Nikki Gaskin-Capehart blazes a new trail at PCUL
ST. PETERSBURG — The signs of a sustainable future for any city, county, and region include how many young leaders are in positions of influence and decision-making. You can bet that any agency, body of government or public institution without leaders under the age of 62 (retirement age for the luckiest Americans) is behind the times.
With the appointment of Nikki Gaskin-Capehart as the new head of the Pinellas County Urban League, the agency has catapulted itself into a new and hopeful era because the native daughter of St. Pete is part of the county’s younger, newer wave of leaders. But more importantly, she’s a deep listener, and that’s a positive sign for the county’s future.
It’s because the ability to listen deeply — without judgment or self-motivated concern — opens doors, clears paths for real change and welcomes a broader selection of the community to the table. When her down-to-earth quality is mentioned, Gaskin-Capehart quietly acknowledges, “I’ve heard people say to me over the years that I’m really approachable.”
While she’s been told that she can “connect to various demographics in the community,” one gets the sense that, while this is a rare quality in today’s leadership, for Gaskin-Capehart, it’s the only way to be. She gives credit to her family and her perspective.
Nikki Gaskin-Capehart kicked off her new business, The NGC Team, to great fanfare with a launch party on March 31, 2022, at the St. Petersburg Country Club.
“That’s who I am at my core. I see myself in everybody, to a degree.”
If this is a foundational character trait for the 50-year-old wife, mother, businesswoman, and now president and CEO of one of the largest nonprofit institutions in the region, she is keenly aware that much of who she has become is due to the impact of from her grandmother, Mrs. Rosa Lee Graham.
“I know that so much of my childhood has had an impact on where I am today,” affirmed Gaskin-Capehart, who is well-known for having brought a down-to-earth professionalism to the role she held most recently as director of Urban Affairs for the City of St. Pete for eight years.
She said it’s because she remembers the years she spent hearing people at school and the community refer to her as “the flip lady’s granddaughter.”
Gaskin-Capehart relayed how, in many traditional Black neighborhoods, the flip lady was a “community mother figure who sold snacks, candy and the frozen drinks called “flips.”
“One of the most popular ones was a pineapple flip, made with pineapple juice and sugar – and then real pineapples at the bottom of the cup. And then you froze it.”
Her grandmother was the “flip lady on 24th,” and as the flip lady’s granddaughter, she helped manage the store in the back of their house. Gaskin-Capehart said it was there she developed a love for the community because her grandmother would not turn anyone away.
“If kids didn’t have money, she would give them a piece of candy or something like that; she was always feeding people because she cooked a lot.”
Former Gov. Charlie Crist and Nikki Gaskin-Capehart at The Weekly Challenger’s 50th anniversary event.
For Gaskin-Capehart, the experience instilled two things in her: an entrepreneurial drive and being in service to the community.
Bringing both traits to her new role as president and CEO of the Urban League, she recalled that her first awareness of PCUL started in high school with James O. Simmons, its first president and CEO.
Calling him a “major, iconic leadership figure” who became a “role model from afar,” the newly appointed president noted that while she was in high school, she heard people speak about him, and without knowing much about what the Urban League did, quickly became aware of Simmons’ profound impact on those around him.
“I knew back then how much of a community leader he was and how important he was to so many people in his role as president, never ever thinking, of course, I would end up in the same role many years later. But I always felt a sense of pride when I saw him — just knowing that he represented our community well with this statesmanship.”
The qualities of leadership that “statesmanship” implies are the same ones that Gaskin-Capehart naturally embodies. “For me, it definitely is something where you know that you can count on that person for consistent leadership; they are reliable and professional at the same time. And for me, their work is purpose-driven.”
