the bossbabe podcast - 442: Building a Successful Non-Profit, Leadership in Tough Times + How to Help The Most Vulnerable This Season with Susan Ramirez of National Angels

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

In this deeply moving episode, Natalie sits down with her friend + Founder of National Angels, Susan Ramirez. National Angels is a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming the foster care experience for children, youth, and families across the United States. Bossbabe has been a supporter of National Angels for years, deeply moved by the organization’s mission and Susan’s dedication to creating change in the lives of our most vulnerable population - children. Ahead of the holidays, Natalie and Susan share stories of hope, resilience, and transformation that will leave you inspired + maybe a bit emotional. Susan shares her journey of leaving corporate America to pursue this calling, how National Angels is rewriting the future for foster children, and the life-changing power of mentorship and community. Whether you're looking for inspiration, ways to give back this season, or a reminder of the impact we can create when we come together, this is an episode you can’t miss. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – Welcome + Introduction of Susan Ramirez. 00:29 – Why Natalie has been supporting National Angels for years and why this cause is so close to her heart. 01:55 – Susan’s story: From climbing the corporate ladder to discovering her life’s purpose. 03:36 – The devastating realities of foster care and the ripple effects across society. 07:06 – How Susan piloted her first program and transformed one family’s life. 10:05 – Jonathan’s story: From failing grades to football stardom through mentorship. 13:05 – How National Angels grew from a local initiative to a national movement. 15:34 – The business of non-profits: Running National Angels with strategy, leadership, and purpose. 17:34 – Susan’s faith-driven decision to leave corporate America and lead National Angels. 19:34 – Burnout, leadership struggles, and Susan’s transformative soul adventure in Sedona. 24:46 – Reclaiming her purpose and creating healthier boundaries as a leader. 27:19 – Teaching self-efficacy: Susan’s powerful lessons on intentional parenting and mentorship. 29:15 – Balancing the emotional weight of foster care work with hope and resilience.  32:03 – Abel’s story: A marathon, mentorship, and a life-changing surprise. 35:40 – The power of words: How encouragement changed one foster youth’s life forever. 37:10 – How you can get involved: Donate, volunteer, or mentor a child through National Angels. 39:22 – The tangible impact of donations and the ripple effects of supporting this mission. 41:22 – How the Bossbabe community can step up and support National Angels. 42:29 – Volunteer and mentorship opportunities: How you can make a lasting difference. 45:13 – Susan’s advice to her younger self: “Keep going—every hard moment is worth it.” RESOURCES + LINKS Use this link to donate to National Angels + participate in Bossbabe’s Matching Campaign. Learn more about the National Angels Non-Profit + learn how to volunteer in your area. Learn more about Austin Angels, the Founding Chapter of National Angels Documentaries mentioned in the episode: Transforming Foster Care + Abel’s Surprise at the Finish Line Join The Société: Our Exclusive Membership To Help You Build A Freedom-Based Business. Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter & Get Insights From Natalie Every Single Week On All Things Strategy, Motherhood, Business Growth + More.  Learn Natalie’s Proven Method for Building a Profitable, Predictable, Freedom-Based Business and Get Back to WHY you Became an Entrepreneur in this FREE 90-Minute Training. Drop Us A Review On The Podcast + Send Us A Screenshot & We’ll Send You Natalie’s 7-Figure Operating System Completely FREE (value $1,997)  FOLLOW bossbabe: @bossbabe.inc Natalie Ellis: @iamnatalie National Angels: @nationalangels Austin Angels: @austinangelsnonprofit Susan Ramirez: @mrs.susanramirez 

Welcome to the Boss Babe podcast. OK, this episode is a slightly different one, but ahead of the holidays, I wanted to have my friend Susan Ramirez on this podcast. She is the founder and CEO of National Angels, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to changing the statistics for children, youth and families experiencing foster care across the United States. So at Boss Babe and CEO Mama we have donated multiple times to National Angels and we aren't necessarily so public about that but I do really

want to bring light to it this time because I know around the holidays is the most generous time. You know if you are touched listening to this episode then I really urge you to get involved in any kind of way if it feels aligned and I just wanted to mention at the beginning of this episode that for any donations that come in as a response of this episode through the bossip community we will match the donations up to $10,000 so you know please give if it feels like it's available to you or if mentorship, volunteering in any kind of way also feels exciting and something that is on your heart, then Susan gives you all the information on how to do that.

And then beyond that, this is such an incredible business story. Susan has built National Angels into a company employing over a hundred people and she has grown into a really incredible leader in the process. So I'm really, really excited to have Susan on the podcast. And I'm really excited for you to hear about the work that they do. So with that, just a warning, you know, we don't go into any kind of triggering

details, but this, this podcast had us all crying in the studio. So just to let you know what that might happen, let's dive in. Welcome to the podcast. Happy holidays. Yes. Happy holidays. So happy to be here with you. I'm so excited to dive in. Firstly, I want to hear your story and how you even decided to start this organization. Well, I had no dream of running a nonprofit. So I didn't wake up one day and think, you know, it was nowhere in the plans.

In fact, my biggest dream was just to climb the proverbial corporate ladder until I reached the top. So I had spent eight years in home sales prior to starting the nonprofit, but I had sold a home to a CPS worker who had invited me to a foster and adoption conference. For me, I had always felt like in my life, adoption was going to play some role, but never foster care. I don't know how to love on babies, have them come into my home, and then have them leave. And the CPS worker said, you know, Susan, the interesting thing about foster care is that it's not really about you. And wouldn't it be nice for someone like you to open up your home to a child who so desperately needs it? And it was kind of the kick in the

pants that I needed. And for me, it was a moment where when I walked in this conference, I walked in one way and came out a complete changed human being. And it changed the whole trajectory of my life. And it was because I learned about the statistics, about what happens to kids who experience foster care. And it just broke my heart. And it made the decision when I left this conference that I wanted to change the way

that children was experiencing foster care. But wasn't doing that and had no intention of running a nonprofit, especially not a national nonprofit. But what I knew was that, what I believe is that every single child should have at least one healthy adult who knows the color of their eyes and the passions of their heart and do everything to remove barriers so that they can reach their fullest potential. And most people don't know that the child welfare system and experience when you're going through it is very traumatic, very heartbreaking, isolating, and it's a huge lack of belonging for a child who's being, you know, just sifted from home to home to home and not having permanence

and stability. And also, you know, when we look at our prison population, our human traffic population, those who are experiencing homelessness, all of them spent time, the majority of them, not all of them, but the majority of them spent time in foster care. And so there's a famous quote by Desmond Tutu, who was a South African theologian and human rights activist and he says, there comes a point in time where we have to stop pulling people out of the river, we have to go upstream and find out why they're falling in.

And so what we know is that all of the social issues that our country faces, if we just go upstream and we start fixing and working on foster care, then we can combat all of those things. And so it was that conference that changed my life. So then what was the journey from being at the conference to starting the organization? Yeah, so when I left that conference, I was still working full time. I got all of my girlfriends together and I said, hey, we're going to give back in our community

and we're going to change the way that kids view themselves, see themselves. And so I literally had never volunteered not one day in my life before I started the organization. And I went into Google and I said, how to volunteer in Austin, Texas. And an organization popped right up and I called them and I said, hey, we want to change the way kids are experiencing foster care. So can we, it was a placement agency. And I said, can we come in and throw a back to school event,

a holiday event, something like that, where we can just be good news for kids who are really struggling. And so month after month, we would do these service projects. And it was wonderful because what it showed me was that there's a lot of good people in the world that want a way in which to give back. They just don't know how.

And I have always felt deeply committed to transparency and allowing people to play a role in fixing the system. And so for us, that's exactly what we did. We just went in and started loving on kids and families. And then in 2013, after doing that for three years, what I realized was that we were not going to change any of the statistics. So children will move so many times in their foster care experience. And we know that about 50% don't graduate high school and 97% do not go on to earn a college degree, even though in most states they have a full ride.

And every time a child moves, they're six months behind from an educational standpoint. So it's not like these kids are not bright. We know that talent is universal, but opportunity is not. And so for us, we really begin to ask ourselves, if we want to change some of the statistics, then we're going to have to do a lot more than just throwing community service projects and have it be very fleeting. It was one event, and then we would never see these kids again. And so we really started to dig in and we started to ask questions.

I like to call it, we were in the discovery phase for the first few years of trying to identify what's actually going to move the needle forward. And again, still no real vision to ever quit my job until we had piloted the program that we now do all over the country that serves 3,000 kids. And that program, what we did was we called one of the placement agencies that we were working with and we said, is there anybody who's really struggling in their foster journey? How is it that 50% of foster parents will close within the first year? I don't understand how that's possible. So rolled up our sleeves, started to walk right alongside a single foster mom who

was raising 16-age boys. And I remember when I called her, I said, Esther, I don't know what this is going to look like. I just want to know if you'll let me come into your home and like love on you and love on these boys and help you." And she said, I have fostered over 50 boys and no one has ever said, can I help you? And so the answer is yes, I desperately need help. And so we began to show up really intentionally with items that the boys needed as well as items that Ms. Esther would need. So things like toilet paper, paper towels, laundry soap. When it got cold we made sure the boys had winter jackets and

the right pants that fit them. And you know there's a lot of organizations that are out there that ensure that kids have things like hand-me-down used items. But we've always felt the dignity of giving kids choice and letting them choose exactly what they want. So we would ask them. We were so specific. So we would look at them directly in their eyes and say, okay, you need a jacket, what size, what color, what brand? And then we would come back and we would give them exactly what they had asked for and what

they needed. And it was in this pilot of this program that I really began to see transformation happen, not just in their lives and Esther's life, but in my life too. And two things happened in this home that ultimately had me quit my corporate job to really be able to do this full time. And that was we had a little boy named Jonathan who Esther said, Susan, of all the boys that have been in my home, he has the worst case of abuse and neglect that I have ever read. In fact, I couldn't get through the first few pages of his file. I had to close it. And when we first showed up to his home, he was just so like a little potted plant that had never been watered and

was like just wilted. His spirit, he wouldn't even look at you in the eyes, you know? And so I would just kind of cuddle up next to him. And I just kept showing up over and over and over again. And he was going into the seventh grade and he said I have a real dream to make the football team. And we said, well, then let's make the football team. And he was like, it's not going to happen for me because I don't make good grades. And this little boy had spent his whole life in foster care. And we just started to say, okay, we're going to rewrite that narrative in your head. And if you want to make the football team, we're going to be there. We're going to buy the equipment. We're going to say, okay, we're gonna rewrite that narrative in your head. And if you wanna make the football team, we're gonna be there, we're gonna buy the equipment, we're gonna take you to practice, we'll be there at your first game, like let's go.

But meet us halfway, we'll get you a tutor, you've gotta put in and do the work. And it was back to school time, we got all the boys a brand new backpack and all their school supplies and in the front pocket, there was a handwritten, I don't even remember, it was a Dr. Seuss quote and we said we want you to put this on your poster board bed and every morning when you wake up we want you to read it out loud

and we want you to know that we believe in your dreams that they are possible and at six-week progress report card time miss Esther comes barreling through the door and she says Susan you're not gonna believe this but the little boy who has no self-esteem whatsoever just came barreling through the front door waving his progress report card and said mama mama mama you're not going to believe this. But the little boy who has no self-esteem whatsoever just came barreling through the front door waving his progress report card and said, mama, mama, mama, you're not going to believe this and handed her his progress report card. And it went from F's to straight A's. And it was a moment for me where I had no idea that we could actually help change the

way that children viewed themselves. Because when you move from home to home to home, you feel like, now they don't want me. Now they don't want me. And it's very hard to be confident in a situation like that or believe that you can control your outcome. And so just by speaking truth over his life, that he mattered and that his dreams mattered and that they deeply mattered to me. And I kept consistently showing up.

We basically changed his life and he made the football team and we were there for the first game and we continued to cheer him on and bought him the equipment necessary. And it shows how community can radically change the experience. And in this same home, we had a little boy named Ryan who grew up in foster care his whole life and he was turning 14 years old and we couldn't be there for his birthday so when he got home from

school that day he opened up this big massive box and when he opened it up balloons came out and all of the things that he had wanted for his birthday were in there and he called me when he had gotten home from school that day and he said oh my gosh I was so excited to get home from school today because it was the first time in my life that anybody had celebrated my birthday. And it was such a moment of realization for me as we were piloting this program that I had no clue

that radical community showing up for another human being over and over and over again could change everything. And Esther went around in the other room and she picked up the phone and she called me and he said, before he hung up the phone, he said, I just want you to know that I love you and I said I love you too. And that was the first time he had told me that, but I told him that every time I was there.

You know, I would grab those boys by the collar and I would just tell them how much that they mattered to me. And so Esther went in the other room and she called me and she said, Susan, I don't want those words to be lost on you. That it's one thing for a child to feel safe enough to receive love and it is a whole other thing for a child to give it away, especially when he has been so badly hurt by the caregivers in his life. And it was at that moment that I thought, okay, I can continue down the path of climbing this proverbial corporate ladder, or I could quit and I could leave it all behind to really

try to help more kids like Jonathan have that sense of belonging and feel like I'm worthy of achieving my goals and having a kid feel loved for the first time and the power to give it away. I just felt like every child should have that. So in January of 2015, I quit a very good career and I just decided, okay, I really want to form this as a business. I want to run this so differently than any nonprofit that I know of and I want to change the foster care experience in central Texas.

And over the years, more and more people nationally heard about the work that we do. And today we operate in 19 cities across 14 states, employing 117 people and serving 3,000 children on a monthly basis. But my vision didn't start there. And I think, you know, it's one foot in front of the other. And the vision has changed. It went from every child in central Texas to every child nationwide. And so that's 400,000 children. And I want to be able to do that in my lifetime by 2050. I just love getting to hear all the stories that you tell because just those stories of one child, I mean, the impact and the ripple effects is so hard to measure. Thank you for

telling that I love getting the chance to hear that effects is so hard to measure. Thank you for telling that. I love getting the chance to hear that. So going to that decision, that can't have been an easy decision to make because you're not just making a career change. You're making a completely different life change. So how did you think through that? I think that I was so emotional that it was so emotionally driven that I was going to fight like, you know what, to try to figure it out because what I was so emotional that it was so emotionally driven that I was going to

fight like, you know what, to try to figure it out because what I was leaving was nothing in comparison to what I was gaining. And it was a huge economic sacrifice that I was putting on my family leaving. But I just felt like if I fail at this, I can always go back, you know? And I was just going to fight so hard to figure it out. And I would say that there's so much tenacity and fight inside of me because of the kids. And I know what happens when kids get in our program is that their whole trajectory changes. It either that they get to rise and reach their fullest potential or they end up as a statistic.

And so that was enough for me to fight over and over and over again to figure this out. And you know, the interesting thing, and I was just telling you this, that there is no difference between a nonprofit business and a business that's in for-profit. The only difference is a tax code. And so you really have to worry about things just in the for-profit that you do in the nonprofit. And sometimes I think it's harder over on this side. You know, there's a lot of rules and regulations and scrutiny where there's not that kind of

microscope put on you when you're running your own business. But I just fully decided that I was going to step into this and go all in. And that first year was extremely difficult, but I will tell you, every single year, it has required me to be a little smarter, a little wiser, a little more strategic, a little more thoughtful. And in the beginning, you don't know what you don't know. Well, I'm 10 years into this full-time now.

And I think, you know, I'm on the 10th year and it is maybe harder than it has ever been because of the scale in which we're operating in. Oh, I mean, I don't even question it's harder on the nonprofit side, because at least on the profit side, you have the economic upside, right? And that can be a really great motivator. And on your side, you know, like you say, making that economic sacrifice for your family, that can't have been an easy decision.

Was that a family decision you all sat down and talked about? Yeah, I'm a person of faith and had believed that this was what God had intended for my life without a doubt. I mean, I don't ever question that. And I also know that God doesn't need me to do this work. So I really do believe it is the greatest honor of my life to get to do this work. But I went to my husband and I said, I believe that God is calling me to leave corporate America behind to step into this.

And it just so happened that we had gone to church that Sunday and the preacher was talking about when Jesus walked on water and there was a moment in the Bible, this story where he walks out on the water, there's men in a boat, Peter standing there and he says, who are you? And he says it is I, he says, well, then if it's you, tell me to come to you. And so Peter gets out of the boat and he too is standing on water and he begins to take his eyes off Jesus looking

at these big waves and he begins to sink and Jesus grabs his hand and he says, you have very little faith. And the preacher said at that moment, like, what is God calling you out of the boat to do but you're too afraid? And maybe if you would just keep your eyes fixated on him that you too could walk on water. And I left church that Sunday and I looked at my husband and I said, well, I'm pretty sure he was just saying, get on out of that boat and try to do it. And I feel like my faith has never been stronger in this journey because you have

to be so reliant on something so much bigger than yourself, you know, and not make it about you, but what can be done through you when you are open to the possibilities. And have there ever been moments in this journey you've thought you couldn't do it anymore? Yes, absolutely. So we were at a place where we were growing pretty quickly in our business. And I would take nothing back in this because I believe that failure is the greatest teacher for what can be success in the future. But we grew so rapidly that it almost felt like the business was controlling me. I was no longer controlling the business. was controlling me, I was no longer controlling the business. The amount of magnitude and weight for scaling so quickly was so challenging.

And I felt like I don't know if I'm the right CEO to do this anymore. I also felt like I've always been really good with this body intelligence, being able to make a decision from my gut. But there was so much noise in my life, so many opinions and so many people that I no longer could have that intuition. And the voices were becoming so loud that I was no longer an effective decision maker. And I felt like I could make good decisions

and could make them from my gut and feel very aligned with what my decision-making process was. And all of a sudden I found myself, I don't feel like I'm confident in my ability to make decisions. And that was in 2021. And I had taken a little sabbatical. I had taken three weeks out of the office to really reflect and say, what I want more than anything in this whole world is to transform kids' lives. The most vulnerable population in our country, Babies, sweet babies. Like that's what I want. More than a title. And so I, in 2021, had taken three weeks out and I had

gone to this thing in Sedona. It was called a soul adventure. And I had all my girlfriends over at my house. We were sitting on the back porch and I was like, you know, my whole identity is wrapped up in this work, but I no longer feel like I'm the right one to lead. And so I took a soul adventure I had booked overnight. I was kind of had a meltdown at work. I shot off an email to some of our executive team that when I looked back, wasn't really proud of. I was angry about some decisions that were happening in our company.

And I just said, you know, this is not actually the leader that I want to be. I want to lead from a place of strength. I want to lead from a place of humility. And I was out of control in my leadership at that time. And I went to Sedona and I went on this three-day soul adventure. It's actually called a soul adventure. And one-on-one with all these different practitioners for three days, hiking up these beautiful Red Rock Mountains. And it was at this time where I just felt like I woke up and I was like, I don't even know who I am. My hormones were so out of whack.

I literally was 10 pounds heavier. I couldn't lose weight. And I had never really struggled with my weight. And I just woke up and I was like, I don't even know who I am, what I'm doing. And I went to Sedona and there was one practitioner that literally changed everything for me. This practitioner, we hiked up to the top of this mountain

and he was asking me questions all the way up there. We get there, our feet are hanging over the edge of the mountain looking at this gorgeous landscape. And he gets out a piece of paper and he draws a line down the middle and he says, Susan, I want you to write down one through five on the left and one through five on the right. And I want you to take a big circle at the top of the page and I want you to write down all the people who have raised you and impacted you, right? All the names down. And so I, mom, dad, two brothers,

grandma. And he said, I want you to put all of them in a bag and I want you to shake them up and all the beautiful, good things about them them I want you to write down on the left hand side of the paper." And so I was like immediately thought of traits of my mom. My mom had a horrific upbringing and completely changed generational cycles with one very hard upbringing to really being loving, generous, available, kind, all these beautiful traits of my mom on the left-hand side. And then on the right-hand side, the practitioner said, I want you to write down all the things that were really hard about your childhood.

And I was like, well, I can't do that. And he was like, why? And I said, you know, I deal with brokenness of children every single day. And I never had a dad that abused me or touched me. And I see this thing over and over and over again. I had a great dad, hardworking dad. And he was like, OK, well, let's talk about that. So your dad was a hard worker.

I said, yeah, worked two and three jobs. And he goes, oh, OK, so was he available to you? And I was like, well, I guess now that you say it that way, no, maybe not. And if you had a question that you needed to ask him or go to him, could you or were you dismissed? And so it was like this unraveling of all these things. And so I started to write these things down and somehow got out like you're not smart enough. You're not good enough. All these things. And he said, I want you to fold the piece of paper, put it in your

back pocket and we're going to hike back down. And it was, all these things. And he said, I want you to fold the piece of paper, put it in your back pocket, and we're gonna hike back down. And it was this really hard exercise. And we get down to the bottom of the mountain and he says, we're gonna go over to this juicery place. And he doesn't talk to me. He's just letting me sit with all these feelings. We get to the little juicery place and he says, Susan, I want you to open up the piece of paper

and I want you to circle the top three things that trigger you. And it was, I'm not smart enough, I'm not good enough. And I don't remember what the other one was. And he said, I want you to think of a time when you. And it was, I'm not smart enough, I'm not good enough. And I don't remember what the other one was. And he said, I want you to think of a time when you were a little girl, when you felt not smart enough and not good enough, can you think of that time? And I said, yeah, I know exactly a time

where I felt that way. And he said, how old were you? And I said, I was eight years old. And he said, what do your parents call you? And I said, Susie. And he said, okay, I want you to put Susie in the seat in front of you at eight years old. And maybe her feet can't even touch the floor and she's holding her little juice and I want you to look at her and I want you to tell her out loud all of those things.

I want you to tell her that she's not smart enough and not good enough. I know I can't do that. And he said, I want you to do it Susan because you've been telling yourself that your whole life and I was like, oh my gosh, so like quivering and crying. I literally, and there was all these people at this juicery place and here I'm talking to nobody in front of me with a piece of paper. And I was like, you're not smart enough

and you're not good enough. And I was like crying because I've got two kids. I would never say those things to them ever. And he was like, maybe what you're thinking when you're deciding, am I right to lead or am I not right? You've got some unconscious things that are looming in the background that says you're not good enough to do this. But maybe in fact, you are so perfectly positioned to do this work. You just need to learn how to talk to yourself

better. And it was this real moment for me where I was like, man, I guess I do have these underlying things. If somebody disagrees with me or did disagree with me, because I've done a lot of work since then, I would take it as like, well, you don't think I'm smart enough to do this. Subconsciously, I wouldn't say that I was very combative, but I came home from that experience and just thought I am right to lead. I've got the right passion, the right heart. I am equipped to do this work. And so I left that Sedona trip and just felt like

I'm gonna give it another go, but I'm gonna do it from the healthiest, most balanced version of myself and came home and made some radical changes in my leadership and to the team around me setting some really good boundaries. And I think that experience really changed how I led. Thank you for sharing that. It's always so incredible when we do that in a child work.

And you can trace so much of that, how you show up now and how you get triggered to all of that work. And I love that you're doing that while you're working with kids too and knowing the impact of that work. So I have another hard question that I'm wondering, you have kids of your own and the things that you see and hear about in your day to day, I mean, I can't even begin to imagine just really horrific things. How has that shaped your view of the world? Has it made you more scared to bring up kids in this world knowing what else exists? Like how do you deal with that? Because I think having kids yourself, it must take how challenging this is to a whole nother level.

Yeah, I think, you know, it's taught me motherhood is such an interesting thing that women go through to learn who they are, how they're wired, what they want out of their kids. It's this constant self-reflection, just like leadership. How am I showing up? How do I want to show up? What example am I trying to set? For me, I think number one, I am really protective over my boys. I want them to be brave and audacious and go after their goals and dreams. And also I'm like,

I need to track everything that you're doing, you know, because there are so many crimes against children that happen. And so I am really cautious with my boys, but I also feel just like I said, I believe every single child should have at least one healthy adult. When I'm home, I'm really home and I have been really thoughtful too. I know how important it is. We have this term in the work that we do widely known. It's not just in Angel's work, but this idea of self-efficacy. So having children have their own voice is so important. And I like to describe it.

I had a girlfriend a couple of years ago, we were getting ready to go somewhere and her little two-year-old had this big puffy jacket. It was cold and she strapped her into the car seat. And she said, mommy, it's tight, it's tight, it hurts, it's tight. And she was like, you're fine, you know, like deal with that kind of thing. And listen, I, there has been many of times in my parenthood that I'm like, you're fine and deal with it. But as I was talking to her, I said, you know, it really intentional parenting. Um, and I don't

give parenting advice and this is not one, but I was her I said hey to build a little girl self-efficacy is so important so a way that we could have responded in that situation is to say hey the reason why it's so tight is because it's safety put your finger in there teacher show her it has to be like this because if we get into a car accident this is gonna save your life or you could say is it because of your puffy jacket? Do you want to take this off? Take the jacket off?

Is that more comfortable? That takes a little more intentionality. But what it says is like, oh, I said I need something. I said this is not comfortable. You met my needs. I now have felt safety and I know that my voice matters. We have to be really conscious about how we talk to our daughters, as well as sons, that your voice matters always.

And so if you're uncomfortable, say it. And so for me, kind of knowing how the brain works in development and how important it is for self-esteem for kids, I will try to do my best. I fail over and over and over again, but I try to say, okay, are you really hurt? Do you need attention? What's going on? Are you tired? You know that kind of thing It takes a lot of intentionality

But it's so important that we treat our kids like their voice does matter and when we do then they grow up and they've got A voice. I love that. That's definitely something I can learn from and then then on this same thread, I've asked you this before because every time we talk and you tell me stories, I can't stop crying. And my question is, how are you able to do this day in day out and not just end up a crying mess 24 seven, because the things you see and hear, whether it's negative or positive is so heart wrenching. How do you keep your shit together every day? Well, I believe so deeply in the hope side of our work.

You know, this whole child welfare experience can feel so dark and so heavy, but we're on the hope side. We're on the redemption side. We get to see amazing volunteers step forward and devote their entire lives to changing kids' lives. And so I'm so inspired by the community that says, I want to be a part of changing this. But there are days that I cry. There are days that my heart is absolutely broken.

In fact, you know, we at Austin Angels, we train everybody nationwide. So when we launch a chapter, when we train a new executive director, a case manager, we bring them to Austin, we bring them right to the fountain and make them drink. That's what we like to say. We talk about our mission, our vision, our values, our North Star, all these things. And at the very end of my training last week, one of our new case managers said, if you could give me any piece of advice what would it be and I said well I know you've got your masters in social work and I know the social work world says don't get too close don't get too attached but I want you to get too close and too attached

I want your heart to break over these kids because it is the fuel it is the passion it's like the shot in the arm it's what inoculates you to continue to overcome every barrier that you will be faced. And we have to go after these kids with so much tenacity that nothing will stand in our way to heal a broken heart. And that sometimes means your heart gets broken. And I told a story about how a couple of years ago, I have this vintage pink couch in my office, it was my grandma's.

And the team at the time, we were small, but the whole team was sitting on the couch and sitting all on the floor. And all of us were in tears over story that we had heard. And I won't share it because it's too, you'll lose your food over it. It's just heartbreaking. But we all sat there together and we just cried over the heartbreak. And then I said, now we're going to get to work and no child should have to experience that. But we have the ability to change it from this point moving forward. And so I would say that this work absolutely haunts me. It haunts me. I lay in bed at night and I think about the kids who are not in our program. Can you tell me a positive story of where you've really seen this work just having such an amazing impact?

Yeah, I mean, I get to see it every single day all across the country. We have so many stories of success and I think that's what keeps me going. But we have a little short documentary that's out that people can then go and watch. We can maybe link it in the show notes, but we have a young man named Abel who went into foster care at the age of 15. He had seven siblings. He's been with the same mentor since he entered into the foster care system and his life has been radically transformed by his mentor.

This young guy who just decided after he graduated college that he wanted to transform somebody else's life and his life has been transformed because of it. But Abel is finishing up his sophomore year and this year back in February, the Austin Marathon was happening and it was so special for us because that's what him and his mentor would do.

Connor and Abel would run together. And so it was the marathon and he was taking a Greyhound bus from San Antonio to Austin to come and see his siblings. And it was so amazing because we called a local car dealership and we said, hey, we got to get this kid a car. He is spending three hours on a bus back and forth to see his younger siblings. He's an incredibly bright, gifted, kind, gentle, just one of the most incredible young people. Can we get him a car? Certainly there's like something like you have on the used lot

and she said we'll get him a brand new car. And so at the finish line he had no idea and we had a whole videography crew there. When he crossed the finish line there were 30 people standing in front of the car and when he came around the corner, I said, we've been cooking something up for you specifically for you. And we all had these confetti cannons and it was like he was standing there and the owner of the car dealership from city limits Subaru had come up and she said, hey, we heard about your story and we wanna be a part of helping to change it. And this like the sea of people moved

and there was a brand new 2024 Subaru Impreza. And we got to hand him the keys to his car. And I mean, it's just incredible because over the summer he got to drive himself to the Carolinas to do an internship. And his big dream is to come back and work for us one day. And I believe it will happen. And we just have so many stories of hope and resilience

and kids rising to their fullest potential. We have another young girl named Barbara who was never adopted, who had something like, I don't know, 27 different homes, lived in a residential treatment center her last few years, which is a cold, sterile, clinical, really harsh place for kids. So residential treatment centers are what feels like a prison basically. So very cold, very sterile, harsh, not warm, not a family, but many, many kids live in

these. This is where a lot of our older kids end up in. And she is right now a freshman at Texas State, overcoming every single odd that has been against her. We have stories of women and men who have decided to step into fostering and because of the radical support have continued to foster multiple children. And we've got data and research on our programs. I'm very passionate about the data that we are actually transforming. And so what we know is that when people have community and they have people that

they trust, they can continue to do really hard things. And so all the stats that I rattled off earlier, we're changing every single one of them. It's incredible. And there's another story I'd love for you to tell that when you told it really touched me because I think it just goes to show why this work is so important. I don't want to get it wrong. There was a girl who wanted to leave and she stood in front of the judge and he really was empowering to her. Do you remember the story I'm talking about?

Oh yes, yes, yes, yes. So we have a youth that was emancipated, which means aging out of the foster care system at 17 years old. And she stood in front of the judge and the judge said to her, I don't know what it is about you, but there's something really special about you. And I just believe that you're gonna grow up

and do great things. And she said it was the first time in her life that anybody had said something nice to her, that she had never had words spoken over her before. And she left that conference and ended up creating another foster care agency because that judge spoke into her. So this was a story that didn't come out of our program, but I believe we've probably talked about that.

And it's the power of words. You never underestimate how just your simple words can be so much comfort to somebody. There's all these studies that are done that say, if you're standing at the bottom of a mountain and you're looking straight up, you think I can't scale that mountain, but the sheer presence of somebody close to you

within a hundred feet, even with their back turned to you, you look at the mountain and you think, I think I could scale this. But the more that they turn around and start walking towards you, you have a probability that says, actually, I can scale this mountain. I am going to scale this mountain. And it's this idea that we can do really hard things in life when we do them with other people. And there's almost nothing that we can't overcome when we do things together.

And so community is one of our core values. And we believe that every single statistic can be rewritten with human connection and relationships. And we believe that relationships change everything. Yeah. And I love how relationships are so core to what you do and how intentional you are when kids are coming into the events that you throw the way that you speak to them and just have them know that someone else

believes in them. I just think it's beautiful the work you do. So for someone who was listening who feels really touched by this and wants to help in some kind of way, can you lay out all the different options that someone would have? Yes, so the first thing I would tell somebody to do is go to nationalangels.org and find a chapter nearest you. So we operate in 19 cities across 14 states and I would tell you that if there is not a chapter nearest you but there's been a real tingling in your heart something that's going going, hmm, maybe I want to start a chapter.

You can also find out information on how to do that at nationalangels.org. But the best way to support us always is by financial contribution. So we have a program called the Angel Alliance, and you could sign up at $25 a month, and that helps us pull kids off of our wait list and into our program. And so earlier I said we're serving 3000 children000 children on a monthly basis and that is incredible. But when you hear that there are 400,000 children, there's this big gap between where we are today and where we need to be. And that's going to take a lot of financial resources to do that.

In fact, in the next five years, our goal is to raise $32 million so we can triple our impact and scale by opening up 32 additional regional chapters. So I would say we're also on all the social channels you can find us there. And I would also say sign up for our newsletter because we do a lot of one-off volunteer opportunities. So it's like, you know, you talked about the events. We do an annual back-to-school event. We do an annual Christmas event.

There's things all year long that we're like, hey, we need some volunteers to come and help us do this. We also have a gala on March 1st. That is a really magical event where you get to hear from kids and family straight impact. And so you can find that information on our website as well. I mean, I think there's probably a lot of entrepreneurial women listening who could I mean, I think there's probably a lot of entrepreneurial women listening who could crush it running a chapter and make such a massive impact while they're at it. So I also hope that really inspires. Can you talk a little bit about there's a donation starting

at 25 that they can do a month. But can we talk a little bit about to what level of donation the impact it can have so people can really think, OK, if I'm going to give this much like what kind of impact could that really have? Yes so great question so as little as $25 a month can help us pull a kid off of our waitlist and into our program and so you think about when kids are entered into our program they don't leave our program so it is on a monthly basis and that's where the real magic happens in our program

is because it's the consistent support. So what happens is once a kid enters into our program they're matched with a volunteer, there is support that we give to that match. So we talked about Jonathan needing equipment for the football team. Our organization can help supply extracurricular activities. They can buy uniforms for kids. They can help pay for things like that. Also band, music classes, but every single kid in our program in Central Texas does things like spring break camp where we send kids.

Normalcy is such an important part of the work that we do, but spring break camp is about $100 per kid where we send them for three days. We've got a summer camp. We do a big massive back to school event where every single kid gets to come and receive a brand new backpack, all their school supplies.

They bring their school supplies list with them. And it's no cost to the family because we're raising money outside. And then every single kid will get a $50 gift card to Target to go buy their first day of school outfit and then we do a big Christmas shopping experience. So we just deployed $83,000 on Saturday in Central Texas and had all of our families come with their kids wish list items. They got paired with a volunteer and they got to go around the store, some of them up to $500 in gift

cards, $750, depending on the size of their family and do all their Christmas shopping. So we raise money all year long to run our programs and for all of those extra things to support kids in normalcy activities. I love it. And I will have mentioned at the beginning of this episode, but Boss Web is doing a matching initiative as well so we're gonna put all the links in the show notes for everyone. My ask makes me so emotional but you know if you're listening and you are impacted by this and you you have been looking for a way to support I love the work that you guys are doing you know and I've got to meet your team and to really see the heart behind what

you're doing and I think it makes such a big difference to give to an organization where you can really see the impact and you can really see like you say how transparently the organization is run so if anyone is listening and is feeling generous you know just before the holidays then I really really really urge you to donate because it would make the biggest difference. Like you said, the work you're doing is protecting babies, you know, the most vulnerable people in the entire world. And I am so grateful to people like you for the work you do, because every time I get to talk to you and listen, I'm just so blown away by this.

And then another thing I wanted to ask about, so for anyone listening who right now might not have the financial means to help, but wants to help, you mentioned one off volunteer opportunities, is there mentorship opportunities, anything like that that they could do? Yeah, so we have two main programs. I talked about the Love Box program earlier,

and then I briefly talked about it, but didn't call it by name. So the mentorship program is called Dare to Dream. So when I referenced Connor and Abel, that's the mentorship program. And it's an incredible program where a volunteer will get matched with a youth. And then they hit 10 developmental milestones

for the youth. So things like obtaining a driver's license and helping them navigate what that looks like, opening up a bank account, teaching financial literacy. Also in central Texas, we do these two classes where kids in our Dare to Dream program, we have an entrepreneur workshop program that we've talked about before where we're teaching those type of skills to young people as well as a leadership academy. In January, we're doing this big vision board thing. So every time somebody donates, it helps us to provide

those kinds of opportunities. But yes, mentorship is not, somebody donates, it helps us to provide those kind of opportunities. But yes, mentorship is not, you don't have to have money to walk alongside a child or a youth. And what I love about our dare to dream program is that it's really about empowering the youth, not doing it for them, but empowering them. So an example of that would look like, okay, you need to get your driver's license, then I'm going to come and sit next to you. I'm going to open up the laptop.

You don't know where to go or how to do it. I'm going to let you sit in the driver's seat and I'm going to tell you to go into Google on how to get a driver's license. And I'm going to make you do the mouse and navigate and figure out all the things. And then when we identify, oh, it's a $450 thing, then the mentor will say, I'm going to go and help work with my case manager at Austin Angels or at whatever regional chapter and we'll cover that cost. So we'll remove that barrier, but you have to figure out the bus route to get there or

I as the mentor will drive you to that, take the course or whatever. And so it's this beautiful partnership about empowering kids, not doing it for them, but really empowering them to understand how to navigate because the truth is that the majority of them will age out of foster care at 18 years old. They need to be fully prepared for adulthood and our dare to dream program ensures that they are incredible. And then for anyone listening who has a big platform where you feel like you could be sharing that your content, you know, having interviews like this. I also think that could be such an amazing way

of getting the word out there and really amplifying the content that you have. So maybe it's sharing the documentary that you mentioned or heading to their Instagram page and seeing what initiatives are they running to raise money for the holiday season and sharing something like that. We would be so honored for that.

Can you share the social links and the website again? And we'll put everything in the show notes as well. Yep, nationalangels.org is our website where you can find us. Austinangels.com if you're local in Central Texas. And then it's at National Angels is Instagram. Incredible. And one last question I have before you leave if you

could go back to Susan 10 years ago embarking on this journey what advice would you give her knowing all that you know now? I think I would just tell her like I'm so proud of you for not giving up and just keep going because it's worth it it's hard but it's so worth it. Incredible. Well, thank you so much for being here for everything that you do. Thank you.

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