How Are You…Really?
When was the last time someone asked how you were doing and actually wanted a real answer? Marlee James thinks that simple act (ask twice to get past the default “I’m good”) and then really talking about it, might be one of the most powerful things a leader can do.
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“What started as I just want to work on my own kind of turned into how do I meet this need?”
Marlee James is a licensed clinical counselor, trauma therapist, and the founder and CEO of Reviving Roots, a Black-centered, culturally responsive mental health and holistic wellness organization in Minneapolis. She launched Reviving Roots in 2019 after years of working in spaces that claimed to care about Black and marginalized communities in words, but not in action. By 2020, with COVID and the murder of George Floyd reshaping everything, she had over 100 people on her waiting list — all seeking a Black, social justice-oriented therapist. What began as a solo practice grew into a holistic space offering therapy, support groups, embodied wellness services, and connection focused community events, all centering Blackness. And when organizations started coming to her for support too, Reviving Roots would evolve again!
“We end up mirroring the same things that we’re trying to fix or trying to support other people through.”
In nonprofit work trauma doesn’t stay outside the door. Marlee’s seen its impact show up in our relationships through high conflict, eggshell cultures, and in displaced resentment that makes it hard to get anything done. And when organizations don’t acknowledge the systems they’re functioning in, they risk replicating the very dynamics they’re working to change. Burnout, Marlee reminds us, isn’t an individual failing — it’s a structural one. The antidote isn’t asking employees to be more resilient. It’s leaders and organizations recognizing when they’re part of the problem, naming what’s happening, and actively celebrating the value and impact of the people doing the work.
“If you are not taking a break, you’re consistently modeling that we are crossing boundaries at every moment.”
Marlee offers practical, low-lift tools any team can start using. At Reviving Roots the team checks in all the time (they are therapists after all). These check ins are a container for folks to name where they are: in the hot zone dysregulated, stressed, or in the cool zone and doing okay. It’s a small habit that builds real awareness of team capacity. She asks leaders to take breaks, visibly and without apology, so that their team knows they can too. Culture, she says, is built by small repeated acts: how we start meetings, whether we pause to breathe, and whether we make space for people to say the hard thing. And for anyone looking to go deeper, Reviving Roots offers soul care groups, mental health workshops, and team retreats out of their beautiful space in Loring Park.
This conversation is warm, grounded, and full of wisdom that meets you right where you are – just like Marlee herself!