Sammy Gonzalez Zeira of Young Musicians Unite On 5 Things You Need To Know To Successfully Lead A Nonprofit Organization
This is a lifestyle not a job. Starting a nonprofit is hard work and takes many hours of determination and creating a model for change. As your organization grows you will slowly immerse yourself more and more into the work and events that surround the work. Between the work, fundraising, managing a team, events and keeping the vision alive, you will easily put in 60–80 hours a week. If you figure out work life balance please give me a call. But please take care of yourself. You can’t give to others if you are not giving to yourself. Make time for working out, eating well, and spending time with loved ones. Be present when you have the time. Maximize those moments.
As part of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sammy Gonzalez Zeira.
Educator, musician, and entrepreneur, Sammy Gonzalez Zeira is the CEO/Founder of Young Musicians Unite, co-owner of the Wynwood School of Music, Studio Bros, and Miami Music Productions. Focused on ensuring that every student has access to a free music education Sammy has raised over $25 million in the effort of transforming the music education space for all of Miami. As an educator, Sammy has been teaching since 2004; his students have gone on to excel in schools such as Juilliard, Harvard, NYU, Georgetown, Cornell, Vanderbilt, and Penn State.
Thank you so much for doing this with us. Before we begin our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”?
I was raised on Miami Beach in a single parent home, with two other brothers. Growing up I couldn’t afford music lessons and was the product of free music education. As a young student, I was often reprimanded for staring out the window in class. I was too much of a dreamer, they said. Yet when I joined guitar class in 5th grade, I was able to make connections and meaningfully apply my creativity. My dreaming slowly became my strength. I had these amazing opportunities from 5th grade to 12th grade that don’t exist today. Legendary teachers that had a track record of 30–40 years of teaching at a single school under their belt. Playing an instrument gave me opportunities to tour, travel the world, and gain full scholarships to college. I’m now focused on creating the infrastructure for musicians to gain employment in the music industry and or education field and that all children gain access to amazing mentors.
Can you tell us the story behind why you decided to start or join your non nonprofit?
I’d toured for a long time and at the age of 27 I felt that I wasn’t fulfilled in my life; that I needed a higher purpose. In 2012, I learned that many middle schools cut their music programs and so many students, especially in our inner city schools, lost access to the arts. These were the consequences of school cuts during the 2008 recession.
I decided to adopt a classroom at the Young Men’s Preparatory Academy in 2013. When I first started teaching I only had 8 students. I thought I was going to turn these students into classical musicians and I learned quickly that this wasn’t going to happen; I had to meet them where they were at. It was a different demographic than I was used to and it was a learning curve for me.
At first they gave me a hard time, so I decided that if I gave them hip hop options I would be able to get their attention and teach them to read music. I chose the song “Holy Grail”, (A Jay-Z/Justin Timberlake song), and printed out all the lyrics. I remember crossing out like 100 curse words so we changed them out for other words. The kids were having fun and in turn, respected me for that. They actually started to read music. Then they were playing modern songs and that worked really well. I immediately saw a real change in the kids’ attitude.
The special sauce is the power of just “keep showing up.” It’s that simple. One of my students asked me, “Mr. Sammy, are you going to come back?” I said, “Of course I am.” I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I’d only just started YMU 5 months earlier but I realized that so many people go into the schools and start a program or come into their lives as a mentor and then leave. I knew then that I was coming back, and I never left.
As children we assume that everything is going to be taken care of. People are always waiting for other people to do great things. I never dreamt I would be doing what I am now but people need to stand up for musicians, for stable jobs, for our children.
Can you describe how you or your organization aims to make a significant social impact?
What makes us different and the reason it’s so large is not because I had all these great ideas, but because we watched the students and saw their needs and then we reacted to those needs. We grew YMU with them. I realized over the next years that the power is in helping them grow in so many more ways than just as musicians. We provide students a safe space during the day to express themselves, gain mentorship, and develop bonds with their fellow classmates. The integrated approach we use is working with a 3rd party named Hello Insight, which measures Social/Emotional Learning. This focuses not on music but the growth of the student, “the whole child”. Do they have connections with mentors and adults, do they feel more hopeful about the future, do they have more organization and structure in their lives.
The program is for every kid; for those just passing through to kids who want to make music their lives. That’s why we do so many things, from a child who’s never picked up an instrument to kids playing on stage and recording albums. We grew YMU with them, for all of them. Students have opportunities for in-school and after-school ensembles, access to a professional media arts studio “YMU Studio”, ACT and SAT prep, college readiness, private lessons, we put on over 150 student-led performances each year, and lead community youth music festivals across 3 regions.
Currently, YMU reaches over 9,000 students every week across 58 schools in Miami-Dade County. We partner with music teachers and administrators to provide turnkey solutions, from training to instrument maintenance to curriculum and assessment, so that more schools in underserved communities can launch and sustain outstanding music programs.
Our goal is to transform every community through music and give every child access here in the 3rd largest school district in the US.
Without saying any names, can you share a story about an individual who was helped by your idea so far?
We had a student that would always lose his temper and get into fights almost everyday. One day the Principal came to me and told me that this would be his last week and he was kicking out the student. I asked the principal to give him another chance and if it happened again we understood the consequences. I then spoke with the student and we talked about the changes we would make moving forward and assured him I would be there for him. From then on I had him sit next to me and help teach the class. I also loaded him up with performance after performance and had him join other music organizations. He did a 180 and within a few months he was mentoring the other students and pushing them to become better. This student wasn’t a bad kid, he just needed someone to believe in him and loved his music class. He went off to get a full ride to FSU on his instrument and performed at Carnegie Hall, his dream. I have learned how to use music as a tool to help transform students in and outside of the classroom.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
We must acknowledge that the cut in the arts was the wrong decision for so many of our schools and communities. Students lost their ability to be creative during the school day and are now stuck with double math or science… or testing. We’ve proven that if you put an English class after the music class, kids’ reading scores will go up because they show up more on the day when they have their music class. We’ve also shown a 60% reduction in absences and tardies for a music student over a non-music student of similar demographics.
We must advocate for our youth and their opportunities to play an instrument, perform, and create bonds during the school day. Advocacy for the arts needs to start with our communities by putting pressure on our local schools and politicians to allocate more funds for the arts. We need to see robust changes in our policies to shift towards more funding for the arts.
Music is everywhere, in everything… It’s a universal language that brings people of all backgrounds together and speaks to the soul. How can we not see the importance in an arts education and the funding of the future of musicians and a space for them to create.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
Leadership is when you take your work and turn it into a lifestyle and not a job. Your leadership must be contagious enough for others to follow you and embrace your mission and adopt the work as their own. Leadership is empowering your team to lead and giving them the space to co-create. Leadership is being ok with not always being the expert in the room… Lastly, as a leader you need to keep and grow the vision of your company.
Based on your experience, what are the “5 Things A Person Should Know Before They Decide To Start A Non Profit”. Please share a story or example for each.
1. This is a lifestyle not a job. Starting a nonprofit is hard work and takes many hours of determination and creating a model for change. As your organization grows you will slowly immerse yourself more and more into the work and events that surround the work. Between the work, fundraising, managing a team, events and keeping the vision alive, you will easily put in 60–80 hours a week. If you figure out work life balance please give me a call. But please take care of yourself. You can’t give to others if you are not giving to yourself. Make time for working out, eating well, and spending time with loved ones. Be present when you have the time. Maximize those moments.
2. Your mission comes first. As your organization grows and you slowly start to receive grant funding you always need to make sure your new ideas and expansions are in line with your mission. Don’t get distracted by easy money. You can’t say yes to everything and everyone. I’ve been offered opportunities to scale across charter schools and double our impact over night. But that’s not the mission. The mission is every Title 1 school in Miami-Dade and there are 222 of them.
3. Your passion for the work must be contagious. If you want to attract top level talent on a low level salary your leadership and obsession with the work needs to be so transparent that others want to join. You need your team to believe in the work almost as much as you. You can’t fake that. Make sure you love what you do if you’re going to start a non-profit. 8 years ago, I convinced our COO to take a pay cut from $85k down to $38k to come and work for our organization. We couldn’t promise financial compensation at the time but we could offer the opportunity to build something meaningful together. He made the mission his own and has built out teams and systems and taught me a lot through the process. As YMU grew, he grew with us.
4. You must always carry the vision. As the founder, your role will continue to shift and grow, so that you can continue to be the visionary and focus on tasks that only you can do, while delegating tasks others can replicate and or streamline. I have these spells of peace and calm sometimes where I sorta get bored and run out of ideas. I’ve learned to embrace these moments, because they are rare and on the other side lies a clear vision… the calm before the storm. The summer of 2022, I was bored. I remember sharing this with Trey from Interlochen and he said “Sammy, enjoy this moment because people like you don’t get bored”. A few months later I became obsessed with an idea that grew our budget from $2.2 million to $5.9 million. I’ve raised over $15 million for the next 5 years and took our school impact from 30 to 58 schools. I anticipate we’ll be in 100 schools over the next 3 years.
5. You are as strong as your weakest team member. You do not always want to be the smartest person in the room and time is your most valuable asset. Hire staff that have expertise in their field and have them grow the organization with their skill set. You are always in charge of the what, the big vision, but let them boss you around on the how. I’ve learned to always share my goals and vision with my team. My COO will figure out the reality of that vision and what’s possible, my CFO will make sure we can afford it, and my CPO makes sure to execute the vision. Now the 1,000 steps to get there, I’ve learned to let go of that. I’ve built out systems and teams over the past 12 years and learned to hire brilliant people I can trust. Seeing the first from the tree’s is a superpower and I wield that power daily.
We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world who you would like to talk to, to share the idea behind your non profit? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Elon Musk, the greatest innovator and mind of our time.
Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson” Quote? How is that relevant to you in your life?
You’re going to laugh but honestly, “life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” I always said it as a joke to students but… how real is the statement?
I always wanted to be happy. That was my life goal, and being a musician and making a living as a musician was part of that goal. I put everything I had into making a living being a musician. I became an expert and through passion, life has opened so many doors. When you dedicate yourself to a craft, have an open mind, always show up on time, and show respect, everything else falls into place. Being a musician, running a music organization, or anything in the music field… success mostly comes in your 30’s, so enjoy the ride.
How can our readers follow you online?
IG; sgclassical
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success in your mission.
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