We were lucky to catch up with Wendy Beck recently and have shared our conversation below.
Wendy, thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?
Starting a nonprofit organization was born out of a desire to create change. There has been many moments when I started and stood alone in my mission, but my success with the organization grew from a place of purpose. When you are a solopreneur you keep your head down and work on what is the most important first and don’t look up for comparison. Getting distracted by what is going on around you isn’t your journey or path it only causes doubt. Doubt doesn’t create change.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
In 2014 I founded the nonprofit organization Rage Against Addiction. The mission of the organization is to provide awareness and support to anyone affected by the disease of addiction, including the family. The reason I became passionate about the cause was because I was trying to help my oldest daughter navigate her struggles with addiction . It was a dark time for me and my family. Her addiction to heroin (an other things) spanned 10 years before we lost her to the devastating disease. My initial goals were to help provide better services base in what was available to her at the time. Examples such as funding for treatment, sober living and over all resources. Now 10 years forward Rage Against Addiction is a leader in sober living housing for women! Including the first maintenance (MAT) house for women in our county. Our sober living program Daughter’s House is our most successful program. As a nonprofit we continue to face challenges that most community based organizations face such as staffing, grants, fundraising and so much more. Each year in April we have our biggest fundraiser of the year, Rage Against Addiction’s Memory Walk/ Recovery Run. It’s an in person and virtual event to help fund and grow the organization and help people recovery. They can recover if you can provide them with resources and support! www.rageagainstaddiction.org
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back, I started this journey out of desperation and what kept me going was the support of the community. The need for the cause was so great and families were at such a loss for hope that the community that around they catapulted the organization allowing us to move forward gracefully each step of the way. Having a background in operations and legal services (working first as a paralegal for 23 years) I had the confidence I needed to keep things professional and moving forward. My best advice is to be consistent and keep your head down and do the work.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
I feel wisdom has been cumulative in this journey. Constantly learning and growing and not letting any grass grow under my feet. Early on, I started listening to podcasts about business and I wanna big shout out to the Rachel Hollis podcast which who has been my favorite private-mentor and business coach especially in my early days of sitting at my desk, doing my full-time job and my nonprofit, she kept me going. Today I continue to read and listen and find mentors who are better at what I am trying to accomplish so I can learn from them. Big shout out to Rich Bennett, Conversations with Rich Bennett who brought us into the podcast world with episodes of Rage Talk and we’re just gonna keep going, because the mission is designed to save lives.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rageagainstaddiction.org
- Instagram: @rageagainstaddiction
- Facebook: Rage Against Addiction
- Linkedin: Wendy Beck
- Other: None
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