We were lucky to catch up with Kym Nixon recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kym, appreciate you joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
Changing Destinies Ministry is an anti-human trafficking nonprofit that endeavors to help sex-trafficked women heal and reintegrate.
Our name suggests the idea that life is a journey. We are all traveling a path of destiny so to speak. Our lives are filled with dreams, goals, and desires for our future.
We all experience detours, obstacles, challenges, and some measures of success. But in a sex-trafficked survivor’s journey, his or her life intersects with a trafficker. This encounter begins a vicious cycle of major detours that lead them away from their chosen path. This path of complex trauma, abuse, exploitation, and devastation invokes a destiny that is filled with destruction.
We want to meet them on that path and help facilitate an encounter with the love of God. He will change their destinies by guiding them back to the path of their own dreams, goals, and desires. We are honored to enter into this journey with them.
Kym, 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?
In 2012, I was traveling a path of status quo. I was married, had four daughters, and worked as an instructor for the Army teaching high-risk-of-capture personnel how to survive and return with honor while in a POW, detainee, or hostage situation.
The best I can describe it was a calling to leave everything I knew and enter into the abolition movement. I co-founded Changing Destinies with a friend from my church. We convened a board of directors and began attending and hosting awareness seminars.
From the early days, I felt called to open a shelter for sex-trafficked women. I learned through much trial and error that this takes a significant amount of time, effort, and money. So, in the interim, I took a team to the local strip club to minister to the women there. We did outreach every month for 6 1/2 years. It was such a rewarding mission, but COVID and the change of club ownership ended that season for us. My board and I began dreaming again about opening a shelter.
In April 2022, we were finally able to purchase a 13 acre property we have named Rachel’s Refuge. The main house is 5,000 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 7 1/2 bathrooms, and an area we are turning into an apartment for a house mom. We are still renovating the house, which turned 100 years old last year and was in a dilapitated state. So, there is much work that still needs to be done.
Rachel’s Refuge, fully staffed and funded, can house seven women up to 24 months. We will have a Christ-centered program designed to facilitate the women’s ability to encounter God’s love, experience transformation, and reintegrate into society.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
We use social media (Facebook and Instagram) and send out newsletters. Our communications are multifaceted. We believe in facilitating awareness about human trafficking, such as red flags, prevention tips, and advocacy; updating on our progress; and providing opportunities to get involved. For our major and monthly donors, I provide personal and additional insights into our struggles, wins, and dreams. I want them to understand how important they are to the overall success of the mission.
How’d you meet your business partner?
When I first felt called into this mission, I didn’t know anyone involved or much about human trafficking. So, I started by just posting information about trafficking on social media.
One day at church, a woman sat down next to me. She said she had noticed my posts about human trafficking. She pointed to another woman named Sandy and told me Sandy’s daughter was planning a fundraising concert to raise money for A21, a well-known anti-trafficking nonprofit. She thought I should talk to her about it.
I did approach her, and we met to discuss our mutual interest in abolition efforts. I attended her daughter’s concert and we decided to become co-founders of Changing Destinies. We later partnered with others in our community and state who were passionate about fighting human trafficking.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.changingdestiniesministry.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changingdestiniesmin/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangingDestinies
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-nixon-578a909/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/cdestinies