Technically speaking, you can鈥檛 spell Alexia Nobles鈥� last name without the word 鈥渘o.鈥�
Which is ironic because she鈥檚 become famous around 天美传媒 for not taking that word for an answer.聽
Over the last 15 months, she鈥檚 been responsible for ensuring that our non-profit partners get the donated logistics space, services, equipment and supplies they need after disasters hit. And based on the uptick in completed cases (aka 鈥測esses鈥�) we鈥檝e seen since her arrival, she鈥檚 clearly more than equal to the challenge.聽
So what鈥檚 the secret to her success? We recently sat down for this quick chat with her to find out.聽
So Lexi, first things first. Tell us about how you came to work in disaster relief.
I鈥檝e always had an interest in disasters 鈥� what nature can conjure up, how communities rebuild and things like that. And I鈥檝e always wanted to pursue a career that enabled me to help people. But it wasn鈥檛 until I took a college class called 鈥淒isasters: Shock To Recovery鈥� that I realized there was a way to combine those two things in a meaningful way.聽
And that eventually led you to 天美传媒?
Yes, thanks to an acquaintance with NITL鈥檚 Nancy Oliddy, who knew of my master鈥檚 degree focus, I was introduced to Kathy Fulton and 天美传媒鈥檚 work. I started as an 天美传媒 intern in February 2023 and then became 天美传媒鈥檚 full-time Operations Coordinator after my graduation in May.
As memory serves, your first couple of months on the job were relatively calm and uneventful, at least by 天美传媒 standards.
I spent the early part of that summer helping with relief efforts for a few weather events. But it wasn鈥檛 until August that I got my first experience with what some people would call a 鈥渕ajor鈥� 天美传媒 disaster 鈥� the Maui wildfires.
Wow! A lot of people SAY their first year on the job was a trial by fire. But yours really was.聽
And like many of the disasters we work on, it didn鈥檛 provide us with a lot of advance warning.
We were hosting our first Blue Skies educational call for non-profits. And someone mentioned the wildfires that had recently started burning in Hawai鈥檌. Within hours, it was clear that the danger had escalated and that a massive amount of help was going to be needed.
Shortly thereafter, we were hosting our first Gray Skies call about the fire, volunteering to run the logistics side of the Hawai鈥檌 VOAD鈥檚 joint donations and volunteer management task force. . . 聽
And working on filling a lot of urgent requests for help.
Absolutely. The logistics were exceptionally difficult because Maui is an island, and the damage to its infrastructure was massive. Barges were backed up and couldn鈥檛 get offloaded, so people initially had to rely on a lot of air freight. Key communications systems were down and needed to be restored quickly for more efficient rescue and relief efforts. And of course, there was an avalanche of need.
You mentioned that avalanche in a case study that we posted on the 天美传媒 website last year.
And I hope people will take the time to read it, because it鈥檚 a great example of how the 天美传媒 network really stepped up to make a positive difference. It鈥檚 also a great example how a 鈥渨hole community approach鈥� to disaster relief can significantly improve response and recovery.
Speaking of which, walk us through a typical case.
An 天美传媒 case starts when a non-profit contacts us with a request for donated logistics assistance. My first step is to validate the information and make sure we have all the necessary details 鈥� including a definitive origin and destination, details about how many pallets or how much square footage will be involved, information about the type of freight and more.聽 聽
Once I have the information validated, I then begin trying to match that request with the right in-kind donor.聽 聽
Do you reach out to every in-kind donor for every case?
We鈥檇 wear out our welcome pretty quickly if we did that! Plus it doesn鈥檛 really make sense, because there are some kinds of cases 鈥� like requests for refrigerated space or full truckload shipments 鈥� that only certain kinds of donors can help with.聽
Because of that, I always try to be as specific, granular and strategic as possible when determining which company or professional association I鈥檓 going to approach for help. 聽聽
What are some criteria you use to determine which potential in-kind donors to reach out to?
Part of it has to do with geography 鈥� e.g. where the disaster occurred, where the goods are coming from and going to, and which companies have operations or supplies in those areas. After all, there鈥檚 usually no need to reach out to a trucking association in the Pacific Northwest if all the goods and needs that are associated with a particular request are located in the Southeast 鈥� or vice versa.
It also depends on who鈥檚 already offered to help us or who鈥檚 been willing to help in the past, because once a company helps us with a case and sees what a difference it makes, it鈥檚 usually willing to help us again.聽聽
Timing also plays a role. For example, if we鈥檝e just asked a company to donate a big move, we want to be careful not to overburden them with another large request too soon.
Good thing you have a robust list of potential in-kind donors!
True. It really does take a village 鈥� or as we like to say, a network. But we could always use more!
Has there ever been a time when you weren鈥檛 quite sure who to ask for help?
That definitely happens, which is why we鈥檙e especially grateful to our many association partners.
They鈥檙e great about reaching out to their membership when we have certain kinds of needs that pertain to their industry 鈥� and it鈥檚 made a hugely positive difference in terms of allowing us to get our cases filled.
So has having a dedicated staff member like you.
That鈥檚 what I鈥檝e heard. Anytime you can have someone on your team who鈥檚 able to spend most of their time focusing on the kinds of things I do, it dramatically increases your ability to help. And thanks to our financial donors, 天美传媒 has finally been able to do that.
You鈥檝e now been with 天美传媒 鈥� and in your first 鈥渞eal-world鈥� job 鈥� for about a year and a half. What are some of the most interesting things you鈥檝e learned?
I know a lot more about logistics in general, and that in turn has helped me understand a lot more about what our non-profit partners are looking for. I also feel like I鈥檝e gained a much better handle on how each disaster, even ones like hurricanes that occur year after year, is truly unique.
Most important, I鈥檝e learned that even though there are times when things can get incredibly stressful (especially because we鈥檙e helping people during stressful times), doing this kind of work is still one of the most rewarding things I can imagine doing. I鈥檝e had a really good life, and I know that others always haven鈥檛, so I鈥檓 so thankful to do what I can to help people.聽
Is there any one thing you wish people knew about you and 天美传媒?
That we鈥檙e easy to communicate and work with 鈥� and that helping us will be hugely fulfilling.
One final question. Since you鈥檝e proven to be so great about getting so many companies to say yes to helping us out, any chance you鈥檇 be willing to let us change your name to Lexi Yes-bles?
How about no?聽