Chief of Creative Strategy and Development, MiraVista Behavioral Health Center

Her Career Is a ‘Narrative of Commitment, Innovation, and Compassion’

Photo by Focus Ashely Photos

She called it the “Mom Squad.”

This was a group of mothers recruited by Kim Lee or community service at nonprofits and even a few Springfield city departments. Beyond the good work they were doing, these women were using that community service as a way to earn a voucher for childcare that would enable them to address that challenge and eventually go back to school or join the workforce.

Lee — then working as vice president of Advancement for the child- and family-services provider Square One, previously known as Springfield Day Nursery — read the fine print on the literature pertaining to childcare vouchers, noticed the section on community service, and then did what she’s done throughout her career: she went to work helping those were less fortunate and needed a leg up.

Whatever that might be.

“There are so many women who might not be working, might not be employed, or in school, but they want to be, but there is the major barrier, oftentimes, of childcare for their kids,” she said. “The idea was to use what was available to us in order to help these women get the childcare they needed. Meanwhile, through their volunteerism, they were able to gain skills they could put on a résumé.”

There are plenty of other examples of how, throughout Lee’s career, she has gone well above and beyond her official job description to help others while also advancing the mission of the nonprofit in question.

At the Basketball Hall of Fame, where she worked early in her career, she played a pivotal role in curating the “Freedom to Play” exhibit, a landmark project that not only celebrated the pivotal contributions of African-Americans to the sport of basketball, but also served as a platform for discussing the broader themes of racial equity and inclusion within sports and society at large.

Meanwhile, at the Mental Health Assoc. (MHA), she helped secure the donation of a patio set for a residential program for teens, an initiative that was about much more than outdoor furniture.

“It was not about the table and four chairs and the umbrella,” she said. “It was really about giving young people that place, that space, that medium to just enjoy their time together outside.”

At MHA and now at her current employer, MiraVista Behavioral Health Center, Lee has been an advocate for those with mental-health and substance issues, and a facilitator, if you will, for bringing many individuals into programs of care.

“Each professional opportunity I’ve had has afforded me the chance to reflect my personal values and what I deem to be extremely important, which is to make a difference in the community,” she said in summing up what could be called her life’s work. “I’ve always strived to reach individuals who need support and access to services, and harness the energy and resources of an organization to make an impact.”

“I’ve always strived to reach individuals who need support and access to services, and harness the energy and resources of an organization to make an impact.”

But to understand her commitment to empowering the most vulnerable in society, one needs to go back to when she was only in grade school.

Indeed, at age 10, she organized a carnival for the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Assoc. Telethon, raising significant funds and awareness of muscular dystrophy.

“This early venture into community service was a precursor to a lifetime of advocacy and engagement, setting the stage for her lifelong commitment to harnessing collective energy for the greater good,” wrote Darby O’Brien, president of Darby O’Brien Advertising, in his nomination of Lee for the Woman of Impact Award. “Throughout her career, Kim has spearheaded numerous outreach programs aimed at extending healthcare and support services beyond traditional settings, directly reaching those in urgent need.”

Kim Lee with Springfield Thunderbirds President Nate Costa and some teddy bears donated to the Center for Human Development’s youth-serving programs by the team through its teddy-bear drive.

O’Brien, who has worked with Lee on initiatives throughout her career, including the rebranding of Springfield Day Nursery to Square One, said her career is “a profound narrative of commitment, innovation, and compassion.

“From her early days organizing community events to her impactful work in healthcare and advocacy, she has consistently demonstrated what it means to be a leader who not only dreams of a better world, but takes tangible steps to create it,” he went on. “Kim’s enduring impact on individuals, families, and communities, coupled with her pioneering contributions to healthcare and social justice, make her an exemplary candidate for the Woman of Impact award.”

She’s a Shoe In

When Lee first applied for work at the United Way of Pioneer Valley after graduating from Westfield State University, she received a polite rejection in the mail.

Never one to give up easily on anything, she wrote back and included with the missive a man’s shoe.

“I told him I was just looking to get my foot in the door,” said Lee, referring to then-United Way Director Ty Joubert, who was so impressed with her creativity and determination that he put her on the payroll.

“This early venture into community service was a precursor to a lifetime of advocacy and engagement, setting the stage for her lifelong commitment to harnessing collective energy for the greater good.”

So began an impressive career in the broad realm of marketing, public relations, and development, one where creativity has been just one character trait she has brought to her work, in ways that have benefited not merely her employers, but the community at large.

After several years with the United Way, she was recruited (as she was with all subsequent positions) to the Basketball Hall of Fame, where she served as vice president of Marketing for three years before starting a lengthy stint with what was known then as Springfield Day Nursery.

As noted earlier, she was part of the team that rebranded the agency, but also one of the key players to lead the organization back from a series of unforeseen setbacks, including the 2011 tornado that destroyed its headquarters on Main Street in Springfield, and the 2012 gas explosion that rendered one of its facilities unusable.

In 2015, Lee was recruited to the Center for Human Development, where she served as vice president of Development and Marketing. There, among other things, she negotiated a strategic partnership with the Springfield Thunderbirds and also created and managed the Through Her Eyes Girls Conference. Designed for educators, social workers, and mentors with the goal of improving the lives of at-risk girls and young women, the conference drew 500 attendees annually and featured 21 workshops run by notable professionals.

Kim Lee, center, with groundskeepers at the Country Club of Wilbraham, whom she successfully recruited to collect winter coats for children.

In 2018, she moved to Springfield-based MHA, where, as vice president of Development and Branding, her list of accomplishments included the launch of the You Matter Award program to highlight employees and members of the community committed to making a difference in the lives of others.

Then, in 2022, she was recruited to MiraVista, where, as chief of Creative Strategy and Development, she has helped forge partnerships and strategic collaborations to drive new business, while also propelling enrollment in substance-use recovery programming among providers throughout the region.

All of which makes clear that, at each career stop, Lee has leveraged the opportunity given her and, as O’Brien put it, committed to “harnessing collective energy for the greater good.”

As she did with the Freedom to Play exhibit at the Hall of Fame.

“It was the first exhibit of its kind, and I did it with some phenomenal people in the African-American community,” she recalled. “It gave me a real sense of accomplishment to take that vision that we all collectively had, bring it to reality, and really celebrate those significant contributions.

“That was a great example of harnessing an organization and being able to use that as a platform in order to make an impact,” she went on. “When you think about it, Freedom to Play … yeah, it was about basketball, but it was really about giving voice to a whole demographic, to a whole community of individuals who had not really had a chance to tell their story in that way.”

A Drive to Meet Needs

There have been many other examples, of course, including that table and chairs for the residential program operated by MHA, one of myriad instances where Lee has been able to find things for the nonprofits she’s worked for through outreach, relationship building, and communicating need.

At MHA, she became so good at this that she was labeled a ‘waterfinder,’ meaning that, if something was needed by a group, be it winter coats or backpacks or presents around Christmas, she would go out into the community and find it — often from some outside-the-box sources.

Such was the case when she reached out to the course superintendent at the Country Club of Wilbraham with a request for winter coats.

“From her early days organizing community events to her impactful work in healthcare and advocacy, she has consistently demonstrated what it means to be a leader who not only dreams of a better world, but takes tangible steps to create it.”

I asked if they had any interest in doing a coat drive, and they sure did,” she recalled. “I knew they spent a lot of time outdoors, and I thought that perhaps they had some coats that had been gently worn, or perhaps they’d have some interest in supporting the folks at MHA — and they ended up producing bags of beautiful coats.”

At MiraVista, Lee hasn’t been called upon as much to find things, but she has been effective at linking individuals to needed services.

“I spend a lot of time in the community,” she told BusinessWest. “I’ve had the opportunity to just set up tables in local parks and meet individuals where they are in terms of wanting to address their substance-use addiction.

“It’s extremely rewarding when you meet an individual and they’re ready to step on that pathway to recovery,” she went on. “They say they’re going to come in to MiraVista the next day, and I’ll say, ‘when you get here, let me know that you’re here.’ And, sure enough, they come through the front door and they ask for me; it’s extremely satisfying.”

And it’s just one of many examples of why Lee is a Woman of Impact.

Throughout her career, she’s always done her job, but she has also gone well beyond the job and into the realm of community leader.

“Her leadership style is characterized by empathy, inclusivity, and a steadfast commitment to justice and equity,” O’Brien said in his nomination, noting that it has been this way since she got her foot in the door — or that man’s shoe, to be more precise — all those years ago.