You can expect a surging number of young lemonade stand proprietors to hit the streets this summer, and it’s because Michelle Slade is planning far ahead for the future of Monterey County. Instilling a spirit of entrepreneurship is the mission Slade conceived for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County’s summer program, and more than 500 youth will design and implement businesses this summer (lemonade for kids 6 to 8; food, fashion or art for the 9-and-up crowd).


It’s through designing ambitious programs like this in her decade as vice president of impact advancement at the Boys & Girls Clubs that Slade, 37, is confronting her own demons. 


“Community engagement is cheaper than therapy,” she says with a laugh. But she’s made a real habit of taking on leadership roles in response to her own hardships.


Born to a teen mom and raised in a violent home plagued by alcohol and drug abuse, Slade took solace in teachers who made a point of encouraging her to excel. She was the first in her family to graduate from college. 


“I realized early on, education is the great equalizer,” Slade says. 


She participated in Head Start as a child, and didn’t even realize it was a program for low-income children until she was working as a founding staffer at CSUMB’s service learning center. “If there’s just one person that can get to that child, a lot more of our kids would be more successful than they are,” she says. “I’m proof that it works.”


Besides trying to make it work for 5,000 children at the Boys & Girls Clubs, Slade and her husband are raising their 6-year-old son, Aiden, to have opportunities to excel. In part, that means raising him as a feminist: “The more love and care our boys are nurtured with, the more equitable our society will be for women,” Slade says.


Slade is grateful to know her son at all, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. She’s cancer-free today, and also a co-founder of Monarch C.A.R.E.S, a support group for young cancer survivors. “I would go to appointments, and most people in the room would be like my grandparents,” she recalls. Seeing a need for a place to talk about concerns like career, sexuality and parenting, she and other women launched Monarch with a $3,500 grant from the Community Foundation for Monterey County.


County Supervisor Jane Parker sits with Slade on the Community Alliance for Safety and Peace, working to end gang violence. “She really stands out as someone who is very focused,” Parker says. “And she’s a real stickler for accountability.” 


Slade says it’s her Southern Mississippi charm that draws people in, and that her demanding leadership constantly surprises.


But perhaps most shocking is her positive outlook which belies a lifetime of struggles. Even when it comes to cancer, she’s extracted a silver lining: talking herself into taking a summer vacation. “You found time to go sit in a chemo chair to get well, can’t you go have a good time with your family to rejuvenate and be well?” she remembers asking herself.


It’s also instilled the newfound sense of urgency Parker picked up on. “I don’t have time to wait around for people to get mired in politics,” Slade says. “I’m not holding back anymore.”