365 Days of Growth

It’s been 365 days since Self Love Beauty took another turn to become a nonprofit. It was 365 days ago, where I was getting the mail after teaching a fitness class to see a letter from the State of Michigan. With hands shaking, I knew this was either my approval or decline letter. I opened it with approved marked across the top and with a letter stating we are officially a nonprofit. I remember that day like it was yesterday, maybe because this past year was a world wind…but with shaking hands holding that letter, I started to cry in my car. I felt emotions of God’s grace saying to me that it was okay to take this next step…and so WE did. I share more in a post I share a while back.

I could go into the all the details of why we didn’t become one for so long but its time to celebrate the new journey. For the past 365 days, I have learned so much. I learned how to become a stronger leader, how to create a stronger budget, what our platform really is going to represent more than ever and the impact we are going to continue to create. If anyone sees people in the nonprofit world and think, man that looks easy… you are mistaken. Between budgets, marketing, processes, trainings, committee meetings, new ideas, strategic meetings, proposals and pitches…some of us live off lots of coffee.

Building a nonprofit from the ground up is NO JOKE. It is a lot of work, it takes a lot of people and it takes a lot of opinions, focus groups, rewriting plans and getting skills together to make it happen. I am not going to say SLB is perfect, we never want to be, because we are on a journey ourselves.

As I think back to this year, the things I remember the most are the moments of people giving my grace when I change my mind, the laughter between my friends (ambassadors, volunteers and all), the hours we put in to put on amazing programs and events and more.

Since the beginning of 2019, we have:

• Educated people through holding 14 events/programs
• Invested in 443 people who attended an event or programs
• We held our first Affirmation Day, impacting more than 4,000 people in person and 8,000 online, with more than 92% of the participants growing in knowledge about the effects of affirmations.
• We held our first ever teen conference where 90% of the teens that attended grew to a high knowledge about how to value themselves, what self-love means, what personal power is and more.
• Impacted more than 73,000 people through our Podcast
• Impacting more than 24,000 through our blog and being ranked the #9 self-love blog in the U.S.
• Was named the Great Lakes Bay Magazine “Greatest of the Great Lakes Bay” Life Coach
• Currently have more than 55 amazing ambassadors with 35 sitting in the Great Lakes Bay Region
• Sold more than 360 shirts
• And we still have multiple events happening this fall (our four biggest in person ones to be exact)

These things do not come without teamwork, growth, partnerships, friendships, skills sets of others and more. The SLB ambassadors, my mentors, my parents, my friends and more have ALL spent time helping Self Love Beauty grow so you all deserve a thank you (okay maybe it is the lack of sleep but I am officially crying now):

• SLB Ambassadors!!!!!: Thank you for being part of this mission. Thank you for the hours (and I mean hours) you have put into SLB without complaints. YOU are the reason why we have grown so much and are the reason we will continue to.
• Inventory counter and organizers: Anyone that knows me understand my lack of enjoyment when it comes to organizing or counting anything. Thank you to the people in my life who have spent hours counting, folding, and organizing SLB’s stuff.
• My parents: Thanks for taking the phone calls when I completely feel inadequate. Thank you for showing up to my house with dinner to help me do adult things like change light bulbs, mow my lawn and clean my house (yes I know everyone, I am VERY lucky). Thanks for supporting me, when an ideas come to life and I need both of your help to build and craft it together. Thank you for teaching me to have a strong faith, never give up and always follow my purpose.
• Volunteers: Thank you to the people that have taught me accounting, who work on digital marketing for me, who spent weird hours talking to me on the phone or working booths for me because I couldn’t be in three places at once.
• Mentors: Whether it was coffee dates, wine dates or skype video calls, I have been blessed with many mentors who have taught me many things that if I am being honest I thought I would need to know. Thank you for the conversations, the answering of my random questions and spending weird hours (some at 6am) helping me find a solution to something.
• Friends: Thank you for understanding when I have to schedule our events out weeks in advance, for understanding when I don’t respond for days, for making me shut the computer off and put real clothes on to go be adventures, for drinking champagne with me to celebrate every win we ever had and for loving me for who I am.
• Interns: Thank you for spending time learning, handing my girl boss style & leadership style, for taking things are learning lessons and growing into beautiful, confident women. I am extremely blessed I was able to be your boss for a summer.
• To followers on social media: Thank you for your endless sharing and engagement. It did not go unnoticed and we appreciate your help.
• To the boys I cancelled on last minute for dates (LOL): When I said something came up or ‘its me, not you’ I hope you finally understand that I was telling the truth, I was building a program.
• To everyone I am missing: Thank you for just being you, for helping grow the mission of self-love and confidence for all.

There are many things I love about SLB but ultimately it is that so many people come together from different backgrounds, stories, ages, shapes/sizes, social economic status and more- all for one reason, to serve the mission of SLB of educating, investing and impacting individuals on the importance of self-love and confidence in order to empower them to be the best version of themselves.

We are one year in and we have a lifetime to go. Cheers to the first year of being a nonprofit and our next celebration is next month, with seven years of being Self Love Beauty.

Click here to donate to this mission!