Horizon House CEO Erica Thrash-Sall, left, says, “It’s not easy when you don’t have people who look like you in this field.”
As CEO of Seattle-based senior living community Horizon House, it’s not unusual for Erica Thrash-Sall to be in a room where nobody looks like her. She is, in fact, one of just two black women who lead the approximately 1,500 life-plan, senior-living communities across the United States.
“It’s not easy when you don’t have people who look like you in this field,” says Thrash-Sall, who is leading Horizon on an ambitious, $600 million expansion that is among the largest ever for a nonprofit senior living community in the United States. “You try to think through, ‘Who can I talk to who’s had this experience?’”
Thrash-Sall, a native of Flint, Michigan, took over at Horizon House three years ago after spending most of her professional career in the Detroit area. She notes that 53% of frontline workers in the aging services industry are women of color, “but not having C-suites, board or leadership teams that reflect that is pretty impactful.”
Yesterday, Formidable talked with Thrash-Sall about senior living and Horizon’s future. Today, in her own words, Thrash-Sall discusses her personal journey and challenges.
Edited for length and clarity.
I’m so grateful I came of age professionally in Detroit, where I could see people who look like me. It made a difference.
There was never a day I didn’t think I could be a leader. I could look around Detroit and see different women, in particular women who looked like me, leading organizations. That possibility was always on the table.
I had several mentors. One, Dr. Cynthia Taueg, was so impactful. This leader made me her peer. She had deep roots in publish health and exposure, and I said yes to every opportunity she gave me. She didn’t just give me opportunity. She helped me be successful and shaped how I worked, how I showed up and gave me credit for every small thing I did. It was very intentional.
She challenged and shielded me when I was still young and green. She didn’t want to extinguish my passion with some of the ugly truths before I was ready.
She gave me another piece of advice I’m really grateful for. My ambition was burning and she said, “You have small children. You can play the game, but you can’t play the whole game. Stay in, continue to be seen, but you have to raise your children.”
One of the things she believed in deeply was progression. Don’t skip steps. You want to make sure you can deliver when you’re ready. That was really important for her, and that’s been my experience. Every role I’ve stepped into, I’ve been really ready for.
These are things I carry forward as I’m mentoring, in particular, other women, and more specifically women of color, how to show up and perform.
I've been very, very involved with making sure that there is a growth trajectory for people on the front lines or people in middle management to leadership. I won't be satisfied in my own professional career if that balance doesn't change. I want people on the front lines to be able to see that they have a chance to sit in executive leadership. That’s been a part of my work.
I sit on the governing board of Leading Age (a national coalition of more than 5,000 nonprofit and mission-driven aging services providers that places a huge emphasis on building a talent pipeline.)
I’m also a founding member and on the board of the Leaders of Color Network. It is really around professional development and making sure that people have other people that look like them, who can share their stories, help them be present and make it through interviews for higher-level positions in our field.
I’m just continuing the legacy (Dr. Taueg) started.
