Inside the Inaugural Luminary Retreat

What does it take to build something that lasts?

Last month, The CAFE Group brought the 2025 1954 Project Luminaries and members of their executive teams to Memphis to work through that question together.

Over the course of a week, leaders stepped away from day-to-day to focus on vision and strategic alignment. We invited guest speakers, 1954 Project Leadership Coaches, and Memphis-based education and philanthropy leaders to be part of the retreat and to grapple with that central question.

But the answer didn’t start in the room together; it started with the city of Memphis.

It’s a city shaped by organizing, leadership, and long-term pursuit of justice, education, and equity. Ida B. Wells ran her presses at First Baptist Beale Street, publishing the truth about lynching when it took radical courage. Maxine Smith led boycotts, organized sit-ins, and helped guide school desegregation efforts for decades. In 1968, the wives and mothers of 1,300 sanitation workers organized food, funds, and resolve during a 65-day strike—marching from Clayborn Temple to City Hall with signs that declared: I AM A MAN.

Just blocks from where we stayed, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his final speech at the Mason Temple.

We know building anything that lasts doesn’t happen with a single leader. The Retreat was proof positive that it takes the whole village. But what Memphis drove home for us at The CAFE Group, as leaders, entrepreneurs, and funders ourselves, was that our shared history is undeniable. And we can’t continue to be abstract about it because that’s where we find the blueprints to build.

What Does It Take?

The People 

Before digging into strategy, we made space for connection.

After checking in at the Arrive Hotel, the 2025 Luminaries were greeted with drinks and small bites by The CAFE Group. The last time we all gathered together was the 2025 Network Summit in November. There was a lot to catch up on, both with the team and with each other.

After a warm welcome, the leaders spent the rest of the evening together, grabbing dinner and catching a Grizzlies game downtown.

Leaders are often asked to move quickly from one responsibility to the next. We wanted to create space where they could slow down, reconnect, and strengthen relationships without the agenda driving every moment.

On the second day of the retreat, the Luminaries were joined by 1-2 members of their executive teams. They were greeted by tables of art supplies and music. After they danced their way into the meeting room, we asked them to grab pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, glue, markers, and more to physically build what their own legacies will be: What are you building that will outlive you?

Each of their legacies expressed a common theme: the people needed to be at the center. Samantha Williams, CEO of Birmingham Promise, shared that in the movement they’re building in Birmingham, Alabama, “the community is durable, regardless of its leaders.”

The importance of community was solidified during our private tour of the National Civil Rights Museum by Dr. Russ Wiggington (President of the National Civil Rights Museum). Whether it was their first time in the museum or not, each leader saw themselves as they walked through exhibits steeped in legacy—and just moments after they built their own.

What Does It Take?

The Infrastructure

After a night of karaoke and soul food, everyone entered the next day ready for deeper strategic work.

Luminaries and their teams were asked by Dr. Starsky Wilson (President & CEO of the Children's Defense Fund): Are you an organization or an institution?

Dr. Wilson outlined what doesn’t work: big teams that run themselves, misaligned with the vision, and big titles that then want to build a team around themselves.

The difference between an organization and an institution is the leadership approach and all that falls underneath it:

• Are there systems in place that allow the community to hold you, the leader, responsible?

• Are you disrupting the status quo of how long-term board members operate?

• Do you have a brand? Or are you the brand?

These are just some of the questions that were posed to the group, encouraging them to unlearn short-term organizational habits and make space for institutional practices that withstand any single leader.

Following this session, Mario Jovan Shaw's (Founder, Messy Roots) and Carmen Darville’s (Operations & Strategic Partnerships Director, YES Prep Public Schools) workshops were necessary to begin pressure-testing what Dr. Wilson shared.

Luminaries dove further into the leadership styles that shape their work with Mario, while team members examined the patterns in place that prevent them from further stepping into their leadership with Carmen.

As each leader grappled with the shared and individual responsibility, we gave them space to ask questions that were rising to the surface.

Through roundtable discussions, leaders gathered around content experts to problem-solve in real time. At the communications table, Chief Communications Officer Lindsay Booker discussed the nuance of receiving high visibility on social media – how much does that matter if your goal is to secure a donor? At the development table, Chief Development Officer Josh Hoen discussed the different partnerships to consider as you build a diversified revenue model.

By the end of the day, the room was buzzing with excitement as new perspectives were absorbed and strategies were sharpened.

What Does It Take?

Looking to the Mountaintop

After a full day of strategy and alignment, an evening at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music introduced local voices actively navigating the challenges of this moment—allowing earlier conversations to shift from planning to practice.

We invited Memphis-based leaders, many of whom we were meeting for the first time, to join us as we ground ourselves in the realities of this moment. It was an intentional choice: to build relationships locally and to learn from those already leading in this context.

Moderated by Tomeka Hart Wigginton (President & CEO of United Way of the Mid South), Dr. Charles McKinney (Historian and Professor at Rhodes College), and Shante Avant (Shelby County Commission Chair) called us to move through hard conversations and our differences for the sake of reaching the mountaintop.

Dr. McKinney brought us back to Dr. King’s call to work through disagreement for the greater good of the movement. “How do we figure out how to arrive so we can continue to move in community? So we can understand the mutual threat we’re facing. Once we can model that, then we can move mountains.”

It was a powerful reminder that the path forward has always required both courage and collective responsibility as we all continue to stay committed to a better future, even when the conditions to build change.

Putting It All Together, Now

On the last day together, teams returned to their strategic goals with a deeper perspective. After several days of reflection, conversation, and learning, this time it was about bringing everything they had explored to begin refining their priorities.

Our partners at The Bridgespan Group, Tonyel Edwards and Brit Savage, guided the group with care and clarity through the last exercise, designed to continue beyond the retreat.

And that's because The Luminary Retreat was designed as a starting point.

So when we ask ourselves, what does it take to build something that lasts? Pipe cleaners, karaoke, and soul food aside—it takes the people, infrastructure, and a clear understanding of what has already been built.

Over the next two years, Luminaries and their teams will answer the question within their own organizations: what does it take to build something that lasts?

Join us for the journey ahead as they uncover those answers together.