Lekeita Thames-Dodson: ‘You cannot pour from an empty cup’
When life knocks you down, Lekeita Thames-Dodson says it’s important to remember your “why” and just keep going. “I used to tell my team, ‘If you can look up, you can get up.’”
It’s a mantra that has proven invaluable in Lekeita’s life, time and again: in juggling work, school and family; in caring for her aging mother; and in grieving the death of her sister, whose children she adopted.
“With the loss of my sister, I became the guardian of my nieces and nephews. That was a huge ask — emotionally, physically and financially. Our household of two high school students became four high school students and one in elementary school,” she says. “But I believe what God brings you to, He will bring you through.”
In addition to raising her sister’s children, Lekeita also cares for her mother, who is suffering from dementia.
“Being a caregiver is about love and patience,” she says. It’s been challenging at times, but the family has learned how to “balance and blend to create a healthy home and life.”
Finding opportunities to refresh and reset
Creating a healthy life is important to Lekeita, though it hasn’t always been easy to prioritize her own health and wellbeing.
“I’ve learned that in my attempt to be all the things God placed on my heart, I had to find a place for me to focus on physical and mental health,” says the manager for service specialty teams at ASI.
For Lekeita, that means making time for exercise — whether it’s rising at 5 a.m. to hit the gym before work, taking a spin on her stationary bike at home, or cycling outdoors on the weekend.
“Mental health is as important, perhaps even more important than physical health. Those long bike rides are indeed a balance of both. Being outside in the fresh air, stopping along the lake to take in the beauty. Allowing those moments to refresh and reset,” says Lekeita, who jokes that the scrapes and bruises she sustained from bicycle wrecks early on have only helped build resilience. “I refused to quit!”
Lekeita exudes this determination in all facets of life, as evidenced by the recent completion of a master’s degree in business administration. It’s also present on the job at GE Appliances, where she’s worked for more than a decade and now serves as a WellWithin Champion at ASI.
“GE Appliances has created an atmosphere for employees to feel comfortable and have conversations about their wellbeing. Allowing employees to be themselves, bring who they are to the table and know they have a voice is very important,” says Lekeita. “Working for an organization that recognizes you as an individual, sees you as a person, and has tough conversations about mental and physical health is worth its weight in gold.”
Lekeita reiterates the value of asking for help, which is something GE Appliances strives to normalize through WellWithin.
“You cannot pour from an empty cup,” she says. “As hard as I tried, my cup was getting low… As I attempted to stand in the gap for my family, I had to break down the barrier and fear of asking for help. Because of that, I’m not afraid to lean in and help others and to let everyone know, it’s OK to say, ‘I’m not OK.’”