Nicole Roberts, Director of Operations, St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership

What's a risk you took that paid off? (Or didn't, and what did you learn?) 

One risk I took that both did and did not pay off was starting Halloween on Central in 2021. It was the first time that the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership hosted a community event for the greater public, and the largest shut down of a single street in St. Petersburg ever done before. When we decided to put on the event, the goal was to replicate the Cyclovia events that are so popular in other parts of the world, to show our community all the ways Central Avenue could be used for walking, biking, and shopping if made car-free. Both fortunately and unfortunately, the event was extremely popular, attracting over 50,000 people to the first event - five times as many as we anticipated. Due to the popularity, it was almost impossible to bike on Central Avenue, and the initial intention of the event became lost. But, it was a great way to highlight our wonderful EDGE and Grand Central Districts, so they continued the event without our organization. The event has found increased success year over year, and I recently heard that it might be the longest running, largest street closure, possibly in the world. Though the great success of the event caused it to fail at its initial intention, I consider this risk to be one of my greatest accomplishments in my career, and I am so happy to see this community event continue on. 

Who is a woman who inspires you? 

People say that we are all mosaics of everyone we’ve ever loved, even for a heartbeat. I feel like I am a mosaic of all the incredible women in St. Petersburg that have supported me, so it’s difficult to highlight just one. But one woman I’ve really admired throughout my whole career is Helen Levine. I’ve been able to overcome my intimidation of her to have some incredible mentoring conversations with her a few times, and she always has such great advice. I really admire how she has committed herself to her career, and how she has commanded the respect of community leaders - especially coming up in a time when that was even harder for women to do. She is able to so gracefully navigate complex issues, and I really hope to embody that same grace and intelligence as I continue in my career. 

What did you have to unlearn in order to grow? 

Something I’m having to continually unlearn is my imposter syndrome. Starting this job right out of college, I was painfully aware of my lack of experience when compared to the community leaders I work with in this position. I felt deeply unqualified for a lot of the projects I was tasked to work on, and while I never let that hold me back from trying my best and accomplishing what needed to be done - it did keep me in a position of feeling really intimidated by a lot of the community leaders I worked with, and I found myself scared to ask for advice because it felt like I was admitting I didn’t know what I was doing. But I’ve found over the years that it's always better to ask advice from people that have been in similar situations to what you are working through, because the truth is that no matter how old you are or how much experience you have, we all face situations regularly where we don’t know what we are doing. The only way to grow and improve is to ask for advice and learn by just doing it. 

‍How do you handle being underestimated?

I have always used being underestimated as fuel to help propel me forward, mainly because I love proving people wrong. People in my hometown really doubted me getting my degree in Marketing, telling me I would never get a job with that degree. That disbelief lit a fire under me that made me committed to excelling at my on-campus job and internships I had while in college. The joy I felt when I got the call a week after my college graduation with a job offer from the Downtown Partnership was immense; it was rewarding proving those folks that didn’t believe in me wrong. I’ve tried to keep that same fire in me as I’ve continued in my career. 

Do you have any advice for emerging female professionals early in their careers? 

My mother, who has been an entrepreneur since long before I was born and inspired me by pursuing her long-held dream of being a college professor after I moved away, equipped me with the knowledge that you should always say yes to things before you are ready, because you will always figure it out along the way. This has been the single greatest piece of advice that has helped me to grow in my career, and I would pass it along to every emerging female professional. Even earlier this year, I was asked to moderate a candidate forum panel of District 6 City Council candidates for the Downtown Neighborhood Association, and I said yes, knowing I have never moderated a panel before and deeply struggle with the two essential qualities of a good moderator: attentiveness and time management. But, I immediately reached out to my friend and the best moderator I know, Tami Simms, and asked her out for drinks so I could get some advice. I practiced my gentle interruptions to remind the candidates about their time limits in front of a mirror leading up to the event. And after the event, I had so many attendees come up to me letting me know what a great job I did and that they couldn’t tell it was my first time moderating. There is definitely a version of myself that would have said no when I was asked to moderate that forum because I had no clue what I was doing, but that version of me also probably wouldn’t be in the position I am today - because I have always said yes, even before I was ready.