“The Mediator Between Head and Hands Must Be the Heart” (Metropolis, Lang, 1927)    There has always been a great disparity between those who make decisions and those that are directly affected by the decisions made. A lot of this has to do with access to information and with communication. In Fritz Lang’s movie Metropolis made in 1927, he addresses “the head” as a group of people that exist literally above the laymen and make unrealistic decisions about “the hands’” livelihood. The final message of the film is that there must be an individual or a group of people that can act as a communication line between citizens and those in power. There are obvious contemporary parallels to that societal dynamic Lang was referring to in 1927. Things have only become more convoluted and bureaucratic over time. It is rare to find people passionate enough to, not only take the time, but enjoy communicating and empowering people to change their realities and impact the world we share. Kendra Turner is a true “heart” who has dedicated her life to demystifying the processes that exists to help people, but whose complexity deter people from changing their situation for the better.      Turner has worked in local government, corporate business, non-profit, and has consulted with local neighborhoods and businesses on various community building processes. Turner explains, “I’ve had about 20 years of experience in customer service, communication, PR and marketing. Really, just relationship building. I’ve figured out how to make that kind of coalesce into being a consultant and doing things I really, really love, that I do well, and that also tend to scare a lot of people,” she adds, “It feels really good because I get to help people  deal with things that are stressful for them in a way that, not only addresses their solutions, but helps them build skills so they can do it on their own.” Turner is very adamant about not doing things for people, but with them in a way that will allow them to do the same thing on their own in the future.     It wasn’t always obvious that Turner would end up working for the city. “I took seven years off between my sophomore and junior year of college and had a restaurant and wine consulting career. I sang in a jazz band and did all those things that you do when you are not in college and in your early 20s.” She eventually did return to school to complete her Undergrad, and then went on to get her Masters from WNC in Public Affairs. This is when she landed an internship working for the city. She recalls, “In that particular semester [that I had the internship], I had three jobs and a full course load, which was insane, I do not recommend that. I had a three year old and was planning my wedding too. It was insane.” Turner, however, was made to handle that type of lifestyle; she has always been heading in this direction even if it was not a direct path.     Turner talks about her influences saying, “My father was an amazing non-profit leader for many years here and he ran MAHEC for about 16 years.” Turner goes on to explain that her father was the most influential person in her life and taught her the importance of recognizing the power in working for causes greater than yourself. Being a mother has also motivated Turner in a lot of ways. “The measure for me, really, is; what would my daughter think, how would she perceive this, what am I teaching her? As a woman, I’ve worked in a lot of places where women are necessarily the majority [construction and politics]. Oftentimes, I’m not only the only woman, but also the youngest person in the room and I like that I’m that person. I like that I’m there and can take those lessons I’ve learned (sometimes, the hard way) and talk to my daughter about why it is that way and how, sometimes, it’s harder for women.” Turner is also a member of a women’s executive group called Mastermind where she gets together with other motivated women like herself and talks about things they have done or created, as well as, future possibilities.    One of the stories Turner told her group on a retreat they had with women from all over the country goes back to the days of her first internship, she says:                 I had this internship with the city and they noticed I had a way with some of the more passionate citizens who were really engaged and active in their neighborhoods. That was around the time that the Coalition of Asheville Neighborhoods, the development community, city council and city staffing, to some degree, just had a lot of different opinions about how we should be growing. You know, everybody had the same goal, which was that they wanted to contribute something and they wanted to make this city a better place, but not much happened because everyone had a different idea of what a better place looked like and so there wasn’t much discourse or progress. Mostly, it was the same conversation over and over. Finally, and I’m not sure if they thought I could really do anything or if I was meant to be a speed bump for the angry mobs, but they made me the first neighborhood coordinator to act as a community service representative when it came to communities - all different types of communities: residential, merchant, business, and development. I was to be this conduit for two-way communication between the citizenry and neighborhoods and city staff and city council. They all felt different ways and, sometimes, I would come up with solutions, but I think the biggest value was having someone to communicate the message in a balanced, objective way and also to communicate with folks about the different processes they could access. This lead me to creating “Who To Call in City Hall,” which was was basically a brochure with all the different departments, and who to call for what, and how the development process works, and what the first steps are, and then where things will lead, how you can get involved, and what the various possibilities are. Turner was able to clearly see that Asheville citizens were driven to make changes, but getting lost in the process of how to make those changes. Her current work now deals with the same kind of processes from a development aspect. She has partnered with designers, marketing professionals, and others from various backgrounds to create a business that allows individuals to access everything they need under one roof. In February, Turner started a company with a business partner called Real Property Consultants, LLC. She is also on the board of directors at Asheville City Greenworks, she was the campaign manager for Terry Bellamy in 2011, and is a community volunteer. Her main focus will always be and has always been on enriching the community. “People will sink a lot of money into something that ends up not working and they end up devaluing the property and then they will have a building no one can use. It will stay vacant and it won’t contribute to the tax base or create jobs or contribute to creating an active community,” Turner explains. Thus, she has made it her business to ensure that the development processes she is involved in, activate and engage the local community for the better.