Meet Josette Hutton Evans | Founder and CEO, Metamorphasis Powerhouse Company, Inc.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Josette Hutton Evans and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Josette, what do you attribute your success to?
I would say this year especially one of the most important factors of my success was remembering my Why, and reimagining what equity and the essence of transformation of ideas, processes and even partnerships could be. So many times I had to remind myself that transformation as a construct is just as much about the unlearning of things that don’t serve you to make room for the new behaviors and ideas that can propel you forward. I had to hold myself more accountable to the mission, get grounded again, and level up as a leader.

One of the most important factors was getting out of my own way, and letting my business grow up. I had to learn that as the founder and visionary, my vision couldn’t grow without empowering other people to help me, that we couldn’t operate in silos or play it small and make the impact at the level the community needed us to show up at during the pandemic. I think for many founders out there it’s a tough lesson to learn, but I’m really proud of where we are as an organization today, and where we are headed because of that decision. Ultimately, in order to create a legacy and succession plan for MetIncPowerCo, I had to get over myself, my feelings and actually remember the organization is a gift to the community and will outlive me if I let it and prepare for it.

I started by letting go of my need to control all aspects of the business which helped create meaningful and impactful partnerships. Sharing my vision with our leadership team, volunteers, partners, and even my family members has helped the organization become more agile, innovative and helped me develop others to grow the organization in ways I never would have dreamed we would be doing a year ago. let alone during a global crisis.

By pivoting my energy to growing the business through infrastructure, people and processes and remembering it is better to delegate the small things so I can concentrate on the big things, we were able to make it through the pandemic where a lot of organizations ceased operations. I had to learn to be flexible and not to sweat the small stuff. A lot of founders don’t realize they are stagnating the business thinking they have to do it all or have a say in every minuscule decision. I was super guilty of this. I am thankful that I have a team that not only help me grow the business, but help me grow as a person and a leader. I believe feedback is a gift, and I ask for it often, even if I don’t always like what I hear. Having faith and discernment in who I could entrust this gift of service to that aligned with other leaders walking in their purpose and their gifts allowed for my organization to triple the impact. It wasn’t easy letting go of certain aspects, but I am a better leader because of it, and I have a much stronger and able-bodied team that I can depend on because I showed them they have my respect and trust.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
At Metamorphasis Powerhouse Company, we’re known as the bridge builders, resource convenors and solution finders. What sets us apart from others is our agility, innovation, use of emerging technology, dedication to partnership and community building that translates to actionable results.

In our mission to drive education and health equity, we realize we can’t do it alone, nor do we want to operate in a silo all by ourselves. In the nonprofit sector, strategic collaboration is our best asset and is the secret sauce to how we have been able to get so much done as a relatively small emerging nonprofit. We welcome partnerships and seek to strategically align ourselves with opportunities to solve these complex community challenges with others to attain maximum impact.

In all that we do, we will continue to transform and enrich the lives of the citizens living in the communities we touch. Much like our name implies, we are constantly evolving and growing- we invite the world to continue to support our work and join in our journey of service as we keep turning everyday places into public learning classrooms to promote equity in education.

I’m the most proud of the people I get to serve alongside, because their passion for people we help keeps me inspired.

Wow- what am I most excited about at MetIncPowerCo? There is so much! This year, I’m most excited about where we are headed as we continue pivoting to expand operations and partnerships that allow us to reimagine what education equity looks like, sounds like, and acts like in the new normal. The pandemic allowed us to get really centered on closing gaps of learning loss, being more inclusive to more diverse populations and learning types, and moving to curate quality curriculum products that garners access for more children, exposing more historically underserved children and their families to affordable STEM and literacy experiences right in the comfort of their home and through their local everyday spaces.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I absolutely love to try new food spots! So we would definitely have to hit up Bread & Butterfly for crepes now that things are opening back up.. Because health is wealth, we would have to make an appointment with my faves over at IWI Fresh for a massage and get some of that addictive Hot Butter Grits massage oil, and then get our shopping on at Village ATL on Ponce, because… support is a verb and I love supporting my fellow black small business owners and entrepreneurs whenever I can.

We have to look good, so I would have to treat bestie to get a cute ‘do with my girl Michelle London over at Loc Mamas, and then get spontaneous for where we could have a nice sip or two as we caught up on the latest in our lives.
If she hadn’t already been I would take her to the Center for Civil and Human Rights because sooo much is going on in the world and we need a safe space to decompress, because 2021 has been a whole lot already.

I love being spontaneous in my experiences in the city, so what makes it fun for me and my friends is going to spots we haven’t seen before or tried yet. The beauty of Atlanta is something new is always popping up.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Whew! How much time do we have?

I want to shout out Janice Robinson, and Allison Todd at United Way VIP- these women have been such a wonderful part of my journey as my mentors, cheerleaders and dear friends. United Way VIP is where I first learned the value of how to not only run an effective nonprofit board, but serves as a platform of 10 week training for my onboarding board members. I want to give a super shout out to Brandi Rae Hicks at Serve University who took me under her wing and didn’t let go. She has mentored me as a nonprofit executive and taught me so many ways to grow our programs and serve the community abundantly. This year our organization was blessed to be chosen to take part in Goodie Nation’s Intentionally Good K-12 Tech Training program so I want to shout out Joey Womack, and the entire Goodie Nation team. At Goodie Nation, I met some of my most favorite partners advancing STEM and literacy in the K-12 education space, and although there are too many to name in this forum, I am forever indebted for the network and partnership opportunities.

I want to shout out to Bejanae Kareem at BK International Education Consultancy, Geneva West of Real IMPACT Center, Ronnie Thomas of Fun Weird Science, Erich & Jakita Thomas of Pharoah’s Conclave, Dr. Marta Collier of Ask Dr. Marta, Jason Padgett of AgMadeFun, De’Yana Hines of DeeTheBME, Tiara Groce at X-Art Gallery, Jessica Peterson of A Uniquely Experience, and Doug Whatley at SPARKS United for always being ready to partner. I want to shout out my CFO Aris Wright and Program Coordinator Pamela Mosley-Brown. A little over 5 years ago I told them I needed help, and they stepped in, showed out, and what you see our organization accomplish is because of their YES and unwavering dedication to support my vision for where I knew MetIncPowerCo was destined to go.

A special lady named Genevieve Jones is dear to my heart because of her willingness to put her gift for grant underwriting to great use to help us expand our operations and infrastructure. Super shout out to Ebony Harris at Youth Empowerment Success Services for all the brainstorming sessions. We wouldn’t be anywhere near as organized and on point without the help of Jenae Carter King and her amazing consulting skills, so shout out to her. I want to shout out my executive admin Nahir Garay, our Volunteer Coordinator Ivy Chastain, Data Team Lead Doris Uwaezuoke, every single board member, community partner, sponsor, volunteer, and intern who has ever participated in our success at MetIncPowerCo. You make us great.

And last but definitely not least- I want to give a special love shout-out to my family. I couldn’t do this work without the ongoing love and support of my center and foundation. Super shout out to my mom Janice Rainey-Whitby, my dad, siblings, and my forever love- my husband Patrick Evans. They are the backbone of how I attain work/life balance and stay grounded in love, remembering what’s truly important. My children Malcolm, Osben and Zephora are the daily inspiration of why I am so passionate about education equity. As a mother and advocate, I always have them in mind as I think about other children and other families- they are a large reason why I want to make sure every child, no matter what they look like or where they live, has access to quality education to become their best selves.

Website: https://www.metincpowerco.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metincpowerco/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josettehuttonevans/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/metincpowerco.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metincpowerco.org

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5H6rGoOg3X1AMsYSN51mXg