Five questions with Natasha Elliott

Natasha Elliott is self-admittedly pretty confident. “I would tell my younger self to not dim your light for anyone because they are intimidated by your confidence,” said the Executive Director of Central Piedmont Community Action. “Confidence is not arrogance; it is just you believing in yourself and your abilities.” However, being human, she also admits to having fears. “My biggest fear is snakes! I’m afraid of real snakes, TV snakes, pictures of snakes, plastic snakes, and all forms of snakes!” Learn more about Natasha in this Five Questions with an Agency Leader feature.

What’s the furthest you’ve traveled?

So far, the furthest I’ve traveled is Jamaica on a cruise with my girlfriends. But I plan to travel to Istanbul in 2023.

What do you like best about your job?

I love that we help those that are most vulnerable in this country to help themselves become productive citizens in the communities in which they live. I also love to see the impact we’ve made on the entire family and to see those individuals giving back to their communities.

What are some of your favorite words of wisdom?

One of my favorite Maya Angelou quotes is “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” I try to live by that, especially in this line of work. It feels good when our participants say, “You gave me hope.” I know then that the work we do in community action is invaluable and it helps me to continue to keep going another day.

What is the most requested service from your clients?

I think rent and mortgage have been the most requested services for the past two years. With COVID, most of the available resources helped renters facing eviction and past due rent but not many were available for mortgage assistance so our CARES funding was a much-needed resource for homeowners.

What’s your favorite board game and why?

My favorite board game is Taboo. It was a game that my family and I played on the weekends for family time, which was special to me.