Written by Karen Castañeda, Communications Specialist
Broetje Family Trust is happy to introduce Twigy Tellez as the Manager of Servant Leadership. We are extremely excited to work alongside her and draw from the many experiences and knowledge she has to offer. Twigy introduces herself here:
Before starting at Broetje Family Trust, I served as the Executive Director of FirstFruits Community, also known as Vista Hermosa Community. Vista Hermosa was a place of spiritual growth for me.
I feel like I am currently going through a period of transformation and transition. In the last few years, my life has experienced a lot of changes that have allowed me to see things differently. I see changes that didn’t make sense in the moment finally coming together and they are shaping my life now.
I live by the values that were taught to me by my grandma and mom. They were both servant leaders without knowing they were. Through their example of helping their community, I grew up wanting to help others. When I learned about servant leadership in 2014, I found the perfect word to describe what my mom and grandma modeled all my life. One morning at Vista, I was attending chapel and Flor Romero, who is now a NELA teacher, was going through the 10 characteristics of servant leadership. The characteristic she talked about that day was foresight, I remember thinking of my grandma and the foresight she embodied.
My grandma and my mom were a little rebellious and ahead of their generation. They pushed gender norms and expectations with gut discernment from the holy spirit. They transformed negative experiences into positive ones. In so many ways they showed the characteristics of servant leadership beyond foresight.
I am excited and grateful to be in the position of Servant Leadership Manager. I was hesitant to accept the job at first because I did not want to leave my community. I was torn. I wanted to be here, but I also wanted to stay there in that place. After a few conversations, I decided to make the change because servant leadership is the work that I like to do. My immediate goal is to build a relationship with everyone here. I want to be connected to the people that work and live here.
One of the things I really enjoy in life is seeing people grow, even the tiniest of growth makes me happy. I also love teaching and I love food! I love cooking and trying diverse types of food. This is one of the things that my daughter Jazzy and I can connect on!
That brings me to my family. I am the proud mom of two daughters. My 6-year-old daughter is Jahnell Irai, which means ‘God is Merciful and full of grace’ ‘from this day forward’. When she was born, I felt God wanted me to hear this message in this specific time of my life. Jazzy is 18 and she loves to serve people. She is a strong leader. I found my voice later in life, so I have been trying to teach my daughters to use theirs from an early age. I am married to a good man named Juan. He is strong, not in the way that most people would expect from a man; he is strong emotionally. Juan is loyal, supportive, humble and I love that about him!
I’m excited to connect with you all in the coming days, weeks, and years. If you’d like to stop by and say hi, I would love to meet you.