Our Team Members: 100% Local
Grateful to live and work with our neighbors!
Nate Paulk, Founder
Nate served as the leader of Trinity Community Commons from 2013 - 2023. His background is in elementary education and has 16 years of experience in community development.
Nate is deeply fascinated by every person he meets. He currently lives in Chattanooga with his wife, Laura, and two children, Iris and Mac.
Jami Anderson, Community Connector
Jami’s a native Texan who's been crushing it as our Community Connector. After taking a break from designing music packaging to have a child, Jami noticed the low reading performance amongst young Nashville school kids and the lack of access to books during school breaks. She quickly developed a deep passion for making an impact by donating a book to every school-age elementary student in schools with the most need. This resolve fueled her passion for connecting people with resources and people with people.
Six years later, Jami is still going strong! She's spearheading community-building programs like our Farmers Market, Clothes for a Cause benefit, and children’s clothing swap. Jami is truly a rockstar and we're lucky to have her keeping East Nashville an amazing place to live, one program at a time.
Zach Lykins, Executive Director
Zach fell in love with Trinity at the community meal. It was the first place he’d seen in Nashville where all people were welcomed as equals, breaking bread together around a shared table.
Zach grew up in Memphis, went to school in South Carolina (go ‘dins!), and came to Nashville in 2011. Zach and his wife Rachel live in Cleveland Park and enjoy urban flower farming, reading, and sharing meals. The blackberries and raspberries hanging over their fence are fair game.
Board of Directors
Howard Hale, President
Howard has over 60 years of experience in manufacturing, selling, and distributing machine and electrical products. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a degree in Industrial Technology. Howard has served in a variety of roles for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers since 1970. Howard is a member, trustee, and rehabber of East End United Methodist Church. Howard joined TCC’s board in 2022.
Howard was born in Nashville. He lives in Inglewood with his wife, Evelyn. They have two daughters, Cathy Hale (deceased) and Karen Hale Clark, and two grandchildren, Blake & Brooke.
Stephen Watts
Stephen Joel Watts (he/him) is a writer, organizer, curator, political advocate, and storyteller who believes in a world that provides for all its citizens. Stephen agitates for progress on issues at the intersection of racial, gender, and social justice -- with a particular focus on interrupting structural violence by increasing community control of resources. He facilitates and designs community education projects to build broader understanding of the patterns of power and control that connect all forms of our oppression. Stephen is also the founder of the Black Mythology Project, which won the 2024 Nashville Arts & Business Council Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award for reimagining history by centering the collective memory of the Black diaspora.
Meredith DiMenna
Meredith has a diverse background with marketing and operations experience in real estate, architecture, recycling and entertainment. She works primarily in music business where she’s held director positions in marketing and operations. Meredith served as TCC’s Director of Operations from 2020 to 2022 and joined our board in 2022. She lives in Cleveland Park with her husband and daughter.
Emily Siner, Secretary
Emily Siner is a neighbor who fell in love with TCC at a community dinner in 2019. She's also a local journalist — the former news director of Nashville Public Radio, the former executive producer of the WNYC legal podcast More Perfect, and a current podcast story editor. In 2022, she was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Ireland, where she studied comparative journalism practices. She joined the board in 2024 with a desire to help shape the future of TCC and ensure the spirit of radical hospitality continues.
Chris Powers
Chris lives down the street and got involved with Trinity when he returned to Nashville in 2022 after 15 years away in Chicago, Shanghai, and New York. He works in the crypto industry, writing a newsletter on decentralized finance and contributing to decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). The rest of his time is spent chasing his three-year-old son Murphy, smoking meats, and drinking coffee. He’s also sous chef to his wife Liz, who cooks a community meal at Trinity once a quarter.
Growing up in the Nashville area, he began participating in Room in the Inn with his family in elementary school. He joined the TCC board in 2025 and is passionate about building a community at TCC that is welcoming and fosters meaningful connections across all parts of society.
David Brassfield, Treasurer
David’s a neighbor & a local business owner. Check out Brassfield’s Provisions on Douglas! With as much focus on local and sustainable goods as possible, Brassfield’s strives to be East Nashville’s neighborhood stop for drinks, snacks, quick bites, gifts and the things you might need in a pinch.