100 Atlanta Coffees, 002 with Sarah Harvey
Founder and Executive Director of Sankofa Montessori, Georgia’s first tuition-free Montessori School, located in Forest Park, GA and opening July 2023
Met at Victory Community Center on Dekalb Ave
As a refresher, I’m grabbing coffee with 100 good people in Atlanta and sharing inspiring takeaways.
Sankofa received its state charter in July 2022, though funding wasn’t set to arrive until a full year later in July 2023. The state expects schools to have a building and staff by the time the money arrives, so in the meantime, Sarah became a fundraiser.
Sarah is amazingly talented. She has a background in the classroom with Teach for America, a Masters in Special Education, and has worked in teacher recruitment as well as strategy and operations for scaled education programs.
Still, this is a new plane of leadership: setting the vision, fundraising for a net-new entity, recruiting and managing a lean but mighty staff, and overseeing the operations work required to open the school on time, in compliance, and under budget.
We discussed the ‘crucible moments of leadership’ in her journey — like letting someone dear to you go, or telling staff that the new vendor they’re excited about has to accept net-45 payment terms or the purchase can’t be made until August if you’re going to make payroll.
I asked what has allowed her to level-up her leadership to handle the breadth of mission-critical responsibilities associated with her role.
She credited past managers who became mentors and went out of their way to both instruct and be a role model for Sarah as they performed their jobs. They took her along to the senior-level meetings that she wasn’t required to attend.
Specifically, she recounted one boss who had her practice a relatively low-stakes presentation word-for-word, multiple times, to the point where it felt borderline patronizing.
She now realizes that level of guidance is essential for two reasons. Not only does it help staff with professional development, but it sets a standard for stewarding a brand and level of excellence that’s required for accomplishing a meaningful challenge.