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Conversations with Chanda isn’t just a podcast — it’s a movement. Hosted by powerhouse CEO, philanthropist, and unapologetic truth-teller Chanda Smith Baker, this award-winning show cuts through the noise to confront the issues that shape our world: race, power, leadership, justice, and philanthropy. With a fearless voice and a deeply personal lens, Chanda brings listeners into raw, unfiltered conversations with national changemakers like, Robin DiAngelo, PhD, Luvvie Ajayi Jones, Caroline Wanga, and Ibram X. Kendi, as well as the bold Twin Cities leaders shaking up business, community, and culture. Whether it's pushing past politeness or unpacking the quiet power behind real change, Conversations with Chanda is where leadership gets real — and personal. This is not just a listen. It’s a call to lead. Subscribe and download now — your next breakthrough starts here.
Chanda Smith Baker: Hello, community. You are listening to Conversations with Chanda, where leadership gets real and personal. This is where we cut through the noise to confront the issues shaping our world and our community. From power and justice to the heart of community change, hosted by me, Chanda Smith Baker, President and CEO of the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation
Welcome to Conversations with Chanda. I'm so happy that you are here with me.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: So happy to be here with you too as well.
Chanda Smith Baker: I would love it if you would just take a second and introduce yourself to our listeners, and then we'll get into the conversation.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Oh, most definitely. I'm Marchita Evans and I am the current president at, at St. Catherine University, the 12th president and the first person of color to serve in, in this role.
Chanda Smith Baker: You know, there are so many of us that are the first.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yes.
Chanda Smith Baker: And, um, we will often either say it or, you know, like we, we know it all of the time, but talk- Oh, yeah ... about why being the first is is notable and why it's important to, to call that out?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: You know, a- again, I always talk about representation, and it matters. And I, I... The whole reason why I went into my president- presidency in the first place is to be able to show other little girls, little girls of color, that if I can do it, uh, I am all that and a bag of chips, but I'm not that special, right?
Yeah. That, you know, having been raised by my grandparents in the South, dealt with food insecurity, that if I can rise to be a president of a university, and not my first presidency, well, baby girl, you can do this, too. And so having them, being the first, but knowing that there will be more to come after me, that's the blessing.
This is attainable. And so they need to know that and hear that and see that, and that's part of my responsibility. You know, we had this saying in, in, in, um, my culture coming out the Book of Luke, "When much is given, much is required." So what do you do with that opportunity and how do you present it so that others can see themselves in those roles, too?
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah. I hear that, and I feel that, um, completely. And you talked about the little girls, but talk about your peers. Like, let's talk about that. Let's talk about other women, Black women, women of color, that are sort of coming up after you or alongside you. Um, because I know for me, when I walked into my role, like the level of support and pride that I- Right
felt- Right ... um, is really hard to put into words.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: And you know, it really is, and you have to find your village and your communities, and they're different pockets. Each one will serve different things. So we have a group here, uh, in the Twin Cities called The Unicorns, uh, and they are women that are in leadership positions as well that are either superintendents or presidents of other institutions of higher education, but in the education arena.
And we come together to talk about all the things that are happening in education and how we can support each other. I have another group that you happen to be a part of called The Sister Gather, uh, Group as, as well, that meets other social, personal, spiritual needs, uh, to help us in this journey. 'Cause sometimes it can be lonely.
Yeah. And also being a woman of color, not just being a woman, period, but all, adding all those layers and nuances to serving, um, you need that support to know that you're not alone. You know? Uh, and it's nothing like having that just sometimes just to goof off. I don't wanna talk about work. Yeah. So I don't necessarily wanna have a peer to have a conversation about.
Can't talk about it to my husband about everything 'cause he'll try to fix it as well.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yep.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Um, but having groups and pockets of people that are there to support you, to ground you, to pray for you as you need it, uh, it is truly a blessing. And you have to find it 'cause you can't do it by yourself.
Chanda Smith Baker: You cannot do it by yourself.
And, um, speaking of that, before we, before we jumped on, we were talking a little bit, and both of us have navigated through really difficult moments. And, you know, probably one of my most difficult moments was in 2020. My mother, uh, came home to my house for hospice care two days before the George Floyd murder And I was leading and leading in a very visible way from my office, which now, you know, combined as her last place, right?
Um, and I remember not... I mean, people knew, but I, I just remember just working through it because I needed the structure of work. Um, I'm like, "What, do I just sit and wait?" Like, that felt wrong, and working too much felt wrong. But COVID, the gift of COVID was that I could be present in a really different way, even while busy.
Right.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right.
Chanda Smith Baker: Um, but I bring it up because, you know, underneath the role, like, we get up, we show up- Mm-hmm ... we navigate.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yep, we have to. We have to. We're kind of put in that position to do that. And again, sorry for the loss of your mom, but I will tell you my mom died from breast cancer, uh, the fall of 2019.
Mm. And, uh, she was actually in the last stages, 'cause my inauguration in my first presidency was December, the first week of December. She passed in November, so she was not able to come to my inauguration as, as a president. Uh, but I had a lot of other tons of family members to come. And you think about those moments, right, in the midst of that.
And in less than, what, four or five months later, COVID hit, and I was serving as a president in New Jersey, uh, where the median family income for my students was less than 36, $37,000. I don't even know how that's possible living in New Jersey, for a family median income to be that low. A lot of first generation, you know, a lot of those, uh, markers that we think that students won't be successful, but in reality, they were being successful.
I had one student to lose nine family members, you know. They had refrigerated trucks, so talk about the hardest times. I am an extrovert, and so I would go to campus, 'cause we kept our campus open, but in what we call pods, so students could be there, uh, and be safe. Because again, it was a very unsafe environment in the northeast because a lot of people were living on top of each other, you know- Mm-hmm
in high-rises and whatever, apartments. And so we kept the campus safe, but they needed to know that I was there, you know? So I showed up literally every day, locked in my office now, the only one there, uh, doing Zoom meeting after Zoom meeting. I end up getting a, a standup desk and a walking pad so I could move while I'm doing all these Zoom meetings.
Um, but you know, you had to do what you had to do. And you had to, again, you're pouring out, Chanda, to so many different people. How do you get poured back into, right? Um, you know, I'm from the country, and you know about anything about a well and priming a well, you gotta pour something in to get something out as far as water's concerned.
So-
Chanda Smith Baker: Mm-hmm.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yeah, that was
Chanda Smith Baker: a- Yeah. I do feel like, you know, when I'm in those moments, to your point, I think what grounds me or what humbles me or what allows me to move through is that- In, in my role, in our roles, we have the opportunity to see the struggle of many lives, like the struggle and the, the celebration, the highs and the lows.
And so to me, it puts it in perspective Right? 'Cause without it, you could feel like you're navigating something by yourself, and you're like, "Man, I know someone else that got these 10 things going on, and if I don't show up..." So I, um, you know, I know that's one of the ways that I sort of hold tight.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yes, yes.
My greatest joy, my graduation, I cry... I'm a crybaby. Okay. So I cry every graduation because I know the sacrifice, the joy. It's a moment in time, and not only transforms that student walking across the stage life, it transforms family systems. Because now, again, they can see that if Mary or Johnny or Susie or whomever can do this, the siblings coming behind, the cousins, the community, uh, that's a big deal.
And so again, the power of education, what it does in life, uh, my grandmother had a saying about education. "Once you get your education, nobody can take it from you." Yeah. "They can take your house, your car, the clothes off your back, but once you've been educated, no one can take that from you."
Chanda Smith Baker: That's right.
So we've talked a little bit about, um, how we navigate and the support needed to navigate. And then now you're talking about graduation, right? And so there's like the promise of a future.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: It
Chanda Smith Baker: is. And I just wanna go back a bit because, um, did you see yourself in this role? Like, how did you... What was the journey like?
Was it just one step, one step, or did you always sort of have this on the goal list?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Well, you know, not being a university president, I will say that, but being of service, that was always... We had no option. We were like that family, the choice of what was ingrained in us and instilled in us to make sure we take care of our community and take care of others.
Uh, when I started off, I graduated early from high school at 16. I was gonna be a, a real doctor, a medical doctor. Um, but I was graduated from high school in Washington, DC, and really didn't get the counseling advice that I should have gotten. Hmm. I was in a humanities honors program, but not any STEM honors program.
And so when I got to organic chemistry- Hmm ... it was not my friend, and I was not used to failing. So I'm thinking, "Oh my God, I can never, ever do this," you know, whatever. And so, uh, I was gonna be a student missionary going to Osaka, Japan. Uh, got sick, didn't make it, and to go into psychology and history and eventually counseling to work with young people again that are looking for a certain path in life.
Didn't have a lot of counselors that looked like them to guide them in the path so they, they could be successful. So that really got me into the counseling path, you know, working with, uh, what I call a transitional caseload, students with disabilities specifically, and helping them see a, a different kind of future.
Chanda Smith Baker: The wonderful things about, like, the leadership journey, and you've been really alluding to it, is that it comes from a foundation. Your, your family really, um, led that foundation of service. But then you have these people along the way- that support or open up a door for you. Like, do you have any names you wanna call out or any stories you can share?
Oh,
Dr. Marcheta Evans: yes, yes, yes. So I always talk about my faith, my family, my purpose, and remembering where I came from. Um, I'll never forget, I have, uh, this, this friend of mine that ended up developing, being my friend when I was doing my graduate work, and his name is Dr. Jamie Satcher, and he's from Mississippi Uh, probably three fourth of his family members were Klan members.
Chanda Smith Baker: Oh.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Okay? So white, red hair- hair, freckles, uh, University of Alabama. Okay? He's coming in as a new assistant professor, and I'm there in the, uh, doctoral program. I would not have made it through the University of Alabama without Dr. Jamie Satcher. Uh, I had three babies. I was commuting from Birmingham. He had a grant.
He put me on the grant. He allowed me to work more hours than I was supposed to work, and I said, "We're gonna do it until I get caught," because I needed the money, 'cause I needed to make sure my kids had daycare. Uh, I had promised my husband, uh, that I would not, uh, put the family at risk by pursuing a doctoral degree, so I had to make sure I had income to take care of the family.
Uh, when I look at that, uh, you know, reflecting on that, we did research projects together, published together, all the things that I needed to do to be successful. From a white man, red head, freckled, and three fourth of his family were Klansmen, Klans people, right? And he would share stories with me about how he was fr- afraid of Black people growing up, you know?
And here it is, this person is helping me navigate the University of Alabama, so much so that it was time for me to graduate with my doctoral degree, my, uh, dissertation chair couldn't do it, and Jamie hooded me. So we laugh about that now, the whole thing of he gave me a hood. But- Oh. ... it was, it was a doctoral hood.
The story behind that too is you never know where you're gonna get the help from.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Sometimes it's from unexpected places or, you know, pe- people that you think would not be helpful. Um, but if it was not for him, I would not be sitting here today.
Chanda Smith Baker: Man, I appreciate that story. And, you know, one of the roles, um, that I have, and I'm sure you do too with, with a college that serves students from all over-
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Mm-hmm
Chanda Smith Baker: is taking time to get out throughout the state.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yes.
Chanda Smith Baker: And it is very interesting how people respond to that, right? So if you're from Greater Minnesota- Mm-hmm ... um, or a rural community, they wanna make sure that I'm out there.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right. Right,
Chanda Smith Baker: right, right. Right? Um, some of the people within the urban center are like, "Girl, how are you gonna navigate this space?"
Like, you know, different philosophies, different politics, different understandings. Mm-hmm. Um, it's not as diverse.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right.
Chanda Smith Baker: Um, the perception is not being as welcoming. And every community I go into, I feel very welcomed. I have just met the most wonderful people, and then it sort of moves into them telling me their hopes and their dreams- Right.
Yeah ... for their community, their children, their families. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, the pieces of history. And so I have been surprised multiple times where I made an assumption.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right. Right.
Chanda Smith Baker: And I just sit for a minute and sit with curiosity and I'm like, "Boy, was I wrong about that."
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yes. Yes, yes. Well, you know what they say when you assume, right?
Chanda Smith Baker: I do. I do. I do. Yeah. Um, so any words around that? I think we could go into quite a bit of that, particularly in a moment where the politics are more fragmented. Um, you sort of illustrated it already, but, you know, you have to be able to sit with people that have all kinds of different ways of identifying.
And what, what have been sort of the lessons you have or the ways that you've been able to do that that might be helpful to people listening that might be struggling with sitting across the table with someone?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right. You know, people just wanna be seen, valued, and heard. That's the bottom line. I wanna be seen, valued, and heard.
I grew up in Alabama. A large part of my, my growth was there. And, uh, I would always say I would rather see, uh, overt racism than covert. I wanna know what you, what you doing, you know, how you really feel about me versus smiling, you know, cheesing and grinning in my face and then stabbing me in the back when I'm not in the room.
At least we can work with it, uh, have conversations about it, uh, and try to move forward. Uh, you know, again, a lot of times I think people, um, move to spaces when they feel as if they're getting something less than or not being taken care of. Uh, if you're being transparent, you're talking about your core values, a lot of those are very similar.
So again, if we can get to a common place, that's great. Now, I will tell you too, growing up in Alabama, there's some spaces and places that I will never probably ever be comfortable in, nor will I allow conversations or things to be said that are in my presence. It's as simple as that. So you have to know, again, what boundaries you have, what your core values are, what spaces are people coming from, having empathy, which is different than sympathy and compassion in my opinion.
Understanding someone's worldview, uh, is, is critically important because I've had crazy talk even within my own culture, you know? So it's not just them, it could be us too as well, that I've had to separment- separate myself from, because again, I'm not dealing with crazy conspiracy. I'm not... I'm, I'm just, sorry, I'm, I'm not dealing with that today.
Chanda Smith Baker: Mm-hmm.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Mm-hmm.
Chanda Smith Baker: You
Dr. Marcheta Evans: know? I used to say, "Uh, you not, devil, you not gonna steal my joy today," so.
Chanda Smith Baker: Not today.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Not
Chanda Smith Baker: today. Did you deal with that before? Did you have more tolerance w- from it, for it before?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: No, I probably never did. Again, my grandmother was pretty radical. We grew up, again, in a very activist family.
Had very little tolerance for it, let's say. Um, but I knew, too, even going into the role of being a president, I thought, Shanda, there's no way I could be a president. Because what comes up sometimes, you see it on my face, and there are stupid questions. I'm sorry, there are. Now, how do we work through that, uh, and lead through that?
I think being transparent, being caring, boots on the ground. I'm a worker bee most of the time. I can be a queen bee if I have to be, you know?
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yeah. But, uh, people wanna know that you're in it with them and that you're not taking something from them.
Chanda Smith Baker: Mm-hmm.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yeah.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah. Can we talk about navigating race and how it has presented, um, from the South to the North?
Is it a different navigation here?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Honestly, I, I don't think it's different. And I, I will say now coming here, and I try to question this sometimes too, is it positional power that has opened doors for me more so than others? Uh, because I hear sometimes when people come to the Twin Cities, they don't find it very welcoming.
It has been so welcoming for my husband and I, it's almost scary, to be perfectly honest. I'm like, if a teacup comes out and it starts stirring uh, it might be a get out moment for us because people have just been so welcoming for us all the way across the board, race, ethnicity, uh, gender, uh, age. I mean, it has been just phenomenal.
I will tell you though, I had a really interesting thing to happen to me in, in the South. Dr. Satch and I are going out doing presentations. He's white. I'm Black. I was doing most of the work, the expert on the research, to be perfectly honest. We're presenting, but people would want him to answer the question, okay?
Even my own people. And he brought it up. He says, "Markeda..." Because he would always defer back to me, but then they'll ask him the follow-up question, you know? And it, it made me sad that sometimes we have this mentality of being what we call crabs in a bucket, that you're trying to get out of whatever you think you need to get out of, and others are pulling you back in because they're afraid you're gonna get something that they don't have.
And so, uh, that presented itself more to me in the South, but then I had less positional power You know, and so, uh, you know, navigating it all from everything from how I dress. I love a lot of color. Having natural hair when I was looking for a presidency. Should I do something different? Getting St. John suits, uh, as a woman trying to navigate it, where a man just has to change his tie and have a blue suit or black suit, he's good.
My fingernail polish. These are things that you have to navigate where you don't wanna be too flashy, too this or whatever, uh, as you again become a president, because you're representing so much diversity as well.
Chanda Smith Baker: Do you see that as conforming, conformity, or do you feel like it's a strategy to be successful?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: I think you have to balance it, 'cause you still have to be authentically you.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: You don't wanna come in, and then when you're hired, you change everything up. So, you know, I still wear... If I'm gonna be St. John's, it's gonna be a, a nice-looking St. John's with a lot of color in it, because you gonna... That's how you gonna see me every day, you know.
Um, but I know I'm dealing with a different group, 'cause most of your board, uh, committee members are old school, older generation. How do you present yourself? You know? And that could be women as well. And so, um, navigating, I guess, the scenario that you find yourself in to be successful, you know? I think one of the greatest compliments I got one time, I was doing a, a keynote speech, and it was in Alabama, and there's this older Black gentleman that was sitting there grinning ear to ear, smiling, and I could tell he was so proud, and I was hitting point by point, and I would look at him, and then afterwards, he came up to me, kinda rolled up to me in a, in a wheelchair, and says, "You know, you don't sound like you have a PhD."
And I went, "Mm, let me think about that for a sec." He says, "No, no, no, no. It's a compliment. It's, you're relatable, and I can understand what you're doing, and you make us so proud." Uh, and I says, "Thank you. Thank you very much." You know, um, whatever I do, I never want to be where I'm not relatable.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah, I'm with you with that.
You know, you made me think of this, um, gentleman that works, um, along my route walking, um, to the office every day, and when I see him, he, he says, "Good morning, queen."
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right.
Chanda Smith Baker: And then he'll say, "Good morning, Michelle. How's Barack?" Right. And, and I just think at first, I'm like, "Who is this guy?" And now when I see him and he's like, "Whatever you're doing, you make me proud."
Like, he doesn't even know what my job is.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right. Right, right, right.
Chanda Smith Baker: Um, but there is something about being relatable- Mm-hmm ... being accessible- Right, right ... in these roles that, um, requires, I think, intention.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Mm-hmm. It does. It does. And reminding why you got the job in the first place. Yeah. If you got it to just lift yourself up, then you're not the right person.
You know, you're not gonna be the one to, to make sure that there's somebody coming behind you 'cause it's all about you. I know you. In the little time that I've been here, that's not you. And for him to be able to see that radiating from you, how you smile- Mm ... how you give back, people know. You know? Yeah.
They do. And they can sense that, so yeah, queen, it's all good.
Chanda Smith Baker: I love it. I love it so much. How do you then talk to your students and folks that are like, "I gotta go and I gotta keep it real"? Like, I get that all the time, like, "I'm trying to keep it real. I'm trying to be authentic." Mm-hmm. "I don't wanna be playing these games."
Yeah. "Like, these faces, we need to make 'em." Like, how do you talk to the, the generation that sort of is navigating what that actually means and looks like in the midst of what we just talked about in terms of having a strategy and knowing your audiences?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right. You gotta be among the students. I, again, I love people.
Let's start with that. Every day I eat in the cafeteria that I can. Uh, I'm sitting there. I'm going to the games. I'm showing up, um, where others maybe didn't show up previously. They trust that, they see me, they know, and I invite them to have conversations with me, or I walk over to them and have my own conversation, you know?
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. To see how things are going. If you're accessible, that's important. My door to my office used to be completely closed. No one even knew it was really the president's office. If I'm in there not doing anything, just doing busy work, my door's open. My music is on. So it's not only for the students, it's for faculty and staff, too, as well, or anyone that's a part of the community.
Mm-hmm. And it's, "Oh, that's the president's office," you know? I'm like, "Well, come on in," you know? "What, what's going on? Tell me. What's happening?" Um, word of mouth, 'cause it gets word on the street, they know that they can have a conversation with me. Uh, I'll often share that my first day at, uh, the job at, at St.
Catherine, there was a protest on campus. Mm-hmm. It was supposed to start at 3:00. The students didn't start on time. So we had our little conversation about, "Let me tell you about protests from the '60s and '70s. Show up, be on time, have an agenda, know what you're protesting in the first place, and let's have a conversation.
You don't have to demand. I will tell you why we can do something or why we can't." And then we'll go from there, you know? Uh, and it's like that authenticity of, okay, she hears us. What I can change, if it needs to be changed, I will change because I'm listening to you, you know? It's not just me coming up with something.
Help me learn what it is that you need
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah, so part of it is just, um, being relatable, being in community. 'Cause I think when you are thinking about how you serve, it's very difficult to put yourself in the middle.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yeah, yeah.
Chanda Smith Baker: So you talked about, um, the importance of education and, uh, your grandmother saying that no one can take it.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: From you?
Chanda Smith Baker: Mm-hmm. Why do you think education is such a powerful tool? Like- Mm ... there's a lot of conversations about, you know, you can take different routes. Like, I don't think it's about the degree you get. Right. Right, right. But, like, why is it such a powerful, um, tool in terms of advancement?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: You know, my grandfather, I think he only had a fifth-grade education.
He was brilliant. He was a jack of all trades. He built our house. He could do, uh... He was a, a mechanic by trade, but everything from laying sheet rock, uh, I mean, laying bricks, putting up sheet rock, uh, you know, just anything related to construction, uh physically fit, athletics, everything. So it had nothing to do with book knowledge.
Uh, with that just fifth grade ed- education back then and growing up in, in Alabama. But again, navigating and... Right now we're dealing with return on investment in, in, in, in higher education and the chatter out there. I guarantee you all the ones that are chattering about it, all of their children have degrees.
That part, okay? But when they talk about populations of color and those that are low income, oh no, you can go get to community college, you can go to voc trade, technical training, uh, those kinds of things. When you wanna move up, it's for supervisor- supervisory roles, usually you have to have different types of credentials, certifications, other types of things to get you to that next level.
So don't let's get it twisted about who's being encouraged to get that higher education versus who's, those who are being encouraged to go and get it a different way. Now, there's some great paying jobs that don't require a formal degree, but there's still certifications that are out there that are needed to advance you along the way.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah. Um, my question here, um, higher education is facing questions about affordability, trust, and relevance. What do you believe universities must become to serve the next generation?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: I think we have to become more student-ready in expec- i- instead of expecting our students to be what we call college-ready.
Mm. Students today need more flexibility. They need to feel as if they belong, 'cause a lot of my students are still dealing with imposter syndrome. We need mental health support, and that was one of the good things that came out of COVID, is the stigma associated with students of color seeking mental health support,
Chanda Smith Baker: right?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Uh, back in my day, you said you need to pray on it, give it to the Lord. The Lord won't get you, you know, give you something more than you can bear. Okay. Yes, still pray about it. Work through it, but get formal support through mental health services. Uh, we have to make sure that we are staying on top of technology.
AI right now is booming all across in every capacity. And we have to make sure that we're preparing students to be career ready, okay? So that when they hit the ground, that wherever they're going to get employment, they're not having to retrain them to do the job. So I've established recently a presidential executive roundtable working with corporate partners and others out there to find out what is it that you need?
What do you need now, and what are you gonna need five years from now? And if you don't know, let's try to figure it out together so that my students, when they graduate in four years, hopefully, uh, they'll be ready to meet your needs, whatever it is that's coming up. And we can't be so reactive. We have to be proactive in finding out and making sure that our students are ready to hit the ground.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah. What are some of the other sort of needs that you're seeing from, um, your students right now? I know housing has to be up there.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yeah. Well, you know, again, my students are on, on St. Kate's campus, uh, because we have a large diverse population. About 60% of my students are students of color. We're what we call high access, high opportunity, but also high wage earning because over 70% of my students are in healthcare.
Okay. The need right now is so great. Just in Ramsey County, we need 6,000 new nurses, okay? So, uh, again, given the characteristics I just laid out, food insecurity, housing insecurity, cultural fit, helping them again with the belonging, all of those things that we try to address on campus is right there front and center.
We have a food access hub. We're working with different foundations to try to help us through this. We have a grant now that we're sitting, submitting to the federal government, government for what we call a hydroponics lab- Mm-hmm ... where we can grow vegetables for our food access hub during the winter months, you know.
So we're hoping, uh, that our federal, you know, senators and representatives will continue to support that project for us.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah. Tell me what you love about St. Kate's.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Oh, everything. I always start with the students. Mm-hmm. Then right under the students are faculty, staff. Uh, I love what I do because, again, I get to see the transformation that happens in students' growth.
I had a student write me a letter Uh, just two weeks ago. And in the letter, she had struggled on campus. She had a situation that happened with a staff member, and she came to me, uh, she's a student with a disability. She came to me to tell me that she wanted to advocate for herself, and this is what happened.
I literally cried.
Chanda Smith Baker: Mm.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Cried, but also knew that I needed to do something, and this is where positional power comes into play, that you will challenge my students, you will push my students, but you will never, ever disrespect my students, right? You will never have them so fearful that they can't move.
That's not happening on my watch, okay? So we worked through the whole situation, worked through that moment where this May she graduated. And not only did she graduate, she applied to this prestigious graduate school program, and I wrote a letter of recommendation for her, and she got in. Mm.
Chanda Smith Baker: So
Dr. Marcheta Evans: she wrote me this beautiful letter about that moment in my office where I took time as the president with her as a student to be still, to hear her story, and to make sure she belonged, and she had children, a whole lot of other stuff going on in her life.
Um, those are the moments that I live for. Mm-hmm. That I know that I'm here for that purpose to transform these students' lives in some form. Play a little, little part in it. Vicariously living through them, uh, i- is why I love my job.
Chanda Smith Baker: I love that, and I don't take it lightly either when people come into my office and share-
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Their
Chanda Smith Baker: stories
share something that they're going through, right? Mm-hmm. Like, that, that to me is an act of courage. Yeah. Um, it is a request for support.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Mm-hmm.
Chanda Smith Baker: Um, can you talk, I'm gonna go back to your career a little bit, about how confidence has evolved over the, throughout your career?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: You know, it's still a work in progress.
Sometimes I
Chanda Smith Baker: get- Okay.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Say more ... uh, sometimes when I get up and, and giving a keynote, I still get anxious. You know, do I really belong? Even though I know I belong, I still get a little flutter, I think because the work matters so much to me. Am I going to- What's the word? Impact someone that's hearing those words that I'm sharing with you today, having the care of the listener to make sure that I'm relating to them in a way that will help them move forward.
So I still, sometimes I stutter. Sometimes, you know, and I've been a, a university president, right? Um, but I still get, get anxious. When I teach a new class, it's a different personality. I've taught some of that material year after year, but you never know what's gonna happen in this moment with this experience with this- Yeah
group of students. And so, um, I think it means I care. Uh, at least that's how I'm interpreting it in my head. Um, but the confidence to walk into a room, to breathe, to slow down, and to know that I am supposed to be here. I have a saying, "People enter your life for a reason, season, or lifetime. Why am I supposed to be doing this right now?
And what do I want people to walk away with?"
Chanda Smith Baker: What is your relationship with perfection?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Oh. Um, this is what I say about perfection. Jesus was perfect, and they still hung him on a cross. So girlfriend, you gotta let it go. Okay? You gotta- Yeah ... you will never reach that, and even if you did, you still gonna be persecuted in some kinda form or fashion. Mm-hmm. You still gotta do your very, very best.
Excellence is what I strive for in everything that I do, and I'm very competitive. I was a student athlete. Uh, I will try to win at everything, including beating up all my grandkids and nephews- ... grandsons and whatever. Uh, so, uh, I think too, being a woman, being a woman of color, um, we think that we have to be...
We have a saying, "You have to do better than just to be okay," in some populations. But even women added on that, I will have a man apply for a job or turn in their evaluation and only has done 50% of what needed to be done. I will have women that come in, they not only will have done that, but they have to be 110% to even think that they should be in the conversation.
I've sat down with many of my women faculty and had conversations when they're doing their evaluations, and they don't put stuff on there for service, and I know they've done the service. But, "Oh, no, I didn't do that 'cause it was just the right thing to do." No, girlfriend. Mm-hmm. You did that, and it's part of what you need to have acknowledged.
Put it on the paper. That thing about humility, yes, we want you to be humble, not bragging about this or that, but in this environment, it needs to be noted because that's how you get advanced. That's how you, you get pay increases. Mm-hmm. You know, all of the above. So perfection, mm, being the best that you can possibly be.
Some things you have to let go. I was not the best mother sometimes, but it took a village 'cause I was in my doctoral program, had all my kids involved in everything I was doing. The coulda, woulda, shoulda, we did the best that we could in the moment.
Chanda Smith Baker: We did the best that we could.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yes.
Chanda Smith Baker: You know, you gotta sort of work twice as hard-
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Mm-hmm
Chanda Smith Baker: thing, right? So Black women often the most educated What do you tell women who are constantly told they need one more credential, right? We're talking about women that are already qualified that are coming to... Not already. That was not well-worded, but you get the point. Mm-hmm. That, that they're qualified, they're overqualified, they've undertold their story- Yeah
and they're being said, you know, "You're not ready yet," or, "You need another credential," or those that feel like they need to have something before they move forward. Any, any words there that you might have?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yes. Uh, m- well, multiple things I could say related to that, is that, um, one, if you're saying that over and over again, you need to move to another space.
Mm-hmm. Because who's ever telling you over and over again that you're not qualified, or you don't need to do this, or you, you know, you need to do that, they're not sponsoring you. Mm-hmm. And there's a difference between mentoring and sponsorship. You need to have someone that's in the room that when t- opportunity comes up, they will bring your name up when you're not present, okay?
And then finding the right mentors. You'd have different mentors for different things. Uh, one for your faith, one for maybe your physical health or, or whatever, one for you professionally that can guide you relationally. Uh, you know, even at my previous position we had different people that would support people with doing their research and th- others that would support them in getting acclimated a- and, and, and, and a part of the community.
So, you know, when you start h- people telling you over and over again you need that one more thing, maybe you do, maybe you don't. Mm-hmm. And then you always consider the motive behind the person that is giving you that advice. Yeah. Is this legit? Are they helping you? I will tell you something that's really, really funny, a funny story.
Um, my dean came to me when I was moving up into academic leadership, and at that time I was a department chair. And she needed an associate dean. And so she came to me, and she was talking to me about another faculty member that wasn't even in a leadership position. Well, kind of sort of, he was a program coordinator, male, Hispanic, uh, uh, Latino.
And she asked me, "Well, what do you think about so and so being my associate dean?" Now, she's a female too as well. And I looked at her and I said, "Well, what about me?" Mm. She says, "You?" She says, "Oh my God, I didn't think you'd be interested in it." And I'm like, "Well, why not?" You know? Mm-hmm. I'm a department chair, the largest department, you know, well, the second-largest department of the college.
I most definitely am interested. But sometimes we don't put it out there- Mm ... what we're looking for to people that really can make the difference. They assume, whether because you have children or you're busy doing this, that maybe you're not interested. So there are a lot of things you need to process within yourself internally, externally, being careful who you're going and seeking advice from too.
Because another saying, uh, we had in my culture is be, "Be careful who you ask to pray for you, 'cause you don't really know what they're praying for." Uh, again, same thing with advice. Mm. Mm-hmm. Be careful as to who you're asking for advice, and do they really have your best interest at heart?
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah. Have you worked with coaches throughout your career?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yes, most definitely. Executive coaches, uh, and being very specific as to what I needed at the time. Uh, when I became, went into my presidency as well, I needed to find another, uh, president, a president of color specifically that I was looking for, and a woman. Again, navigating because I've served at minority-serving institutions, but Saint Case even though right now we're considered minority serving, it's predominantly white, right?
And navigating those spaces as well. Just give me your experiences and how you kind of, you know, maneuvered to be successful.
Chanda Smith Baker: Mm-hmm. Yeah. What do you think people might misunderstand about higher education, particularly in these times?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: You know, people will look at the sticker price of a, a degree or an education and really not understand, rarely, there are some, I won't say never, does a person actually pay the sticker price.
Chanda Smith Baker: Mm.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: There are always other things that are scholarships or other incentives. We have the Minnesota State Grant. There are federal funding, even though that's being reduced. Uh, really understanding the financial literacy of pursuing a degree and what you will gain from that. A funny example, in Texas, for young women, young men too, getting a Ford F-150 was a dream, okay?
And so when they graduate from high school, everybody wanted to get a Ford F-150 truck, including the girls, including my daughters, right? And so we take the Ford 150, 'cause it's a visual, and talk about how much it will cost to get this Ford 150 if you're working at McDonald's or you're working at some other fast food place, 'cause again, you only have a high school education, versus you taking the money that you invested in this truck and put it in your education, the earning power in 4 to 8 to 12 years afterwards of that investment of the Ford 150.
Mm-hmm. And so again, when we compare over a lifetime, if you only have a high school diploma or GED or community college or again, four year up to a, a terminal degree, the difference in your life learning, uh, earning potential- Mm ... that kinda changes the narrative a little bit.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: A financial literacy about higher education and the impact that it have, it can have potentially on your life.
Chanda Smith Baker: Mm-hmm. Um, what about families that encourage the gap year? There's a lot of talk about gap years.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Whose family? Let's say that.
Chanda Smith Baker: I'm just saying
Dr. Marcheta Evans: generally. I'm just saying. There are some families... My fear is, you know, when we talk about gap year, that's just so sweet. Uh, if you're gapping because you need to earn more money you think to go to college, that's something different.
If you're gapping because you're gonna go to Europe and you're gonna spend a year, uh, backpacking across, that's a whole nother thing too as well, right? Uh, again, looking at my population of students, they need to probably, they're taking a gap year to earn enough money- Mm ... to help them go to college. Yeah.
Now, I haven't really sat down with someone and done the financial literacy piece, talked about what it will require for you. I've had students working two to three jobs, uh, again, just to make ends meet. I've had family members, uh, with students that are on work study, and the check is very little, but it's helping sustain the family as well.
So when we talk about ga- gap year, I kinda chuckle a little bit, uh, because again, that's kind of a, uh, a privileged term.
Chanda Smith Baker: A privileged term, yeah.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yes. Uh, versus again, it being used for a necessary period of time to help me be successful to move forward. Now, the, the problem I have that, with that too, is that sometimes people will take time off- And then they'll start a- a- acquiring material things that will require them to keep taking time off, and they don't get back to where they need to to finish their degree.
We have a lot of people that have so many college credit hours, but they have not finished, right? Uh, we have people actually that have had close to all but dissertation and have not finished for one reason or another. Um, I'm saying while you're already broke, you're already poor- ... g- finish your education.
Chanda Smith Baker: That's a great line. Like, why not? While you're already struggling, you might as well- Right ... just play it on out.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Just finish it. Play it on out. Just give it one more year, two more semesters.
Chanda Smith Baker: Man. If you could. Man, man. So, you know, like, uh, I have a number of folks that will come, and like, "I need money for my kid," or, "My kid wants to go to school."
But I'm telling them they should take time off 'cause it's too expensive. I'm telling them they should make this decision, or they got accepted out of state- Right ... but it's too much money. Mm-hmm. And so there's the student side of it, and then there's- Yep ... the parent side of it, particularly- Yep ... for parents that do not have their degrees.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right, or-
Chanda Smith Baker: So if you could just speak to these people for a second that are afraid of their children leaving or s- afraid of that sticker price. Like, I know you touched on it, but I wanna drive it because I think that families are providing a lot of advice-
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right ...
Chanda Smith Baker: um, that is coming from fear, from- Mm-hmm ... um, the growth perhaps of that student- Right
or the financial pers- picture. And, and I just... I often see the student who has the drive, and they get frustrated trying to navigate the family dynamic.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right. So I'm gonna cover it, come at it multiple ways. Okay. Okay? I'll use my own personal example. Middle class at the time, you know, working as a faculty member.
My husband and I have six kids. Daughter got accepted into Ri- Rice University, Columbia, uh, University. A lot of, again, of the Ivy schools she was access- uh, accepted into. And we had... When they were babies, we started a, um, college fund for them as well, but the college fund was based on state in-state tuition.
And Rice, I'll use it as an example, they don't give scholarships. They don't give money for them to go. And she could have gone to a public in-state tuition, you know, get, get the in-state tuition. But, you know, Columbia flew her up, took her on tours and everything, all this great and wonderful stuff, but they weren't gonna give her a whole lot of money.
So my conversation to her, 'cause sometimes the middle class gets caught in the middle. If you're rich- For sure ... you can take your baby anywhere. If you're poor, you're gonna get federal aid, back in the day, okay? But the middle class group, you don't make enough, and you're not poor enough as far as income is concerned.
I told her, I had to sit her down like, "Baby girl, I'm not going broke on your education. Education is important. If Columbia doesn't give you any more money, or Rice, you're gonna be at the University of Texas in Austin, and you're gonna be okay." She's a biomedical engineer, and she's okay, and she's making six figures.
She's good. But I was not gonna go broke on her education for her to go and go around in, in New York City or whatever and- Mm-hmm ... live her best life while I'm struggling trying to pay for her education. Okay?
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: So that part. Then you have students, again, looking at in-state, out-of-state, private versus public.
Really sitting down and understanding not what you find on the internet, having a conversation with a financial counselor, and seeing what is actu- cost versus this fear of a sticker price.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: People do it probably do their own independent... And even people with education I tell you, can be problematic as well.
My husband, with all of my education, and I hope he doesn't hear me- ... uh, every time we had to do the FAFSA, every year he would complain, "Why do we have to do the FAFSA? It's 30 pages long." Baby, every year we have to do the FAFSA. Every year you have to turn in your tax, you know, forms. Mm-hmm. And we're not first generation.
Yeah. Imagine those families that are fearful that something's gonna happen, some kind of penalty or whatever associated with that. That comes with us educating- Mm ... being out there helping them, having workshops, which we did a lot of in, when I was in San Antonio working with first generation families, being in the communities, having different programs that were set up to help them understand how you can get this done and the impact on it.
And so I don't know, I haven't learned yet a lot of the resources that are here, but we know that the financial literacy is extremely important in helping them navigate that.
Chanda Smith Baker: Mm-hmm. Speaking of navigation, talk about navigating this career with six kids.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Girl, it took a village, for sure. Uh, you know, as I mentioned earlier, and this is back in the day when we didn't have a lot of the, uh, Survey Monkeys and we still had the data on those big mainframe, uh, um, computers.
My babies were stuffing envelopes, putting stamps on, uh, you know, the, the envelopes as well, going with me to conferences. Uh, we had conference babies. You do what you need to do, you know? Mm-hmm. Now one's a professor, one does stuff nationally, one has her DM- DNP, one's a biomedical engineer. Um, because again, that role model, the expectation, they didn't have an option as far as education That's how I parented, you know?
The one that's a biomedical engineer came home from UT Austin because again, they were struggling. She was struggling a little bit. She was a little fish now in a big pond, but she was a big fish before. And she came home and said she wanted to be a firefighter, you know? And I said, "Baby girl, I told you, you can be whatever you wanna be in life.
But look, are you gonna be a degreed firefighter? So get your mind together and we gonna go from there." Her response to me was, "I don't know what kind of counselor you make." I'm like, "You're confused. I'm not your counselor."
Chanda Smith Baker: I'm your mama right now,
Dr. Marcheta Evans: right? I'm your mama right now. Mm-hmm. So get yourself together.
She's a biomedical engineer right now. Mm. So-
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah, so there's a lot about navigating the fears, the anxiety, like, I mean-
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yes, yes ...
Chanda Smith Baker: you know, what does courage look like for you at this, at this stage of your career? Because I just, you know, you just keep, I just keep coming back to that, that word, right? The courage to move forward when you're feeling like you may not be the fit, and then you get through it, and you're like, "That was, that was actually really right."
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right. This is gonna sound really, really silly, but, uh, there's a favorite quote of mine from the movie Mulan.
Chanda Smith Baker: Okay. At the
Dr. Marcheta Evans: end there she says, "There is no courage without fear."
Chanda Smith Baker: Mm.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Just think about that for a second. There is no courage without fear. If you're not worried or anxious about something, is it really courageous what you're doing?
Chanda Smith Baker: Right.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: You know? Uh- Probably not ... is it really doing something that's different if you're doing what everybody else is doing? That's not courage. It's when you're pushing it, when you're, um, uncertain about the outcome of it, that's when it really actually becomes courageous I mean, that's just the bottom line.
Uh, it's not the day-to-day stuff, even though sometimes that is courageous, you just getting up and being there and being present, you know. Um, but it's really when you're doing things that, like us still being with social justice our core values, love of God and neighbor without distinction, uh, that's who we are.
And in some cases, just living that and breathing that is courageous because somebody else in the community may not like what we're doing.
Chanda Smith Baker: Right. Right.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: You know, their value systems are different. Yeah. And so how do you still stand true to who you say you are and what you believe in, even in the midst of that?
But also from a leader's perspective, not being too loud sometimes that you get your head cut off because now you're responsible for a whole lot of other people behind you. You know, if I didn't have 3,700 students that I need to make sure I care for, I might be saying some, like your husband who you mentioned earlier, saying some stuff I probably shouldn't be saying on social media.
Chanda Smith Baker: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: That sometimes I really, really wanna say in a different way. Uh, I have to remember, I have 3,700 students- Mm-hmm ... that I am working with and making sure they're successful. That didn't even include the faculty and staff- Right ... that's a part of this as well.
Chanda Smith Baker: Navigating leadership right now is, um, interesting, and I know I get asked, it feels like at least every day, it's like this, "How are you doing?"
Like, you know- Right ... this like, "How hard is it for you?" And I am experiencing a lot of light, right? I know that I'm new in my role. I'm 11 months in, but my orientation is a little bit that way- Mm-hmm ... um, as a, a natural way of leading. Does it feel more difficult today than it did for you in your previous role?
Like, you know, we've got federal challenges in terms of how it's approaching higher ed. Certainly here in Minnesota, we've had, um, a number of things that have impacted our families, our students, our community. Talk to me about, you know, just how, does it feel harder or is it like, just hard and the issue just moves?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: I think the issues just move, to be perfectly honest. Again- Yeah ... I think in Alabama in the '60s and '70s, you know, again, dealing with that. I was a counselor. Nobody comes to me 'cause they're happy, you know, as a counselor. Usually they have problems that they try to figure out themselves and they can't, and they come to me for me to help them fix it, you know?
Or, as I say, "Give you the tools so that you don't have to come back to me. Work myself out of a job." Um, and I know I'm different. Uh, I, I think when I think about university presidents or anyone in leadership, having a background in counseling, I spend more time mediating, counseling, helping people work through issues to help them be successful and lead themselves, you know?
So right now- And we're dealing with a different set of problems as far as higher ed is concerned, uh, that we have to navigate. I think we're coming out of a malaise still of COVID. There's a lot of mental health, uh, issues, people getting along, hiding in social media. Technology is, is, is causing people to be able to throw darts at people and then hide.
Uh, that's different. We didn't have that before, but we have to evolve. Change is a part of life. If you're not changing, you're dying, you're stagnant, you're going backwards. So, um, finding your village, finding out how you get poured into, that's always been how I've navigated my existence. I do get to a point where I remember s- in my office once saying, "Lord, I need you to listen to me.
I don't wanna grow anymore today. Just give me a minute." Not joking.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yep.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yep. Mm-hmm. You know, just give me a little minute. Just give me a minute there, and then tomorrow I'll be back at it. Um, but it comes and goes, you know? It, it's kind of a cyclical thing that we work through as long as we stay true to our purpose and why we're doing what we're doing.
Yeah.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: And my grandmother would slap me from her grave if I did not get back up and do what I was supposed to do, and it's about service.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah. Yeah. Do you have, um, favorite or most consequential leadership advice that someone offered you? I know I get asked this question and I'm like, "Oh, what is it today?"
But is there anything that comes up in terms of advice that you got that you carry with you?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: The... Well, the one of the things that when I was at the University of Alabama, the best advice I got was because, again, I had a faculty member that I thought was racist, and I was dealing with him, and I still... You have those moments that you can just recreate the moment in your brain, everything that's happening sensory kind of wise.
I'm sitting in the doctoral room with another doctoral student, uh, was Mike, a, a white male, and I'm... My mouth was going 90 to nothing, you know, just talking about how unjust this was and whatever, and he looked at me and he said, "Markeda, shut up and graduate."
Chanda Smith Baker: Oh, oh, oh, oh.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: I'm like, "What
Chanda Smith Baker: did you just say to me?"
He's a shut up- Did you invoke your grandmother?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: What happened? Well, actually, I did not because- Mm ... I thought about it honestly, Chanda, and it, it came to me. He said, "Now when you get out there and you get these letters behind your name, and all the things that come after that, shut up and graduate." And I paused, I took a deep, deep breath.
I shut up. I graduated. I became an assistant professor and eventually a university president because at that moment in time I was gonna fight this, I was gonna file this complaint, I was gonna do all these other things, you know, whatever. And really for that one grade from a B+ to A-, you know, whatever, uh, I'm fighting for, um, I'm a university president.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah. I had a moment with my mom, and I remember, you know, I was taking my kids to class, right? I had Malik and, and Dom and Toe, and I was going to pick them up from my mom's, and I'd gotten a C-
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Mm-hmm ...
Chanda Smith Baker: on this paper, and I was hot. Do you hear me? Yeah. Hot.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yes. Yes.
Chanda Smith Baker: I done stayed up all night. I didn't- I wa- hadn't been with my kids.
I ain't been to sleep.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right, right.
Chanda Smith Baker: I put everything into this doggone paper. It was my only female professor I had. Wow. And, um, I, my mom said, "How was class?" And I started crying.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yes.
Chanda Smith Baker: I was just crying. And by the time I could get it out she's like, "What is happening? What's going on? What, why are you so upset?"
Sure. And I'm like, "I got a C." And I remember she just looked at me, like, just dead face, right? And she's like, "You are being so ridiculous right now." Right, right. Like, like, "What, what, this is ridiculous." Take that seat and move on- Right ... from it, right? Right. Keep stepping. Keep
Dr. Marcheta Evans: stepping.
Chanda Smith Baker: Like, what? Right. You're so upset.
Like, you are gonna allow being this upset to get in the way of what your goal is.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right. Right. Right.
Chanda Smith Baker: Right? Don't over-index on the wrong thing.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: On the wrong thing that stops you from the bigger goal. You may win that little battle, but you overall lose the war- Mm-hmm ... because, again, you're fixated on that one thing.
Now, granted, you, you need to know when to fight, right? Um, we have some injustices and things that come along the way, but you also need to m- learn when to let go and to move on. And sometimes when you're dealing with crazy, like, okay, I'm gone on.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah. Yeah, 'cause you can't fight over everything. Mm-mm.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Nope, nope, nope.
And some people, again, no matter how much you try to work with them- Yeah ... you sometimes you have to, to go to grow, I always say too as well, and to just let them be who they are.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah. Yeah. What are you working on that you are, um, excited about right now?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Ooh, so many things. Uh, I met with a, a, a special foundation this morning to talk about our dreams.
We have our strategic priorities at the university that we're focusing on, leaning into our health and nursing initiatives, student engagement, digital innovation, simulation, and fiscal sustainability. But within all of that, it involves so many different aspects that I just love. No day is the same. Uh, whether it's working with our students, doing a new dining services provider, uh, I just love the just the variety of the work because again, I know the final impact.
When we talk about, again, legacy and what we hope people remember about us is not that I was university president, even though I think that's memorable, but it's that I had impact in transforming or, or changing their lives and helping them believe in themselves even when maybe they didn't believe in themselves.
Chanda Smith Baker: Mm-hmm.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: You know? That, um, dealing with the courage, helping them be a little bit more courageous when they feel like they're an imposter, you know?
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Can we do this? Um, at the end of the day, titles disappear. You get a, your name on a building, they're gonna rename it, you know. They get a bigger donor or whatever.
But, you know, that's... What is it? The favorite saying by Maya, uh, when she says, "People will not... They'll remember you more about how you made them feel."
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah, than what you do. Mm-hmm.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yeah. Yep, exactly. And that's what I h- hope people will say, "Dr. Evans showed up," that, "I became a leader I never thought I could be because maybe she did something to impact me in my life."
Chanda Smith Baker: Man, let's talk about these fried green tomatoes.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Oh, yes. Yes. You've got this,
Chanda Smith Baker: the new caterer over there- Right ... that seems to be about this cultural business.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yes, yes. And I gotta tell you a story about the fried green tomatoes. Uh-huh. So when I was a little girl, uh, like I say, growing up in the South in Alabama, my grandfather built our home that we had from bricks and old houses that had been torn down.
And but my nor- next door neighbor had what we call a shotgun house.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yep.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: And it's three rooms, had a tin roof on top of it as well, and we would have a garden right next in between our two houses. And she would allow me, because I'm a rain baby, to come over to her house and get on, uh, when it was raining, and to lay on the little sofa in the front of the house and just listen to the rain.
And she would take the fried green tomatoes and make them for me, right? Mm. As a little girl. I'm getting teary thinking about it. Mm. Um, someone who didn't necessarily have as much as we had, but made sure as a little girl I was taken care of. So when I ever think, whenever I think about fried green tomatoes, it's home.
It's someone loving you, even in spite of them not having as much, making sure you were taken care of. So that's my story I always remember about fried green tomatoes. Mm.
Chanda Smith Baker: You know what mine is? My, my food story is around strawberry rhubarb pie. Like, that's one- Ooh ... of them. Okay. That's one of them. It's very Minnesotan, by the way.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Okay. I've never had a strawberry rhubarb pie.
Chanda Smith Baker: It's very Minnesotan. Um, but my grandmother used to make it. Um, my mom's mother. And um, she made just this fantastic crust, um, for pie, which I wish somebody would have known how to make, right, passed down with her.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Mm-hmm.
Chanda Smith Baker: But she would make it, and you don't see it that often.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right.
Chanda Smith Baker: But any time I see that combination, it brings up all these memories of her.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yeah.
Chanda Smith Baker: And so yesterday I was in Red Wing.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Mm-hmm.
Chanda Smith Baker: And I went to a bakery, 'cause you know, the bakeries out in greater Minnesota, like they've just great bake- you know, bakers and all of that. Okay. And so I pull up, it's like 4:03, closed at 4:00.
They're closed.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right.
Chanda Smith Baker: So I'm like, "Well, it's just not my day." So I go to the event.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right.
Chanda Smith Baker: And there's pies there.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Okay.
Chanda Smith Baker: And so, um, I was telling Shannon, who works with me, I'm like, "I was hoping to get something strawberry rhubarb. I know they have something out here. Um, I guess it wasn't my day, but I'm still thinking about my grandmother."
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yeah.
Chanda Smith Baker: So we get to the end of the first half of the meeting that we were in, and, um, it was time for dessert, for transition. Uh-huh. So we're in Scotches, Minnesota with Wotan Danger.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Uh-huh.
Chanda Smith Baker: And, um, someone walks over with the name thing on it, strawberry rhubarb pie. Oh. So they were putting it out. So it was from the bakery I pulled up to.
They had the pie that I was looking for. Right.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right.
Chanda Smith Baker: And- Uh-huh ... I'm like, "Isn't it funny?" And so as soon as I see it- I just get grounded in, like, moments of, like, love and care and tradition and memory. And, um, there's something about those moments in the middle of a day that I am just so grateful for.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yes.
Yes, yes, yes. Uh, home, safe- Home ... love. You know- Yeah ... what people adore and, and crave for no matter what. Right.
Chanda Smith Baker: You know? Yeah. That's important. It is. And so I know the listeners don't even know how I got to this, but you have a new, I think, catering- Yeah ... team. And so, um, I'll end with this because when you have students and diverse students or a diverse group of people you're working with, like- Uh-huh
giving them moments that feel like home matters a lot, which is why diversity- Yeah ... and food matters- It does ... and experience. Yeah. And so you have a new exper- Do you give them direction or did you just hire for it and they just come up with stuff? Like-
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Hire for it, give them direction for it. Because even with, you know, you were at an event with me this weekend, talking about collard greens and potato salad and macaroni and cheese.
And I- And them green
Chanda Smith Baker: beans.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Oh, girl, I don't think I've ever had green beans that good before. But anyway. They were
Chanda Smith Baker: delicious.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yeah. They, they were delicious. Um, you know, explain to them who you're serving, because again, we're a women's university too as well. We have a lot of student athletes. Uh, you know, halal food, uh, we have gluten free.
Uh, just you ha- it's a partnership With your dining service. In finding that right partner, we went through the whole vetting process. I was so impressed. Now granted, your head chef makes a difference, and I told- Yeah ... Chef Mill. Yeah, my daughter Morgan works for FoodCorps, which is a sub- used to be a subsidiary of AmeriCorps.
Chanda Smith Baker: Okay.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: And it's all about nutrition, specifically in, uh, you know, uh, impoverished areas, poor areas, making sure that they're getting the nutrition that they need, and food education and food insecurity, working through that as well. And so when I'm working with her and talking about this, and she's talking about food, "It's gotta look good and it's gotta taste good, Mom."
She doesn't work with adults, she works with young people, trying to get them to get good habits early on. But nutrition reminds us of, of so much. Like you talk about your grandmother, or moments in time when you've had something so good, it was like, "Oh my God," you know, "I'm getting full too quick." Too...
Finding that partner for our dining services was critically important, and I think we found him.
Chanda Smith Baker: I think you have. Yes, yes. I think you have. And, and what I appreciate about this, and I just wanna... I, I assume that everyone listening sort of gets the point, but this whole conversation has really been about how do you lead with intention?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yes.
Chanda Smith Baker: How do you understand w- what your purpose is? Mm-hmm. Totally. How do you organize yourself so that you have support and what you need to move forward? Yes. Right? Letting your values guide yourself, not your own sort of what, what's next up for me, but who am I here to serve?
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yeah. Yeah.
Chanda Smith Baker: And one of those intentionalities is, like, it, it's in the details.
It absolutely- It is ... is in the details, and the food is not a small detail.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: It is not, by any stretch of the imagination. It has to be. The food, the presence, the presentation of the food as well, it shows you care.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yeah. Yeah. Well, it has been a delight talking to you.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Definitely. Definitely, definitely.
Chanda Smith Baker: Thank you for sharing more about you, and most importantly, the way that you're leading at St.
Kate's, the care that you have for those students. You know, for you all listening, we're in graduation season. Kids are getting ready to go off to school, and lots of parents are thinking about it, and, um, the takeaway here is don't let the, the, the sticker be the shock. Nope. Get in there and navigate it and negotiate.
Without.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Right. Right, right. And if you need someone to reach out to, whether you come to St. Kate's or not, know too that I'm available for that. Um, because again, it's all about the community and making sure we get our needs met and getting good answers.
Chanda Smith Baker: Love it. If people wanna hear more about, um, the opportunity at St.
Kate's, you guys throw fantastic events, you use that auditorium, you've had amazing speakers come in. Yeah. Where would they, where would they get more info? Well,
Dr. Marcheta Evans: go straight to our website, www.stkates.edu. The O'Shaughnessy we just released about two, three weeks ago, our upcoming season. I'm so happy to announce that Simone Biles will be here, uh, that I will be moderating at the end of September.
Yeah. So get your ticket now. Um- I'm gonna get my ticket. Yes, yes, yes. So it's just exciting things that are happening on campus. We're partnering with NPR, we're partnering with the Minnesota Humanities Council, uh, bringing different events into The O'Shaughnessy on, on campus. We're partnering with YWCA, and also with Girl Scouts.
Uh, so again, we're, we are a community resource. One final thing.
Chanda Smith Baker: Yep.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: We just got voted number three in the country for universities where women should attend- Oh ... out of every university, 750 plus that were included in the survey by US News World Report. So send us your babies, we will take care of them, and they will get a great education and have a, a, uh, a good salary when they finish.
Uh- I love
Chanda Smith Baker: that.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Yes.
Chanda Smith Baker: Congratulations on that.
Dr. Marcheta Evans: Thank you so much, and thank you for your time.
Chanda Smith Baker: Thank you for listening to Conversations with Chanda, hosted by me, Chanda Smith Baker, president and CEO of the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation. To hear more conversations with change makers, visit conversationswithchanda.com, conversations with C-H-A-N-D-A dot com, or find us on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
If you'd like to learn more about the work at the foundation, please visit spmcf.org.