.

.

Right click here to download…

.

Toni Reece: Thank you so very much, Kendra, for agreeing to be part of this Project, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Kendra Robins: Yes.  I’m Kendra Robins, and I’m the Founder and Executive Director of Project Night Night.

Toni: Well, before we go into the first question, can you give us a little bit of background on what that it is, exactly?

Kendra: Absolutely.  Project Night Night is an organization that’s dedicated to helping homeless children have sweeter dreams, and we do that through our distribution of Night Night packages.  And each Night Night package is a new canvas tote bag that includes a security blanket, a book, and a stuffed animal for children who are homeless or otherwise underserved.  We distribute about 35,000 a year to virtually every state at this point and operate with about 10,000 volunteers who help us get the materials out and into the hands of the children.

Toni: Fantastic.  Well, Kendra, this I think is going to be a very easy Project and the questions for you to answer, so let’s go to the first one.  When you think about inspiration, Kendra, who do you inspire, and how does that happen?

Kendra: Well, you know, it’s a tricky question because I certainly didn’t set out to inspire anyone except for myself, but I think that as Project Night Night develops from a very small grassroots organization in my living room to kind of a national organization at this point with a very wide reach, I think that what ended up happening is that I was able to inspire women in particular, but folks really who are pressed for time to realize that with very little effort, you can give back.

You don’t have to necessarily attend training sessions; you don’t necessarily have to give us 20 hours a week.  You can give us … you can fill 10 tote bags, and that might take you an hour, and donate them to a local shelter; that really any amount of time that you have to offer to Project Night Night is valuable.

So our whole organization is built on the idea that not everyone really has big blocks of time.  Certainly when they’re raising young children and/or working or, you know, otherwise occupied, but that they shouldn’t be dissuaded.  So hopefully I’ve inspired a few people to come forward and to help in whatever manner they can with whatever time they have available.

Toni: So your inspiration actually for what you’re doing goes to inspiring others to take part in this, no matter how many hours that they can provide, correct?

Kendra: Absolutely.  We really cannot run without volunteer support.  As I said, we have a very wide reach, but we really only have a staff of three people, and we actually aren’t even together.  I’m in San Francisco, and my coworker, Jessica, is in Ohio, and our other coworker is in Michigan, but the way we really distribute almost all of our bags is throughout a network of volunteers, and as I mentioned, it’s, you know, usually around 10,000 a year.

We have a lot of people’s help, but they all help in small bits.  So some people will help us  with a few tote bags, and some people will help us with hundreds.  If all those people disappeared, Project Night Night would effectively disappear as well, so we really do operate on the idea that, you know, any amount of time and any amount of caring and giving is helpful to us.

Toni: Now, how do you believe what you’re doing, whether it’s those that you’re serving, those that are helping, or just in general, how do you believe this is helping others to explore their potential?

Kendra: Well, it kind of links together in that certainly when I was working at my first career, I didn’t feel that I had the … well, maybe the training or the time to really do volunteer work and to help the community, and I think that’s a similar sentiment that other folks share.  And what I think when you get to do Project Night Night and to help us, is that you really can explore your potential to figure out … you know, “I can do a lot with a little time.  I can get my family involved.  I can help my children explore their potential and realize that giving to the community and being philanthropic helps the soul and helps them be better people.”

So, you know, just learning that a little bit to others is helpful and permits growth, both internal and external growth, that really you can explore your potential that way, and if you like it and you want to do more.  We can always have folks scale up and really help us in a much more major way.  So in that way, I think the potential can be reached to whatever degree you have to give.

Toni: So really it’s a progressive volunteerism, isn’t it?

Kendra: Yeah … you know, we almost … well, I would say 75% of our volunteers repeat, and so in that sense, I think they realize that they have more potential, that they have more to give, that they can do more with what they have, and they want to continue to help.  And so that may not have been how they came into the organization; they may have come in to help us with a volunteer, they may have come in simply with a monetary donation, or perhaps overheard about us through a birthday party or a different way that we’re involved in the community.  And maybe they reached their potential a different way by taking baby steps in and then realizing what they could do.

Toni: What inspires you?  What do you need to be inspired?

Kendra: Well, also a good question.  You know, I think honestly what I need is a sense of purpose.  I think it’s very important for me at least to know that somebody appreciates what we’re doing, and Project Night Night has been very lucky in that way.  When we started the first year, I gave out about 1,000 Night Night packages, and all of them I did on my living room floor.

But the response to the Night Night packages from the shelters was quite tremendous, and we grew about 560% the next year, and our growth has been very steady like that.  We gave out 1,000, then 8,000, then 15,000, then 25,000, then 35,000 … so it’s … I take that to mean that there was a gap that we were filling, and that what we are creating there is a need for, and that the shelters are very responsive.  And the children, the notes and the pictures and feedback that we received is quite positive.

That honestly keeps me going.  That gives me that inspiration that I need, because as anybody who has a job knows, it’s not always fun and it’s not always rewarding, but those are the things that inspire me to keep going and to say “You know what?  This is worth it.  Somebody cares.  Somebody wants this product that we’re making.”  And all the time and effort that goes into it and the attention to detail that we try and put into each bag, that’s what inspires me; the happy faces of the kids and knowing that we are making them feel less anxious and less scared when they reach the shelter.

Toni: How did you come to this?  How did you realize that this was going to be a passion that you were going to fulfill?

Kendra: Well, in a roundabout way, like most people, I think.  I was a corporate attorney prior to founding Project Night Night, and I loved it.  I thought it was great.  Part of my job there was to form nonprofit organizations for other people, and I think the more you see this, the more you realize that other people are kind of exploring their potential and trying to live out their dreams a little bit.  I thought “Well, maybe I need to try this.”  And then, the tricky part was of course coming up with the idea that I was passionate about.

At the time … I now have two children, but at the time I had one child … and an exceptionally important part of his day was actually our nighttime routine, and to him at the time as an 18-month-old, his blanket really meant “home” to him.  It didn’t really matter where we were or where we put him to bed, but if the blanket was missing, the whole routine was thrown off.

I began to think about the victims of domestic violence, and they tend to be women who need to leave quickly and escape an abusive situation, so they … you know, they’re lucky to escape with their children let alone belongings or car or other items.  And I thought, what if your child really relied on a blanket or a book or a stuffed animal to get to sleep, and you arrive at this shelter and you haven’t been able to bring it, and the shelter is noisy and it’s crowded and it’s unfamiliar?  Your goal is to get your child to sleep, but you know, maybe the person next to you is snoring or any other sort of impediment to your nighttime routine.  If your child doesn’t sleep well, it really makes the next day difficult.

So I thought, well, maybe it’s as simple as giving them some of these items.  Giving the children who enter the shelter system a physical memento that says “We thought about you; we think you’re special.  Here are some items to help you go to sleep and to deal with your situation.”

But to be honest, I assumed that this organization existed already, so I did some research and looked into it, and I really couldn’t find anything that did what we did.  There were variations of the program in the sense that there are organizations that give pajamas out.  And at the time we started, Project Linus gave their blankets out, but they only gave them to children in hospital situations.  So there really was a need out there for us, and that’s kind of how it began.

I took the things to excess that most parents have from our children’s shelves, and I placed it in the bags and gave them out to the shelters.  And then at this point, you know, it’s grown.  We are very lucky to have lots of in-kind donations, blankets and books and stuffed animals sent to us from folks, or dropped off at our drop-off locations, or given to us from corporations, and you know, we were able to scale it up to do something larger.  But to be honest, I didn’t expect it to be so big.  I hoped to serve the children in my community, and really everything that’s gone past that has been just amazing for us.  We are very, very pleased.

Toni: Congratulations.  It sounds like it’s something that is just so needed.  The final question of the Project is, what are you doing to continue to explore that potential within yourself in order to either grow this organization or move into another?  What are you doing?

Kendra: Well, you know, I think in this kind of situation when you’re dealing with children who are underserved or homeless, that almost every day you get re-inspired in some way or another.  Our goal is to grow the organization to such an extent that the quality of our product continues to go up.  In other words, the items that are in the Night Night packages, you know, a child opens them up and really is impressed by them.  They’ve got so many used items that, you know, we really want it to be a “wow” and to say “This is the blanket I want to keep forever.”

And so, I’m trying to be inspired by the community, and I’m always inspired by the generosity of the community to kind of continue to expand our reach, more and more shelters, to get more product donated, and to remember that there are people behind what we do.  There are children behind what we do.

You know, sometimes as we get into filling bags, sometimes it can feel a little rote … but to remember that really when we fill them, a child holds them that night.  I mean, it’s a very direct service and to remember that if it was your child, if it were my child, that I would be so grateful if somebody remembered that child, and kind of, I think could be inspired by never losing that … I guess that sense of purpose and that magic.

So we are trying to scale.  Our goal is always to reach more and more children and that’s what gives us … there are a million homeless children in the United States, so when I say that we do 35,000, it’s an impressive number, but it’s the tip of the iceberg.  So we are inspired by all the rest of them who are still out there looking for Night Night packages.

Toni: So really, exploring your potential is to keep this front and center – one, remembering who the customer is at the end of all of this, you know, that you’re trying to serve, who that client is – and also keeping it in the forefront of people who are looking for a way to give back to the community to make a difference and reaching out to them so you have a further reach in volunteerism, I would imagine, as well.

Kendra: Absolutely, yes.  So we kind of don’t want to stop until every child is served.  It’s a goal, of course.  It’s slightly unrealistic to get a million, but, you know, everybody has to have a goal, and that’s ours.

Toni: And what an amazing goal that is.  We can’t thank you enough for showing up to the Project today, and we will spotlight your organization on the Project page.  As people know, other nonprofits are there as well, and also a link on how to find you and the work that you’re doing if people have a  sense of wanting to or needing to volunteer for your organization.  So thank you so very much.

Kendra: Thank you, Toni.  I really appreciate the opportunity to tell the story.

Toni: Oh, you’re quite welcome.  Thank you, Kendra.  It’s  been a pleasure meeting you.

Kendra: It’s been a pleasure.

___________________________________________________________

For more information about Kendra Robins:  www.ProjectNightNight.org, www.projectnightnight.org/PrintableResources.html

.

.



.
Right click here to download…
.

Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Jane, for agreeing to be part of the Get Inspired! Project today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Jane Randel: I would be happy to, and thank you for having me as part of the Project.  My name is Jane Randel, and I am by day the head of corporate communications for Liz Claiborne, Inc. and by night I am wife and mother of three little boys, ages 8, and then I have 6-year-old twins.

Toni: Oh goodness!  So you have your hands full!

Jane: Indeed.

Toni: When you think of the work that you do, the people that you come across, and you think of that word inspiration, who do you think you inspire and how do you do that?

Jane: Such an interesting question.  I think the first people I guess I hope I inspire are my children which, taking it out of the workplace for a minute, it’s doing … as  part of my job, my favorite part of my job, I oversee a very long, 18-year commitment to combating domestic violence that the company has undertaken.  It has become my passion, part of my identity in who I am.

I think looking at that, I hope to inspire my children to understand all sorts of things from that message; the most baseline being what a healthy relationship is, what it looks like, how to treat each other in a healthy relationship, but also then on a grander scheme, how to give back and why it’s important to give back and for them to realize how lucky they are.

Then, if I kind of take the concentric circles, move it out a little bit, I guess I hope to inspire the people that work for me.  I have a small but amazing team of, happens to be women, that work with me every day and they are … you know, I guess I hope to inspire them, again, not only with the work around domestic violence, the work that we do every day helping to communicate about Liz Claiborne in what has been some incredibly trying times for the company as well as the country as a whole, but also to inspire them to reach for whatever they want in terms of balancing work and life.

You know, I try and be, as much as I can … give them the flexibility that they need to live their lives and work here in a rather demanding environment.  Because my theory is that the more flexibility you give someone, the better return you’re going to get, and I hope I can inspire them in that way as well.

Toni: How do you think by providing that flexibility, the work/life balance that you try to do in work but then also through your children by setting that example, how do you think that by inspiring that way helps them to explore their potential?

Jane: The children or my coworkers?

Toni: Both.

Jane: I think it helps the kids to realize … I think it helps all of them to realize that you should always keep reaching and that it’s never going to be perfect.  I mean, there are plenty of days … just this morning, I ran and got my son before I made a 7:30 train a disposable camera to take on a school trip.  We ran out and got it and dropped him right off at the house and ran and made a train.

It’s never perfect; it’s always running.  But it can be what you want it to be, and I guess I hope to inspire them to reach for more and to be able to bask in their achievements for a little while and then keep reaching.

Toni: That’s interesting that you do bring that into the mix, to bask in your achievement but then to also keep reaching.

Jane: Yeah, you know, I think that all too often — and I’m probably guiltier of it than I’d like to admit — what does success feel like?  I just challenged an employee yesterday on that.  What does it feel like to you?  Because you have to give yourself a little bit of … you have to enable yourself to pat yourself on the back sometimes and feel good when you’ve accomplished something.  But we all know that if you become smug and content, your progress tends to stop, and you don’t really succeed at whatever it is that you’re trying to do.

And I think that it’s good to be able to acknowledge when you’ve achieved and done something good, and then you need to keep reaching and moving forward.

Toni: So the flexibility part of it in the workforce and dealing with your team, how do you think being flexible and hoping that return comes your way, but your techniques with dealing with your staff, how do you think that that helps them to explore their potential?

Jane: I think it enables them to … Well, first and foremost, I am a big proponent of you kind of catch more flies with honey.  And so I think that, you know, the more understanding you are – and it actually extends to my babysitters, too – she is a working mom just like I am, and I just think it’s important to kind of understand that.  I think it allows them to feel … I think it’s important for them to feel as though they can explore and yet still make mistakes.

My CEO is a big proponent of something called servant leadership, and one of the tenets of servant leadership is being able to show vulnerability.  And I think that when you struggle with work/life balance and see … When I got here at 10:00 one morning and then had a sick kid and had to turn around and make an 11-something train home, you know, I think you show vulnerability.  And I think it’s important to show that all the answers are not always before us, but that together we can find them.

So I find that in my team here, and I find it with the PR firm – who I hate calling just a PR firm – but the agency I work with on our “Love Is Not Abuse” campaign, this domestic violence awareness campaign that we have been running, as I mentioned.  And in particular, there is a woman there that is a huge partner of mine, and we’ve become great friends and, beyond that, just really both very committed to pushing this forward.

Toni: People who listen to these interviews on a regular basis know that there are certain words that come to me when I’m listening to you or the people that are on the interview, and the word that I just wrote down for you was empathetic.  That’s what I’m hearing, and that there’s some great empathy that you have for the people who work for you that, you know, every day they’re struggling just like you are, and there’s a great empathy that’s coming from you on that.  That’s just the word that hit me just now.

When you think about inspiration from your own perspective, Jane, and what you need to be inspired, what do you reach for?  What do you do to be inspired?

Jane: I’m not sure I have a good answer.  I mean, I don’t necessarily, you know, go for a walk through a museum or run to the beach.  I’m not sure that I have a solid answer for that.  I just know that I look a lot to the people around me.  My family, beyond my husband and my sons, but I have two sisters and my mom, and I have these amazing people that I work with who have become incredibly good friends of mine.  Someone who is a friend and mentor — who retired last year but we stay close — we speak several times a week.

I think I look around me.  I look at what other people are doing.  And not in an envious way — but in kind of an awe-inspiring way — and say “Look at all these people are accomplishing,” and it inspires me to keep pushing through.

I think that everybody has times where you step back and feel as though the world is closing in on you.  I’m not sure how I’m going to, you know, make it do all the things that I have before me to do, but you know, then you kind of … I find that taking a deep breath and accomplishing one thing at a time.

This is not rocket science, nor did I make this up.  It inspires me to keep going.  I know that sounds kind of basic, but it does.  You know, once you accomplish something, you feel like “Okay, I can handle this” and bite off smaller pieces.

And the other people that, of course, inspire me are the people who live through these domestic violence episodes, either as victims themselves or more recently of parents of teenagers who have been victims or parents who have lost their teens to dating abuse.

I look at these people, and every day they get up and they choose every day to either wallow in their grief and anger or push forward and do their best in the name of their child to make sure that other people don’t suffer the same fate.  How can you not be inspired by that?

Toni: Absolutely.  It’s just amazing.  When you know that you need to fill yourself up and to take that break for yourself, is there anything that you do?  Are there any tools that you reach for?  Is there music that you love to listen to or say “You know what, I need a break for me so that I can be re-inspired”?  Is there any other methodology or tools that you might use?

Jane: Yeah, I mean I have been practicing yoga for a couple of years, and I find that that always energizes me.  One of my sisters and I went just this past June on a little retreat for a few days, and that’s always … you know, a yoga retreat, and it’s really, really energizing.

I like to … I have an elliptical in my house, and I work out as many days a week as I can.  Again, I find that helpful as well.  Just watch incredibly mindless television.  I don’t want to watch anything heavy, you know?  My husband comes up and he’s like, “You’re watching this nonsense, this drivel.”  And I say “Right, because I just want to be entertained for the time I’m on the elliptical and just zone out and fall into someone else’s life for a little while.”

I like to read, and again, you know, there are books that I read for information, but there are a lot of books that I read for entertainment.  It’s just the way that I escape and go somewhere else for a little while.

Toni: When you look at moving yourself forward and exploring your own potential, what do you need?  What do you need to explore your own potential so that you can keep moving forward?

Jane: You know, I’m not sure that I have an answer for that.  I have all my life felt like I have fallen into the things that I’ve done.

For example, when I went to college, you know, I wasn’t sure what my major would be.  I went through a very liberal arts school, and I ended up taking a Japanese history class the end of my freshman year and suddenly decided that I wanted to take Japanese language and ended up being an East Asian studies major.

When I got out of school, I had no idea what I wanted.  I thought I wanted to be in advertising but had met somebody from a PR firm and took a writing test, realized what a press release was, and suddenly realized I’d been doing that a lot, you know, in high school and college.  I’d been doing PR anyway in high school and college.

I can’t really tell you that I’ve orchestrated my career here, either.  I’ve been at Liz Claiborne for 17 years, which is crazy.  I always said I didn’t want to be 40 in here, and lo and behold, here I am.  I have always just been fortunate enough to seize opportunities that were placed before me to expand my own horizons.

So, when I left my PR firm and they said “You’re going into fashion beauty, you’re going to be pigeon-holed.”  I’m anything but pigeon-holed.  I have been doing corporate communications for a public company for a lot of years now, and I don’t feel pigeon-holed at all.

Toni: In your industry, are there things that you need to do to stay up on the latest and greatest, and that moves you, that you’re going “Oh, I have to work on this.  I have to get a little more knowledgeable in this?”  Does that have to happen?

Jane: Yeah, and if you can show me a way to make me do that, I would be really pleased.  Yes, there are definitely more things that I should be doing in that regard.  Obviously you read the trade papers every day, and I am fortunate to have some people who happily take me to meet other people and make introductions for me.

But it’s interesting; you know, I find I was just … I’m not sure this is on the topic, but it just struck me.  You know, networking is such an important thing, and I have found that when I go to big events, I’m terrible at networking.  I am not someone who’s comfortable at walking up to people, having a conversation, and just interjecting myself or injecting myself.

However, in a smaller setting, you know, I’ve managed to make amazing partnerships just by meeting people in really random ways.  I’m much more comfortable in that way and taking advantage of networking in that way.  But it’s hard for me.

Toni: It’s interesting — and I don’t know if you realize that this is what has come out in this interview, and that’s why these are just so amazing to listen to people like yourself — but you’ve said a couple of points here that even your networking on a big scale you don’t purposely seek that out, but you have had wonderful partnerships and powerful partnerships in random ways.

You have fallen into things in random ways — like your career and what you’re doing — and I’m imagining that it’s not so … maybe not as random as you think.

Jane: I’m sure you’re right.

Toni: And I’m wondering if those random ways also have put you in touch with the work that you do on domestic violence?  You said that you’ve been dealing with that for 18 years.

Jane: Yeah, I’ve been dealing with it for a long time … well, 15 years for me, but yeah.  I have to be honest, I’m not sure … Domestic violence is my issue and my passion now.  I think that what I embraced at the time was the opportunity to give back to the community in a creative way that kind of flexed different muscles for me in my career.

I’ve maintained all along that I think it could have been any issue at the time.  Now I’m quite committed, and this has been entrenched and this is my thing.  Had we been breast cancer or heart disease at the time, perhaps that would be my thing.

But there is something … you know, domestic violence is a bit of an underdog issue in the sense that no one really likes to talk about it.  And I’m sure you could barely name a celebrity that has really made the same kind of commitment to it the way others have to other issues, which is unfortunately very important in our society in order to kind of remove stigmas around things.

So now, perhaps you’re right.  You know, I mean I think maybe I wouldn’t haven’t taken to another issue quite the way I’ve taken to this one.

Toni: I’m wondering with who you inspire — and you use the words “I hope to inspire” — and how you go about it, plus what you seek for inspiration and how you explore your own potential, which you originally stated was very random, and that there’s not a process that you go through to do that.  I’m just wondering if that perceived randomness hasn’t been the most powerful thing you’ve done.

Jane: It may very well be.

Toni: It’s amazing.  It’s really amazing.  You’ve given a lot of insight, and your honesty is very appreciative and that’s where people that are reading and listening to these interviews will connect with you, and that’s the power of this Project.  For that, I thank you for giving your time today to tell us a little bit about you and how you come at that word inspiration.  So, Jane, for that I thank you so very much.

Jane: Thank you very much for letting me be  part of this.

___________________________________________________________

For more information about Jane Randel:  jane_randel@liz.com

.

.



.
Right click here to download…
.

Toni Reece: Kim, thank you so much for joining us today on the project, and before we get into the questions, can you please introduce yourself?

Kim Wells: Sure, my name is Kim Wells, and I’m Executive Director of the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence.

Toni: Thank you.  The work that you do, particularly, I would imagine, in the organization that you’ve developed — which we will get into — and you think about that word inspiration, Kim, who do you think you inspire and how do you do that?

Kim: I think that I … I hope that I inspire the people that we work with, first of all, to see that domestic violence is everybody’s business and to help them understand the face of domestic violence — that it’s not just a person out there across the street or in another community or in another workplace, but that it’s somebody that they actually might know or work with or love or care about, or a path they may cross much more closely than they know — so that it’s a real face of a real person.  It really impacts the people around them.

And also that there’s something they can do about it, but they don’t have to feel helpless, that they don’t have to feel unequipped to address an issue that unfortunately is really all too common in the United States and around the world.  And hopefully help people feel empowered to know this is a terrible problem, but there is something that I can do to help people feel safe and secure in the one place they should feel safe and secure which is at home with the people they love.  And for us specifically, I can help people be safe and secure at work.

Toni: So your focus is that safety and security and awareness that you bring to the workplace.

Kim: It is.  But I think, you know, that while that is the focus of the organization, it does go further than that, because when people are equipped with those tools … I never will forget in particular one guy, who, doing the training in the workplace that very evening, he went home and heard something going on next door and — because he had those tools in his toolkit and had the understanding of how to address the issue — was able to respond appropriately at home for his neighbors.  And he said “Had I not learned about this at work and how to handle this at work, I think I might never have made the call to the police and never would have reached out to the neighbor.  I never would have leant that appropriate kind of hand, because I would have felt like I didn’t know what to do.  But I felt like I could do it.”

And so I think that there are so many bigger ripples than just a workplace because of the impact of domestic violence on people’s lives in so many more ways than just work.

Toni: So it really does empower, the tools that you’re giving people in the workplace, the awareness and the tools to deal with that.  It also empowers them to possibly make different choices when they’re in a situation either experiencing it or witnessing it.

Kim: Right.  And so then I hope that they are really inspired to know I can make a difference and that I can help make change in society so that it’s not just this workplace is safer, this workplace is more productive, but that the world can change because we’re saying “This is not okay, I can do something to make this different.”

Toni: You know, this brings us to the next question so beautifully, which is, you are working with people in the workforce, and the examples that you’re giving as far as how that even impacts our side of the workplace, how do you think that providing those tools and that awareness during the inspiration process helps people explore their potential?

Kim: Oh, I think that’s the most beautiful question, because I think people start to see what is special and gifted in them. People are so infinitely valuable and each person has a special gift in themselves, you know?  You talk to them – “I don’t lead, I’m not gifted” …

But people have the ability to reach other people, the people that they know and they love.  And they have the power to do that in a way that I don’t or you don’t by a kind word, by saying specific to this issue, “Are you safe?  Are you okay?  I care about you.  I’ve seen changes in you, and I’m worried”, and that could change or save a life, and that is amazing.

And so helping somebody to understand that they have the potential to make that difference for someone else and for a victim, to help them understand that they matter, there are people who care, and when they are ready to get safe, there are people who want to help them do that.  It’s an amazing opportunity to help people explore that possibility.  It’s a huge privilege and honor to be able to be in a place that you get to do that.

Toni: That’s amazing, and I can only imagine the ripple effect, not only from a victim’s perspective but also for the person who’s helping to make that difference, providing that safe, secure place and knowing that it’s okay.

Kim: And learning that once you do that, that’s an okay thing to do, and learning that it’s okay to ask somebody if they’re safe and to say to somebody “You know, I’d rather be wrong or have you be mad at me than to not ask this question”, because the truth really is, isn’t that the case?  I would rather be wrong than not check with you if you’re okay.  And to find out that’s an okay thing to do and to just realize, you know?

So many people say “I don’t think that’s really around me.  I’m not sure anybody I know really has gone through this.”  And then as people start to learn what the signs are, they go, “You know, I never really thought about it before, but I do know somebody that might have that in their life.”  Knowledge is power, and people start to see that potential in themselves to be part of change, to make the world safer for those people, for the children of those people, for everyone; and I think it’s really empowering for people.

Toni: Absolutely.  What a ripple effect that has.  When you think about your own inspiration, Kim, and you look at what you need for inspiration, what do you seek?  Where do you go?

Kim: You know, every day I think – it’s going on my tombstone – Mother Teresa: “No one sees a miracle who’s not looking for one.”  And so the idea that you have to really look for those miracles; and every day I meet amazing people.

The people in the companies that we work with who do these amazing things to help people get safe, and the amazing survivors that I talk to that reach out to me that say “This is my story, this is what I survived.”  That is incredible inspiration to me.  Or, the people who say “This is how I helped somebody that I know”, “Here’s an idea that I have”, “Have you thought about this?”  Or other employers that say “Hey, we’re trying this; this is a new idea.  Or we want to try to step into doing this; how do we do this?”

I’m inspired every day by the amazing people that I talk to who choose to do this, because nobody’s making them.  They could certainly turn their eyes away.  They could certainly choose not to look at this issue, but they choose to.  And so, it’s really sort of hard not to be inspired, because there are so many amazing people on a daily basis that I have the privilege of working with and talking to.

And I think that I’m also inspired by the people who do this on behalf of people who don’t have a voice right now, because there’s so many people who can’t say “I’m in this right now”, who can’t say “I’m not safe right now.”  And so people who wear purple ribbons on their behalf, or on Twitter, where they’re wearing Twibbons on their behalf, you know, speaking for people who can’t speak for themselves right now.  And so it’s really difficult to not be inspired, because those people just reach out on a regular basis.

Toni: Is there a mechanism in place that they can reach out to you, or do you seek it?

Kim: Both.  I think people reach out just automatically, but I think we also … I do seek that in my contacts — as it’s appropriate in my contacts with people — in trying to get feedback on what we’re doing.  Certainly on Twitter.  One of the nice things about social networking is you get sort of that immediate personal kind of feedback from people and sort of private feedback from people, and so there’s lots of incredible ways to be inspired.

Toni: I can imagine how humbling that is to hear the stories of survival and to know … not only have that be very inspirational to you personally, but also the work that you’re doing and how that impacts that, you know, that you’re part of that success.  When you’re looking for inspiration and you’re getting your inspiration, what do you do, Kim, then to continuously explore your own potential?

Kim: I think it’s a constant challenge.  I was talking to a woman that I’ve done a lot of presentations with who wrote a wonderful book.  She’s a survivor, and she said “You know, it’s so difficult because people don’t want to talk about this.”  And I said, “That’s why we gotta keep talking.”  I said “You know, whether it feels like we’re rolling the ball up the hill, that’s what kind of inspires me.”

It’s the challenge of “I’m going to do this; and I’m going knock on every door; and I’m going to find different ways to shout this out; and I’m going to find different ways to open that door to help you understand this in a way that you didn’t understand this before.”

So I think in exploring my own potential, it’s finding those different ways to get that message out to help people understand, because I don’t think it’s that they don’t care; I think it’s that they don’t understand.  And so, for me, it’s being so grateful to know that safety and security and hope is a possibility for everybody, and so much do want that for other people that it’s just not hard to keep on trying to find it.

There are terrible, hard days where there’s a lot of workplace violence and people are killed, and there are just really hard days in this job … really hard days … really just hard times.  But it’s taking from that never wanting that to happen to somebody else again, and thinking how do you go forward and just keep on finding ways to get that message out — whether it’s to a seventh grader who calls us or a senior executive of a company that calls us — that we can find ways to make that different.

And that’s where that comes from for me, in finding those different ways to get those messages out and to talk to … whether it’s a large group, it’s a company, whether it’s a program or it’s just a conversation that I’m going to try to explore that potential in myself.

Toni: Are there tools you reach for, Kim, when you’re doing this type of work that when you’re doing the discovery work of alternative paths or different paths in order to keep working on that safety and that security?  Is there something you reach for?

Kim: Well, you know, we have a lot of tools in the field that we use.  But I think for me, I’m a really spiritual person, so a lot of times my tools really go back to honestly what does God say about people?  What does God say about what’s important and who these people belong to and why they’re valuable?

So I think my big over-arching sort of structure of what matters and who you’re plugged into and what their frame is for life is sort of where my grounding comes from and where I go forward; and then sort of my professional tools in my toolkit I’m always learning.  But I think that frame is sort of what always grounds me and keeps me excited, because I think I sort of know for me who I belong to and why people really matter, and why this matters to me.

And so I’m going forward.  That just sort of makes the circle of reasoning bigger for me in using the professional tools and all of the other really great things that are out there for people to use as professionals, as women, as leaders; probably too many to even mention.  But I would say that’s probably my biggest frame that I go back to.

Toni: That is so important for people to hear that are going to be listening to this interview as well as reading this interview.  That’s why it is absolutely such a gift that you’ve not only spoken about your organization — which is powerful in its own right — but how you as an individual … what’s so personal about it for you, where your personal inspiration comes that drives that potential to keep looking for alternative ways to get it done, and then how that transcends into that organization.  That’s what is so beautiful about this Project and having people like you doing the work that you’re doing.

Kim: Thank you.

Toni: It’s awesome – it’s awesome.  I want to thank you so much for the learning and value that you have given to this project just by this interview today, and we do have your organization on the Project page.  So those who are listening and reading, please check it out and learn more about it, because it is a very important topic, and Kim, we cannot thank you enough for the gift you’ve given us today.

Kim: Thank you so much, Toni, it’s an honor, truly.

___________________________________________________________

For more information about Kim Wells:  www.caepv.org

.