Marsha Terry

This week on The Saddle Up Podcast, G Garza and Matt Palmquist welcome Marsha Terry, a nurse, philanthropist, wife, mother, community advocate, and co-founder of Village in the Valley, for a conversation about service, family, purpose, and what it really means to build a stronger community.Marsha has spent more than 30 years as a Registered Nurse and earned a Master of Science in Nursing with a focus on Leadership and Management. Her career has been built around caring for people, but that commitment to service extends far beyond healthcare. She is also a coach, speaker, author, entrepreneur, and longtime advocate for helping others discover their voice and purpose.That passion helped lead to the creation of Village in the Valley, also known as ViVa. Founded in 2019, ViVa was built around the idea that “it takes a village to raise a child,” with a mission to elevate and unite the Black community while connecting cultures throughout the Rio Grande Valley. The organization focuses on three central pillars: culture, community, and commerce.Through ViVa, Marsha and her fellow founders have helped create community programs, cultural events, scholarship opportunities, educational initiatives, and service projects across the Valley. By 2025, the organization reported more than 120 members, thousands of dollars awarded in scholarships, and hundreds of Thanksgiving meals distributed to seniors across the RGV.In this episode, Marsha talks about balancing the many roles she carries, from healthcare professional and entrepreneur to wife, mother, and community leader. We discuss the importance of representation, mentorship, philanthropy, and why creating meaningful connections between people can have an impact far beyond any single event or organization.At the center of the conversation is a simple idea: real communities are built when people are willing to show up for one another.