoenix. My friends were laughing. They're like, you're not a country band, Beth. But there was a judge from CMT that invited me to Nashville and then some other things followed a little bit with ASCAP. And those are my single days before I was married and had other priorities. what's funny to me,
when you look back at your life, all the different things that took you where you are. And when I moved to Nashville, I didn't think I was gonna get back into public service. I just moved to my little town and raising my family. I'm like, I'm done with that. And I believe God knew, Beth, that's more part of you than you realize.
there's no waste of anything. And I'm going to use parts of you that you didn't even think you cared about. And that's what's exciting. Like you might think there's a part of you that's from so long ago. And if you heard everyone's story of how they came to Nashville, we'd all have those stories, wouldn't we? yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Mine too. Well, Beth, we're coming up on time. I want to be respectful of your time.
But I do want to talk about what you're doing now and what you're excited about now before we close out. So would you mind just sharing with everyone what you're up to these days and what's getting you excited, what's getting you out of bed in the mornings to, know, raring to go. So I developed an interest and passion for grant writing when I was in elected office because we needed money to seed projects, to make projects a possibility.
Brett Hollenbeck (01:03:35.07)
So now what I'm doing for Williamson County is I'm writing grants and I work on some special projects. And what's exciting is that I'm writing every kind of grant possible. So I'm learning whether it's a solid waste grant, whether it's, we just got an award at our second Tennessee Arts Commission grant called Art Builds Communities. Our first grant funded classes for disabled children and adults.
So yeah, writing that grant, kind of cried a lot because when I was researching it and international organizations that support the disabled and the arts, a quote that I used in my application was from a disabled person who was nonverbal. wow. Who said, you know, people see me as somebody to protect or feel sorry for. And then I got to do a piece of art and they get to see who I am and how I feel. So that was powerful. And then the recent
The new award will create through the Williamson County Park and Williamson County Performing Arts Center, a brand new work called Sweet Soul Music. Victoria Reed, the director is doing a whole new show and that's going to be supported with great historical context and wonderful music. then I pivot to that to transportation grants. I really, that's kind of my forte too with
multimodal trails or infrastructure, and I'm working on some now. And then we were just awarded 2.2 million for a Williamson County Parks and Recreation grants, called the LPRF, Local Parks and Recreation Fund. So those grants are going to really enhance an existing park and create another one, move some equestrian activity that's wonderful at Triane Running Club to that location. So that was wonderful.
I'm working on, you I just, I will not bore you, but I'm just, and then it's so funny. Like people will say, Beth, you know, we need this. Or we can tell like, I'm not the fairy godmother, but let's, let's all look for grants together. But the most recent grants too, we're working on, we'll bring broadband to some rural areas. Things that we, some of us may take for granted. We'll bring broadband to some community centers and
Brett Hollenbeck (01:05:56.294)
recreation centers and areas. And then we have people that have been working really hard the last two years to extend it through ARPA funds into the rural area. We're getting to renovate a community center on the west side of the county. And the good work is so inspiring. And I'm inspired to see these department heads and these people that work day in, day out, and they're wanting to see...
their dream become a reality. And the mayor has great vision to connect our community through a multimodal greenway system. And that takes a lot of my focus. So in a nutshell, I'm doing a lot of different things. And I realized I'm coming full circle to when the mayor days when I had to care about everything. I'm back to like trying to care in my own way and support the people that have
you know, the ideas and, and what we can do to even make our county better. At the same time, shout out to the Morton Britain Project, to the Nolensville Historical Society, a thank you to Tower Community Bank for being one of our sponsors of our Franklin Theater show featuring Jenna Claire Mason and friends. Thank you to the Heritage Foundation for giving us a Franklin Theater night. And we hope that we finished that house and that story continues on just like
all the stories of Williamson County that need to continue. Yeah. Well, we're excited to partner with you all and we'll continue to do so. We're very passionate about Williamson County as well. So I know I speak for everyone at Tower when I say that we love Williamson County. Beth, where can people find your book? If they're interested in purchasing your book or learning more about what you're doing, where can they do that? So it's called
Nolensville, images of America Nolensville. And basically it's available anywhere, any bookstore, Amazon. And if you just look at image of American Nolensville. So yeah, that's available anywhere. Perfect. I'll be sure to link to that in the show notes. If anybody wants to find that, we'll have some links there just to make that really easy for you. Do you want to give out a shout out to any upcoming events? We'll be releasing this probably next week. So if you have any upcoming events in
Brett Hollenbeck (01:08:12.616)
November that you want to give a shout out to, we can also link to those. I think I want to shout out to folks if they haven't been to a veteran celebration. Nolan's Soul has their wonderful annual veterans parade, so does Franklin. And please forgive me if I'm missing some other communities. But in a time where people can feel divided or have differences, let's come together.
and maybe just bringing your family to honor veterans and to watch the band and have some food and be side by side by somebody. And I just hope that really those kinds of activities will continue to bring us more together. I love that answer. Well, Beth, you've been so wonderfully generous with your time today. You've shared so much, I think just wisdom. And I'm so appreciative of our time together. So thank you for coming on the show.
And at some point I'd love to have you back on. We can talk about some more things that you're doing here in Williamson County. Thank you for having me. Of course. We'll talk soon. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of The Impact Code. I hope you found today's conversation with Beth as insightful and inspiring as I did. Before we go, I want to give a special thanks to our sponsor, Tower Community Bank, empowering you to grow your business and build a strong financial future. Learn more at Tower Community Bank.
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Your actions today define your legacy tomorrow. Keep making an impact. Bye.