Generational Wealth: A legacy of service

Patti Seda is an author, entrepreneur, and community volunteer. Her son, Nate Klein, is similarly devoted to building community and family; his list of volunteerism and community focused professional accolades demonstrate that he has carried forward the values Patti embodies.

I sat with Nate and Patti for the Mother’s Day edition of the Rainbow House Sessions to talk family, community, and service.

Will you share with me your work independent of each other and where you have teamed up to make a difference?

Patti: “I’m a recovering HR executive, and I started my consulting business about seven years ago. I get the chance to dig deep and figure out what makes people tick… What do you love doing, and how do I get you there?”

Nate: “I serve as VP of education for Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa. It’s been a full circle journey - About 20 years ago as a Mount Mercy student, I interned with the amazing women who now also lead the organization. We focus on how to support students and inspire them to be global citizens.”

Nate and Patti’s first opportunity to collaborate came when Patti created a summer camp focused on community leadership for youth, and brought Nate along to assist with managing their 12 campers.

Nate: “After the first year, I moved to Georgia. I reached out to mom and asked - can we partner with United Way and create another camp down here? It’s still going today. We created an opportunity for students to be exposed to things that because of their background or their privilege they would have never been exposed to.”

Nate, do you recall any particularly impactful lessons from childhood that affected the way you engage with the world?

Nate: “We were taught to raise our hand, to be involved and engaged. I remember being onstage at Grant Wood with the governor as a first grader. They said who wants to be a reporter - I raised my hand. I got the experience of learning to ask questions, and listen… It's a vivid memory of raising my hand to say I want to do something, I want to be a part of something. Between that and the volunteering, and what mom called ‘cultural events’. (For example) over Christmas break let’s go to TCR and do things so you’re not just sitting at the house.”

Your family has grown quite a bit in the past few years. What do you hope to impart to the next generation?

Nate: “Mom’s mantra to us was to ‘Be good, be safe, and be happy.’ (My wife) Jenny and the girls and I talked about what's our family mantra? We decided on ‘I will be kind, I will be brave, I will have fun and I will love one another.’ Every morning before they get on the bus, we say it together. Bravery is something I learned while growing up - raising your hand and helping people out. I hope the kids are able to see this is having courage. Being kind -I don’t think it’s self explanatory anymore, so talking about what kindness means and giving back to the community. Understanding that what we have is a privilege, especially through the adoption journey that we have gone on as well - what we have may be different than what they would have had growing up in a different situation as well. And then having fun.”

It seems like you engage in a very intentional style of not just living, but specifically parenting.

Patti: “He’s intentional. I was not. I was surviving as a single mom, and their dad is very involved but when you’re alone with two little kids working full time, trying to decide which bills get paid this month… It wasn’t until later I looked back and said ‘I think I said Be good, be safe, be happy a lot’.”

What is the most important lesson your mother has ever taught you?

Nate: “Be good, be safe, be happy. As I reflected back on it as we started our own family, it wasn’t as simple as those words. The good was - volunteer, give back, surround yourself with people that will lift you up, make good choices. Be safe - in younger years, it was physical safety. But it became the safety of family, being around each other, that safety net of humans, financial safety, job security. Be happy - we laughed a lot, and we kids pushed the envelope on what we thought was funny.”

Patti: “‘Be safe’ wasn’t about a Safety Sally environment. I pushed them off the diving board. Bad things happen to good people, so be smart and think about consequences. I can’t put bubble wrap around you. It wasn’t ‘be scared’ - take those chances, take those risks, fall on your face a few times. Every once in a while they ask me ‘should I do this or that?’ Listen, I was a college dropout, married at 19, divorced by 22, two kids, I mean my bar for what most people would say is stupid crap is pretty low as long as you don’t break the law, end up in jail or the morgue or the ER - the things that were important.”

The Rainbow House Series is about building connection and bridging the gap in a divided world. How do you envision carrying that work forward over the next five to ten years?

Patti: “It’s not just learning how to communicate, it’s getting to the core of why you think, act, and communicate the way you do. We are so quick to state our opinion - we have to take a collective deep breath and get to know each other.”