From the Founder
To my current and future co-conspirators,
Intentionality is core to who I am and how I’m designing Illustra Impact. When we act with intention, we are striving to align our behavior with our values and with consideration for those impacted by our choices. We are being thoughtful about our intended impact in the world.
Therefore, when coaching social entrepreneurs, I start with their “Why?” And we don’t stop with the first answer. While there are often several honest answers to that question, there is usually a foundational answer if we dig far enough.
Today, as I reintroduce Illustra Impact to the world, I wanted to share one of my foundational “Why?” stories with you.
In 2005, my family went on a trip to Honduras with about 25 other people from the United States who were partnering with a local organization on construction projects in a small pueblo. It was Holy Week in the Christian calendar, so many of the villagers were relaxing in the river when our team joined them one afternoon. Our interpreter rested in their room, so I was the only person from our group at that time who had any Spanish speaking abilities - high school Spanish abilities to be exact. After lots of giggles, smiles, and attempting to communicate with hands, I struck up conversation with the children with simple questions: “Cómo te llamas? ¿Cuántos años tienes?” (What’s your name? How old are you?)
Thirty minutes passed and I was surrounded by every child in the river.
We were all in awe at the fact we were communicating directly with each other - no translator needed. No interpretation of stories, lost emotion, or delayed reaction. As we chattered on with curiosity, the adults who were eager to be a part of the conversation came over and I did my best to translate. It was a spiritual moment as the sun beamed down on us and our worlds expanded. Imagine all of the people I could build connections with and bridges to.
The following days, as we traveled through the pueblo standing in the back of a cattle truck, villagers greeted us along the road and invited us in to see their homes. One of those days we did stop to spend more time with and in the homes of our new friends. They asked us to stay longer and they would cook a chicken. This was radical generosity because, if they had a chicken, they most likely would only have one per year to feed their family. We politely declined.
Whitney and her group stop on the way through town to visit with families.
After being invited into their homes, and having grown up in a home where my parents modeled generous hospitality, I naturally invited all my new friends to come visit me! As we left that evening, my mom cautioned me not to get their hopes up. I was confused. Surely she didn’t mean that they weren’t welcome at our home. No; she explained that it would be hard for them to get travel documents and afford the trip North. It was clear the economics of our situations were different, but I said I’d save my money to pay for at least my closest friend’s trip to see us. Again, she explained that it wasn’t so simple. Having been lucky in the birth lottery, I could get a US passport that allowed me to visit 150+ countries without a visa (if I could afford it). Yet, my home country only allows people from ~40 countries to visit without a visa and Honduras is not one of them.
This new information didn’t align with my values of welcoming the stranger and caring for those who are in poverty, widowed, or migrants. As I returned home to the US and looked around at how we treated people who looked like, and had similar ancestry as my Honduran friends, I was infuriated.
The cognitive dissonance was challenging my young mind.
While we were in Honduras, we referred to the people we were with as brothers and sisters. I never felt more welcomed than I did visiting those brothers and sisters. Yet, back in the US, we did not return the hospitality. In fact, we treated migrants like they did not belong and criminalized their efforts to escape poverty and violence.
Whitney focused her early organizing career on seeking US immigration reforms. Here, a group of volunteers join her at a rally in front of the Statue of Liberty to support a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the US.
From then on, I knew that I wanted to work to align our laws, systems, and culture with the values I had been taught and many citizens professed. I wanted all people to feel welcome and a sense of belonging wherever they are. At the very least, I wanted them to have access to my home where I would show them the same generosity and hospitality that I continue to experience when I am the stranger in a foreign land. Therefore, I both want people to be able to thrive in the communities where they are born and I want all people to have the freedom to migrate (domestically and internationally) in search of communities where they thrive.
This story is one of the foundational reasons that I founded Illustra Impact with a vision to create a world of sustainable, equitable, thriving communities. I look forward to working with you to make that vision a reality.
With love,
CEO and Founder, Illustra Impact
