We recently connected with Amy Chandler and have shared our conversation below.

Amy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

In May 2011 I received a strong impression that I was not to delay starting the non-profit I had planned in my undergraduate class. I had 4 young children at home, health issues, and a million reasons why the timing was not right. But I had one very strong reason to move forward despite the seemingly crazy timing: faith. I will be the first to tell you that God directs my life, including the organization and running of My Story Matters. With my husband’s support, I moved forward with the idea.

Plans came together at an accelerated pace. The scariest part of starting MSM was sharing my idea with others, not knowing how they would respond. However, God placed the right people for the MSM board in my life. Not only did these women accept the invitation to join me in this adventure, they each later shared that they had been praying for an opportunity to get involved in serving the community.

When I started MSM, my goal was to publish two books a month. Only a few years into the adventure, MSM is already publishing thousands of books each year. My Story Maters continues to move forward and the vision is expanding rapidly to help thousands more.

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

Amy Chandler is also an entrepreneur at heart with varying interests in helping people become an active agent in their story. She is the founder of a non profit, My Story Matters and the CEO of My Hero Journey, a social emotional learning curriculum company. Her greatest passion is people! First and foremost her family, whom she loves engaging in life with. She and her rockstar husband have the privilege of raising 4 beautiful children that keep them very busy. Traveling is one of her favorite hobbies and a beach is a plus, but not a hot one! She loves meeting people all over the world and getting to know, learn from and share their stories. She understands her mission is to empower people with the tools and resources they need to write their own story. As they do so they choose to claim and create the future they want to achieve. She knows that within each of us is a unique skill set designed to help us achieve far more than we realize. It is her mission to help others find THEIR mission and learn how to bless the world with it. Chasing and achieving our dreams can and should be done in every phase of life! You are never too young or too old to decide you will be the hero of YOUR story and you can use that story to bless all within your influence.

At My Story Matters we provide life changing curriculum for all. As we listen to participants’ stories of their past, Safe Harbors helps individuals gain evidence-based, therapeutic tools to meet these challenges as the authors of their own stories. They not only learn to tell their story, but to actually create the story of their lives and selves by connecting to a purpose driven vision of identity. Safe Harbors empowers individuals and communities toward necessary change. Using trauma informed strategies, Safe Harbors facilitators partner with participants through the experience of determining life focus, building positive communities, developing purpose driven identity, adopting a growth mindset, and engaging with daily, focused action. Safe Harbors expands the singular focus of behavior and supports foundational attention to the additional systems of individuals impacted by trauma including beliefs, biology, bodies, and brains. In doing so, we employ a strengths based perspective that acknowledges what is wrong, but focuses on building upon what is strong.

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

This curriculum was born through adversity. Our founder understands abrupt changes, unknown paths, and unmet expectations.

As a fifth grader Amy had her dreams and goals set around becoming a collegiate athlete. That all came to a screeching halt with a career ending injury that required healing from home where she was distanced from her peers and struggled to keep up with the rigors of in person education. Throughout the recovery process she experienced the benefits of guides along her journey that pointed her to tools that empowered her to re-chart her disappointments and broken plans into a future vision that was full of hope, courage, and joy. As she has applied these lessons learned and knowledge gained through adversity to her journey over and over again it has empowered and inspired her to be a guide on the journey of life for others. As she has taught these tools to others they have in turn enjoyed the benefits of living a present they are happy in and designing a future they are excited to chase.

Her passion for empowering ALL led to the development of curriculum designed to inspire youth and adults alike to take the lead in their own story. To eliminate the thought that you are simply a victim of circumstance but rather you are a powerful individual capable of using what makes you unique to impact your own journey and the community around you.

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

For many chapters of my story I dealt with debilitating health challenges. Over and over again I heard things like “you are a medical anomaly”, “we’ve never seen this before”. “it’s like your body just wants to be broken.

That was playing out as truth for a number of years. I had 17 surgeries in 7 years. I felt broken. I was tired, and lacked hope. It was in one of the deepest moments of despair that I had a realization. I had to change my story if I was ever going to change my ending.

That day I penned a vision statement that would begin to shift everything for me. I wrote, “I am well. I am whole. I am ready.” Three things I hadn’t felt in a long time. I was in the midst of fighting for my life in the hospital when I penned those words. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it out alive. I decided then and there I was done being the medical anomaly. I was done being broken. That was the beginning of changing that chapter of my story and I’m so grateful for the tools and knowledge to do so. That was just over 12 years ago and I am still claiming, “I am well. I am whole. I am ready.” Ready for all of life’s callings and the adventures that come with that!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mystorymatters.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mystorymatters/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064898791534
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-chandler-a24947252/