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.
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 with their two daughters, Elsie and June, and enjoy flower farming, walking and biking the neighborhood, and sharing meals with neighbors.
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.
Zach Blair
Zach is a licensed attorney with over a decade of experience in affordable housing and real estate law. He began his legal career as a Presidential Management Fellow for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and has served in executive and leadership roles in local and federal government with a focus on development, transportation, and civil rights. Zach is originally from Tennessee and has called East Nashville home since 2014. He joined the Board in August 2025 with a passion for building community.
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.