Today, we’d like to introduce you to Tea Povolny.
Tea, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My name is Tanya Povolny, but most people know me professionally as Tea, and that’s intentional. I began going by Tea when I started EcoLogic as a way to help me separate myself from the business. This has been a useful tool as an introvert, but it also speaks to our core philosophy: that the ‘eco’ drives our decisions rather than our egos, and as Tea, I can remain somewhat anonymous while making sure the star is EcoLogic.
The idea behind ‘eco over ego’ is that everything is connected, and while this is by no means new, we take this philosophy seriously so that it informs every aspect of our work. The big difference between EcoLogic’s methods and a traditional landscaping company is that we don’t assume that human desires are the most important consideration when working with a space. We recognize that in order to make better decisions, we have to actively be aware of our natural self-interest so that we don’t fall into the trap of making harmful assumptions or prioritizing only the human experience.
I like to imagine that I’m a supporting actor to achieve this mindset. If I’m any good at my job, the lead will be all the more impressive for my efforts, and the story I’m building with my fellow cast will be better, even though I may go relatively unnoticed. But if I were to keep stealing the scene, the likelihood that our production will be any good is slim.
We’ve all experienced this phenomenon at some point: maybe working on a group project, or playing sports, or making music… any exercise that invites us to see ourselves as part of a collective rather than the focal point is an opportunity to connect with something larger, and potentially more meaningful, than ourselves. That’s the lesson we see in nature, and the feeling of connectedness we get when we engage collectively is the healing power of nature. Through EcoLogic, I hope to bring more of this to Atlanta residents in years to come.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not a smooth road by any means.
I didn’t know it when I started the company, but EcoLogic was largely driven from a need to find the kind of acceptance that comes from knowing what you are meant to do. I recognize now that I was so exhausted from seeking approval and trying to be what I thought others wanted, that I finally gave up trying altogether to find belonging with other people and decided to make my own belonging.
Like most kids, I was eager to please, but I was also frustrated a lot and that didn’t change much into adulthood. My interests changed often and not being able to figure out what I wanted to do only increased my frustration. It wasn’t until my late 20s and with some therapy that I realized I’d been looking to everyone else for approval without ever approving of myself. After that, it was easy to see the pattern: I would set out on a path and inevitably fall short of the impossible expectations I had created for myself. Everything I worked hard at lead to complete burnout: music, writing, teaching, landscape architecture… I loved them until I lost the spark. It’s a pattern that may be familiar to others who didn’t know they were neurodiverse until adulthood. So, I had a lot of pent-up energy and no direction for it to go for a long time.
Working in forest restoration was the first time everything clicked and kept clicking. I was 33 and starting in a new field, at the bottom again but I didn’t care. I felt purposeful and it was intoxicating. I had never had any real career prospects before and I was enjoying the experience of planning a future. Just as I was getting comfortable with the idea that I wasn’t a failure, I got fired along with two other female coworkers. We had dared to try and open a conversation with our boss about equal pay, and that was the end of the conversation and the job.
It didn’t matter – getting a taste for my calling had ruined me for any other profession. While the other girls were looking for work, I set out to convince my comrades to join me with nothing more than a stubborn determination to follow my new sense of purpose. I remember this time like I was possessed. I put all of myself into convincing and motivating our little trio. I did presentations. I researched and networked and scheduled meetings. I set up our business accounts and found clients. In short, I was all in and it’s a funny thing that can happen when someone’s conviction slips into the irrational – it can infect other people until one person’s dream becomes everyone’s dream.
That’s how, without any business background, knowledge of the industry, or even my own vehicle, I stepped into the role of entrepreneur for the first time. Together, we three formed a formidable coalition. They had the cars that provided the mobility we needed to bring the vision to life. I had the imagination and drive that showed them it was possible. Although we had some early successes, our endeavor’s future became tenuous when one of the girls landed a nice position with the city early on.
I would love to say we made it work and lived happily ever after, but my bullheaded commitment blinded me to the possibility that not everyone may be equally invested in our business’ success until well after resentments were surfacing. Looking back almost 5 years now, I can’t say I blame my ex-business partner for her reservations – she used to bring up how she was risking a rare opportunity at stability for a daydream, and I imagine that my resolve must have looked like indifference to her.
The hurtful drama that preceded our partnership’s dissolution should have told me sooner that we weren’t a good fit. Before, I would have held my tongue and tried to convince myself that I had no right to be hurt when my work was claimed by someone else. But with the ambition to start a business in the first place, I had discovered that I was now unwilling to see my intention get compromised, and I left that business behind before eventually starting EcoLogic.
In the end, I think I might have been the most fortunate out of the three of us. Granted, they got to keep and claim what I had built as their own, but I knew I had the motivation to start again and probably better than before. And I did just that. But there’s no denying that I learned a lot from the experience, including to trust myself.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about EcoLogic LLC?
EcoLogic provides regenerative landscape management services to private and public clients around the Atlanta Metro area. Our mission is to inspire responsible stewardship of native ecologies for healthier lands and communities. This can look like anything from invasive removal to building rain gardens and installing native plants, but our larger purpose is to help those wanting to make a positive impact on their surroundings find a path forward, especially for those feeling paralyzed by climate anxiety. We want to show people that their actions can have beautiful and meaningful impacts, even in the face of something so seemingly hopeless as impending ecological collapse.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Establish values for your company that inspire you. Conventional measures of success can start to feel arbitrary after a time, but if the reasons for why you’re doing what you’re doing really inspire you, you’ll be able to look to these for motivation when things get rough.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ecologicatl.com
- Instagram: @ecologic.atlanta
