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

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 was a single mother of 3 ,by the age of 21yrs of age and often found myself robbing Peter to pay Paul and sometimes not even Paul had it!!! I would say that whenever I hit the lottery that ,I was going to open a shelter for women with children, I’ve never been homeless but have been evicted and by the Grace of God, had family to live with until ,I got back on my feet. I know that this is not always an option for most women with children, I never physically hit the lottery , but one day God told me when he gave me the vision that was the lottery and I just needed to move. Gracious Hands was birthed in 2012 and the doors opened in 2015, we have served over 350 women and 1000 children ,successfully transitioning out over 75% ,with a savings of at least 5000 before transitioning out and increasing their credit score by 100 points.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I actually used my 401k to start Gracious Hands as a non-profit ,it’s really hard to get grants especially as a grassroot , I was just trusting God at his word that he would provide for me to take care of the women and children of Gracious Hands and He has yet to fail me!!!!!!!!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

On this journey ,I was renting a home to serve the women and children and the landlord decided that she no longer wanted to rent to us any longer and people kept asking me what was ,I going to do lol!!!! I would respond by saying what am I going to do???? Nah….. I’m not going to do anything but trust God, He’s the one that told me to do this and I am believing him to send someone to buy us a house and 2weeks later ,He did just that.

Contact Info:

• Website: gracioushandshousing.org
• Instagram: gracioushands_housing
• Facebook: Gracious Hands

Image Credits
Cece Byoun