We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Abby Germer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Abby, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

In 2009, my husband invited me on a mission trip to India. Our youngest daughter was almost 4 years old and I was very uncertain that it was the right thing to do and leave her at such a young age for 2 weeks. But something deep inside of me knew this was the right decision for that moment in time. Growing up, my parents instilled the love of travel for me and we had the chance to go many different places, but nothing like India. I am pretty adventurous and the more I learned of the trip and the others that were going, I decided to take the risk. Once I was there, I not only fell in love with the country, the people, THE FOOD but also found purpose in my life that was a catalyst to where I am today. Front lines in the fight of Human Trafficking.

Abby, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I currently serve as the Executive Director of Refuge for Women North Texas. I was fortunate enough to serve on the start up team for our North Texas location in 2015. Our mission is to empower sexually exploited women to live a life of freedom through faith-based, residential healing programs. Our vision is for every woman that is sexually exploited to have the hope, support, and tools needed to pursue her dreams and live a life of freedom.

With multiple locations across the U.S., Refuge for Women provides a place of escape, safety, hope, healing and restoration for women who have escaped sex trafficking or sexual exploitation. Our non-profit, faith based organization, offers up to two years of a specialized continuum of care at no charge to the residents. Residents progress through nationally recognized, evidence-based, trauma-informed programming, with around the clock staffing. The trained, compassionate staff support residents as they work to reclaim their identities and reach their goals: overcoming addictions, healing from trauma, developing life skills, establishing support networks, living with healthy rhythms of life and attaining financial independence. Refuge for Women strives to help each woman complete the program with a vision for her future, equipped to succeed and sustain a life marked with dignity and hope.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

I think one of the most helpful things to succeed in any field is the mindset of continual learning. Over the years, there have moments of setbacks and obstacles to overcome. Being part of a start up is not easy and there are lots of opportunities to learn and grow. Mistakes will happen and it is vital to learn from them and not be defeated by them. Having the perseverance to continue to show up and give it your best with good intentions and a pure heart, the outcome will produce good fruit. Character, integrity and perseverance matter.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Get to know your team. Care about them and what matters to them. Find their strengths and weaknesses and build your team around those. Setting people up to succeed and grow in their professional career is one of my favorite things to watch and see. It is very important to find people who are the right fit for the job you are needing to hire for. But more importantly, are they teachable, hungry to grow and are they a team player. Personally, I look for character, calling and gifting. The other can be taught. Some of the best team members over the years have been the ones that might not have all the credentials yet but have the heart of the mission.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://refugeforwomen.org/north-texas/
• Instagram: refugeforwomen_ntx
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rfwnorthtexas
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abby-germer-48b106169/