Michele Y Smith — CEO of Seattle's Museum of Pop Culture and people-centered leader forged through crisis — shares how empathy, transparency, and honoring everyone's strengths build thriving organizations. From managing 4,000 United Airlines flight attendants during 9/11 to leading through COVID, Michele unpacks pop culture as global language, why transparency builds trust, her workshop approach to leadership, the "grow/glow/flow" filter for decisions, and setting boundaries with "grace sets the pace." Representation matters. Pop culture matters. Everyone has purpose.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
How crisis leadership during 9/11 taught empathy as core practice
Why "everyone puts pants on one leg at a time" — you never know what someone's dealing with
How pop culture functions as global language across generations and cultures
Why transparency builds trust — explain the why, even when people disagree
What the workshop approach to leadership looks like in practice
The "grow/glow/flow" filter — if it doesn't, it's a hell no
Why "grace sets the pace" for work-life boundaries
LEARN MORE
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May 1, 2025
Michele Y. Smith
Preserving and Celebrating Pop Culture in a Changing World
"I am not interested in changing anybody at all. I can change the environment. And then we learn about each other and create the most possibility for joy, satisfaction, and being seen."
TIMESTAMPS
00:00:17 – Milton Hershey School gift
00:02:05 – Mom's journey (teacher to doctor)
00:03:26 – Leadership Society formation
00:05:22 – 9/11 leadership lessons
00:09:06 – Empathy as core practice
00:21:26 – Pop culture as global language
00:28:17 – Strengths-based team building
00:32:24 – Transparency builds trust
00:44:46 – Grow/glow/flow filter
00:47:50 – Vision (book and MoPOP)
SHOW NOTES
LINKS & RESOURCES
Michele Y Smith & MoPOP
Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) — MoPOP.org (visit, memberships, donations, events)
MoPOP Mission — Contemporary pop culture education, cultural literacy programs for schools, bridging gap where arts/culture being cut from education
Massive Exhibit — The Power of Pop Culture (activism, stardom, fandom, Gone Too Soon) — shortlisted for Museums and Heritage Awards
MoPOP Permanent Collection — Prince's Purple Rain cloud guitar, iconic bike, lace shirt, hat
Milton Hershey School
Milton Hershey School — Full-scholarship boarding school for marginalized communities, Leadership Society, entrepreneurial business training
GUEST BIO
Michele Y Smith is the CEO of the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Seattle, one of the world's leading institutions dedicated to contemporary popular culture. A Milton Hershey School graduate and member of the Leadership Society, Michele built her career across travel, hospitality, and leadership — including as a United Airlines flight attendant manager at SFO during 9/11 (managing 4,000 flight attendants and serving on crisis care teams) and as CEO of Woodland Park Zoo during COVID. Her people-centered leadership approach is rooted in empathy, transparency, and the belief that everyone has strengths and purpose. Michele is deeply committed to diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and using pop culture as a tool for education and cultural literacy. She is currently writing a book as a tribute to her late mother, a lifelong learner who went from school teacher to professional Black ballerina to behavioral specialist doctor. Michele believes representation matters, pop culture is a global language, and that "if it doesn't let you grow, glow, or flow, it's a hell no."
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