Daily Inspiration: Meet Subha Lembach

Today we’d like to introduce you to Subha Lembach.

Hi Subha, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My parents and I came to this country from India when I was a child with $6 in their hands. My dad came to the US with a pharmacy degree and looking for work. Saying life was a struggle was an understatement. All of us had to find our way. I remember having to learn two different languages at the same time and my parents figuring out how to deal with the cold winters of New York. We were lucky. So many people supported us and helped us figure out how to navigate life in a brand-new country without any friends or family. Since an early age, I saw and realized how important it was for all us to support and help each other out. By the time I got to fifth grade, I was organizing newspaper and can drives at my elementary school to raise money for the homeless. Fifth grade was also the year I learned what a petition was. I came to believe that you could change anything by mobilizing, organizing, building awareness, and getting signatures. I launched two important campaigns and learned from both. The first was to secure new playground equipment. I got tons of signatures and was very successful. The second was to improve the cafeteria food. While I secured a number of signatures, I ended up in the principal’s office being taught to understand that the cafeteria food had to be bland so as to accommodate the widest number of tastes. This volunteer and civic service led to me a number of middle school and high school experiences where I volunteered in a number of different ways. Once I graduated college, I knew I wanted to work in the nonprofit sector and saw me working major gifts fundraising for a major hospital and medical school in New York. I then decided to go to law school to further hone the skills I might need for the nonprofit sector. A New Yorker, since my family had moved to the states, I ended up falling in love with a wonderful guy from Columbus, OH. After law school, we moved out here, and I worked in policy and advocacy positions for several years until I found a wonderful position working on reducing racial disparities in the juvenile justice system. With a strong belief and focus on equity and inclusion and years of skills honed in law school and through professional and volunteer experience, I spent my free time serving a variety of organizations in leadership capacities here in Central Ohio, from the Columbus Zoo to the Columbus Museum of Art to Franklin Park Conservatory to Nationwide Children’s Hospital to many more. I learned leadership skills, best practices, and the landscape of the nonprofit sector here in Central Ohio. During the pandemic, like so many, I realized I was ready for change. I finally felt ready and that I had the skills I need to secure an Executive Director role. Once I learned Charity Newsies was looking to hire their first Executive Director, I knew it would be a great fit. I loved the mission and the comprehensive approach to clothing insecurity for children that Charity Newsies takes and its uniqueness as the only organization that provides brand new clothing, including socks, underwear, dress code compliant school outfits, a coat, a hat, and gloves. I also knew it was an organization that needed to increase its work in the equity and inclusion space but one that was committed to the future and to change. A year into this position, and I am still loving it! 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I have learned quickly that I do not like smooth roads. Whether it’s working with diverse stakeholders around reducing racial disparities helping draft new bylaws for an organization, or changing the business model of a program based on data, change is not about changing organizations or people, but changing culture and changing culture is hard. 

I see myself as a change agent, and the status quo does not excite me. I like to collaborate, empower voices, bring creative thinkers to the table to identify new ways and new approaches to achieve goals. 

Another huge struggle that so many of us struggle with is juggling family, work, and passions. A lesson I learned along the way that I hope no one else ever has to learn in this way is that I could keep moving forward, even with a small baby. When I had my daughter, I was not given maternity leave as I had not been with the organizations for a year yet. My “maternity leave” consisted of about two weeks, only because my daughter had been born right before Christmas, and we were closed from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day. I had to bring my daughter to work, deal with everything a mom has to deal with in her body two weeks after having a baby, and still move my professional work forward as the sole fundraiser responsible for a budget of well over a million dollars. It was anything but easy, but it showed me that there would always be a way to figure it out. It also has had a huge impact on me as a leader. I truly believe that if I build and care for an amazing team of people, they mission, the programs, the excellence will follow. 

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
One of the things that makes me unique is that, while I am a nonprofit executive director by day, I also teach yoga and Pilates. Much of my free time is spent teaching yoga at Modo Yoga Columbus and Pilates at several Club Pilates locations throughout Central Ohio and at OhioHealth. During the pandemic, I went through yoga teacher training because I saw that there was and would continue to be a huge need for mental health support. I also saw that we needed to learn ways of downregulating and developing ways of handling conflict and stress more positively. 

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out.
Identify your values. Spend time with yourself, tune into the values you care most about, and commit yourself to live and work according to those values. If you stick to your values, the money, the personal growth, the professional development, etc., will take care of itself. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.charitynewsies.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/subhalembach/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/subhalembach/

Image Credits
Amy Morgan
Michael Lembach
Subha Lembach