We recently connected with Brianna Paauwe and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Brianna, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

I run the Wheel With Me Foundation Nonprofit, an organization that supports the independence of wheelchair users through peer education, online and in-person events, and our Wheel Together Retreat summer camp for adult wheelchair users. The independence of our community is so important to me because, for the first decade of living with a Spinal Cord Injury, I was nowhere near living up to my potential and independence. Getting injured in a rural area of Wisconsin with little resources and support set me up on a different path that most SCI survivors don’t have to struggle with. Due to a lack of insurance, I was only allowed two weeks of rehabilitation therapy before I was sent home. I went home not knowing how to transfer myself without a sliding board, use the toilet to do my bathroom needs, and thinking of all the things I would never be able to do again. For years I scheduled my life around my 4-6 bathroom window, needing to go home to pee because I was only taught how to do so in a laying down position in bed. Over that time I slowly gained a lot of weight, which made normal day to day things that much more challenging. I lived like this for 10 years before finding a community that showed me I was capable of so much more. I met my now roommate, Jesi Stracham, online and she pushed me to live up to my potential and start taking back control of my independence. Over the last three years I have lost over 100 lbs, taught myself how to do my bathroom needs on the toilet, I am able to transfer without the board, and have started traveling alone for the first time in years. My community is th reason I am where I am today, which is why I do what I do. I want to give my community and fellow wheelchair users the same independence, confidence, and freedom I have gained. If I can do it, anyone can.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was in a car accident in 2011 after choosing to drive after drinking which left me paralyzed from the belly button down. This crash literally and metaphorically flipped my whole life upside down and back up again. I was in the hospital for only a month before being released back home to figure out a new “normal”. I had no idea how life was supposed to look now or what I was supposed to do, so I took time to find my new purpose in life. I was already heavily involved in the EDM dance and festival scene before my accident and this was the place I felt most at home and the most safe. When I was at a concert or festival, nothing else mattered. I would close my eyes, getting lost in the music and energy, while the idea of my disability and wheelchair floated away with the beats. This is where I found my love of helping people. Wanting to help keep my friends and other attendees around me safe, I got trained in Harm Reduction and how to “party safely”. Shortly after that, I enrolled in college and spent 8 years learning about Human Services, Social Work, Peer Specialist Training, Criminal Justice, Marketing, and more!

During those first 9 years of being in my wheelchair, I wasn’t taking care of my mind or body and I had put on a lot of extra weight. I was so uncomfortable in my own skin that I didn’t even want to look at myself in the mirror. And after the COVID isolation of 2020, that problem had only gotten worse. By 2021, I NEEDED a change. I stumbled on The Wheel With Me Foundation, a Nonprofit that was serving the independence of wheelchair users, and it was launching its first weekly Empowerment Sessions where speakers from the wheelchair community share their trade, experiences, or business with others to help empower growth and independence. That first week they had speakers covering things like seated fitness, confidence coaching, growing your social media, and more. I signed up for every single night and with each additional speaker I felt the fire inside me growing. After committing to a week of sessions, I then committed to a coaching and fitness program, joined SCI-related support groups, found other wheelchair users online, and really pushed myself to grow my independence. By August 2021 (right after the third empowerment event), I joined the small team running WWMF because I wanted to help other people grow the way I was growing. I worked remotely for the nonprofit for 10 months and upon graduating in May of 2022, I packed up my entire life and moved to Charlotte, NC, to live with the founder of the Nonprofit, Jesi Stracham, and continue to grow our goals and missions together.

Since moving I have helped get our 501(c)3 status approved, created new Bylaws, and founded a board of 7 others who believe in our mission and programming. Empowerment Weeks are still running strong every quarter and we are finding new speakers regularly. We have a bigger goal of finding sponsors to build a transitional apartment complex where wheelchair users can stay and learn additional skills and knowledge that will help give them a more well-rounded and independent life. On a personal level, I changed my habits and lifestyle and was able to lose 100 pounds, learn to transfer more independently, and gained the skills and confidence needed to travel alone and grow my social media platform/brand.

We love traveling to expos and events where we can connect with the community and continue to share the mission and impact as many people as possible.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I met my business partner in the internet. I found her on Instagram shortly after attending one of the WWMF events. I started following her and engaging with her social media posts. Then I became a member of her fitness support group on facebook where she would lead live workouts online. It was in these live Zoom workouts where her and I got really close. I started working for the nonprofit and helping her with the facebook group. We hit it off so well, it was less than six month later we decided that we would move in together to grow the business. Less than six months after that, I was packed up and on a one-way flight to Charlotte where my business partner/roomie/best friend have pretty much been insperable since. We work together we travel together, and push each other to pursue individual dreams and hobbies outside of the Wheel With Me umbrella.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My creative journey comes from my love of showing people more is always possible. I love getting creative with things like photography, hula hooping, content. and cooking because in the disability community, people are shoved into these little boxes where they are taught they can’t do X, Y, or Z because of thier “limitations”. My favorite thing to do is prove people wrong when they say I can’t or seeing the shock and awe on a strangers face when I am spinning around with my hula hoop. Creativity is how people with disabilties survive. Our determination to keep on pushing in uncharted territory or our skills to find ways around our struggles and into the lives we aim for is all done by the will to be creative and do things a little differently than the norm.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wheelwithmefoudation.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bribabe16/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/bribabe16
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianna-paauwe-5b1251b6/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/bribabe16_
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUbxYJ8qbyo4VvhOahqsEkA