We recently connected with Karrisa Hodge and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Karrisa, thanks for joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I had volunteered for an MMIW prior to starting my foundation. I had been through domestic and family violence so I understood that side but I wanted to serve at a different level. When I began volunteering my wheels started turning. I saw things I liked and things I wish we could do differently. I saw a much larger picture and future. After a couple of months of volunteering I turned to my friend and said ” I’m going to start my own foundation for MMIW/MMIP I want to have conferences and healing sessions and funding and truly help these families from beginning to end. I want to remove the financial burden and be there emotionally while doing preventative maintenance.” She looked at me laughed and said okay. Im not for just saying something so I began digging into law. Learning about 501c3s, state nonprofits and the differences. I began thinking of incorporation documents and bylaws. I studied for about a month day in and day out. Three months later that friend asked me “So hows it going?’ I smiled and said “Well I have a board of five, am certified with the state as a nonprofit and a foundation, have my EIN, and am rolling out of our own pockets. That whole first 8 months was out of our pockets and one 50/50 raffle. It was hard. Within a year I had my 501c3 with the help of a friend Brian Larney and we received our first grant. We had our first women’s conference to bring awareness and money in. Then I decided partnering is the way to go. I partnered with Starbucks, Webstraunt, Choctaw Nation, RDW, OTFC, Tinker, Phillips and Murrow, Clevyr , Hogan Taylor, and the Not Me campaign. Anyone and everyone who shared our mission. Once they saw the passion and the work we were putting in the partnerships flowed easily. This was a god lead journey and it has been proven every step of the way. By year two we won multiple awards one being a ONE award finalist for general impact and had been on the news and in papers numerous times. By year two and a half, we had full funding year around, a board of 10, and began creating a panel board for our youth to learn and get volunteer time to help their futures. Now we speak with foster care children, at schools and colleges as well as at conventions all around Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and California. It started from a want to do better for my community and God blessed the rest.

Karrisa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a Caddo Nation of Oklahoma citizen and a certified public speaker and trainer as well as the president and founder of MMIW chata. I have three daughters and a son on the way and promote family in community. It has been proven with statistics that my Native people are more susceptible to murder and violence so I want to help arm my communities with the tools to get them through that tragedy and the knowledge to help prevent it. I believe that the way our people operated years before me had knowledge and values and I want to bring that back to our reservations. I want to show that we are stronger together and that we need to lift each other up and protect our elders as well as lift up our Youth. I have my own story of why I am so passionate about this but the longer I’m in this work the more stories I acquire. The families we serve become apart of me and we each give a little piece of our self to them. They become family to us and as president of this organization, nothing makes me more proud than to see my team share their love, time and life experiences with each member we serve. I am truly honored to work with each of them and even more honored to be trusted with our relatives that we serve.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

APPRECIATE THEM. Find THEIR strengths not YOURS and utilize them. Let go of the reigns and allow them to learn and make their own mistakes. Set them up for success, if they arent strong in one area promote and celebrate moving around and finding something they are good at and enjoy. Understand and know that life happens and we all need a break, in those times we band together and cover the holes. It helps us grow as a team. Listen to their ideas and opinions, see all sides and take everything in consideration. Sometimes YOU’RE wrong. Celebrate their wins and let them shine, let them outshine you and let them in the spotlight. This isn’t about you or them its about all of you. Create a family environment and apologize when you are wrong.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

There has been two near “death” experiences ad both may be me being dramatic. At the time it was larger than life to me. One was during our second annual women’s conference. We did not pre-read our speaker’s speeches or practice like the year prior. One speech was very unorganized and mentioned violence on my behalf . I can laugh now because it was out of context and silly. At the time we were devastated not only with the speech delivery but with the context. I as the president wanted to crawl in a hole and die. Dramatic I know, but we had never failed before, especially in front of over 200 people. I went home that evening defeated and my board member Beck Abshire stayed up all night not sulking like me but problem-solving. She created a speaker policy that we would now have for all future events. It had deadlines and signatures and legal lingo. It was amazing. Sometimes we have to let our team save us because we are only human. That is the importance of building a strong team that you trust that is different from you. You don’t need a bunch of you’s. If you had a bunch of you’s they would have all been defeated and we would have crumbled. Having a diverse team is what makes a strong unbreakable foundation. We have soared because of our diverse team.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://naomijandrews.wixsite.com/mmiw-chahta
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mmiwchahta?igsh=ZDU0NW02N2xxa2t6
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NotInvisibleMMIWChahta
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karrisa-hodge-3a691b157/