Heather Brothers New profile: 'I've had so many falls and resurrections'
Heather Brothers New likens herself to a cat with nine lives.
“I have had so many falls and resurrections,” she said in a recent interview. “That it’s clear God has a purpose in my life, and He’s taken care of me no matter how treacherous the situation may have seemed.”
And those situations have been pretty treacherous.
New grew up in poverty in rural Etowah County, raised by a devoted single mother and nurtured by “mother hen” (her words) elder sisters who were insistent that she’d escape that life.
Her quest to do that was briefly derailed, close to the finish line, by a personal crisis that ultimately became one of her greatest blessings.
Now, after carving out a distinguished career as a leader of nonprofit agencies, including 11 years as president and CEO of The Chamber of Gadsden & Etowah County, and her own venture into the business world, New is seeking to become Gadsden’s mayor.
She’ll face former state legislator Craig Ford in a runoff election on Tuesday; the winner will succeed four-term incumbent Sherman Guyton.
Mayoral candidate Craig Ford:His story told
Asked how she’d sum herself up to someone wanting to know what makes her tick, New said, “I’m a person that seizes opportunity, and recognizes the blessings I’ve been given. I’m a mom, wife, grandmother, small-business owner and a community advocate.”
And she leaves no doubt who instilled the values she holds — her late mother, Martha Jo Brothers.
“My mother was a very strong woman,” New said. “She dropped out of school in 10th grade to take care of her younger siblings. She had a sick mother and an abusive father. She always, from a very young age, had a sense of responsibility.
“My father left when I was 5 and never had much to do with my life, and my mother filled both roles,” she said. “I would go to night classes with her at West End High School for her to take her GED. And I can remember her walking across the stage at Wallace Hall when I was 5 and receiving that GED, and even at that age recognizing that my mom could do really hard things.”
Her mother, who ultimately obtained a commercial driver’s license and drove an Etowah County school bus for 28 years, made sure her daughters had that knowledge as well. “She taught us how to mow the grass and fix odd things around the house, and she always told us to be independent and self-sufficient and to not allow ourselves to create limits on ourselves,” New recalled.
Gadsden mayor Q&A:Craig Ford and Heather Brothers New to runoff
Her sisters — Doris Garmany, Pam Brothers, Pat Bodine and Donna Brothers — also were an example. “Even though we grew up extremely poor, having those four older sisters gave me a better opportunity than they probably had, because they worked at a young age and contributed to the household,” New said. “And there was never any question that I was going to go to college, that I was going to escape the poverty and do great things.
New’s girlhood dreams were of joining the Peace Corps and becoming a missionary and a writer — “a cross between Ernest Hemingway and Harper Lee,” she recalled, adding, “I wanted to go and help communities dig some wells, administer some vaccines and write about what I saw.”
She graduated No. 3 in her class at West End High School, and via Pell Grants and scholarships attended college at Gadsden State and Jacksonville, going year-round to try to finish and “start contributing” as soon as possible.
However, she became pregnant in her senior year and decided to leave school temporarily to raise her son, Quintan Brothers, “which I’ve done by myself for the large majority of his life,” she said.
“It’s a decision I’ve never regretted," New said. “It taught me a lot about how life is not about ourselves, it’s about others. He’s been the biggest blessing.”
Quintan now works as an IT specialist and has a daughter of his own, Zeola.
New said she moved away briefly, had one brief marriage that ended in an amicable divorce, but missed the Gadsden area, plus her mother’s health was declining.
“I moved into downtown Gadsden, in a cute little bungalow in Edenwood,” she said.
She then met her husband, Blake New, who had two children from a previous marriage, Savannah and Ashby, and “we became like a little mini Brady Bunch,” she recalled.
They will l celebrate their 13th anniversary this month. “He’s been the person I never knew could be possible in my life,” she said. “He’s been my biggest cheerleader. He pushes me to go further, believes in me when I don’t believe in myself.”
They’re also business partners, having purchased Gadsden Variety & Deli from longtime owners Mike and Sandy Self in 2020.
New said her husband had taken a buyout from Goodyear in 2019, and they didn’t realize that “God was probably positioning us for the opportunity to save Gadsden Variety” when the Selfs announced they were closing it.
“We promised the Selfs that we would keep it the same format,” she said. “We believed in what they were doing and we believed that the community loves that store dearly. So, we invested our life savings, in a pandemic, to buy a retail business and restaurant. I know I’ve learned a lot. You’d think coming from The Chamber I’d know how business works, but I really knew very little.”
She credited their veteran staff for keeping “the wheels on the bus and us on the right track.”
As for this venture into politics, New said “overwhelmingly yes” when asked if she’s enjoyed the experience.
“It has been hateful and vile at times,” she said. “It’s also been some of the deepest spiritual experiences I’ve had in my life at times.”
She recalled an incident when she was out campaigning, knocking on doors in a neighborhood. One resident expressed her intention to vote for her, but seemed upset and was hesitant to take a yard sign. Neighbors later told New that the woman had recently lost her husband of 49 years and was struggling to cope.
“After I finished talking with the neighbors, I was walking back to my car and she (woman) came outside and stopped me,” New said, and she told me that she had been in her living room praying and crying and asking God to give her a sign of what she should do. She just didn’t know how to move forward, how to carry on. She went back in after talking to me and said she’d just seen that sign: A young woman out knocking on doors, by herself, doing everything she can to make her community better.
“She said she’d sold Mary Kay for years and had that experience, cold calling, and knew how brave and bold you had to be to do that,” she said. “So, she came back outside and said ‘Yes, I want a sign,’ and it was like a God moment.
“I tend to focus on the positive and ... if this was the sole reason God told me to do this, it was enough,” New said, noting that she plans to stay in touch with the woman and now considers her a friend.
She mentioned the concept of lollipop moments, when people do something that they have no idea comes across as massively important to others.
“To you it was a simple act, but it was huge to them," New said. “I’ve had some of those lollipop moments in my life where somebody left me a little note of encouragement, and it’s what got me over a massive heartbreak or carried me through a really difficult task when I was absolutely exhausted.
“During this campaign I’ve prayed with people, had them pray over me, had them show me pictures of their families and tell me about their grandchildren,” she said. “And they’ve told me how they dream of having an economy here that will bring our kids back.”
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: A look at mayoral contender Heather New
