Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
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Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 44: Passion and Purpose: Arieale Munson's Mission with Operation Taking Back 901
What makes Arieale Munson with Operation Taking Back 901 a good neighbor?
What if transforming your community was just one inspired thought away? Join us on the Good Neighbor Podcast as we sit down with Arieale Munson, the dynamic Executive Director and Founder of Operation Taking Back 901. With eight years of impactful service under her belt, Arieale shares her journey from a grassroots community effort to a thriving 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to uplifting underserved youth and their families in Shelby County. Arieale’s passion for economic and educational programs shines through as she dispels common myths about nonprofit work and highlights the real challenges and triumphs of her mission.
Beyond her transformative community work, Arieale is an accomplished author working on her fourth book, set to hit shelves in early 2025. She opens up about balancing her professional life with creative pursuits and her love for Memphis's vibrant cultural scene. From attending plays and art shows to socializing at local bars, Arieale's multifaceted life offers a rich tapestry of experiences. Tune in to hear how Arieale's commitment to her community extends beyond her nonprofit work, revealing a passionate leader dedicated to both professional excellence and personal fulfillment.
To learn more about Operation Taking Back 901 go to:
https://www.takingback901.org/
Operation Taking Back 901
901-677-3523
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. We have a very special guest with us here today that I'm sure you'll be just as excited as I am to meet. So today I have the pleasure of introducing your neighbor, ms Ariel Munson, of Taking Back 901. Ariel, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Well, we're glad to have you, and I'm sure everybody's just as excited as I am to learn all about you and what your organization does. So if you don't mind, just tell us a little bit about your business.
Speaker 3:Okay, well, my name is Ariel Munson. I am the Executive Director and Founder of Operation Taking Back 901. And our mission is to implement economic and educational programs for underserved youth and their families here in Shelby County. We just celebrated eight years of service. Here in Memphis, we started, july the 1st, a 501c3 organization where we work with youth as well as wraparound services for the whole family.
Speaker 2:Very good, very good. Well, how did you get into this business?
Speaker 3:I was. Just one day. I was laying in the bed thinking about passion and purpose. What can I do to add value to my city Instead of talking about the issues? What can I do to address the issues? So recently, when I started out, it was just a group, it wasn't a nonprofit. We were going around in the community feeding the homeless, providing resources. I've always been more so of a networker, connector, helping others, so I found my passion by doing these service projects and then we turned it into a nonprofit.
Speaker 2:Wow, passion and purpose in helping others, that's incredible, thank you. Thank you for that. And what you do in helping others and all the good work that you do in your team. Are there any myths or misconceptions in your industry that you could think of?
Speaker 3:I would say as far as a myth, I would say people think that you make a lot of money in nonprofit. It has to be hard work for your hard work, so you got to have a passion for it. We hear so often people think just because you start a nonprofit you're going to just get grants and funding. But you have to put in the work and be dedicated and just do it from the heart and know that it's going to be times where you might not be able to have the same funding to go out and do these projects. Where you have to fundraise, you have to be visible, you have to be present and you have to show that you have a passion for it, not just something that you're going to wake up and then money is just going to follow you out. That funding is for programming as well as providing services.
Speaker 2:Very good. So hard work for hard work.
Speaker 3:I love that.
Speaker 2:I love that. So you obviously work very hard for your heart and doing good things for other other people, which is incredible, and again we thank you for that. Personally, outside of work, what do you, what do you like to do for fun?
Speaker 3:I love to write. That's one thing that I love to do. I am an author as well. I'm working on my fourth book, so that's one of my passion projects that I love to do. I am an author as well. I'm working on my fourth book, so that's one of my passion projects that I love to do outside of my nonprofit. I love to go to different events here in Memphis, like plays, art shows, and I love to go out and work at bars, so that's one of the things I love to do go and disconnect from my everyday life and just go out and meet people, tell people about what we do.
Speaker 2:Very good. You said you're working on your fourth book. Yes, can we expect to see that coming out soon?
Speaker 3:Yes, I would say it should be out by the beginning of 2025. It's supposed to be finished but, as you know, my hands are so full I'm trying to find time to finish the process, but you should have it in 2025. To finish the process, but you should have it in 2025.
Speaker 2:And the other three books that you've written. Should we be on the lookout? What are the names of those books?
Speaker 3:My first book is called when Pleasing has no Purpose how my Misery Brought Me to my Ministry, and it was a book about my life, of all the different things that I experienced growing up, just being a teenage mother in high school trying to find my way, and that kind of describes how I started Operation Take a Back 901, just about my experience, and that's on Amazon. I have another book called I Am the Change. I Am the Change is a children's book, just basically encouraging youth that they can be anything that they put their minds to. And my third book is how to Start a Nonprofit. So many times I have people reach out to me for consulting services or ask some questions, so I decided to write a book about it, to basically educate them, so they can have a tool where they can refer back to different experiences, what they need. And so that is my third book, so I'm working on my last one, but I am a co-author of another one, so I would say four books.
Speaker 1:So the other one is called it was necessary, so I forgot about that one.
Speaker 3:So, working on that last book, I need to close up that final chapter.
Speaker 2:It's gonna be like a sequel to my first book very good and all all that are published are available on Amazon. You said.
Speaker 3:Amazon? Yes, and they're also on. My first book is on Apple. You can get it where you can listen to audio, or you can get it on your Kindle devices as well.
Speaker 2:Very good, very good. Well, I'm sure our listeners will be very interested to look those up and listen or read. Thank you, yeah so let's switch gears. Can you describe a hardship or life challenge that you overcame personally and how it made you stronger?
Speaker 3:Yes, I have a great one. I just recently walked away from corporate America. I was doing my nonprofit full-time as well as working a full-time job and during that process I had to really juggle with what God had gave me the vision to do. I was pulling myself and straining myself, trying to figure out which way I wanted to go, and my job made me very uncomfortable, where I had to walk away from my for sure check to go to something that was unknown. So I was with my job for nine years and I woke up and I resigned and I'm doing my nonprofit full time now and it's working out because God gave me the vision. So he gave me provision to keep pushing.
Speaker 2:Wonderful, wonderful. So, Ariel, please tell our listeners if there was one thing that you could think of that you would like everyone to our listeners. If there was one thing that you could think of that you would like everyone to our listeners to remember about. Operation Taking Back 901, what would that be?
Speaker 3:I would like for them to know that we're here to service them. We're not only servicing the youth, we're servicing the family as a whole, because our work would go in vain if we don't provide resources to the whole family. Memphis has some great resources here. We have some great programming. We must come together to work together to overcome the issues that we hear so much on the news, and it's going to take the village as well as not just people in the community but everyone in Memphis as a whole, to come together to work together and make our city better.
Speaker 2:Very good, very good. So how can and I know your time is precious, you're a very busy person doing 50 different things at one time how can our listeners learn more about Operation Taking Back 901?
Speaker 3:We're on all social media handles Facebook, instagram as well as our website, which is wwwtakenback901.org. We have a phone number where they can contact us if they want to set up a meeting, which is 901-677-3523. And our email address is administration at takenback901.org.
Speaker 2:Very good, Very good, very good. Well, ariel, you don't know how much I appreciate you being on the show. I really appreciate what you're doing.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:I think it's incredibly positive what you're doing and we thank you and your team for what you're doing.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:So again, thank you for being on the show and I hope to. I hope we get to have you back soon.
Speaker 3:Thank you, you have a great day.
Speaker 2:You too.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, Go to GNP try dash citiescom. That's GNP trycitiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.