By Megan Venable
Avice Reid swears she’s retiring this time. After two tries, she’s certainly an expert on successful careers and retirement. Then, going back to work. “I’ve failed retirement twice,” Reid laughs.
Her most recent work series is serving as the Interim CEO of the Knoxville Area Urban League. She claims she’s happy to hand the reins off to the incoming president, Laurie Shanderson Evans. But when she heard the call out of double retirement, she felt a special need to serve.
But first, a little history: after graduating from Knoxville College, Reid found herself in search of a job. She had offers from places such as Memphis and Rochester, Minnesota, but Reid wanted to stay local. Reid grew up here and remains very close to her sister and mother, and with first cousins next door that she considers siblings. Leaving the area was not an option she was willing to consider. One day, she heard a spot on the radio that TVA was hiring and would be soliciting employees at the Knoxville Area Urban League. She showed up the next day with her resume and transcript. Thus, she began career number one: Reid remained at TVA for 34 years. “I enjoyed the work, and I enjoyed the people. The job was very diverse, and I worked in different areas,” Reid says. “Basically every two or three years you can reinvent yourself in a new job. Life was great.”
After leaving TVA, career number two came calling: then-Mayor Madeline Rogero asked Reid to serve as Community Relations Director for the City of Knoxville. “I had not planned to go to work for another entity,” she claims, but Reid felt compelled to work on projects such as the Save our Sons initiative. “I wanted to engage communities, and work with our young people so that they would see Knoxville as a place to live, work and grow up in,” she says. “I wanted to make this a more inviting and welcoming place.” Save Our Sons ran until 2020 and removed barriers, addressed persistent opportunity gaps and built strong, lasting bridges to success for Knoxville’s young people. She remained in that position for 12 years before retiring again.
After her second retirement, she was called to serve in an interim capacity at the KAUL, and she initially hesitated. “I thought I would never go back to work again,” Reid laughs, “Two careers is enough for anybody!” But then she reconsidered. “I thought about how important the Urban League is, and how they were there for me when I wanted a job and wanted to stay in the area. They are always here for people, to help obtain jobs and housing. KAUL is important to the community, and we can’t have that resource not be available while looking for a new CEO.” She agreed to bring her skill set and knowledge to the organization and stay on board in an interim capacity until they found new leadership. Reid worries for the future of KAUL and the potential of dwindling federal funding. Her hope is for local corporations to step up in providing support for ongoing services.
As for her future, Reid teases that she plans to do absolutely nothing but enjoy time with her family. Daughters Althea and Jacquetta have given her two cherished sons-in-law and four grandchildren. “I have three princes and one princess,” she proudly says. “Both sons-in-law are really good men. They love my daughters, love my grans and they love me.”