“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”
… this resonates with me a lot.
Today Self Love Beauty (SLB) turns three as a 501(c)(3) status nonprofit organization and in September we will be nine years old as an entity. I share my story of our first year here and our second year here– just for a refresh on our growth and how far we have come.
Small but Mighty
My week of running a nonprofit probably started out like many other directors running the day to day, strategy, etc….but of course in true fashion, within one day, our website was shutdown and I spent four hours on the phone going back and forth with our site host to fix this issue… luckily a friend was able to help me. I went from director, to IT lead super quick.
I feel like over the past few years, I have had to wear many titles in my role because of being small..but even with being ‘small’ we have grown year after year because of people supporting us.
With this tremendous growth, however, came a lot of adversity, which is something many of the individuals we work with have felt. They have experienced people that have not supported or believed in them, and more times than not they did not have the confidence within themselves to thrive in all situations. In a time in history when low self-esteem, poor mental wellbeing, and suicide are at an all time high, resources that show us how to practice self-love, grow in confidence, and focus on physical and mental wellbeing, are all more important than ever…and that is why we continue to do what we do.
Why Confidence?
As you may know, confidence is defined as your faith in your abilities, skills, and talents, while self-love is defined as how you perceive your worth. When an individual has both high confidence and self-love, combined with support, tools, and resources, they have the ability to reach their full potential and exceed at everyday tasks and challenges. So just imagine for a second if everyone around you was able to reach their full potential? As a society and community – we would be unstoppable in the most positive way.
When we’re confident, we’re more likely to move forward with people and opportunities, instead of backing away from them. And if things don’t work out at first, confidence helps us to try again. It’s the opposite when confidence is low. Confidence helps someone:
- Overcome challenges in life
- Feel comfortable raising their hand in class to ask a question
- Try out for a sport of theater
- Apply for a job or ask for a raise
- … and more.
For these reasons, we have continued to step up to the plate despite adversity, to help individuals increase confidence within themselves, have a sense of purpose and worth, and be resilient and become leaders in the communities they live in.
We are dedicated to creating a ripple effect of positive change. Our mission is to educate, invest, and impact individuals through evidence-based, educational programs that focus on the importance of self-love and confidence, so that they are empowered to fulfill their highest potential at every stage of their life.
In just One Year…
This year alone we have done more than I ever could have imagined (And we still have four months to go):
- Tripled the amount of workshops we have held including many workshops in schools, detention centers, women’s centers and Universities with faces we have never seen before.
- Brought back our Family Programs after a year off from covid.
- Hired our first full time staff person to work with me! Shoutout to our new Program Specialist, Emily!
- Added new board members and advisors to help us further our mission.
- Heard stories from providing ‘you gave me hope’ to ‘I finally feel like I have tools to help me’ to ‘I thought I was alone’ to ‘For so long I couldn’t figure out what I was feeling to express until now’.
- Held our first 5K in person Fundraiser, and two new fundraisers this fall.
- Laughed a lot, shed some tears, loss some sleep but also gained some more balance.
Gratitude
I write this blog sipping on my second Americano after already a long week of ups and downs, I may have shed some tears when the website was down but to think of what we have accomplished in one year… and in three years is honestly amazing. Thousands of individuals have been supported through our programs and I am simply overwhelmed in an emotional way whenever I see our growth.
All this week I have been trying to find the right words to say for our three year anniversary and as I sat down to write one night the one thing that came to mind was… thank you (oh tears!).
Thank you to those who supported me from day one, who gave up their evenings to write thank you cards or attend committee meetings to make our programs and fundraisers a hit… to those that knew when I worked a long day that my phone calls back wouldn’t be as quick or to the people that took my calls when I was struggling to remind me of what SLB stands for or to the people who edits grants, etc.
** woah, que more tears **
A simple thank you does not do justice for what people have done to help SLB grow and for me to grow. Many have spent countless hours helping me with operations, teach me finances, how to become a better leader and still allow me to be me through it all.
Three years and a lifetime to go, the power of community has never been stronger here at SLB.
With Love,
Lisa Thompson, Self Love Beauty Founder and Director
