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Let’s Work Inclusively is a podcast focused on advancing accessibility and inclusion across communities. Featuring voices from business, nonprofit, and government sectors, each episode explores real-world solutions and stories that help create spaces where everyone can belong and participate fully.
- Hello everybody. Welcome to the inaugural season and our very first episode of Let's Work Inclusively, the show where we will feature meaningful conversations with community leaders from business, nonprofit, and government sectors who are working to create more inclusive, accessible, and equitable communities for all. I am proudly your host Dylan M. Rafaty, and thanks for tuning in. Today, we have a very special guest and a dear friend, my dear friend, the amazing Cynt Marshall, founder, president, and CEO of Marshalling Resources, and recently the former CEO of the Dallas Mavericks. And of course, Cynt, you have a book that was recently published, "You've Been Chosen."
- Yes.
- Whether you are a corporate, civic, or community leader, this episode is for you. So Cynt, our focus on today's episode is about you, your story-
- Oh Lord.
- as well as your philanthropic efforts and any guiding thoughts on around accessibility and disability inclusion.
- Yes.
- For those who don't know, Cynt and I, we first met in person at the Mavericks Ball-
- [Cynt] Yes.
- in March of 2020, just before, days before the pandemic hit. And I ran up to you and I said, I was so excited. I knew who you were and I've been following your successes. And I gotta say, do you remember that moment?
- I do. I remember that moment, of course. I met you. Who cannot remember meeting Dylan Rafaty? And first of all, I have to say congratulations on the show.
- [Dylan] Thank you.
- I know you've had this vision for a while, and so I wanna congratulate you on the show, but I also wanna say thank you. Thank you for inviting me to be your first guest.
- [Dylan] Yeah.
- But thank you for what you do. Thank you for what you do for our community, how you bring us all together, how you make sure that we are focused on working inclusively. So I just wanna say I'm so proud of you. And yes, I do remember meeting you, and I'm glad our paths crossed because you've been chosen, I've been chosen, and we've got some great work to do together.
- I agree. And by the way, Cynt, can you tell the audience a little bit more about you and what motivates you to push forward?
- Okay. Well, we only have a 30-minute show, okay? So let me just take a couple of minutes because, you know, I can tell you all about my history. But been here in Dallas for, the Dallas area for 12 years. Grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. Grew up, you know, modest means. So you can, you know, find more about that in the book. But had, you know, mom and a dad focused on education. And my mom just put two books in my hand at an early age, math book in one hand, Bible in the other, said, "Keep your head in this, you know, and you'll be okay." And so I had great educators in my life, great community people, just a good network of folks who wanted to make sure that I did well. And so I ended up graduating at the top of my school district and got a full scholarship to the college of my choice and chose the University of California at Berkeley and the rest is history. And so ended up starting to work for AT&T or Pacific Bell back in those days. So I had a 36-year career at AT&T, and then of course, retired. Started my own consulting company, Marshalling Resources in 2017, and then got tapped by Mark Cuban to come and lead the business side of the Dallas.
- And he recently celebrated your birthday? Yes.
- Yes, he did. Yes, he did. I love him. So I had to make, you know, my post and my comments-
- Yes.
- about what a great leader he is. And I feel real free I can do that now since I don't work for him anymore. So nobody even thinks I'm trying to kiss up or anything, which I don't, which I don't have to. I mean, he called me, but I got a chance to kinda tell the world a little bit about it. So that's kinda just, you know, my, you know, where I grew up, professional background, all that, but what I'm the most proud of is I'm the mother of four.
- [Dylan] Yeah.
- And I'm the mother of four children that my husband and I were blessed to adopt. They all have their stories of abandonment, abuse, neglect and all that. And so they were all in the foster care system at different points, and we were blessed to be able to adopt them. So that's what I am the most proud of. I am mommy first.
- So watching your leadership journey since has been-
- Yes.
- incredibly motivating to me, not only myself as CEO and founder of the North Texas Disability Chamber, but I wanna really hear what was a pivotal moment that shaped your commitment to inclusion and purpose-driven leadership?
- Oh, I love this. I think it was, it was a time where I was working as a young leader at AT&T. I was asked to lead our telecommunications consumer advisory panel. And in fact, it's the panel that I actually modeled the Dallas Mavericks Advisory Council out of, and so where we just got all these people together to focus on making the company better. And what I noticed in my first meeting, there were so many just different people.
- [Dylan] Yeah.
- And these people were there to help us serve all of our customers. And I remember being a part of a big discussion. I don't know if you know June Isaacson Kailes, she's a disability policy consultant.
- No.
- She was on my advisory panel.
- [Dylan] Love that.
- And I had a lot of different people on that panel. They all brought something very different.
- [Dylan] Yes.
- And they looked at our company in a way that I had never looked at our company, in a way, most of the people in that room had never looked at our company-
- Yep.
- and helped us to realize that our customer base was broad-
- Yeah.
- and that we had a lot of people that we needed to include in our marketing process and our design process, in our outreach processes. And it's like the whole world opened up to me in a very different way.
- [Dylan] Yeah.
- You know, there's an ecosystem involved in running a business.
- [Dylan] Yeah.
- And so you need to include everybody.
- Yeah.
- And so that was way back, probably before you were even born, Dylan. So way back in the mid '90s. But I always go back to that moment because that's when I realized that it was bigger than just what I was doing every day with my team. And so I still try to make sure that I include everybody.
- So when I think about inclusion, I think about the importance of diverse voices.
- [Cynt] Yes.
- And in the disability landscape, as I'm trying to navigate my organization, I've learned that I can't just include one segment of the disability population. I have to include everybody and find ways to bring them into the conversation. or reel them in-
- Yes.
- so that they not only are invited, they have a seat, they have something to say, and they have a vote.
- [Cynt] Yes.
- And that vote basically sets the direction for our organization, so-
- And that's what it's about, making sure you want people to not just be heard, but to know that they are having an impact.
- Yes.
- That they are part of what you're getting ready to execute on, that they are a part of the execution.
- Well, I wanna take a short commercial break. Thank you, Cynt, thus far. So hold on one second. So we have our commercial break with one of our partners, our investor partner, Three Box. There is a video that's going to be played. And so at this time, the North Texas Disability Chamber, we know that in inclusive communication drives real change. That's why we're proud to partner with Three Box Strategic Communications. Three Box is a Texas based PR and marketing agency that has been making an impact for more than 25 years. From brand strategy to stakeholder engagement, they bring clarity, creativity, and results. Three Box helps clients from all industries find their voice and use it with purpose, and as someone working with them on our Chamber brand, I can tell you they truly get it. If you're ready to elevate your message and make it matter, connect with Three Box today. Visit threebox.com/ntxdc. That's T-H-R-E-E-B-O-X.com/ntxdc. Thank you. All right. So we're getting back now, Cynt.
- [Cynt] Yes.
- And let's go into, dive deeper into the main part of the discussion. And I wanna talk about your heart for service.
- [Cynt] Yes.
- And recently, Dallas CASA received, I believe it was the, what award was that?
- It was organization of the year, the nonprofit of the year-
- Yes.
- kinda the mega category.
- Yes, yes, so, and I know that's one of your favorite causes.
- [Cynt] Yes.
- So what causes or nonprofits are closest to your heart?
- Okay, and so you know this, you mentioned Dallas CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates. I am all about permanence and stability for our kids.
- Yeah.
- And so that's what CASA is about, making sure that every child in Dallas County that's in care, in the system, has an advocate, has a voice, someone that can follow them from foster home to foster home, and somebody that can truly advocate for them. So I'm not just on the board. And I was blessed to be the chair of the board for two years.
- Yeah.
- I'm not just on the board, I'm actually a volunteer.
- [Dylan] Yeah.
- And so I am anxiously awaiting to get my new CASA case. I'd like to have multiple kids.
- Yes.
- My husband, he likes the babies. He does his report quick, but I like the cases where there could be some difficulty because I truly have a heart for helping our children. I have this saying where I say, "Big people take care of little people."
- Yeah.
- And that's adults take care of the children. So permanence and stability for kids, education.
- Yeah.
- A good education, actually, a good public education honestly helped to get me where I am right now. So I have a desire for all children to be able to go to school, have their needs met. Those with special needs, which most of my children fell in that category, I have a desire to make sure that our kids do well because we want them to do well in life. And then of course, people with disabilities because of, I think some of the work I've done in the past. I am about accessibility, about access, about inclusion, about affordability. So causes where I can be a champion, as Latasha would say, "for the under-championed."
- Champion, yes.
- Exactly. And so you and I think Tasha have really gotten us a focus on that. So those are my passions. Obviously I have a passion for women
- [Dylan] Yep.
- For women who have found themselves in circumstances of domestic violence. My mom was in those shoes.
- Yep.
- I have a passion to help those women and families actually get through that. So I have a passion about a lot of things, but it truly is about just trying to help make things better. That's truly what my passion is. I told my kids a long time ago, "When I'm laid out in a beautiful, beautiful suit, okay, with just sparkle and everything, only thing I want written is, 'She left it better than she found it.'" That is my word. I just wanna leave it better than I found it.
- You know, Cynt, one of the things that I really care about is living a legacy of impact-
- Yes.
- and purpose and service.
- [Cynt] Yes.
- And I'm very passionate about a variety of subjects, but when I knew about your commitment to children, specifically in the foster care system, I knew right there and then that I felt like we need to merge our work together and find ways-
- Yes.
- to support one another.
- [Cynt] Yes.
- And so that's why we had an recent call and I was very excited, but-
- And thank you for asking me to be, drum roll, one of your special advisors.
- Well, you know-
- I'm so honored.
- It was something that I need. I need a strong, prolific leader who is a strong advocate for inclusion.
- Thank you.
- And as I'm growing my leadership journey and a young CEO of a growing nonprofit-
- Yes, yes.
- there's a lot of expectations and a lot of uncertainty and don't know whether if I'm doing the right decision or am I tackling the issues correctly. And so it's so grateful that you are joining as my special advisor and guiding me through this process. So thank you.
- Thank you. I'm honored to do it. Have a little bit of wisdom. You know, I'm at this age, right?
- Yeah.
- After having retired twice where it's an opportunity to give back-
- Yeah.
- and to give back to someone who I know is about the cause.
- Yeah.
- and someone who I know is a strong leader. You are a strong leader-
- Thank you.
- and you will continue to grow and I'm just happy to be a part of it. So thank you. We have a lot of good work to do.
- Well, and let's-
- We have trouble to get into.
- Well, let's just say, I know that you are a queen of acronyms.
- [Cynt] Yes, I am.
- And I wanna go into about you've often spoke about leading with your values.
- [Cynt] Yes, yes.
- And so how your purpose guide your current decisions today.
- Okay, my purpose, and I know for a fact my purpose is about using my platform to advocate for the under-championed, to bring light to issues, and then to marshal the resources, no pun intended, to make things better. I mean, people need time, talent, and treasure.
- [Dylan] Yeah.
- And I have been blessed where I'm in a position where I can connect people and connect, you know, folks at my network to make things better. And so I get up every morning, honestly. And yes, I have my whole business plan and my strategic plan, even for my business and for me personally. But I get up every morning even looking for things that aren't even in that plan. How can I make things better? 'Cause that is my purpose. And I think if we all understand what our purpose is, truly understand it... I mean, I went through an exercise. I read this book one time called, the name of it is more MORE, M-O-R-E. And it actually takes you through an exercise to figure out exactly kinda who you are. What is your purpose?
- Yeah.
- What more are you called to do? And so I went through that and I said, you know, I'm really called to kinda help connect the dots, be there for people, make good things happen. Like I know what I'm supposed to be doing. I also know my values-
- Yep.
- which is about, and we use a lot of those at the Mavericks, CRAFTS: character, respect, authenticity, fairness, teamwork and safety, both physical and emotional safety. So I know what my values are, and then I have some extra ones around health, fun, and faith. I gotta take all that as a foundation and then use it every day to help people and to live my purpose. And so I often tell people, "Just take your time. Take a few minutes and jot down what your values are, and then take another few minutes and identify your purpose. I think you've done all of that. And then get busy living it out."
- You know, we all want a sense of belonging.
- [Cynt] Yes.
- And that belonging is sort of like the solution-
- Yes.
- to solving the world's most complex issues.
- [Cynt] Yes.
- And my personal values is transparency, inclusion, and collaboration.
- Love that.
- And it basically is the acronym for TIC. What makes you TIC?
- TIC. Yes.
- And so transparency, inclusion, and collaboration is my personal values that I've instilled not only as a professional, as a community leader, as somebody who is out in the community and doing things, but also is how I treat people.
- [Cynt] Yes.
- And I believe in transparency because sometimes they share too much and it's never too much and so, but because it's real, yeah.
- It's real! What you see is what you get. And that's what we need-
- Yes.
- to do more of. Just be real, put it out there. Because honestly, people can't really help you the way they really can help you until they know, until they know what the needs are. My mother used to always say, "A closed mouth will never get fed." You have to open up, tell people about yourself, tell people what you need, ask for that help, and be just very transparent about things. I love transparency, and I like that.
- Yeah.
- And I like the way you ticked it off real quick, I like that.
- Yeah. There you go. So our next commercial break, I wanted to let everybody know that we have an upcoming event coming up. It is our fourth annual North Texas Disability Chamber Annual Awards luncheon. And Cynt Marshall is one of our namesake of awards, which is the Cynt Marshall Catalyst for Inclusion Award. And so we're excited about that event. Tickets are readily available. We are less than 25% away from selling out.
- [Cynt] Ooh.
- So last year, Cynt, we had 200. This year, we're expecting to have 400 people.
- [Cynt] That is amazing.
- So we are doubled.
- So why do you think that is? Because I know why, 'cause of course I was there. Okay?
- Yeah.
- And thank you for the award that's named after me.
- Yes.
- So that's when you know you're getting up there, people start naming awards at you. But thank you for that. And I will be there. I'll be there-
- Yes, yes.
- of course, to present-
- Yes.
- the award in my, you know, the one that's named after me.
- Yeah.
- But that's just not why I'm coming.
- Yeah.
- I'm coming because it's a wonderful event-
- Thank you.
- and it's a fabulous opportunity to support this great work. So that's why I'm going to be there and I'm gonna bring some people with me, but why do you think you doubled?
- Well, and the reason we're seeing the growth is that we're all about working inclusively.
- [Cynt] Yes.
- And we're bringing community, civic, government leaders coming together and seeing a sense of belonging into action.
- Yes, yes.
- But most importantly, I've started to see a reception, leaders with disabilities, professionals with disabilities feeling a place where they belong, but also they feel a place where they're not being judged or assume. And there are people who want to learn and meet with people. So we're building that sense of comradery of a community with our organization.
- Exactly. I think you've created a space where people can be more transparent-
- Yep.
- about who they are. Clearly you are including everybody because you are intentional about inclusion.
- Yes. You reach out to people, you pull us together, and you're focused on collaboration. And I think we're especially at a point in time where we know the benefit of collaboration.
- Yeah, yep.
- I've, as you know, I've been involved in so many partnerships that actually have impact-
- Yep.
- and have made a difference. And so you create those opportunities. So I think that's why-
- Yep.
- you're growing.
- Well, and that gave me up to our next sort of commercial you brought about partners. We have over 80 strong partners and growing. And so you'll see on our website basically highlights the list of the partners that we have. And it is because of Cynt and her collaboration, we are a partner with a number of sports teams, including the Mavericks.
- Yes, of course.
- The Rangers, and the women's soccer team, Dallas Trinity.
- Trinity FC.
- [Dylan] We're like ambassadors, essentially, so.
- Exactly, yes, yes.
- But anyways, I wanna say thank you to all of our partners and because of you we're able to create Let's Work Inclusively podcast and we're looking forward to highlighting more stories.
- We have so many great opportunities. You mentioned Dallas Trinity FC. We have so many great opportunities to just come together-
- Yes.
- and to get out of our silos. And that's what I love about this region. We truly are about partnerships and about collaborations.
- Yes.
- It is fun to live here.
- [Dylan] Yeah.
- And people aren't thrown off when you come up to 'em and say, "Okay, I got something else here for you to get involved. And let me tell you about it."
- Yes.
- There is a receptivity to that. And so I love-
- Yes.
- the partnerships. I love just what we're doing on many fronts.
- Well, very good. And well, now we're going toward the end of our podcast, and I wanna highlight a few more questions and reflections-
- Okay. Okay.
- and maybe some key insights.
- [Cynt] Yes.
- So I wanna ask you, what role do corporate leaders play in strengthening nonprofit work and community impact?
- Oh my goodness. The tone is set at the top.
- [Dylan] Yes.
- And so when that leader, that CEO, that chairperson says, "Here's what we're all about," then it just rolls through the organization. And I'll give you a couple examples. When I first moved here in, we first moved to the Dallas area in 2013, I was asked to get involved in Dallas CASA. The corporation was looking at CASA. And they said, "Well, of course, Cynt has to be involved because of her background." And I had been involved in CASA in California in a similar program in North Carolina.
- [Dylan] Yep.
- And so the chairman made it a big deal. He actually came and accepted an award that the company received, but he didn't want it to be just about a donation. He wanted it to also be about us being involved and being volunteers. And so we ended up-
- Yeah.
- really showing up at a big way. And you know, I always say, "We have to show up and show out."
- [Dylan] Yes.
- So we showed up in a big way at a volunteer recruitment event to just try to get more volunteers to be advocates. I think the people at the organization were stunned how many AT&T employees showed up to actually become advocates.
- [Dylan] Yep.
- Because the tone was set at the top about how important it is.
- Yeah.
- And it's the same thing when it comes to education. I have worked, whereas I was the leader. I was in charge and said, "You know, we're gonna adopt a school." And so when I was-
- Yeah.
- in North Carolina, we adopted an elementary school in Charlotte, North Carolina, underserved school, not too far from our location. And we literally adopted the school and took over. So many employees got involved in that effort. And I know it was because as a corporate leader, I set the tone.
- Yeah.
- People, yeah, they hear what you say, but they watch what you do also.
- Yep.
- And so to get right in there, have my hands in it as a volunteer, that mattered to people. And I call it "shadow of the leader." As a leader, you have to ask yourself, and you will do this often, what kind of shadow am I casting?
- [Dylan] Yep.
- What's coming off me that's going on to others? And then they'll pick it up and run with it. And so here at the Mavs, we ended up adopting an elementary school, Adelle Turner. Same thing because I made that a priority for us. Corporate leaders have a huge role to play in what their employees do in terms of service, in terms of how they give their time, their talent, and their treasure.
- You know, and you made a really good point about leading by example. And I learned recently at a panel conversation at Communities Foundation of Texas, so a leader at AT&T mentioned about the employees actively engaged in showing up and being present and showing out-
- [Cynt] Yes.
- are the ones that are more likely getting promotions-
- Yes.
- internally, within organizations.
- There's a direct connection to employee upper mobility, their satisfaction.
- Yes.
- Employee satisfaction is huge. There's a direct correlation-
- And culture.
- with that and service.
- [Dylan] Yes.
- And giving of their time.
- Yep. So thank you for providing that insight, not only from a leader yourself, not only previously with AT&T for almost 30 years?
- 36.
- 36 years.
- 36 years. Can you believe that? It was 36 years, 15 different jobs, three different states. Wonderful, wonderful experience.
- Yeah, so now looking ahead, what do you hope the next generation of corporate and nonprofit partnerships will prioritize when it comes to inclusion and accessibility?
- Here's what what I want 'em to do is think about outcomes.
- [Dylan] Yeah.
- So we think a lot about the impact that we're making. We think about opportunities and all that. But truly, think about outcomes. What is it that we actually want to see? We know why we're doing this work, but we have to measure it to make sure that we have outcomes. And outcomes look like, how many people are we getting into the workforce? How many kids are we impacting that actually are graduating high school and going on to careers? It looks like corporations looking at their policies saying, oh, they actually changed how they are designing something because of people with disabilities. They've actually introduced new products to make life easier for everybody. True outcomes, not just what's in a policy. And policy matters, public policy especially-
- Yes.
- matters, but then you have to take that into outcomes. What are we really seeing? So that's what I'm hoping we can all start to focus on, true outcomes.
- Well, you're absolutely right, outcomes. My dad has always taught me the importance of results.
- [Cynt] Yes.
- And sometimes results also include quantitative and qualitative data. And it cannot be one or the other, it has to be both.
- [Cynt] It has to be both.
- And I think that as a researcher and now of hopefully getting my doctorate next year-
- [Cynt] Congratulations.
- Thank you, but I've learned that data fuels support to influence policy changes, not only internally in our own organizations, but also within corporate and government settings.
- Exactly, and those policy changes should ultimately tie to some great outcomes.
- [Dylan] Yes.
- We have to always remember, we kinda know why we're pushing policy and why we want this to happen. And then it happens and then we have to carry it through to make sure we are getting the outcomes that we wanted. And even better outcomes. We like those surprises-
- Yeah.
- when it's even better than we thought, but we have to carry it through. So, Cynt, as we close, I wanted to-
- No, I don't wanna close.
- I know, I don't wanna close either. Well, I will say is this has been a rewarding experience thus far, our first episode.
- Yes, the first one!
- I know. I'm so excited. So I wanted to end it by asking you this. Knowing our podcast is Let's Work Inclusively, what are your two cents for our listeners and viewers to take away from today's episode?
- My two cents is about what I call the fee for admission. And I say there's a fee for admission that we all have to pay in order to live, work, and play here. It is about fairness. So wherever we show up, whatever we are involved in, we have to make sure that there's a fair and level playing field for everybody. It's about engagement, engaging every one. No matter where they come from, their background, what they look like, how they live every day, we have to engage everyone.
- [Dylan] Yeah.
- And it's about fairness, engagement and true equality, realizing that we are all equal. We all get an equal shot at this life and to make sure that we're creating that environment that people can thrive. So let's pay that fee. And we are blessed to be here. We're blessed to be able to do this work together. Let's truly focus on fairness, engagement, and equality.
- Thank you, Cynt. Thank you very much.
- You're my friend. Thank you.
- So next month, we are introducing our next guest, which will be featuring three emerging leaders of the inaugural cohort of the NTXDC's Emerging Leaders Fellowship Program. It'll be a great one, guys, so stay tuned. So I'll see you next time. Thank you, Cynt.
- [Cynt] Thank you.
- Love you.
- I love you too.