Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Yolanda Wright. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Yolanda, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Talk to us about building your team? What was it like? What were some of the key challenges and what was your process like?

I was the only employee/volunteer on day one because I was not paid. And, as a nonprofit in Georgia, at minimum, you need to have three board members. That is how we started. The board consisted of the basic essential roles to get us started. The Chief Financial Officer to track the money and keep us on course. The Chief Executive Officer directed where we were going. And the Secretary to keep up with our records and plans and keep us in compliance. Within a year, we added another board member who has been an indispensable community liaison for the organization. They were the first team members.

Finding them was challenging because I wasn’t an objective recruiter. I think recruiting is easier when you’re objective about the mission and don’t take rejection personally. But when you’re personally invested, it can hurt when others don’t share your passion. However, it also grew me. I had to learn how to objectively accept others not sharing my passion while maintaining it simultaneously. The business was my baby, and what parent wants to see their baby rejected? We think we have the smartest, cutest kid on the planet and can’t see why others don’t believe the same. But they don’t, and it’s okay. I had to learn that while still believing in the beauty and uniqueness of my baby.

We are expanding because of growing opportunities to bring our program to more communities. Adding employees has been a unique challenge because of our goals and business model. The purpose of this organization is to empower students, which (among other things) means placing them into functional roles within the organization to train them, mentor them, and equip them to do the same for their peers. While the primary roles within SFL are not filled by minors. they are placed in functional roles as part of our mentoring process. As you can imagine, hiring minors has unique checks and balances built into them, which are necessary. So working within those checks and balances to put a workforce in place to meet these goals is what we are currently addressing. But I would not have it any other way. I love teaching, training, and creating opportunities for students and seeing what these students do with them.

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 am a wife and mother who woke up one morning and didn’t recognize herself. I’d gotten so engrossed in these roles that I misplaced myself. So, in an attempt to reconnect, I did the one thing I did remember about myself, I got involved in improving my local community. This required that I talk to other people who were usually strangers. After one too many embarrassing “deer in the headlights” moments, I decided to join a public speaking organization to improve my speaking skills. And, as they say, “The rest is history.”

Public speaking is first a reflective experience. You need to go inside yourself first to decide what you want to say. For me, that introspection became a period of self-discovery of myself. I found my voice and saw the correlation between that recognition and my choices in life. I could trace lifelong decisions to what I believed about myself, who I had become, and the life I lived. And some of it was not pretty. I also come from a family of educators. My mother, her sister, and her brother were educators. All three of my sisters are educators. Whenever we had family gatherings, it didn’t take long for the conversation to drift to education. Through those conversations, I learned a lot about the dilemma parents and teachers were facing in the schools. Realizing the impact of public speaking on me and what parents and teachers were facing, I began to think of the difference that could be made in the lives of children. What if they could process their thoughts and emotions better and communicate these thoughts and emotions through their writing and speaking? How many of our kids fail tests, get held back, and miss out on opportunities in life simply because they do not know how to gather what is happening in their heads and channel it out through their speaking or writing skills? Or even worse, how many times have we turned on the news and heard of some atrocity that a local youth committed, and we wondered, “What were they thinking??!” Well, public speaking allows us to tap into that thinking process and, hopefully, help them make better decisions.

Those were the seeds for the launch of this business. I presented my first program at a local middle school before the business officially launched. We offer 9-week, 6–week, and customized programs that introduce students to the fundamentals of public speaking and build to more advanced concepts. We also provide reading summer camps and a camp that combines reading with music theory called “Musically Speaking.” Our programs are for students ranging from 8 to 17 years old. Students can participate in our programs at Boundary Waters Activity Center in Douglasville, Georgia, or the Mable House Arts Center in Mableton, Georgia.

Admittedly, youth public speaking programs are unique. However, what distinguishes us is the way we deliver our services. For example, we work in partnership with families to support their children. In addition to the material we present, we inquire about their specific concerns or objectives and collaborate to accomplish them. We also offer ongoing support for their child even after finishing our programs. This support can come in the form of helping them prepare for a school presentation or giving them feedback on a college scholarship competition. It can happen in several ways, and the support is free of charge. Also, our programs factor in the whole child. We don’t simply give them a template and ask them to produce a generic presentation. Our customized program factors in their experiences in their community, their school, and what they are seeing and experiencing around them. This approach makes the material relevant to the child and more meaningful.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn my approach toward taking risks. As an entrepreneur, I learned a lot of things about myself. In fact, I had crucial beliefs about me that weren’t true. For example, I thought I was fearless because of the many things I’d taken on in life that others cringed over, But not me. However, when it came to grabbing those unexpected business opportunities, I held back. I often told myself I was holding back because certain specifics weren’t provided or the returns weren’t guaranteed. I think the root of this behavior is that I never planned or expected to be an entrepreneur. And there have been many days when I’d wake up and wonder what I was doing. Somewhat in disbelief that I was the leader of an organization and that people were depending on me. But in the end, to unlearn this behavior, I had to face the fear of losing control and the fact that my mind did not have all the details I wanted to have before moving forward.

Consequently, opportunities passed me by. Now that doesn’t mean you should jump at every opportunity that comes your way, But it does mean you should ask yourself ‘Why’ you are or why you are not doing a particular thing? What is the real reason? If the answer is ever fear, then it’s the wrong decision. I learned that about myself and am unlearning it daily as I put that approach into practice. If I ever hold back because I am afraid, then it is the wrong decision.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Our reputation has been built primarily through two things—first, the achievements of the students who’ve gone through our programs. Public speaking is not a unique animal. We clearly have competition out there. But we are distinguished by our business model and the students’ results that have gone through our programs. We do what we do to help students. And unlike other entities that may offer similar services, we focus on empowering the students over generating profits. This looks like providing ongoing support to students even after they’ve finished our programs. This support can look like helping them write and present essays for scholarships (which we have done before with students winning scholarships or competitions). It can look like writing letters of recommendation for college applications or helping them with a classroom presentation. It can take many forms and is never at an additional cost.

Our reputation is also built on the relationship we develop with the parents. Parents need support. I am a parent and remember the challenges of those middle and high school years. Parents value it when others show a personal interest in their child and walk alongside them to help support their child. And as we work with their children, parents share their experiences with other parents. Our reputation grows through word-of-mouth testimonials.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.StatsFreeLiving.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/statsfreeliving/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StatsFreeLiving
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stats-free-living-inc/