Adam Torres and Linda Rendleman discuss Women Like Us Foundation.
Subscribe: iTunes / Spotify / Stitcher / RSS
Apply to be a guest on our podcast here
Show Notes:
Women Like Us Foundation is changing lives for many women in Kenya by providing much needed resources. In this episode, Adam Torres interviewed Linda Rendleman, M.S., Visionary of Women Like Us Foundation & What’s Next for Women Like Us. Explore the Women Like Us Foundation story, how people can get involved and the upcoming book Linda will be launching with Dr. Nancy O’Reilly and Mission Matters.
Watch Full Interview:
About Linda Rendleman
Linda is an Executive Producer for the film documentary, Women Like Us. Three Journeys. One Mission. To Change the World, a film of women’s stories who are changing the world and the work of her foundation as well as her own story of struggle as a cancer survivor, single mom, long time champion of women and philanthropist. In addition, Linda has an undergraduate degree in Public Speaking and English and a masters degree in Counseling.
Linda is an award-winning writer, speaker, and business woman. She is the author of the book series, Women Like Us: Real Stories and Strategies for Living Your Best Life; Women Like Us Illuminating the World; and Women Like Us: Together Changing the World. In 2009, Linda created the Women Like Us Foundation.
She won numerous awards for her speaking and writing to women, including the Torchbearer Award from the State of Indiana, the highest award the states gives a woman, for her work supporting women’s work, writing, and speaking. She has hosted, directed and produced a television show on the Fox Network and a radio show on station WXNT where women have told their stories of perseverance and changing the world.
About Women Like Us Foundation
Women are speaking up for the needs of the vulnerable both locally and globally, specifically in the areas of Sex Trafficking, Homelessness, and Education. The Women Like Us Foundation is committed to helping sustain their work through granting funds in support of women’s charitable leadership, volunteering and creating awareness of their initiatives. They provide humanitarian travel opportunities to gain better understanding of the needs of these women and get an “on the ground” experience that leads to building relationships and providing support.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres. And if you’d like to join our community, head on over to mission matters. com forward slash community to apply. All right. So today is a very special episode. I’ve been waiting for this, for this interview for a long time.
So I have Linda Rendleman on the line and she’s a visionary of women like us foundation and also what’s next for women like us first off, Linda. Hey, I just want to say, like I said, I’ve been looking for this for a long time. Welcome to the show. Well, thank you. I’ve been looking very, very excitedly about it as well.
So here we are. Yeah. Good. So Linda and for the audience, spoiler alert, probably not a spoiler, but I like to say that anyway. So we’re going to be working on a, on a book project together with also Dr. Nancy, who has helped put this together with, for, with Women Connect. For good, for maybe some of the audience that have been watching the show or listening to the show for a long time.
You might remember Dr. Nancy coming on the show. So we’ve all been collaborating and working on this book. And so we’re going to talk a little bit about that today as well. But before we do for my long time listeners, we’ll start this episode, the way that we start them all with what we call our mission matters minute.
So, Linda, we at Mission Matters, we amplify stories for entrepreneurs, executives, and experts. That’s our mission. Linda, what mission matters to you? Well, really, it’s, it’s the title here because it’s very, very much, I’m very, very, very with the Women Like Us Foundation, certainly helping women become empowered.
Yeah. And in my particular thing, we are all over the world with it. So yeah, that’s it. How, how did you take us, take us a little bit further back in your journey? Like, how did you get on this mission to side? Like a lot of different ways you can help a lot of different things you can do. Like, where did you, how did you get on this path with this foundation?
Oh, wow. I’m. We could be here a couple hours, but I won’t make that. I want the story. Give it to me. So yeah. So I, it goes way, way back to me. Just really being excited about helping women be who they really are and their authenticity and along that goes with That is that that, you know, women many, many times and really by going back, like in the 1990s and women were really still not knowing who they are.
And we have so much more of that going on now. Thank goodness. But so it, it started there. And for me personally, the reason that I was so interested in it is because I did go through a divorce many, many years ago. And when I started looking at my own self and I started looking at other women and where they were in their lives and what was important to them and how could they have their own purpose.
And I went through that for me as well. And so I just started getting out there. I did a business called Business Women Connect and it was a big thing in our town and we had all of these women that would come once let’s see, back then we, it was twice, twice a week that we would get together and we’d talk about who we are and.
What we want to be and it would go forward and forward and forward. And so that was really a, a, a corporation that I put together as a leader. But in reality, how I ended up at the women like us foundation is because. I started, I started writing a book and the first book was the first thing that I wanted to do for myself and for other women.
Isn’t that great? Because we’re both still doing books, right? I love it. I mean, books have the power to change the world. That’s just the way I see it. Like the power of word, the like that, that’s ideas, human connection, like that makes us human, I believe. Yes. Yeah, exactly. And, and so when I, when I was very determined that I was going to write this book and the book, the name of the book is women like us, and I’ve gone ahead and also written two more books so I have three books that I’ve written, and I call it the women like a series.
And it was, all of it is very much about who we are as women. It’s got a whole bunch of other women that are in it, very similar to what we’ll be doing with Nancy. And, and so, so there, there was a lot of that going on. And then, but what happened was just when I was starting to write my book the first one I was diagnosed with cancer, and so everything that I was planning on doing in my life, as you can imagine, made it not so good.
So, so other people came along and started helping me a little bit, but I can tell you that with the business women connect that I, that I created first, when I. found out that I had cancer, I had to stop with that. But it’s really interesting. It’s really interesting, Adam, because I really felt like in my life, it was really the charity that I wanted to do.
It was like, there was this little thing in the back of my head saying, Don’t you think Linda that you really wanted to have a charity and it kept coming up and coming up. So when I did get and I, and I’m fine now with the cancer, that’s all good. So when, when I when I decided that I, that was really where I wanted to be.
And I was also going through all of these treatments that in my mind’s eye. I took this little, beautiful, little, little box and it had, it had Heather, it had feathers on it and it had jewelry on it. And it was, it was for me, I put it up in the top of my closet, just visually. And I said, I’m going to have a charity.
I can’t do it now. I have to get through the cancer, but that is waiting for me. And it did, and I got well, and then I, I, I stopped the business Women Connect and with a very, very good friend of mine who also really, really knew how to put charities together, worked as a team. And that’s how we started the Women Like Us Foundation.
Wow. What an absolutely amazing story. And one of the things I like to do is is obviously I’m asking you questions, but on behalf of my audience, I know there’s, there’s gonna be some other people that are in the either the entrepreneurial space, the nonprofit, the for profit, like all these different spaces, whatever we want to label it.
Right. But the, but the way I see it is that people, at least if they’re listening to this show, they’re very likely mission based and they want to have an impact on the world for good, in my opinion. That being said, very much. What are some of the things or tips or things just in general that kind of kept you strong and kept you motivated and focused?
You did mention the story of the box, but like, I know we all have our ups and downs, so maybe hearing your piece of the story and what kept you strong may also help some others who listen to this. Mhm. It’s always about perseverance for me, and it’s always about resilience and things come along that can be tough.
And how am I going to, how am I going to solve this? How am I going to do what I really, really wanted to do in this particular space of my life as well? Yeah. Yeah. And so, so really, honestly, Natalie. That’s right. It was, it was not giving up and it, it was very much about having the right people around me, help me to stay, you know, to still, still doing this and doing it and really, truly in it with the charity, we’re talking like you’ve got to do a lot of fundraising and
you’ve got, you know, you’ve got to sell yourself to just like one of your, one of your People that I just heard earlier and I thought that’s really, really great. It’s true. You just keep going and you know what you want to do and you, you let people know how to get that done. So, so yeah, so definitely, definitely the resilience and the perseverance and sticking together.
So, and, and beyond that, once I actually at the time when I was changing over because I had the cancer I also had a television show. And the television show was just really, really, really helpful to get, get us out there and for people to know what we’re about as well. So yeah, it’s that it’s marketing, right?
Another thing that I find super interesting about your story is That, you know, a lot of people that watch us or listen to us, they may have a passion. It may be women helping women. It may be something else, but you were able to transmit or to, to change and to take your passion or your mission and to create that as a direction that you take your life and what you spend your time on.
So I don’t, I don’t like to say people have jobs or anything like that, but you really were, were purpose filled and you were able to make that what you work on day to day. Like, like how, how would you in that, that discovery space, which I know this is, there were multiple iterations you had, but even if you were just taking the first iteration with the women connect, right, like you made a business out of that as well.
And that was still helping women in a different way, right? A different format, a different way that was much needed. And I argue still very needed. But like, how were you able to go from taking it from idea or passion to, you know, business. Volunteers. Volunteers have a lot to do with it. Wow. We are, we are a charity.
Yes. And, and with charities, you can find people that feel like you do. Mm hmm. And that, that really have, they want to have a purpose. They want to be passionate about something. And, and they, they came to me. They came to me. I mean, we, we told them what we need. Can you help? And they showed up. And, and you know, the other piece, it’s, it’s so much about women too.
Mm hmm. Women are really, I, I think they’re, I mean, I, I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings here, but women are really, really good about being there when they’re needed. Yeah. I don’t, if you’re hurting anybody’s feelings, I don’t care. More people need to hear this, whatever. Men get enough like space in the boardroom of whatever they’re doing, whatever, like people do need to hear this.
And I agree with you by the way, continue please. Yeah, yeah, exactly. We’re always, always there for one another. And when we started the women like us foundation. Yeah. One of the things that we ended up not doing, but we did try to do it and it was successful. That sounds weird way, way. I just said that. But, but we started building chapters around the United States and, and women, they were there, you know, yes, I want a chapter.
I’m in Colorado. I want a chapter. I’m in California. And that was a really, really, really good step that we did. The only piece was we didn’t really have enough volunteers to be able to go to those states. And so some, some women stayed with it and others, you know, they really didn’t have enough help from us, quite honestly.
So we decided that that wasn’t a really good thing for us to do in the beginning. So as it, but you know, that’s the other thing. I mean, when you’re, when you’re, when you’re, Creating something on your own. And I had a wonderful, wonderful board also. That’s a very important piece by the way. But, but we really had to decide where we wanted to be and drop some of the things because we were kind of.
All over the, at the beginning, we were all over the place, you know, so, so yeah, yeah. But volunteers, it’s just wonderful how many women in particular and men and people like my husband, who certainly has been with me all the time. I love this and what’s in, and I, and I’ll, I’ll challenge the idea, not necessarily directly to you, but to some of the people that are listening right now, because I know there’s some people listening right now that are like.
Oh, but linda can do it because she’s a charity. And you know, and because it’s this, but I’m gonna challenge everyone right now and I’m gonna just say mission matters does the exact same thing. And that’s how we started. So we’re a media company and we’re 100 percent for profit. I guarantee you. But that because that’s how we keep the lights on and we are in the media business.
But this is linda one of the things we did. I feel that and to this day we do by the way. So we’re we’re you know, we’re small media company and over 25 people, but we punch way above our weight. And the way that we do that is by incorporating volunteers on different levels, whether it’s helping out at events, whether it’s, Hey, even just the, even just building the community around it, like, so you’re mentioning chapters.
Things like that, or, you know, guests think about in the beginning. So when we started this seven years ago now we have a platform, a website, audience numbers, right? So now, you know, we had over 20, 000 applications to come on the show last year, but in the beginning, was it like that? No, absolutely.
Absolutely. Now we had, we had to beg people to come on the show. And that was what I like to call our volunteer army of, of individuals that, that were way far exceeded the need to come on a podcast. Let’s say, especially a startup one that didn’t have any following or audience they’d asked me in the beginning, Linda, well, what’s your following?
I’d be like zero. I think I like two or three. My mom listens to it. My dad, my dad doesn’t listen to podcasts. So he doesn’t, but at least my mom will listen. Yeah, so you can at least practice, right? But the volunteer part of it, when somebody listens to this, I don’t want them to go away and think, Oh, well, only a charity could do that.
Or Oh, something else. Because I just gave you a case study on how we built a media brand that that punches and that reaches a large audience based off of using, Volunteers. And I will interchange that word volunteer. I know there could be a distinction and there is a distinction, but I’m going to interchange that with the word that we use as community.
So we built a community around the brand that do volunteer. That’s the function of what they do. They’ve all, that’d be the verb there. They’re. Volunteering, I guess I should say, but the function of what they are is they are a community, like that would be the noun that I would use for this. So I just wanted to sprinkle that in Linda so that, that those that aren’t in the exact space, see that this.
does apply to them and to hopefully get ideas from this conversation and how they can take this into their lives and how they can, you know, prosper and whatever their mission is and what’s based on there. So one that one to add that to it, let me just say it also in doing this. And one other thing that I want to bring out here is some of the go ahead, please.
No, I was just gonna say that to those who are listening and thinking, well, they can do it because they’re a charity. I can tell you that with all of all of the little mistakes along the way and the, you know, the re strategizing and everything that goes with. really, if you’re going to be, if you’re going to be successful at it.
But we, we, with all of that time and all of that change and all of that, what do we really, really are? What are we about? What are we about? What, where is it? We are going exactly to really, really help women, which is what we do. Out of someone that I knew, actually it was my daughter knew Tyler Perry and we ended up, this little charity ended up with him giving us a big grant.
Oh my gosh. Amen. God bless. Yes. That was Tyler Perry. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And it, and really it goes back to the resilience and the persevering, you know, it really does keep out there and keep going for it. Yeah. And some other things I didn’t, I didn’t know the Tyler Perry thing. That’s absolutely amazing. But some other things, I mean, you’ve been honored in Washington DC for your work.
I mean, you met with Michelle Obama. I mean, tell me just some of the, the things that have come about this. And again, we’ve, we’ve talked about, I don’t, I never like to start an interview on that. side because I don’t want people to think it’s easy, right? Any of this is the journey, the entrepreneurial journey, like building anything that’s going to have true impacts.
Not easy, but you’ve been able to accomplish some amazing things. So maybe talk a little bit about that. Thank you. And sure. I’d love to talk about that. It was, it was a really big highlight of my life. Trust me. So there’s a woman who, who met a friend of mine and she was looking for, she was, she’s doing this project and her name is Karla Derlakov and she has, she’s a, she’s a, actually an opera singer and so she’s all about music and she wanted to find women that had it.
gender equality. They’re fighting for that. They’re fighting, they’re having achievements for women. I mean, it was, she’s was, her whole idea was, let’s get these women together and let’s honor them. And so she started searching for women and my friend introduced me to her. And so she had a questionnaire that we would fill out, etcetera.
But here’s the coolest part. The coolest part is that because she’s so in music that the the title of the project that we did or that I was honored, honored with it’s called Hear Your Song, Hear Her Song, sorry. Hear Her Song. And there were, she’s been doing this now. I was in the 2017 group. 21 women.
And yes, in that group with me was Hillary Clinton, Nancy O’Reilly, she’s one of them, Nancy O’Reilly, Sonia Sotomayor, Gloria Steinem, and yes, Michelle Obama. What happened was, this is the way it went. The Carla found female composers and they, off of our questionnaire that we had to fill out. There was, I bet I should back up on that.
There was when, after we did this questionnaire, a woman who is a professional poet took our answers to that and made it into a poem. Mm. And then from the poem, and this is just, I mean, Carla’s amazing. This was all her baby. So anyway, and so then from from that, they gave the poet the poem to these women that were also composers.
They put that into a song. And then we all had not heard our songs. Because each woman was 21, 21 women. And so we all landed at an event in Washington, D. C. at the Gallery of Art. And all of the singers were there. All of the people were there. I have to stop and say that I got to meet Sonia Sotomayor.
Yeah, it was in front of me and I have, I have been, I was actually reading her book at the time when I met her and she and I became great friends and at the intermission, she would grab my hand and we’d go over and talk somewhere and I mean, it was just unbelievable. So anyway they, they, the, the, the people saying all the songs that the people who can really sing, sing the song and And my song, now I’m thinking about the fact that I had cancer a lot of things in my life, um, that was on that questionnaire and, and so the name of the, of the song was One More Day.
Mm. And one more day is the most beautiful song. And when they sung it at the event, I wasn’t the only one crying. My husband was crying as well. So it was just so, so wonderful. Now, I do want to say that a lot of these amazing women, not all of them were there that day because they’re very busy women. They too were honored.
And it was just the most amazing thing to be able to. Just have, be a part of. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. What an amazing story. And and just looking at some of the work that you’ve done. I mean, so yeah, there’s a the, with the women like us foundation, there’s a center in Africa, you’re, you’re coaching girls in Kenya.
Maybe let’s go into, let’s kind of pivot a little here and go into a little bit more about, about the work and the actual function that you’re doing on day to day. Thank you so much. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So, so we finally after we did the chapters and that wasn’t quite right and we were traveling, we were in Costa Rica and we were working at school.
So we did, there were a lot of things that we did, but it was almost like Much that we could handle, you know, because we were gone all the time. We were on airplanes, we were here, we were there, but it was all very, very, very wonderful. We built a library in Costa Rica. So there was a lot of good things happening in that regard.
But just getting you to Kenya, which is really, really where our focus is now. Although we’ve done many things. If we have time, I’ll tell you some of the things we’ve done in the United States, but I would like to go to Kenya because it’s really, really important to us now. And so, and that’s where part of the Tyler Perry’s money helped us with that.
So, so anyway we were taking volunteers. to Africa. That was something that we started doing and we did really decide that it was Kenya is where we wanted to really spend our time. And so we, I, when we were on this, this trip and then we, we had, I think, 20 women that time with us. And we also have a documentary in there to somewhere.
So if we even have time to talk about that, but but anyway, and so We knew a couple of people Nancy Noel who sadly has passed but she founded a school starting out with 16 children and ending up having them for 200, 270 children were, were, well, eventually, yeah. Yes. And so we spent about 10 years working very, very hard with her on that, raising money again, bringing volunteers, doing all of that.
There’s another woman by the name of Kim Dewitt and, She created the old Omeleka home and we partnered with her. So, so really the, the, the issue, the mission of this Kenya thing is that we were finding women that were, were holding on. I mean, holding on because every charity needs lots of money, right?
And so we did a lot of fundraising for them. We brought people there. We would stay for days, if not weeks and work with the children or whatever it was that we had chosen to do that time was really all of that. And, and then, and then getting to the women like us center. There was a school that I had not met the people at the school yet, but I was very interested in finding out what it is that they were doing.
And as it turns out, there was this beautiful woman and her name is, I get a little, I get a little sad because she’s no longer here. Sorry. Anyway, so I met her at the school and we just, Clicked off together. I mean, it was, it was perfect. She, she knew what her purpose was. I knew what mine was. Right.
And, and so she particularly was interested in keeping teen girls in school. I don’t know if people know this very much that might be listening, but when, when girls in school in Africa and they have their menses. It’s it’s, they, they can’t stay in school and during that time period, they actually either sit on the sit in grass or sit in dirt and they can’t go to school because of that.
And so that was a big thing for her. And we, we, she and I said, you know, let’s do this together. And I was able to bring some funds and, and I also, I also said, we said, you know, if we’re going to really help these teen girls at school understand where, where they can get education and they can stay in school and that’s, it’s a long story actually on how we figured out how to help them when they are in their menses.
And, and so, but what we realized is if these girls. Are going to be educated. Why aren’t we educating their mothers? Wow. Because the mother is there, you know, and they were that. Yeah. So, so Ann and I started really digging in on that. And we found these women from the school, the, you know, their mothers.
And we thought, um, we, they have to have economic stability. Mm hmm. And so we started so teaching them how to soak. Fortunately I had another donor. It is about donors, people. Oh, yeah, it is. But I had another donor that was helping us get get that off the ground as well. And so Ann and I, we would be on Skype together once a week, once a week, and we were planning and we were, you know, figuring out how everything is going to work out and where we can find this and that and the other.
And there were maybe I think we had maybe Eventually, like 12 women that were learning to sew again. I’m I’m 21 hours of a plane away from all of that because it takes 21 hours to get to Kenya. And I was working and I got a message and my, my beautiful partner had passed away and as it turns out, it’s this is where I realized that when she was talking to me about wanting to come to the United States and live, it made sense because, because we don’t know for sure, but it seems to be that it was her husband because she was a victim of violence.
And, and so she, that is how she passed away. Yeah. Oh yeah. I really, it’s been really hard, really, really hard. So we all, we didn’t know what to do. We were in the middle of thinking that we were helping these girls in this, this, these women. But everything just kind of went dead. Oh, that’s not the right word.
I’m sorry. Yeah, but that but that was just so serious and so sad. And and so we just stopped everything we did again. It was it was just really horrible. And. Eventually, we got our ideas back together and knew we wanted to go forward. And so I had two of her, the people that worked with, worked with her, and we decided that we were going to move forward and we are going to.
Make a place for these women and more women. And so what we did was we decided to start the Women Like Us Center in her. And well, it’s really in my name because it’s the Women Like Us Foundation, but we did it together. Wow. And so we hung her picture in. The center and we rented it. You can do anything.
You can do anything if you just persevere again. There’s that word. Yeah. But she but anyway, and so we found a house that we rented. It was right at the edge, right at the edge of the Nakuru slums. And there are 80, 000 people that live in those slums. And when we got into that house, we started making it look like a home and wonderful.
And we had a sign out front that said, women like a center. Yeah. Well, these women and their husbands too. would see that sign and they think, what is this? What is going on? What is happening in that house? And we just had these people just start coming in. We didn’t have to go out and get them. They found us with that sign.
Yeah. And so, so, and women would come and be even before we had all of our, all of our skills that we’re going to be teaching them because that’s, that’s the mission is, is that they’re going to be, yes, they’re going to learn, they’re going to learn, and then they’re going to be able to earn. In fact, our tagline was, if she can learn, she can earn.
And it’s really, really made a difference in their lives. It has. So what we’re doing now, and we’ve been doing the whole time is we, we actually start, went continually with the sewing and we have usually about 50 that are in our classes learning. Of course we have a wonderful young woman. Who’s her name is Elizabeth and she teaches the sewing.
And then we also have moved. Well, the other thing we did, this is another one that wasn’t the best idea. But we also started learning how to, how to, how to actually raise chickens. That wasn’t exactly something that I’d known how to do in my life.
Yeah, I know when you should not have so many roosters, you know, I know all kinds of things, but, but yeah, and so we started with that and that was a great thing because we all learned together how to raise chickens, right? So that was one of our very first things as well since then. And we have about 100 women per week that are at the, at the center learning, whether it’s sewing, whether it’s poultry, whether it’s, it’s the other, the other thing we’re doing very recently is we have a lot of computer teaching and And when we get those, those computers, and again, that’s donors money, we can get the, we can get the, the yeah, the computers.
And that’s just been very successful as well. So here’s where we are now. We are we have agreements and contracts to do children’s uniforms at schools around our area. Wow. Yeah, I know. So exciting. And we also, we also with the computers, they’re doing a lot of everybody gets a certification and gets a certified, certified deal, right?
So they can go out and they can find a job and we help them with that also. But but so off of the computers, it’s definitely, you know, like I can go to a grocery store and I can, I can check out, you know, that those are computers and there are also other, we know we’re known now around Nakuru, Kenya, that we have skills over here and they find their jobs.
Yeah, so that’s as well. Yeah, what an amazing story. And then kind of to, uh, take us into our next section here. You’re so you found your purpose, you persevered, you’ve worked, and I know the work is never done. So that’s a given. I know that, that you’re going to continue to do more. You’re going to continue to do more because that’s what we do, right?
You’re going to continue to increase your impact. But so now you, you’ve, you’ve done that and you, I would argue you found your purpose and you found your authentic self. And so now with what’s next for women like us, you are now even helping others specifically correct me if I’m wrong, you’re working with, with a primary niche, if you will.
I think that’s what, what people say. Your niche is really, you’re, you’re helping other women that are either in their. 50s or in that age group or even beyond, find their purpose and find what’s next for them. I, I find that super inspiring. And what, tell me more about that. Ah, thank you. Well it just needed to be done.
Yeah, it does, doesn’t it? And you’re the one to do it, Linda, because you lived it. That’s the thing. You lived it. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, so yes, and, and going way back for a second My, my undergrad was in speech and speech and communication, and then my graduate work was counseling, and I had never really fulfilled that piece yet.
And that was important to me to do that. And so. I decided I was going to be a coach because I’ve already got the, I’ve already got the the education on it, although, although I do, I do have a lot of certifications at this point now too, but it’s so, so filling, so fulfilling, sorry. so fulfilling to, to meet women that don’t really know what direction they want to go.
And it does happen. It does happen well. And also I work with the Kenya, but I’ll start with the United States people first. So, so yeah, so the coaching when, when a woman gets around 50 years old She starts questioning herself and she starts wondering, wait a minute, you know, I, when I was in my thirties, I was going to do XYZ, but now I’m in my fifties and I haven’t done the all these things in my life that I wanted to do.
And they really kind of, that’s really what we’re doing with what’s next for women like us. And, and that’s really how a lot of coaching clients come to me. And And, you know, I’m there. I’m here, too. So we’re all wanting to fulfill our lives and to, you know, to really have had the purpose that we feel we should have for ourselves.
It’s finding it. It’s getting clarity. Sometimes you’re transforming yourself. And it’s just so wonderful. I love coaching. It’s great moving on, moving on. And then I think we’ll be done here. I’m also coaching women in Kenya specifically, specifically, actually certainly women that are from the center.
Because they, they can take these classes, but then they don’t know quite know where they want to go with it. So we make a plan, you know, we talk about what their need is, we work together, you know, it’s just, it’s working great. And the other piece is that even outside of the women like us center that are geog, geographically somewhere else, they find us and I work with them as well.
Yeah. I’m on the basically the same thing. Yeah. It’s such a great story to see it all kind of come full circle and build. It’s building. It’s not coming full circle. It continues to build because now, you know, you’ve been blessed, you find a way to be a blessing to others. And now you’re also multiplying, in my opinion, those blessings, because as, as some of these other women that you’re coaching again, whether it’s in Kenya, whether it’s in the United States, regardless, like the, and I know there’s different formats and things like that, but you’re, you’re going to then inspire them and they get to go out and do more good as well.
And they get to live and they’re more fulfilled self as well, which I think is just amazing. Like that’s great energy. The great, the, the ideas, the ideation that comes out of that, it’s, it’s. truly inspiring and it is and it’s a lot, like you said, somebody has to do it, right? I’m like, then it’s you, Linda, for sure.
That being said, if somebody’s watching this or listening to this, I know we, we, we Scratch the surface on the work that you’re doing at Women Like Us Foundation. I know there’s more to the story and and more to the efforts and also more to the plan and vision for the future. So whether it’s for Women Like Us Foundation or what’s next for Women Like Us how do people follow up and connect and learn more?
Well, it’s the website, of course, you know, that’s where it goes. So women, the Women Like Us Foundation the it’s women like. us foundation dot org and you can go right there. I mentioned that we had a documentary and we won’t talk about that. But what I do want to say about the Women Like Us Foundation and the Women Like Us Center, my I have to mention Jackie and Edwin.
They are running the center. If they were not there in Kenya to do that, I don’t know if we could ever make it. I mean, it’s not only money. It’s also also people that are just as, as, you know, resilient and persevere as much as me, I think, but anyway, we’re all together as a team. That’s the point. That’s the point.
Yeah. Yeah. So so yeah. And so on the women like us foundation. org website, you well, we’re on there right now, but below us is an 18 minute documentary that Jackie and Edwin put together that really gives you a taste of what it’s like to be at the women like us center and all of the wonderful things that they are doing there.
So if you get 18 minutes to just watch that, that’s pretty cool for the coaching. I’m, I’m in that website too, you know, because it’s all the board members and all that. But anyway, and then what’s next for women like us is another website as well. And it talks about who you are and who do you want to be and getting clarity for your life.
Because the thing that I didn’t tell you that I meant to, finish on is that when when women are in their fifties and they’re going, Oh my gosh, wait a minute. I was going to do this. I was going to do that. I don’t even know where I am right now. if In your fifties that you don’t tackle that research has said that then you never will.
So we need to do it when you’re in that group where you’re aware that, you know, I, I still want to do that stuff. How, how can someone help me? How can we get this going? So, yeah, it’s, it’s a great story and one that I’m happy to bring to my audience and for, and speaking to my audience if this is your first time with us, I’m this So, you know, we’re going to put the website, all that information, the show notes, so you can click on, on the, on the link and head right on over.
And also if this is your first time with us mission matters is all about bringing on business owners, entrepreneurs, executives, people that are mission based, hearing their story, hearing their mission, hearing how they got to where they’re at and what we can all learn from those lessons and stories of their lives.
If that’s the type of content that sounds interesting or fun or exciting to you, we welcome you hit that subscribe button. We ask. So many more mission based individuals coming up on the line and we don’t want you to miss a thing, Linda. Again, thank you so much for coming on this show. This is, it’s, it’s awesome to work with you and I’m so excited for our upcoming book.
Thank you. I am too. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Adam.
