Leveling Up: Raven Jemison's Guide to Au...

In the Season 14 finale of Student Affairs Voices from the Field, powerhouse sports executive Raven Jemison joins Dr. Jill Creighton for a masterclass in authentic leadership, resilience, and self-advocacy. Whether you're an early-career professional or a seasoned leader, this conversation offers actionable insights you can carry into your next student affairs challenge.

A Journey Shaped by Passion and Persistence

Raven Jemison, now president of the Kansas City Current, didn't set out to break barriers in the male-dominated world of professional sports leadership. Originally on a path to optometry, she pivoted to sports business after following her heart—and a newspaper ad—to her first sales gig with the Florida Panthers. From there, her determination propelled her career through multiple leagues, culminating in her historic role overseeing the first purpose-built women's soccer stadium in the world.

Leadership 'Cheat Codes' for Every Professional

A highlight from the episode is Raven Jemison's discussion of her book, More Than the Cheat Codes to Your Own Seat at the Table. Drawing on the nostalgic spirit of old-school video games, she shares "cheat codes" for professional success. One standout tip? Every six months, take time to reflect on not just your daily duties, but the value you've added, and what new skills you need to keep growing. As Dr. Jill Creighton and Raven Jemison discuss at 08:52, this practice is just as relevant in higher ed as it is on the business side of sports.

Boundaries, Balance, and Being Seen

A recurring theme is the importance of protecting your peace, especially in high-visibility roles that demand constant energy. Raven Jemison candidly recounts a pivotal moment in her career when she asked for time off during an NBA All-Star event—a decision made from necessity, not fear, and met with unexpected support. Her advice? Set clear boundaries, advocate for your needs, and trust that your contributions—and your well-being—both matter (17:03).

Building Genuine Connections and Communities

Finding the right advocates, making friendships at work, and supporting others forms another pillar of Raven Jemison's philosophy. She urges professionals to know themselves first, then intentionally find and nurture supportive relationships, both inside and outside the workplace (21:18).

Tune In and Level Up

This episode is full of wisdom for anyone looking to move forward intentionally, serve students effectively, and lead with purpose. Listen to the full conversation for strategies you can apply today—your next professional "level up" may be just a podcast away!

TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:01]:
Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts brought to you by naspa. We curate free and accessible professional development for higher education professionals wherever you happen to be. This is season 14 continuing our conversation on the value of Student Affairs. I'm Dr. Jill Creighton. Sheher hers your Essay Voices from the Field host. Hey Essay Voices. Welcome back and today we're bringing you the final episode from the 2026 Annual Conference episode Series.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:34]:
Today we're featuring Raven Jemison, who was one of the keynote speakers at Annual Conference. And at the conference she sat down with Dr. Amelia Parnell, our NASPA president, to talk about her book and her journey. Raven is currently the Team President for the Kansas City Current, which is a women's Major League Soccer team, and she also wrote the book More Than the Cheat Codes to Own youn Seat at the Table the Raven was appointed the team President of the Kansas City Current in January of 2024. She oversees all business operations and led the club while opening the inaugural season in CPKC Stadium. She joined the club after spending the previous four seasons as the Executive Vice President of Business operations for the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks. Off the court, her leadership enabled the Bucs to produce impressive growth across all revenue generating departments while focusing on operational excellence and efficiencies. Her sports career began in the NHL as an inside sales representative for the Florida Panthers.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:28]:
From there, she worked her way up the corporate ladder with the Pittsburgh Pirates in Major League Baseball, San Francisco 49ers in the NFL before joining the NBA's Team Marketing and Business Operations department. Beyond her executive success, Raven is the author of the book More Than the Cheat Codes to Own youn Own Seat at the Table, which is a memoir that chronicles her rise as a queer black woman navigating and reshaping the traditionally male dominated sports industry. In 2021, she she was named one of AD Week's Most Powerful Women in Sports. She was notably a 2022 SBJ Game Changer and in 2025 she became a KCBJ Woman of Influence, one of 10 NKC Innovators and Influencers, and earned the Women leaders in sports 2025 most resilient award. I hope you enjoy this conversation. Raven, welcome to Essay Voices.

Raven Jemison [00:02:17]:
Thank you. It's good to be here. Jill.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:18]:
We're so grateful for your time and we know how busy you are running a major sports team and we're grateful to have you spend some time at the annual conference this year in your city of Kansas City as well as with us on the podcast now. And I see you repping the gear,

Raven Jemison [00:02:32]:
no question, every day, all day.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:34]:
Well, for those of you who did not get to meet Raven at our annual conference, she is leading one of Major League Soccer's premier teams in the women's side of the league. And we just love to get to know all of our guests by starting with the question, how did you get to your current seat?

Raven Jemison [00:02:49]:
Yeah, I love answering this question, partly because it led me to write the book that I'm sure we'll talk about in, in a, in a minute. But I got here by being focused on the quote, unquote end goal, knowing that this is obviously not the end for me. Hopefully I have a lot more left in my career. But I actually started, went to college, thought I was going to be an optometrist and did all the things to become an optometrist except actually go to optometry school. I was accepted into optometry school and decided to defer a year because growing up as an athlete, growing up as the, the true tomboy that I still am today, loving sports, wanted to be in sports. Somehow I knew it wasn't going to be on the playing surface because I'm 54 on a really good day. But I always say I have 5, 10 energy and I figured okay, so there's no path professionally playing, so what can I do to just be close to the game, whatever game that might be. And sports business was creeping up kind of in the background.

Raven Jemison [00:03:45]:
I had done some internships at Auburn University where I graduated from, and it was just pulling on me. And I asked my parents if I could defer a year and I could defer optometry school and they said sure. I wanted to see if I could get a job in sports. Didn't know what that looked like, how I was gonna get there, but I was gonna do my darndest to get there. So I took the year, found one of my friends was in grad school in Miami at the time and I went to go visit her, opened up the newspaper and there was an ad for a career fair at the Florida Panthers. And I was like, don't know what career fair at the Florida Panthers means, but I know that there's all the sports teams will be represented and I'm just gonna give it my best shot. And this, this is a sign. So I went and bought an ill fitting suit from somewhere and hopped in line at career fair to talk to all four of the major sports teams down There.

Raven Jemison [00:04:31]:
And the last conversation of the day was the Florida Panthers. And I talked to their head of inside sales and convinced him that somehow I would be the best seller for him. Even though I'd never watched a hockey game live, didn't know anything about the sport. But I said that there was going to be no one that worked harder than me. So that was my first job in sports. $7.25 an hour deferred optometry school. Haven't looked back. As you can tell, I'm not an optometrist today.

Raven Jemison [00:04:55]:
So that was it. And I loved it. I love every minute of it. It was hard, but I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be. So, Florida Panthers to the Pittsburgh Pirates to the San Francisco 49ers to the NBA League office in New York, the Milwaukee Bucks after my stint at the NBA League office. And now the Kansas City Current.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:12]:
You've worked for almost every major league sports league in the country?

Raven Jemison [00:05:15]:
Every? Yeah, every core four major men's sports. NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, and NFL. And now I'm in women's sports. The National Women's Soccer League, the nwsl, representing arguably one of the best teams in the league.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:28]:
I was bummed I couldn't get to the stadium. The Current have, as far as I understand, the only dedicated women's soccer stadium in the U.S. that's right.

Raven Jemison [00:05:36]:
First ever purpose built stadium for women's soccer in the world here in Kansas City. We opened up in 2024.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:42]:
So all of this rich experience. You have a book out, as you mentioned, which we'll talk about, but how did you end up at naspa?

Raven Jemison [00:05:49]:
It's a great question. I believe it was sequoyah. Mike reached out to our head of, Dani Welniak, who is an absolute rock star. And I got the email and I asked her, are you sure they're asking about the right person? Because not that I don't appreciate education, I obviously would not be here without it, but what am I gonna say that's relevant to them? And we had a conversation and we worked it out and it was a great conversation with Amelia on stage. And I would say the rest is history, but we're still talking today, so I love it.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:06:20]:
I could just see you and Amelia, like, immediately sparking in the best possible ways, she's just a rock star in higher education and. And has, I think, similar identity journeys to yourself. As far as what I've seen in terms of being a woman of color leading in predominantly male spaces, bringing other marginalized identities to the table, being collegiate athletes, all of these things.

Raven Jemison [00:06:41]:
Yeah, absolutely. We hit it off right away. We, we are still communicating back and forth. We definitely have to get some time off the stage. Cause she definitely is a kindred spirit for sure.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:06:50]:
Absolutely. Well, we were loving seeing you on stage and bringing the perspective that you do in leadership. We referenced the book quite a lot on that day. And so for those if you who haven't checked it out yet, it's called more than the cheat codes to your own seat at the table, released in 2023. I love the COVID as well. Like the 8 bit video game reference and the artistry of yourself as a hooping person. It's great.

Raven Jemison [00:07:13]:
Yeah, that's a shout out to Zelda. I told the store before I released the book, but I was thinking about how to identify the cheat codes or how to actually theme out what the book should be in terms of making it easy to read and have people attracted to it. And immediately I thought about the cheat codes of leadership. Like how do you get. Not that you want to cheat your way, but what are kind of the, the back channel ways to figure out how to get that seat at the table. And Zelda kept coming up in my mind the Legend of Zelda. And, and I tell this story in the lead up to releasing the book, but I was the person that was trying to beat the Legend of Zelda the right way. Like doing the whole going through all the levels.

Raven Jemison [00:07:54]:
And then one of my friends way, way to my house and had the Nintendo Power magazine that had all the cheat codes. And I'm like, well, wait a minute. And they had moved on past the Legend of Zelda. They were playing other games. And I'm like, wait a minute now. No one told me this. No one told me that there was this entire world of cheat codes. So that is the tie to the cheat codes to own your seat at the table, but also the avatar on the front.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:08:16]:
I love it. That speaks to my millennial heart.

Raven Jemison [00:08:19]:
Love it, love it.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:08:20]:
The Nintendo Power flashback. But for me, it was Super Mario Brothers 3. That was the one.

Raven Jemison [00:08:25]:
I love that.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:08:26]:
But Raven, I think one of the things that you brought to naspa, which was a much needed voice, was real pro tips for how to engage in leadership and what that means to do that authentically from your own perspective, your own voice. But also some real practical tips around how you are very reflexive in your own leadership journey. So I want to start with one of those most practical tips that you gave, which was about checking in with yourself every Six months. So can we start there?

Raven Jemison [00:08:52]:
Sure. So this was something I learned years ago. And I want to preface this by saying in no way am I encouraging people to, when they get a job, immediately think about the next job and not do really well at what they're hired to do and excelling in their current role. The six month exercise is more about how I capture accomplishments and not duties. So what am I doing to say this past six months, what did I accomplish? How did I add value to the organization and how can I speak to that from an elevator pitch perspective? If I get a chance with the CEO, and this was early, earlier in my career that I started doing this, if I get a chance with the CEO and they don't know me and they ask me what I do, I don't want to say what I do, I want to say how I add value. So it was an exercise that I just picked up and I wanted to look back six months, but I also wanted to look forward six months to say, if I don't learn X, Y and Z in the next six months, I'm not doing myself a service, I'm not doing my team a service, I am not doing what I need to do to stretch myself. So the six month exercise kind of was born out of me wanting to ensure that my time wasn't being wasted. Thus I'm not wasting, wasting the organization's time for whom I was working with.

Raven Jemison [00:10:04]:
And what comes of that? When you write down, you really think about six months backwards, six months forwards, you really start to tailor that resume to hit on your value that you add currently or the value you can add for someone else. And so that's why I wanted to preface with what I said, it's more of keeping that resume fresh every six months so you're not having to think about, oh well, what did I do at this job, now that I have to look for another job, you don't want to be caught flat footed either. So it's being able to look for another job and prepare yourself for another job is a byproduct of that six month exercise. But it's really articulating that elevator pitch and articulating that added value that that six month exercise does for me that

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:10:44]:
really resonated with the NASPA audience. Cause I remember when you were speaking about this on stage, I could hear audibly around me, people going, oh, I should do that. It's a really good idea. And the chatter kind of began at that moment.

Raven Jemison [00:10:54]:
Yeah.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:10:55]:
And I think that was also probably one of the moments where the NASPA audience went, oh, I can clearly hear the transferable leadership application from the private sector, what we're doing on a daily basis in higher education. But that value add piece I think is an important reframe for how we think about what we do in our day to day lives at our jobs, as well as what we contribute and how we think about those contributions. So rather than thinking about tasks completed or hours spent, we're really more reflecting on how did I add value to the institution that I'm serving at the moment or to the lives of the students that we're serving.

Raven Jemison [00:11:33]:
You want people to miss you if you're not there. Not just because you're a nice person and not because you're a great culture fit and all those things that you want there to be a hole and them be challenged with filling that hole because you've just done that much more for the organization and you're, I won't say irreplaceable, but hard to replace.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:11:50]:
I think that type of advice only comes with wisdom and experience learned over time and iteration. What would present Raven say to maybe Early Career Raven about kind of teaching ourselves our own lessons as we develop as leaders?

Raven Jemison [00:12:04]:
Well, the first thing I would tell Ray Early Raven is take vacations because I'm still challenged with putting a lot into my work and there's nothing wrong with that, but I value so much the contributions that I give to others in terms of my employment. But I would first tell Early Career Raven, plan vacations, set guardrails on those vacations. You will be better for it. 20 years down the road. You might be more refreshed, you might not look so tired, you might have a little bit more energy. You might be able to give even more to the organizations that you're serving because your cup is full. So that's the first thing I would tell her. The second thing is I would tell her it is going to be hard and it is going to make you better.

Raven Jemison [00:12:47]:
That is what I've had the pleasure of doing for the last 20 years has been absolutely grinding. It has been very hard. I've had to move eight times. But it has all been worth it, so stick with it. And in those moments when you're feeling like, I don't know if maybe I should go back to optometry school, those moments are fleeting and there's value in the work that you're doing. And then the last thing I would say is in your steadiness, in your just holding steady with respect to staying with this career, embrace the friendships and the relationships that you build over the next 20 years. Because I can absolutely say that I am a better person, both person, professional leader, because of the people that I've had the pleasure of working with every single day in these last 20 years. So early career Raven was a little guarded, A little, you know, I'm very private, but obviously I've written a book now, so people know quite a bit about me.

Raven Jemison [00:13:39]:
But I was guarded because I was told, you don't make friends in the workplace. You keep your professional life separate from your personal life. And earlier I would have embraced those relationships and friendships a little bit more. But I learned pretty quickly. Mid career Raven definitely understood that assignment.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:13:55]:
One of the themes you talked about on stage with Amelia was about learning to set boundaries. You mentioned taking vacation as one of those things. And I think for many of us in higher education, sometimes that vacation time is staycation time where we're recharging and just making sure the email is off for a moment. But tell us more about the process of learning to set boundaries and what those look like in a reality of a job where you are literally the president of a place that is constantly running.

Raven Jemison [00:14:22]:
Yeah. So the third cheat code, cheat code, pause, reflect and reinvest was born out of not setting those boundaries. And I told this story on stage, but I was gung ho in this new job I'd gotten with the Milwaukee Bucks as the number two in charge and very excited about leading that organization and doing what I could to add value to that organization. However, coming out of COVID and the sprint that was Covid and the challenges that that was, both personally and professionally, I'd hit a. I'd hit a tipping point. And this was right around the All Star Game. And I can't remember what year it was, but it was the year it was in Cleveland. I had hit a tipping point.

Raven Jemison [00:15:05]:
And the All Star Game for NBA executives is a place where you network, you build relationships with your corporate partners, potentially new partners. It is a big stage and you do not want to miss it as an NBA team executive. And I have hit a point where I was going home and literally going to sleep at 8 o', clock, 7:30, I would cry for no reason. And my poor wife was just like, what is happening? And so I reached a point where I said, I have to take time for myself. And I didn't know what that was going to look like. But I had the conversation with my boss at the time who was the president of the organization, and I said, Peter, I know that the All Star Game and I know Cleveland's gonna be a big deal for us. And this is my first time in this role, but I can't go. I need, I need to use those four days to reset because I came right from the NBA League office right into this world and we're trying to win a championship and we're trying to change this business and do all those things.

Raven Jemison [00:15:57]:
And I had been nonstop for at that point, probably six or seven years. I'd had taking a vacation, probably four or five years. And he said okay. And I was like, wait a minute, you just said okay? So I think part of the boundary setting is sometimes we think that the answer is going to be catastrophic to us or they're going to be like, who are you? We can find somebody else to replace you. And that might be the case, but the truth is you probably will have more support than you think. So taking the first step to ask and say this is what I need, or say this is what I need, that's the first step. And from that moment on, I went to South Haven, Michigan, a place I'd never heard, but lake in its frozen state was in the foreground. And I was in this little cottage with very little Internet.

Raven Jemison [00:16:37]:
And it was the best four days to kind of reset me. And I knew that I wasn't going to be the person that took two week vacations like, and it's hard for me to do that. But I did say, here's what I can start to do to your point earlier, Jill, with the vacations and the here, let's take this moment and set a boundary. And so from that moment I started to put in practices are moments of reset, if you will. And every night, and my team knows this from 7 to 9pm that is my time with my wife. So my phone is down and if you don't catch me before 7 o', clock, then I'm going to call you back at 9 o' clock if it's that important. So that time is for me and my wife. And then I do have a do nothing day on the weekend.

Raven Jemison [00:17:23]:
We play on the weekends. Usually we play on Saturday or Friday. Sometimes we play on Sundays, but Sunday is usually that day. And if I can't do the full day day, I'll do a half day. So it's really just kind of not trying to boil the ocean. I didn't go from South Haven and say I'm gonna take two weeks every six months and they're just gonna have to deal with it that's not realistic for someone like me. What it is is taking those bite sized pieces and setting those guardrails that are more that can be meaningful and impactful, but you have to be intentional.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:17:50]:
There's some incredible advice in there for higher education professionals, particularly around setting that spatial boundary on when you're gonna be available and when you're not. Those staycations, those. I love a good do nothing day. I think a lot of us feel that in our jobs there's pressure to be in, you know, indispensable. And I think that in higher education we sometimes conflate whether or not realistic or appropriate or not our value with our indispensability rather than our value with our contributions, as you kind of mentioned earlier. And I love hearing advocacy for people to protect their peace a bit more in balance with yes, I'm working really, really hard. Yes, I'm contributing a lot. But we can't give if we haven't created space for our.

Raven Jemison [00:18:34]:
That's right. And that's where the six months back, six months forward, like if you're confident in your contributions and the value you're adding that guardrail or those times away, you feel way more confident in committing to.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:18:45]:
I want to go back to when you mentioned to your previous boss, you know, I can't go to this really, really important thing. I think that takes an incredible amount of courage in order to even bring that voice to the table in terms of saying, I realize there's a risk that I'm taking in this moment. There could be negative consequences to the job that I'm doing or to my future with. An organization can talk to us about finding that courage and making the decision to voice it rather than to swallow it.

Raven Jemison [00:19:12]:
Yeah, I'd like to say that everything up to that moment was building the courage, but it was really everything to that moment broke me down that I had no other alternative. So I felt like literally, if I were going to have to be on for four days straight in Cleveland for the All Star Game, that something was going to give. And I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know if like that was going to be the end of my time in sports because I broke. I'd love to tell listeners that I had this big courage moment, but the courage came from crisis, if that makes sense. And deep down I think I did know that the value that I bring and the person that I am and the work ethic that I have that I earned that moment to have the chance to say to someone I need time away. But truthfully, it was a moment of crisis for me. It's not often that my wife April is concerned about me, but seeing the concern in her face, I was like, okay, this is something bigger than just me needing a couple days off.

Raven Jemison [00:20:12]:
This is, I need to do something intentional here. So it was really crisis led to courage.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:20:17]:
One of the cheat codes you talk about is finding and collecting advocates. It sounds like April is an incredible advocate for you on the home front.

Raven Jemison [00:20:24]:
Absolutely.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:20:24]:
Obviously in the work front, that's kind of the place where we're building unique relationships that, you know, they're not necessarily our chosen people. They're. They're people that were chosen to be around. Can you talk to us about the process that you go through in find finding your work people and creating a community of kind of emotional safety in a place that can be pretty competitive? Yeah.

Raven Jemison [00:20:46]:
So advocacy in that cheat code and the way the book is constructed. Each cheat code has three chapters that kind of build to the conclusion. So the book is designed to be picked up and at any given moment. If you want to read about politics, you can read the fourth cheat code. Understand that politics isn't only for politicians. If you want to read about how I found my people, go to cheat code number two, find your people. But it's intentional in the order of cheat codes. So there's a reason why number one is know yourself to know your worth.

Raven Jemison [00:21:18]:
Because if you don't have that, good luck finding advocates, good luck finding your people, because you're going to find people that don't align with you from an integrity perspective or character perspective. So the first thing I had to do was learn how to advocate for myself and be more confident in who I was bringing to the workplace. And you know, I've worked for very political organizations. I've worked where you have to find the people that matter that speak up for you. And then I've had to find people that I've built genuine relationships with because they align with me in the doors of work and out the doors of work. So the first thing I would tell anyone who is looking for advocates is understand who you are bringing into the workplace. So when it all boils down to it, what they think about you, how they interpret your work, whatever it may be, is not taken personal. You're just looking at it as this is business.

Raven Jemison [00:22:09]:
So the first thing is what is it that you're doing to advocate for yourself? And that keep going back to that six month exercise when you go into a room where you're actually able to advocate for yourself. How are you saying things that mean someone else in that room who might have a little bit more power than you, goes into another room and advocates for you to say this person needs a promotion, this person needs a stretch project, whatever it may be, because this is what they're doing for the organization. And then from a find your people perspective and just people that have kind of collected along, along the way, that are amazing human beings, it all goes to who aligns with me personally. Like I'm still a very private person and I still value tight knit aligned relationships versus a bunch of relationships. So not everybody at work is your friend as you mentioned, but there can be some people who you collect along the way that can be advocates for you. And it's still happening to me to this day where people advocate for me that I haven't worked with in years, whether it's connecting me to a brand that we want to do a partnership with, or whether it's trying to find talent to. There are people that speak up for me and say this is someone you want to work with. So you gotta be intentional.

Raven Jemison [00:23:16]:
And not to say everything should be calculated in how you go about your day. But I would start with and end with, you have to know yourself to know what it is that you're gonna bring to a relationship. And it needs to be mutually beneficial. It can't just be you asking this person to advocate for me in that room like that. It doesn't work that way. What are you also doing to be a resource for that person as well?

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:23:38]:
Absolutely. And I think again, there's so many parallels between the world that you occupy and then the leaders skills that are needed to work in higher education. One of the things you've mentioned a couple times is that you're an intensely private person, but you're in a very publicly facing position. We have a number of positions like that in the student affairs world, whether it be, you know, a dean of students at a public university. We have many folks who are in a vice president for student affairs seat for whom they're on the university's cabinet, they're working with trustees. We also have folks in our profession who are literally acting as spokespeople for media on behalf of an institution, et cetera. Do you have any advice for people who are trying to balance keeping their personal core of theirselves for themselves or for their chosen family and family versus the version of the person that you need to be when you're in front of a large public environment?

Raven Jemison [00:24:24]:
I don't know that I have figured that one out, honestly, because I'm sure your listeners are familiar with the term code switching.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:24:33]:
Absolutely.

Raven Jemison [00:24:34]:
And what it is not. But mostly what it is for those of us in marginalized populations that might have a certain stereotype associated with how they would present in a setting. As I've gotten more confident in who I am and who I bring to the table, I have tried my best to not code switch. Truthfully, what you see is what you get. A lot of the time, I think me being more confident. And back to your last question. Me being confident in what I bring to the table as a leader, as a business professional, I won't say I don't care. I care less about someone's interpretation of how they see me.

Raven Jemison [00:25:11]:
That being said, I'm very well aware that when I walk into a room, how I talk at home with my wife and my family will not transform, translate well into a media interview, into a conversation. So code switching is very much a part of our existence. And I haven't figured out how to solely wipe that away, given our. The way our society works. I'll leave it there. But I would tell folks who might be struggling with that a little bit is knowing that it is there and knowing that you have to present yourself in one way or another. Find as many opportunities as you can to have a great support circle. So when you're exhausted from being you during the day, which sometimes is very much the case, that you have a support circle, who understands what it means to be exhausted from having to present yourself in one way versus what you might present yourself at.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:26:00]:
That's very real. I've got a great support system at home where one of the things that I'm personally terrible at is feeding myself. I have a great many talent for things in life, I promise, but feeding myself is not one of them. And so I'm grateful for a support system that understands that's the one thing I can't give. And that's all.

Raven Jemison [00:26:16]:
It's interesting because when I first met April, I would come home from work, or when we first moved into, I would come home from work and she'd want to talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. Hey, how's your day, Boo boo. This is what I did. And now she understands fully how I have to be on at work. And because she now sees it, and she's been around it long enough, she sees the social battery and the elevated charge on that battery, sometimes it exists. So I get 30 minutes of quiet when I walk at home to just Kind of reset, which is something back to that support system. Someone that understands truly what you're going through is going to be the best way to kind of get through some of the things that we know we can't change.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:26:53]:
I'm a couple of nuggets that you said during your time on stage with Emelia. The first is you mentioned that you're an ambivert because you have to be.

Raven Jemison [00:27:03]:
Yeah. So my ideal day are my do nothing days because I talk very little, I usually have on sweatpants, I'm hanging with my dogs and there may or may not be glasses of wine involved, very little social engagement and that is okay. Like with me this other six days, the level of on that I have to be pretty much from a anywhere from a 10 to 14 hour day is draining. But it is part of the job. I'm in hospitality, forward facing, front facing customer, facing all the things. And I definitely turn it on as an extrovert those six days introvert on that do nothing day and when I'm at home or when I'm in a social setting, very much glad that I married an extrovert because she talks all the time time and I can kind of sit in the corner and have a nice glass of wine and there's that. So yes, I am an ambivert because I have to be.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:27:53]:
The next one is you talked about looking at a job not for what's on the job description, but what is between the lines of a job description.

Raven Jemison [00:28:02]:
So there's a couple of ways I look at that. That's both me as an individual and how I approach a particular role. So I'm going to look at the job description and see how much I match it and okay, but what is it that's going to be between the lines of that job description that's not being split spoken directly and you know, it'll say other duties as assigned, but that's not it. You want to look between the lines and say, okay, if I did this, this role now becomes X for the organization and I now become X or Y in that role to add value. And then I also use that that term or use reading between the lines of job description. When I'm talking to folks who say they want to be promoted. Are you doing what's literally what's on the job description? Okay, well great, and you're doing a great job, then you're going to be in that job. If you' looking between the lines and saying here's what I'm going to do to elevate and say that maybe there's a new role that can be created or maybe there's an expanded role that can be created.

Raven Jemison [00:29:00]:
Thus now I need to be promoted because I'm doing X. That is how you want to look between the lines of a job description.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:29:06]:
I think that's really critical in student affairs. One of the things we see a lot is people who are granted promotions or are successful in applying for promotion is because they were really good at their last job and because they were stretching into that next job, but not necessarily because they were targeting that next job job. And there's a little bit of both that I think helps us get there. The next one is you talked a bit about prioritizing skill building and kind of revisiting that six month piece. There was another element about what happened in the last six months that I didn't know or need to know.

Raven Jemison [00:29:36]:
There's so much and that's that, that's that looking forward from a six month perspective as well. I am in rooms sometimes with people that are brilliant, like really smart and they're saying things that I have no idea what they're they're talking about. And I always write notes to myself if they said a phrase and I didn't know what it meant. I always at the end of the day go back and look at all my meetings. Okay, was there something that someone said that I didn't know that I need to become more well versed in? And so that is that six month outlook. Okay. These are things that can be transformative to a business. If I learn more about these things, that's not, not that I need to be an expert.

Raven Jemison [00:30:13]:
And that's one thing people I think are misled when they get into leadership. They think they need to be an expert in everyone's role. Thus sometimes you might be micromanaging what you don't want to be as a leader and you get stuck in the weeds and you're not up here. So I want to just make sure I distinguish between I'm not trying to be an expert in all of the fields that report to me, but I do want to know enough to be dangerous so that I can be a resource when they ask me or when they need something from me. I'm a little bit more well versed in what they might need. So there's that I listen to when I'm in meetings. If I don't know what's being spoken about, I try to study up on it and be more well versed on that. And then I am a subscriber to udemy, which is a online learning platform, and sometimes I'll just pick up a course on financial modeling, for example.

Raven Jemison [00:31:02]:
It's one thing I'm looking at because I'm trying to figure out how I can be more of a resource for myself and not have to lean so much on our finance team, for example. So it's really, you got to have a hunger and you got to be curious. And it's the thing that I look to and look forward to the most when I'm interviewing candidates is what's that? Intellectual curiosity and what will they bring to the table because they're hungry to learn and I know they're going to apply it to the organization that I'm working with. So I think curiosity takes you a long way.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:31:28]:
That advice is so transferable to student affairs, especially for folks that are supervising multiple functional areas. We have roles that, as you advance, you might have several sub departments that are reporting to you, and you probably didn't grow up in all of those departments. But you need to trust the subject matter experts around you and engage in co learning so that you can advocate for them when the time comes to whoever is above you or whoever has the purse strings or whatever that might be.

Raven Jemison [00:31:54]:
Totally agree.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:31:55]:
The last area that you gave a great nugget in was about kind of figuring out for yourself when it was time to pivot to the next move. Your career has had tremendous growth, and you said to all of us that if there's no place for me in the place that I'm in, that's how I know that it's time to go.

Raven Jemison [00:32:10]:
Yeah, it can be a good thing, I think sometimes. I've loved working for every single organization that I've worked for. Literally loved. And we talked about the relationships that have been built. But there comes a point where you have to say to yourself, am I comfortable or do I want to be challenged? Those two things usually are mutually exclusive. And if you're comfortable, that's okay. That means that you're likely not going to be promoted. That means you're likely not going to get another job elsewhere, or you might get the same job elsewhere.

Raven Jemison [00:32:37]:
But I always wanted to be challenged and stretched. And even at this level, I want to be challenged and stretched. And if I look out in those six months and the things I need to learn I can't learn in the organization that I'm in, then that means it's probably time for me to leave. And I've been fortunate enough to have really good Leaders, for the most part that I've had those conversations with the moment I walk into the door for a job is not to say I'm looking at the next job, but I need them to understand that I want to be challenged and I want to be stretched. So it should be no surprise when I communicate to them that I think it's time that I look at something elsewhere. Because we've been in conversation along the way, my mid year review, my end of year review, to say what I need to be stretched and you've given me feedback to say what I need to stretch myself. And if I'm meeting those marks, then that means and it's probably time for me to leave and maybe one day I'll get to a point where I'm semi retired and I'm okay with just kind of hanging out and coming to work, but I'm nowhere near that at this stage.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:33:34]:
Raven, any final words of advice for our higher ed base listeners, especially for those who may identify similarly to you?

Raven Jemison [00:33:41]:
Yeah, I will say, and I said this on stage and to Amelia as we were talking about the conversation, I am eternally grateful for NASPA professional professionals. I made one choice to talk to my who was our Administrative affairs student affairs officer for our department at Auburn University. And I had one conversation with her and I said, I don't know if I want to be an optometrist. I really want to work in sports. And she was the first person to tell me and ask me questions about what I really wanted. And without that conversation, there's no way I'd be be sitting in this seat. I'd be an optometrist. Not to say that that's a bad job, but I'd be an optometrist and maybe I'd be happy.

Raven Jemison [00:34:23]:
Maybe I'd be not, I don't know, but eternally grateful for the work that you all do. Know that what you do matters. And it could really lead to someone taking a very big leap and trusting themselves that they're doing what they're supposed to do. So I just want to end by saying thank you.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:34:39]:
Or maybe you'd be the optometrist for some sort of major league sports team.

Raven Jemison [00:34:42]:
Maybe, maybe, maybe I could have found a way to integrate.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:34:46]:
It's time to take a quick break and toss it over to produce Chris, to learn what's going on in the NASA world.

Speaker C [00:34:52]:
Thanks, Jill. So excited to be back in the NASA world. And there's a ton of things happening in NASPA. The 2026 NASPA M. Ben Hogan Small Colleges and Universities Institute is coming up 6-21-24 at Sarah Lawrence College Hosted biannually by NASPA Small Colleges and Universities Division, the M. Ben Hogan Small Colleges Institute is a highly engaging and tailored experience designed for senior student affairs leaders shaping the future of their campuses. Over the course of the Institute, participants will dig into the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing small colleges today while exploring innovative strategies, exchanging ideas and building meaningful connections with peers who truly understand the unique context of their work. The Institute's schedule features a combination of expert led sessions focus on on the most pressing issues of 2026 and flexible community sessions that allow participants to explore real time challenges and share insights drawn from their own campus contexts.

Speaker C [00:35:53]:
At its core, this Institute is built for leaders at small colleges and universities, typically defined as institutions with 5,000 students or fewer. That said, if you see yourself in this experience and believe it will support your professional growth, you are welcome to join us. The early registration deadline for this institute is May 13, with the regular registration deadline closing on June 1. You can find out more by going to events and online Learning the 2027 Pillars of the Profession nominations are open until June 8, 2026. The NASPA Foundation's Pillar of the Professions Award annually honors a distinguished class of individuals who have made significant and lasting contributions. Contributions to the student affairs Profession pillars are nominated by colleagues, supervisors and mentees and are selected by the NASPA Foundation Board of Directors. Honorees are recognized for most importantly, standing out in providing significant service to naspa, including significant leadership or involvement at the state, regional or national level, plus at least one of the other two categories that they have provided significant service to NASPA through regional and or national leadership roles within the association and they have created a lasting impact on the institution organizations at which they've worked, leaving a legacy of extraordinary service recognized by a cross section of institutional or organizational stakeholders and or that they have demonstrated sustained lifetime professional distinction in the field of student affairs and or higher higher education. I highly encourage you to consider recognizing a individual for this amazing award.

Speaker C [00:37:35]:
You can go to the naspa website@naspa.org go under the about section to the NASPA foundation to learn more. Finally, today I wanted to put another plug and we've talked about this before for the NASPA Public Policy Hub. The Public Policy Hub consists of a compilation of policy research, coalition work and resources for from NASPA other associations, nonprofit organizations and think tanks with expertise in various areas of higher education. Based on input from staff, organizational partners and members, NASPA has curated this centralized resource to include policy trackers, articles, fact sheets, legislative summaries, and informational videos that outline state and federal legislative and policy changes for student affairs professionals. This resource is only available to current NASPA individual members, and if you have any questions about your membership status or would like to renew, please contact membershipaspa.org you can find out more at learning.naspa.org go over to the Public Policy Resource Hub and enjoy all of the amazing resources that are available right there. Every week we're going to be sharing some amazing things that are happening within the association. So we are going to be able to try and keep you up to date on everything that's happening and allow for you to be able to get involved in different ways. Because the association is as strong as its members and for all of us, we have to find our place within the association, whether it be getting involved with a knowledge community, giving back within one of the centers or the divisions of the association.

Speaker C [00:39:13]:
And as you're doing that, it's important to be able to identify for yourself where do you fit? Where do you want to give back? Each week, we're hoping that we will share some things that might encourage you, might allow for you to be able to get some ideas that will provide you with an opportunity to be able to say, hey, I see myself in that knowledge community. I see myself doing something like that, or encourage you in other ways that allow for you to be able to to think beyond what's available right now, to offer other things to the association, to bring your gifts, your talents to the association and to all of the members within the association. Because through doing that, all of us are stronger and the association is better. Tune in again next week as we find out more about what is happening in naspa.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:40:07]:
Chris, thank you so much for continuing to serve us with your excellent NASPA World segments this season. We always appreciate you keeping keeping us informed on what's going on in and around NASPA and Raven. We have reached our lightning rounds. I've got seven questions for you in about 90 seconds. We're going to turn some of them because they're very higher ed focus, but are you ready? Let's do it. All right, question one. Since you were just a conference keynote speaker, what did you choose your entrance music to be?

Raven Jemison [00:40:33]:
I didn't have entrance music.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:40:35]:
If you were to choose, what would it be?

Raven Jemison [00:40:36]:
Ooh, it'd be Beyonce and Kendrick. Lamar. Frieda.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:40:39]:
Number two. When you were five years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Raven Jemison [00:40:42]:
A gymnast, probably.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:40:44]:
Number three. Who's your most influential professional mentor?

Raven Jemison [00:40:46]:
Pam Ehl, former CMO for the NBA

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:40:50]:
Number four your essential professional read.

Raven Jemison [00:40:53]:
Have two more the Representation the Cheat Codes to own your Seat at the Table by me and second Grit by Angela Duckworth.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:40:59]:
Number five, the best TV show you've been binging lately.

Raven Jemison [00:41:02]:
The Pit.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:41:02]:
I've heard good things about that one. Haven't started it yet. Number six, the podcast you spent the most hours listening to in the last

Raven Jemison [00:41:07]:
year, Higher Learning with Rachel Lindsay and Van Lathan.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:41:11]:
And finally, number seven, any shout outs you'd like to personal or professional?

Raven Jemison [00:41:14]:
I'd like to shout out my team at the Kansas City Current who continue to level up and make me feel like I am the luckiest person in

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:41:21]:
the world by leading them once again. The book is more than the Cheat Codes to your own Seat at the Table by Raven Jemison. Raven, it's been such a pleasure to get to know you a little bit better. If anyone would like to reach you after the show, how can they find you?

Raven Jemison [00:41:34]:
You can find me on LinkedIn at Raven Jemison or Instagramjemison.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:41:38]:
Thank you so much for sharing your voice with us today.

Raven Jemison [00:41:40]:
Thank you Jill.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:41:46]:
This has been an episode of Essay Voices from the Field brought to you by naspa. This show is made possible because of you, the listeners. We continue to be so grateful that you choose to spend your time with us. If you'd like to reach the show, you can email us@sa voicesaspa.org or find me on LinkedIn by searching for Dr. Jill L. Creighton. We welcome your feedback and and your topic and guest suggestions always. We'd love it if you take a moment to tell a colleague about the show and leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you're listening now.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:42:16]:
It really does help other student affairs professionals find the show and helps us to become more visible in the larger podcasting community. This episode was produced and hosted by Dr. Jill Creighton. That's me. Produced and audio engineered by Dr. Chris Lewis. Special thanks to the University of Michigan Flint for your support as we create this project. Catch you next time.