Jackson Free Press

Operation Shoestring will host its annual Conversation About Community on Tuesday, Nov. 1, at the Jackson Convention Complex's auditorium. The event's theme is "Fear and Loving in Mississippi: An Exploration of the Mississippi Mindset," and it will focus on changing the trajectory of the state's future for the better. Natalie Collier, director of youth initiatives for the Children's Defense Fund southern regional office and a former associate editor for the Jackson Free Press, will be one of the guest speakers.

Collier has held her position with the Children's Defense Fund for five years after initially joining the organization as a regional youth organizer in 2011. She is responsible for all of the CDF's youth programs, fundraising and curriculum.

At Conversation About Community, Collier plans to discuss the impact that living in fear has on life in the state and how Mississippians can work to move past it.

"Not living in fear is important but easier said than done," Collier told the JFP. "Things we do in fear and uncertainty bind us and prevent us from being open to the best of what other people have to offer us, or the best of what's in us. Fear closes us off from other people and ourselves, and the results of operating in fear show in the policies our state legislators make and in how we treat other people, for example. The most important thing to start with in breaking free from fear is honesty with oneself because you can't heal what isn't acknowledged. A lot of people are quick to dismiss that because it sounds so simple."

Collier was born and raised in Starkville, Miss. She graduated from Starkville High School in 1998 before attending Millsaps College, where she earned a bachelor's degree in political science in 2002. After graduating from Millsaps, she enrolled at Reform Theological Seminary with the intent of getting a master's degree in marriage and family therapy, but she decided to drop out in 2004.

"In college, I wanted to help people, and therapy seemed like a good way to do that, and the program at the seminary was one of only two available in the state (at the time), in addition to one at the University of Southern Mississippi," she said. "I ended up leaving as a result of culture shock from a variety of sources. I not only experienced racial troubles in being the only black person in the program in a highly conservative environment, but I was also 15 years younger than most of the people at the school, who were mostly older white men with a lot of bravado. I left because I felt like I was not just tokenized but invisible."

After leaving the seminary, Collier joined the Jackson Free Press as an editorial assistant and then assistant editor. She moved to Chicago in 2006 after receiving a fellowship from the Northwestern University School of Journalism. In 2009, she moved back to Jackson and worked as the associate editor at the JFP and also spent time volunteering with the local Children's Defense Fund chapter. She then joined the CDF staff in February 2011.

"While I was working as a journalist, ... I spent a lot of time writing about people who were making a difference in various ways," Collier said. "Eventually, though, I wasn't satisfied with just writing about people who were making a difference and wanted to be one instead."

Conversation About Community begins at 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 1. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased online at operationshoestring.org or at the door until sold out. For more information, call 601-353-6336.