We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Porscha N. Dillard a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Porscha N. , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

The biggest risk I took was on myself. You see, there was a point in time where I didn’t see a bright future. I didn’t believe life would become easier or fulfilling. Boy, was I wrong. I’m so glad that I live by my favorite quote, “retaliate by being great!” These words inspire me so much. They’re like fuel to my motivation tank. I stay on full now. My foot stays on the success petal. I am driving at full speed and refuse to let anything stop me from achieving any goals that I set. I’m proud to say that a monumental goal has been achieved and in place for the past six years.

I started a nonprofit and named it Off The Chain Alliance. The purpose is to help disenfranchised minority families with wraparound services for grief and help with funeral poverty. It was created to honor my brother, Kareem Jamaal Dillard. He passed away unexpectedly in 1998 from asthma. It was devastating, depressing, and defeating. We couldn’t afford his entire funeral service, so we never received his remains or death certificate.

Even though it was 25 years ago, there still is an overwhelming amount of disenfranchised minority families struggling to give their loved ones a respectable goodbye. It’s heartbreaking to see, feel, or experience. So, the birth of Off The Chain Alliance made perfect sense for a solution to a detrimental and saddening problem. I took the risk.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hello, world! My name is Porscha N. Dillard, and I’m the founder, CEO, and an executive director for a nonprofit called Off The Chain Alliance. I started it in 2017. I was introduced to the industry when I began volunteering for different nonprofits and faith based organizations. I liked helping other people. It made me feel so rejuvenated to solve problems for those in need.

Since the passion was burning for the community, I decided to create a nonprofit that would help disenfranchised minority families with wraparound services for grief, and funeral poverty. The nonprofit provides the community with three different programs.

First is the funeral poverty program where we provide some funding towards the funeral service. Next, is the our condolences program where we give the families an empathy basket to give our condolences about their loss. Last is the end-of-life preparations program where we offer workshops on different types of life insurance, wills, trust, etc. Also, connect families with grief counseling, empathetic ears, and transformational therapists.

I’m impressed by the work Off The Chain Alliance has been able to achieve and all the families we get to help in their most vulnerable state of existence. We understand that death is hard because it’s forever, and forever is so hard to unpack.

How did you build your audience on social media?

A good friend of mine created a Facebook like page for me. He dedicated being an admin for the first year to get me going. It actually worked and gave me confidence to start asking all my Facebook friend’s to follow my page. What was most important was the content and information I provide on the page. I consistently can’t up with content and posted daily. I requested followers daily to eventually get notice.

My daughter created the Instagram page for Off The Chain Alliance. At first, I ignored it for about two years. Until, I learned how to navigate it effectively, and was able to build a following. I consistently post my content. I create reels, add content from other pages to my story, and have a few lives. Most valuable is paying to boost your posts because it gives you a wider reach to an audience.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn reducing myself to fit in. Most of us are unaware of our power. However, I have known how powerful I am, do to how uncomfortable some people are around me. Other people are aware of your greatness, and if they know that you’re not, then a handful will attempt to reduce you. Some prevail. Some fail. In my case, I was my main enemy combating my greatness. Finally, I came to the realization that I can’t be anything but great.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.offthechainalliance.org
• Instagram: instagram.com/offthechainalliance
• Facebook: Facebook.com/offthechainalliance
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/me?trk=p_mwlite_profile_view-secondary_nav

Image Credits
N/A Personal pictures taken from my mobile phone.