Equity

Ericka Plater

Ericka Plater believes a great leader is focused on those they lead. Supporting them, encouraging them, and open to critique and change in their leadership style. It is in this manner she runs Our Lady of Mercy Outreach Services with great success.

“We all have different goals and different pathways to get towards self-sufficiency and self-actualization, but my goal is to help people get where they want to be.”

For Ericka Plater, leading in time of crisis through the COVID-19 pandemic has helped her reach into the deepest parts of herself and fortify her already extensive capabilities as a leader. As the Executive Director, Plater faced the difficult decision of having to shut down many of the organization’s programs. She knew people would need these services, but also that there was a greater need for others. Plater was able to keep the soup kitchen, clothing drives, financial, and unemployment/employment services open. She describes the environment of those first few months as having been all hands on deck. “This is what we were made for,” she told her employees “…This is why we were created.” 

Plater then elaborated on what she meant by that statement. “If you’re working in a nonprofit sector, you’re kind of like a unicorn. Who wants to work that hard, with that much pressure? You’re accountable to the whole public and you don’t make that much money. So people who work here are mission oriented.” 

Ericka Plater is smiling wearing a black long sleeve shirt with red flowers on it with her arms crossed.

IMAGE COURTESY OF ERICKA PLATER.

“I’ve really dedicated my entire non-profit career to helping bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots.”

Ericka Plater works as the Executive Director for the Our Lady of Mercy Community Outreach Services in Charleston, South Carolina. The goal of Our Lady of Mercy is, “to give people the resources they need to be able to live an equitable life in whichever way they choose to live that life.” says Plater. At the heart of her work of providing resources, services, and basic needs to community members is a fervent passion that reigns over her heart. The more you hear Ericka Plater talk about the mission of the program, the faster you realize that for her it is more than just goals to achieve, but rather her vocation. That passion, the calling to do this selfless work for others, impacts every facet of her leadership.

For Plater, her success lies in communication with her staff. “A lot of people talk about bringing in the money. I always talk about making sure I have that human capacity and the human assets,” says Plater, “I really try to look at my staff as human beings and not just workers…I want to make sure I help them grow.”

As a leader, Plater centers herself not on her own successes, but how they would be rendered meaningless without the camaraderie, spirit, and efficiency of her team. Plater is there to work alongside her team. Whether that means lifting heavy boxes or making sandwiches in the soup kitchen, she says she never makes her staff do anything she is not willing to do as well. It is a display of her commitment, and her respect for those with which she works. She even created a “Swag Committee,” a group of employees that meet to come up with activities, such as outdoor yoga, to keep morale high amongst the staff. Plater values, above all else, authenticity. She believes that caring for and communicating with her staff authentically creates a rewarding and beneficial environment.

Plater’s ability to attune to her employees is what she calls a “soft skill.” To her, the strengths of careful listening, genuine care, and intuition, contribute to her success as a leader. Skills she identifies as more prominent amongst female leaders, and key to the success of Our Lady of Mercy.

Plater has led her team through COVID-19 the same way she does through all things, with a heart centered around the “why.” When Plater leads, it is all about the big picture: her mission of equity. “I’ve really dedicated my entire non-profit career to helping bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots. I’ve always been dedicated to helping those who feel disempowered, disenfranchised in one way or another. So equity has always been an extremely important value in my work and a lens through which I look at all things.”

Ericka Plater does not just work, she aspires. She aspires to help those in need reach self-sufficiency, to ignite the passion she feels in herself in her staff, and to remain dedicated to improving her leadership skills. Being a great leader is everything to Plater, and is something she has found herself studying in moments of free time as a means of filling her “cup” so she can then fill others’.

When asked if she believes leaders are born or created, Plater said, “We are all born natural leaders, but it is all about that willingness to actually improve on your leadership skills, which means you can learn more and get better at it, and then you actually have to accept that leadership position.” She has surely found that ambition within herself to continuously work towards fostering growth in her own leadership. 

Plater recounted an analogy that explains her leadership style. It starts out with the captain of a ship. Now, the captain could merely tell the crew what supplies to get, the tasks to be done and where to go. That is good leadership. However, Plater continued, great leadership is different. It is one thing for the captain to get the crew to do what is needed, but it is another completely different feat to impassion the crew to “yearn for the sea, and…yearn to love the sea and be a part of the sea.” To be such a person is to be a great leader.

Ericka Plater sails her own ship, the captain of her employees on the seas to create a better, equitable, and kinder world. As she does so, manning the ship’s crew with the same fervent respect she dedicates to their collective vocation, she mirrors quite admirably the second captain of which she spoke. The captain of great leadership.

Leadership Inspirations: Her first supervisor, Sharon Adams Taylor, who taught her to be authentic and bold in her decisions and self-assured as a woman, particularly as a woman of color in leadership. 

Ruth Bader Ginsberg, for her valence in taking on obstacles publicly and fighting for the rights of women unapologetically.

Captured Fall 2019.

Images courtesy of Ericka Plater.

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