MEET THE 2019 LEADERSHIP TRAILBLAZER TOP 10 FINALISTS
Today’s Trailblazer: Marchelle Franklin, Human Services Director, Phoenix, AZ
The League caught up with Top 10 Finalist Marchelle Franklin, Human Services Director for the City of Phoenix, AZ to talk about being named a Leadership Trailblazer and having a career in public service:
Q: Congratulations on being named a finalist for the Leadership Trailblazer Award. What does it mean to you to be nominated?
MARCHELLE: It is very humbling to be nominated for the Trailblazer Award as my efforts in inspiring, encouraging and championing other women professionally is not something I do for recognition. Rather, it is because I believe when you serve in leadership roles, you have an obligation to open doors for other women. I thank my colleague Tamra Ingersoll for nominating me and I thank the selection committee for choosing me as a finalist from such an accomplished group of women.
Q: What led you to a career in public service?
MARCHELLE: The first 14 years of my career were in the private sector working in various mid-management and executive human resources roles. In 2002, the door opened for me to move into local government. Quite honestly, I did not think that 17 years later I would still be working in local government better yet working in such amazing roles touching the fabric of my community in positions as Chief of Staff to the Mayor, Deputy Director for Community Development and Government Relations for Sky Harbor International Airport, serving as a civilian equivalent of an Assistant Chief in the Phoenix Police Department directing strategies on increasing police and community legitimacy and now leading a department that assists our most vulnerable in becoming self-sufficient. As I reflect on my career specific to public service, I would say that what keeps me here is my passion for leading and generating positive and substantive impact on systems and structures that allow the communities in which we live, work and play to be healthy, whole and vibrant.
Q: Who were your mentor(s) or advocate(s) in your career?
MARCHELLE: I have been blessed over my 30 plus year career to have many informal mentors and advocates who encouraged and supported me. This has been especially true in my 17 years with the City of Phoenix as someone who entered a life of public service providentially and not as a specific career path. As such, each milestone in my public sector career has been due in large part to my mentors and advocates not allowing me to put myself in a box because I did not “grow-up” in local government. Each pushed and helped me to see that my leadership and management philosophy transcends a “box” and that I did not have to grow-up in local government to be of value to local government.
Q: What is the most important lesson you learned while coming up in your career?
MARCHELLE: The most important lesson I learned while coming up in my career was to check, double check and triple check your work, make sure your conclusions are strong on fact, balanced with a little bit of gut and intuition and at times you will be the “only” (fill in the blank) in the room, so you have to know what you know and be confident in what you know.
Q: What advice do you have for women just beginning their careers who would like to be an executive in local government some day?
MARCHELLE:Be self-aware and authentic, share power and help develop people to perform as highly as possible. Be an aggressive listener, give your undivided attention to each moment. Be willing to look people in the eye, take their hand or give them a hug. Recognize that individuals are “human beings” first and labels (i.e. employee) second.
Q: What do you hope to leave as your legacy in local government when your career comes to an end?
