Maggie Kane: Leading with Love
Maggie Kane is the Founder and Executive Director of A Place at the Table. She graduated from North Carolina State University in 2013 and began working for a nonprofit with people experiencing homelessness. By befriending many people living on the margins, she knew something needed to be done. Maggie has a heart to serve, a desire to always be inclusive, and a passion for loving people. She has created a new model to fight hunger and remove the stigma of homelessness & poverty while inviting the community to participate. She lives in Raleigh, loves to run, and eats a large amount of peanut butter. She loves hiking in the mountains, and all things sunflowers. You’ll find her watching movies at the theaters in those big comfy chairs, skydiving, or breaking away for a quick 2 day weekend trip.
Maggie is a 2018 Transforming Leaders Goodmon Fellow and a member of the 10 to Watch program, our partnership with the United Way of the Greater Triangle.
“I had never looked at myself as a leader — it is not something I ever thought I would be. Going through the program, first off, made me see that it was possible and I could do it! Being given the tools, walking through the process, working with a leadership coach, it all really transformed my thought process behind who I could be, what I could do, and how I could help be a part of this community in a leadership capacity.”
Kristine: I feel like I see a very obvious thread in your work around moving from models of charity to models that center justice. But as I zoom out, what I really see in the work that you’re doing is this desire to offer community and really recognize the dignity in others. I’m wondering if that is how you see your work?
Maggie: A Place at the Table’s mission is centered around dignity and choice. Our mission is community and good food for all, regardless of means. Good food is our tool towards creating community and offering a space for that dignity and choice. When I was working in homelessness years ago, I was just getting to know so many folks living on the street and in the margins. I was beginning to know their hopes and their dreams. I was falling in love with them. The one thing they always would tell me was they felt invisible and unnoticed. A few of them said, “Maggie, living in poverty means you get treated as invisible a lot. People walk right by you.” It was that moment I needed everyone to see the value and worth of so many of these incredible people. So what I said in that moment, this is back in 2012, 2013, is I’m going to always strive to make everyone feel dignified, cared for, loved and a part of a community.
Kristine: Where do you trace the beginnings of those values in your life?
Maggie: Growing up, I was made fun of a lot. I did not have a ton of friends. High school and middle school were pretty terrible for me and I totally didn’t feel cared for, loved, or dignified. Those experiences made me see that I wanted everyone else to feel that way. I was lucky to have my mom, Mama Kane, instill a set of values in me, but walking into a school where I felt the opposite made me realize how I wanted to treat people & to make sure that everyone felt loved and cared for.
Kristine: You were named one of the “10 to Watch” through the United Way of the Greater Triangle, and as a part of that program, completed our Transforming Leaders class. What impact did Transforming Leaders, and 10 to Watch in general, have on your leadership?
Maggie: I was just completely shocked going through this program. I had never looked at myself as a leader — it is not something I ever thought I would be. Going through the program, first off, made me see that it was possible and I could do it! Being given the tools, walking through the process, working with a leadership coach, it all really transformed my thought process behind who I could be, what I could do, and how I could help be a part of this community in a leadership capacity.
It also made me believe that I could make a difference with the other members of the 10 to Watch cohort. For 10 to Watch, I had never been a part of any sort of interview like that, any sort of place that welcomed me in to share how I felt about the world, how I thought about the Triangle, and to be a part of that conversation of what is going to grow and support our community. I got to meet so many of these incredible people. I got to travel with them. I got to be in working sessions with them and to see that other people had similar thoughts and values. These are 10 people I can call when I want to cry about something that was happening in the world or, you know, brainstorm and go back and forth with something we could do to continue changing the Triangle. It’s still so great to have 10 of these new friends to have these hard and bold conversations with. They’re just incredible. And they’ve also inspired me to continue to think about what we can keep doing to be a part of this fabric of change.
Kristine: I’m reflecting on how lovely it is that once you got more of those skills, tools, and people behind you, your vision for community impact grew. That’s powerful, and it’s why we do these programs.
Maggie: It was the neatest experience. Honestly, I didn’t expect to learn that much. I never really did well in school, but this was an experience that just clicked in my brain. Like, this was my jam. This was the school I never had — that I loved and was interested in. And again, it gave me that boost of confidence to apply what I’d learned.
“I think part of leadership is also looking at your people and looking at your larger community and acting in service of what they need. …So listening, listening to the people that make Table happen every day and what they needed — they were the most important indicator. And for us, that meant we had to shut down, reevaluate, come together as a team, and then reopen, with everyone’s voices heard.”
Kristine: I do want to transition into some questions around your leadership and how you’ve been navigating this year. A Place at the Table has made some significant and public shifts this year. What has helped you to navigate through the pandemic and when have you known the times to stop and shift?
Maggie: Um, well, I don’t think an indicator is my gut -
Kristine: I do
Maggie: Okay, good. Because my gut was talking. But seriously, at certain points this year my gut was telling me that this is not our mission. This is not what we’re supposed to be doing. It’s time to change things. I think part of leadership is also looking at your people and looking at your larger community and acting in service of what they need. So, yes, we could continue to feed and feed and feed people and I could continue to, um, run around like a chicken with my head cut off. We could continue to do that, but I could really see that my team and the folks we serve everyday, that’s not what they needed. They were struggling and craving community again. They were full of anxiety. They were having mental health breakdowns. So listening, listening to the people that make Table happen every day and what they needed — they were the most important indicator. And for us, that meant we had to shut down, reevaluate, come together as a team, and then reopen, with everyone’s voices heard.
Kristine: Are you proud of your newest business model?
Maggie: Yes, yes, yes. I’m so proud of our A Place at the Table team and the folks that eat with us everyday. They have held their heads up high. They have laughed through the year, cried through the year. They have really inspired me. I am also really proud of the greater community for continuing to hold up the cafe. It takes a village and we are if I have ever seen one. Table is a community movement that I am super proud to be a part of.
Kristine: I love the idea of organizations being the seeding ground for movements. I think it enables us to live into purpose in a way that’s different than just like sustaining the organization and its bottom line. My experience of you is very much this way — you’re continuously operating out of this place of abundance and generosity. Even in the midst of all these things, like right now, you’re raising money for Healing Transitions. I don’t ever experience you, at least publicly, operating out of scarcity. I think that is really lovely. Is that natural for you? What do you draw upon? Are there questions that you ask yourself to help you get into that mental frame?
Maggie: That’s really kind. I feel so freaking lucky. I get to meet the most amazing people and get to be a part of so many people’s lives. Not many people can say that. I’m a person of faith and I really believe that I was created on this earth to love people and to be loved. Every morning I start my day stating to the universe that it is going to be a good day and thinking of how I can love the humans I am going to see that day. I tell myself, “Maggie you’re so fortunate, you get to meet and love the coolest people. Go do it again today.”
Kristine: Your response to the root of abundance and generosity in your life is love — that’s beautiful. It’s something we can pull on and pull forward in our behavior with other people at all times.
Maggie: We need each other. I say this all the time, communities, everything, we need each other. If COVID has taught us something, it’s that we need our community. We need people. Loneliness is real. I think that coming together, having good conversation, and supporting one another is gonna be the force that helps us change the Triangle.
Kristine: I agree — I believe that as people, we belong to one another and are in an interdependent relationship with one another, especially in our local communities.
Maggie: Yes, and how lucky are we to belong to this community?
Kristine: How can people connect with you and your work?
Maggie: Come see us at A Place at the Table. Come get food with us, follow us on social media @tableraleigh, visit our website. Come be a part of our community. We’re not doing dining right now, but the curbside is rocking and there are so many great people out there. So come connect with us on the curb.
