EAP 190: Let Your Dreams Fly - Archery, Empowerment & Hidden Gems with Natasha Green

In this energizing episode of the Early Accountability Podcast, host Kimi Walker sits down with Natasha Green, CEO and founder of Hidden Gems Archery. What began as a teacher’s dream to give her Bronx students a sense of purpose has evolved into a mobile archery business transforming lives across New York City. Natasha shares her journey from writing a grant with no archery experience to running an empowering, community-focused venture that helps both youth and adults realize their hidden potential.

Through powerful stories and real-life examples, Natasha talks about the immediate joy archery brings, the confidence it builds, and how it creates a unique bond within teams and groups. Whether it’s helping someone hit their first target or guiding corporate teams through collaborative challenges, Natasha’s work is all about showing people what’s possible when they believe in themselves. If you’ve ever felt called to do something unexpected—this one’s for you.

Topics Covered in This Episode:

• Using archery as a tool for empowerment and self-discovery
• How Natasha started her business with a grant and zero experience
• The unique benefits of archery in group and team settings
• Building confidence and joy through physical movement and mindset
• Encouraging underrepresented communities to try Olympic sports
• Turning personal passion into a purpose-driven career

About Natasha: 

Natasha Green is an educator, entrepreneur, and community builder with over a decade of experience making a lasting impact in education and youth development. As the founder of Hidden Gems Archery, Natasha introduces students and communities to the empowering sport of archery, creating unique opportunities for growth, discipline, and leadership.

Natasha's journey into archery began during her tenure as a math teacher and Dean of Discipline at Clinton High School, where she sought to expose Black and Brown students to diverse opportunities, sparking what has become a flourishing initiative across NYC schools and beyond.

With over 10 years of collaboration with the NYC Department of Education and partnerships with organizations like the UFT School Counselors Chapter, Natasha has built innovative programs that bridge education, sports, and leadership. She also leads Hidden Gem Solutions, an edtech consultancy, and manages community-driven initiatives under her nonprofit, Hidden Gems Inc.

Natasha's expertise extends beyond archery; she is a passionate advocate for equity in education and is committed to helping individuals and organizations align their service and leadership goals. She is currently focused on expanding her leadership programming, empowering young people to set and achieve meaningful goals, and supporting schools and companies in creating impactful activations through archery.

 

CONNECT WITH NATASHA:

Website: hiddengemsarchery.com

Instagram: Hidden Gems Archery

Facebook: Hidden Gems Archery 

 

CONNECT WITH KIMI:

Visit: earlyaccountability.com

LinkedIn: Kimi Walker

Facebook: 

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Welcome to the Early AccountabilityPodcast hosted by Kimmy Walker.
Kimmy has a track record ofserving as a behavior change and
improvement catalyst for individuals,groups, and organizations.
Get ready to make the bestversion of yourself a priority.
Now welcome Kimmy Walker,

(00:24):
Kimmy Walker here and welcomeback to the next episode of the
Early Accountability Podcast.
I am so excited to be here andshowcase my guest for this evening.
We have Natasha here from Hidden GymsArchery, so she's gonna first introduce
herself and talk about her company andwhat they do and the ways that they
are changing individuals and teams.

(00:46):
Yes.
Hi.
Thanks for having me.
I'm so excited.
This is amazing.
Okay, welcome folks.
So who am I?
I am Natasha Green, CEO, andfounder of Hidden Gems Archery.
We're a travel archery businessin the New York City metro area.
That means that we bring the amazingspark of archery to youth and
adults, and we teach them not to beaimless, get it not to be aimless.

(01:10):
And we do this throughactivities with archery.
We do this through curriculum and allthings that make sure that they enjoy
themselves when they're doing our program.
And so one of the things with archeryand how I got into it was because I was
that teacher in the Bronx, New York,and I looked at some of her kids in the
school deal with Clinton High School.

(01:30):
I was like, there's some reallybright talented kids in this school,
and not all of them could playbasketball on the basketball team.
It's 15 people on a team.
I was like, oh, hold up,hold up, hold up, hold up.
There's too much talenthere in this school.
Mm. To not allow them to do something,especially an Olympic sport.
And so I started my journey with that.

(01:51):
But we believe in bringing archeryto communities that will not have it.
We believe in making sure that ifyou believe that this is something
that you want to do, that wannagive you that opportunity to do it.
How did you learn archery?
I learned it when Igot the grant to do it.
Oh, are you serious?
Yep.
I received a grant, so my vision in lifewas to be a principal of a school and

(02:13):
have my ideas on changing school cultureand having kids love coming to school.
And so that was my vision.
I never thought I wasgonna have a business.
And so that being said, when I waslooking at my kids, I've always
wanted to build things for my studentsthat will make them have experiences
that they remember for a lifetime.
When I came to archery, I waslike, oh, what if I wrote a

(02:34):
grant to do this archery thing?
And when I received the grantwas when I was like, oh shoot,
I have to learn archery.
And so I only learned because Ireceived a grant to teach them archery.
How long have you been doing this?
Been doing it for 10 years, but thepast three to four years after Covid.
You have seen more of a dedicationto it, but 10 years is when

(02:57):
I've just been around doing it.
I had an archery location, a space,and we didn't have a space no more,
decided to be mobile, but the pastcouple of years have been really intense.
A lot more clients and things like that.
So what are some of the transformationsyou see when you go to help
small groups, schools, teams?
What are some of the things you'veseen that archery like instills

(03:19):
in people or teaches them?
First is the immediate joy.
I don't know how to explain it to anyone.
When someone first is nervousabout, oh, can I really do
this and how should I do this?
But then they go immediately from beingnervous to when they hit the target.
I. And no matter we're on thetarget, they just hit the target.
They're like, oh, I did that.

(03:40):
Right?
Like I pulled it back and I did it.
And so it's immediately realizing,wow, that I could do something that
I never thought I could do, right?
And that itself give peoplea power of I am capable.
I could do this right?
And so we see that automaticallyfrom the first time they do it.
Then after they do some more of itand practice some more, then they

(04:01):
start realizing like, wow, how Iam connected to this target and
how I move my body or my stance.
Then it also relates into how andwhere I hit the target, right?
So they come into this level of oneness,of realizing, wow, this process that I'm
doing, this thing that I'm doing, andmy body and myself relates to the arrow,

(04:21):
relates to how the arrow hits the target.
What have you seen peopleget from archery, like doing
it in the group setting?
So whether it's like you're at a school,like in a classroom, or you're doing it
like corporately for like a small groupor like a division in a corporate office.
What are some of the things yousee people get from a group, even
though I guess I would assumearchery's more like individual based?
Like, I mean, when you come to actuallydo it, what do you see that do for teams?

(04:46):
Yeah, they baseline.
It baseline's an experience that youcould be tall, a different age group.
I could be short, a different age group,but it cuts across all things because
the experience is the experience.
And with archery, you haveadaptive archery, right?
Some people are taller,they'll have longer bows.
Some people are shorter.
They're shorter both, and withteams, it's a conversation

(05:08):
I can now talk to you about.
Oh wow, you just hit, how did you do?
How did you feel?
And so you start seeing teams ableto communicate on something that
gives us a commonality, right?
This thing that we just did,no matter what background
we're in, that's number one.
Number two, we as a team, you couldlook at me and you could say, Hey,
Tasha, that last time you didn'tfollow through on your shot, and now

(05:30):
you're able to give each other feedbackin a way that is not intrusive.
It's like, oh, this iswhat we're doing together.
Oh, look at my form.
Oh, what do you see that I did?
Oh, you put your hip outa little bit too much.
So with teams, it builds this level ofcommunicating in a area that we're both
not sure about, but together we learning.
And through this learning, then werealize, wow, when we learn, we could

(05:53):
still talk to each other in this way.
Right.
What is something you notice or seen orlike some actualization you've had when
it comes to teaching something like thisthat is unfamiliar to probably a lot of
people, like something that's very new,something that may not have, especially,
I know you talked about being in likeunderserved populations in schools.
What are some of the thingsyou have gained from that?

(06:15):
Seeing people trying somethingthat's foreign unknown.
I know when I think of archery, I think oflike the ax throwing and things like that.
I'm like, oh my gosh, that's so like.
It seems so dangerous.
Right?
So what are some things you'vekind of come from and seen
from a facilitator standpoint?
Yeah, so I bring in otherthings people might know.
A lot of people know yoga and meditation.
So I have to bring in thisidea of I want you to breathe.

(06:37):
Take a deep breath.
I. Relax.
This is new.
You're not sure about it, but ifyou go through these steps, right,
and this goes to across anythingin all things we do in life.
If you follow certain steps andprocedures, then you're okay.
Just check it off.
Take a breath.
And so what I see is when I related tothings that they know about, like you know

(06:58):
about breathing in yoga with meditation,you know about calming your heartbeat
down, de-stressing yourself a little bit,and then I could pull that into archery.
As in, as you stand on this line, you arestanding on a line center yourself, right?
Balance yourself, feel good to yourcore, and then you add the other
parts of three fingers on the string.
Raise up your arm.

(07:19):
Right?
So it's just connecting on thethings that people already know, but
pulling it and saying, this is howit works in the world of archery.
So how long do you suggest people do itwho are trying to get more like mindful
about it, to learn it to kind of perfectit or get even just better than it?
Than say, let's say likea two hour class, right?
Like, oh, this is fun experience.
No, I think I wanna kindof like get better at this.

(07:40):
Like people might do with tennisor racquetball or what have you.
Yeah, it's a lifelong sport.
You could do as young as seven allthe way up to your nineties, as
long as you go hold up a bow, right?
And then you don't alwayshave to hold it up.
'cause you could also have adaptivearchery where someone holds it for you.
But that's a whole nother area.
But what I really want people toknow, it's like any sport, it's
like anything that you learn, youput in hours, you put in time.

(08:03):
And so in the beginning, yes, you go inand you're like, wow, I hit the target.
That's what I did.
But then like any sport, thenyou have certain levels of
proficiency that you wanna reach.
And in Archer in particular,you wanna get to where you
are able to group your arrows.
You're able to see that, hey,I'm centering on in my goal.
Mm-hmm.
And that takes time, right?
Because what you realize when you shootat the target, you'll get like a group,

(08:27):
and then there's that one arrow that'soff to the right or off to the left.
You're like, uh.
But that's where you're alwaysworking on this perfection of
getting it centered into the target.
So, okay, so I don't, youknow, from New York, right?
And I'm Indiana, right?
So we have winters, right?
We have snow.
We know snow.
Does it have to be outside?
Is it something I could dolike in my house in the winter?

(08:47):
Or like is there a safe way to do that ifI wanted to teach like my kids or family?
How can you adapt this todifferent settings or environments?
Yep.
We are travel archery, sowe do indoor and outdoor.
We set up indoors a lot oftimes in the schools and with
companies and all of that.
But if you as an individual havemaybe 10 feet, 12 feet, I really

(09:08):
do want people to be careful overthere shooting inside their house.
But you know, everyonehave different spaces.
But you wanna make sure that youhave the proper target to make sure
that when you are shooting right,there's different poundage of bow,
like you're not piercing a wall.
And so yeah, there's different ways thatyou could set up the archery experience.
I am definitely a proponent for thosewho could find archery range in the

(09:30):
area that you really enjoy, findthe community, connect with them.
'cause they also help you along yourjourney of becoming a better archer.
Okay, so about the connection, I knowwe talked too about how it's like
kind of individual, but can you talkmore of what you've noticed too about
connection and collaboration when itcomes to learning a new task or trying
something unknown, going like againstyour comfort zones and things like that.

(09:54):
What have you found to see?
'cause you do a lot withsmall groups, large groups.
I'm sure you all might doindividuals, but it seems like most
of this is group work, correct?
Yeah, that's correct.
And so what we see is it's allhow you frame the learning, right?
So when we come in and we're teaching,especially adult, adult learning is a lot
different sometimes than youth learning.

(10:14):
We present the techniquesand we're informed.
We make sure that some people get ableto read, okay, this is how stance goes.
This is how knocking goes.
This is how anchoring our reflection goes.
And so we have it written.
We also have verbal ways ofstepping people through this.
And so let's say we use the TheraBands, weuse resistant bands, and we are partners.
We put people together, solook at each other's form.

(10:36):
If I'm like, Hey, raise up theTheraBand three fingers, pull to the
anchor, the corner of your smile.
Sometimes somebody's elbow might bedown, right as I show you, my elbows
down, but someone looking at my form,they'd be like, oh, raise your elbow up.
That looks like a strong position.
And so now you have peers helpingpeers, and we could teach them.
Well, the view of you from positionone right straight behind the elbow

(11:00):
or their back is different thanposition two face, face in front.
And so you could input this ideaof how do you collaborate, how
do you work with each other?
How do you give each other insight?
Because you don't always see how youare as a person physically, but also you
don't always see how you're as a personwhen you're navigating situations, right?
So that's why we get mentors.

(11:20):
We get coaches, and the samething happens at archery.
You could connect that and say that,wow, like I'm looking at you physically,
but then sometimes you might wantmore input on the mindset also.
Okay,
so how can people learn more if thisis something they think that they would
be interested in just learning moreabout whether it's bringing it to their
organization, to their team, to a school.

(11:42):
Where can they find out more about hiddengems or just support the mission or just
stay in touch with what y'all are doing?
So Hidden Gems, archery on social,Facebook, Instagram, x slash Twitter,
LinkedIn, big LinkedIn person.
You could follow us.
Follow whole journey.
And then definitely if you're in theNew York City region, reach out because
we wanna have ultimate archery days.

(12:03):
We want working professionals to feellike this is something you could do.
It's not something for justkids, it's something for adults
to feel this joy of archery.
So you all have to stay tuned.
Natasha's gonna come back.
You have to definitely follow on YouTubebecause we're gonna do a live and
we're actually gonna get some video.
We're gonna get some clips andshow it so you can see this live.
See what it looks like and dive intoit Now, in the meantime though, can

(12:26):
you share some words, what are somewords, what's a mantra that you live by?
What are some words that you feellike you kind of used to guide you?
Let your dreams fly.
That's something I believe in.
Let your dreams fly.
Believe that you're gonna hitthe goals that you wanna hit.
That's actually a tattoo I have on me.
It's just something I live by.
And then I hope more people do thatbecause the world needs people who are

(12:47):
dreamers, who believe in what they believein, and I have a feeling like, Hey,
I'm gonna go out air and just do this.
We love it, so don't be aimless, right?
And let your dreams fly.
We love it.
Natasha, thank you so much forbeing a guest on this show.
Definitely check in whenwe go live on YouTube.
Thank you for turning into theearly accountability podcast.
Until next time,

(13:09):
it was a pleasure to have you joinus on this episode of the Early
Accountability Podcast with Kimmy Walker.
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the early accountability newsletter.
We look forward to activatingyour greatness and helping
you reach your goals.