Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Diane & Debra Collier. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Diane & Debra , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
One of our most meaningful events was our wellness event called “Grounded + Rooted: A Yoga Planting Event” that served two key purposes. The first – pour into the women attendees by creating a one of a kind self-care experience for them to feel grounded, rooted, & inspired.
The second goal of the event – use ticket proceeds to help us purchase menstrual hygiene items for women/girls in need #endperiodpoverty! All tickets from the event went directly to purchasing tampons, pads, and other hygiene items.
The 25 women who attended our Grounded + Rooted Wellness event enabled us to provide menstrual kits for 125 girls and women in the Greater Houston area. We partnered with Baker Ripley’s Food Drive and Make a Difference Fair and we were able to meet and connect with women who were extremely grateful for the unexpected kits!
One woman in particular shared with us that she had 3 teenage daughters, in addition to herself, needing menstrual items (that’s at least 4 times each month, every month = $$$). It makes our hearts full to help others because menstrual hygiene is a necessity, not a luxury.
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.
Hey there! We are twin sisters – Debra Collier-Harris and Diane Collier, and we created Inspiring Women Today, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, in 2019 to give women a platform to inspire one another. We’ve always believed that when women collaborate and celebrate one another, amazing things happen. We are on a mission to empower girls and women through health and wellness workshops, entrepreneurship education and micro-grants for women business owners. Our mission and our WHY extend to fighting period poverty by providing menstrual and hygiene items to girls and women who need them most. We currently operate out of Houston, Texas and are excited to be expanding our initiatives to the Greater Austin area as well!
How did you build your audience on social media?
Great question – because learning how to best navigate social media as a nonprofit or as a business can be overwhelming! Building our audience on social media is a continuous process. However, we learned early on to focus on the quality of our content versus quantity. While we don’t have thousands of followers, the audience that we have built is our target audience – women who are passionate about empowering other women and girls, women who are invested in issues affecting our community, and those who strive to invest in their health, wellness and professional development.
One of the ways we were able to grow and attract our ideal audience was by spotlighting women. It happened organically. One of our key initiatives was to highlight women making positive contributions to their field and in their community. Women in our families, communities, and across the world who are paving the way, inspiring, and creating opportunities for other women. By spotlighting women on our social media pages and website – they in turn share their featured spotlight on their profiles. As a result, their friends and family shared the spotlight posts as well and liked/followed our social media account.
Our advice is to focus on the quality of your content. Ensure the information you’re sharing is beneficial to your audience. While some accounts grow quickly, the majority of social media accounts take a while to grow so be patient and give yourself grace. As long as you are showing up authentically – the right audience will find you.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
The initial capital/funding for the first few years came from our own pockets! We knew we wanted to do good and we used a significant amount of our own money to fund our community events. Then we did research! To be sustainable and impactful long-term, we knew that as a nonprofit we had to be strategic, resourceful and partner with other organizations, businesses, and people who were passionate about our cause (empowering women and girls).
Companies like Kendra Scott have been instrumental in supporting our nonprofit through her company’s Give Back events.
All proceeds from our wellness events help us purchase menstrual hygiene items and fund our micro-grant program for women and girl-preneurs.
We’re always actively looking for partners, volunteers and donations- no donation amount is too small!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.inspiringwomen.today/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inspiringwomen.today/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inspiringwomen.today
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inspiring-women-today
