We recently connected with Emily K. Whiting and have shared our conversation below.

Emily, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

My heart throbs for other parents raising children with medical complexities. I know all too well what a lonely, scary and overwhelming journey it can be, from initial diagnostics to diagnosis, treatments and daily living with specialist appointments, durable medical equipment, lab work, testing, side effects, post-operative protocols, insurance, etc.

I’ve walked to the edge of life and back with my daughter who has head-to-toe anomalies first discovered at our routine 20-week prenatal ultrasound. That was back when she was just the size of a sweet potato in utero. I’ve felt the devastation of learning my child is not healthy, and even that she may not survive, and if she survives, life will come with a heavy dose of suffering and pain. I’ve spent seemingly endless days in the NICU praying my daughter will recover and live long enough to go home. I’ve been bedside for her recovery from 14+ procedures in her five-year life and I find myself a full-time healthcare manager of her now 20+ specialists across three hospital systems.

So, when doctors, nurses, family and friends started asking me if I could meet with so-and-so who has a child with XYZ condition, I always said yes. I found so much purpose meeting for coffee or texting or calling with other parents who were walking similar journeys, sitting in the heartache with them, all the while sharing hope for what’s possible.

That’s how Charlotte’s Hope Foundation, Inc. started, simply from a deep need to share love and hope with parents at the most traumatic time in their lives, with compassion fueled by my own heart-wrenching experiences.

I already had a writing and speaking business, but I knew it was time to orient my focus on these parents at their greatest time of need. That’s when Ashlyn Thompson called.

Ashlyn, a distant acquaintance now-turned friend through shared experiences with shocking prenatal diagnoses of our daughters, told me on the phone that night that she was going to start a podcast for parents and caregivers with kids with rare conditions. “Are you in?” she asked. We soon travelled three hours across state lines to meet in the middle between our homes and plan our podcast, which by the end of the weekend turned into a full-fledged 501(c)(3) named Charlotte’s Hope Foundation, offering the Empowered by Hope podcast, the book She is Charlotte, speaking engagements and more.

Ashlyn and I both know what a dark time this can be in a parent’s life, and we also know the impact hope can have on a child’s optimal quality of life, regardless of diagnosis or prognosis. Charlotte’s Hope Foundation is where hope is found.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Charlotte’s Hope Foundation exists to support, encourage and educate parents and caregivers of children with medical complexities, embracing each family’s reality with an outlook of hope and empowering them as capable advocates for their child’s optimal quality of life. We do this primarily through the podcast Empowered by Hope, which parents and caregivers can listen to no matter where they are-bedside with their child at the hospital, on their drive to and from work, folding laundry, in between specialist appointments, or anywhere in between.

Facing the unknowns of their child’s diagnoses can bring overwhelm and paralyzing fear. Oftentimes parents don’t know where to turn for support or the next steps to attain it. Our goal is to reach them in the middle of that storm, provide the compassion and empathy needed, and then direct them to resources that can help them with their specific situation. There are already so many wonderful organizations in the market to help with identified conditions and specific challenges with medical complexities. Charlotte’s Hope Foundation does not replace or reinvent any of them, but rather is the lighthouse to illuminate the resources most relevant for a family’s situation.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Crying is unprofessional.

That’s the lesson I had to unlearn. I always thought showing emotion was a huge detriment to business. I was all suits and high heals and poker face. But specifically when you’re in the line of work I am now, letting walls down and being vulnerable is precisely what connects the most with my ‘audience,’ whether it’s from a stage, a podcast, a page or across the coffee table.

It is now 100% normal for me to let a tear or two slip during my speaking presentations. It’s to be expected that emotion surfaces while recording podcast episodes and it’s guaranteed if you read my book She is Charlotte you will need an entire box of tissues.

I suppose it boils down to being willing to be vulnerable. When I’m vulnerable, I am also approachable and relatable, and that’s exactly what parents and caregivers of children with medical complexities need, not a buttoned up professional, but a mother who’s been there and gets the heartache.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The process of writing the memoir She is Charlotte started when I was 12-weeks postpartum with my third child. All three kids were still in diapers. My eldest was still in and out of the hospital on a regular basis with bi-weekly specialist appointments and daily inexplainable pain episodes that sometimes lasted hours. I signed a contract with a publisher that I would work with her to write this book, meeting weekly. It was crazy-town. Every week we were either in the hospital or one of the kids had a fever, but by golly I wrote one scene a week come hell or high water. I met with the publisher while rocking napping toddlers, nursing my infant, caring for sick kids, etc., and by the end of the year, we had a completed book! Looking back I honestly have no idea how I got it done, but by the grace of God.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://charlotteshopefoundation.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charlotteshopefoundationinc/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Charlottes-Hope-Foundation/100083218456295/
• Other: My other business page is https://www.emilykwhiting.com/
  https://charlotteshopefoundation.org/empoweredbyhope/