Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsey Seegers
Lindsey, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Thank you for inviting me into this conversation! I was born (and adopted in) Washington D.C. and moved to San Diego seven years ago. My call to Social Work was an early one: witnessing men and women sleeping on the icy steps of our nation’s capital. It’s one of my first memories, and raised a lot of questions within my young self: how does homelessness happen? who allowed this? who is helping? why do I deserve a bed/meal/home and not her?
I started volunteering at soup kitchens and shelters around fifth grade. My favorite part was after the cooking and serving: just sitting with the community, connecting over unexpected shared experiences and interests. In college, I cooked breakfast at a local soup kitchen, and one gentleman asked, “What are you studying in school?” to which I responded, “Social Work”.
His reply? An affirmative, “Oh, so you’re on our side.”
His words anchor me still. Who am I promoting, supporting, hiring, helping? His words continue to motivate and push me.
I graduated with my bachelor’s in Social Work at the height of the 2008 economic recession. Like many Millennials, the recession diverted my career path into a zig-zagged professional journey (including night shifts baking scones, instructing Elementary Special Education, and converting a school bus into a mobile teaching kitchen). Each unexpected experience built upon the next unique, enriching opportunity in the nonprofit sector. Over the past 15 years, I have served communities experiencing barriers to food, employment, and housing. What keeps me in this sector is the chance to do right by people: alongside the community, in partnership with the community. There’s that saying: “those closest to the problem are closest to the solution”, and this is indeed where the work is of the most interest, value, and impact. The people are the foundation, the root, the center of social justice work—without exception.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t think any of the interesting roads in life are smooth ones! One of the struggles I encountered was believing in my own potential. My draw to the Social Work field is the opportunity to co-create spaces and experiences that draw out each person’s unlimited potential. Doing so for ourselves doesn’t always come as naturally. Again and again, it has been mentors who have done this for me: holding up a mirror to show me I am capable of more than I imagine, and to stop limiting my own mindset.
My struggle along the way—both personally and professionally—is when I get stuck in “Shouldville”. The times I think I “should” have more ____(degrees? expertise in…?)____ than I have to spark meaningful change. And it is mentors who remind me again and again that I already have within me the wisdom and drive to make a difference. How we underestimate ourselves! That’s often my internal struggle.
Externally, the conflation of “charity” and “social justice work” can hinder the necessary work towards equality. Social Work is considered a helping profession, but too often the emphasis can be on creating a rewarding experience for the helper–rather than lifting up the participant / member / client. Charles Meng (CEO, AFAC) advised a young Lindsey: Our work isn’t done until our work isn’t needed.
Encountering “This is the way things have always been” just doesn’t sit right. Now, asking aloud, “Who benefits from this?” , “Who determines who’s invited to the table?” are not always welcomed questions. As a Licensed Episcopal Lay Preacher, these are also questions I get to pose from the pulpit. It is a privilege to be invited to bring big questions into familiar spaces, and, together, explore life beyond our comfort zones.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Since 2022, I have served as the Executive Director of Voices of Our City: a nonprofit that amplifies the voices of adults impacted by homelessness. When I joined Voices, there were several directions in which the org could go. One of my earliest actions was to gather all the choir members to listen and understand what Voices of Our City means to them: what draws them in, why they return, how the community impacts their lives. Understanding the organization’s impact from the insights of Voices’ members offered clarity on shaping our mission, vision, values, and continues to guide us in where we say Yes.
It is in partnership WITH Voices’ choir members that we reframe the perception of homelessness, challenge limited thinking around human potential, and flip the script on who is the VIP in the room by centering dignity above all else. It has been a special privilege to introduce and integrate the principles of Community-Centric Fundraising at Voices, elevating our mission in a way that honors our choir members, not around the shared trauma of homelessness, rather highlighting their place as artists, changemakers, and wise residents of our city.
I’m incredibly proud of the team and culture we have built the past three years: creating a workplace that values creatives in all forms, where we each bring our artistic talents to enhance our service to Voices’ members. I’m proud of the member-centered approach we now take to assess performance opportunities, successfully advocating for a dignified experience in every space we’re invited to perform. I’m proud of our “more than a Choir” rebrand to Voices of Our City, with the tagline CHOIR. CREATIVE. COMMUNITY. This shift opened our programmatic possibilities to offer an array of artistic opportunities, allowing those experiencing homelessness to reconnect with their own vitality in the method that most resonates. In addition to singing, we have grown to offer our members weekly poetry, painting, podcasting, theatre, storytelling, and songwriting workshops. Most of all, I’m proud of how our programs, our workplace, and our culture make both staff and our members feel supported and safe.
I’m known for my energy and enthusiasm, my passion for collaboration, and for taking action. I don’t think any of this sets me apart, rather it informs how I seek balance in my working relationships. Inside and outside the workplace, I’m drawn to my opposites. We’re better together, after all.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
books:
Elizabeth Gilbert’s BIG MAGIC
Anne Lamott’s BIG BY BIRD
Jim Collins GOOD TO GREAT
resources:
-The Black Fundraisers Podcast (an educational listen from my mentor Kia Croom)
-Sounds of the Sidewalk (podcast from Voices of Our City)
-Harvard Business Review on Leadership (podcast)
-nonprofitaf.com
-communitycentricfundraising.org
Podcasts that make me smile on my commute:
-BBC’s Desert Island Discs
-Off Book: The Improvised Musical Podcast
-Song Exploder
-Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.voicesofourcity.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/voicesofourcitychoir/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VoicesofOurCityChoir/events/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsey-seegers/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@VoicesOfOurCityChoir
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68zkT_mGzrw
Image Credits
Headshot by Patrick Fore
Voices of Our City Photos by Amy Huzil, Inspired Creativity
