MY PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT
My mission is to help marginalized women because I have found a gap in print material that addressed and inspired the how-to of their personal development. I am able to do this because I lived and worked in the inner city and was in their homes and stores on a weekly basis for nine years. I founded a strategic magazine called Reach UP that is distributed by organizations whose work is with disenfranchised women. Their clients, Reach UP’s target audience, love the special attention they receive when given a FREE magazine just for them with articles that speak directly to their felt needs and circumstances.
I founded Reach UP after seeing a deep gap in print resources for marginalized women.
For nine years I lived and worked in one of the most dangerous inner-city neighborhoods in the U.S. — East New York, Brooklyn. I lived in government housing, heard gunshots, swept up drug vials, stuffed steel wool into wall holes to keep rats out, and wore little or no jewelry outside. I visited women in their homes and walked their streets every week. I knew what it was like to live in an oppressive environment and pray to God for relief.
In the summer of 2003, I was invited to speak on “Peace in the Home” at a women’s retreat for the inner-city church I served. We talked about spiritual peace—and then got very practical with sessions on cleaning, laundry, and simple seasonal decorating. The women’s response was immediate. They went home and scrubbed bathrooms, rearranged rooms, and began overhauling their living spaces. Something new was happening in old neighborhoods.
That’s when the idea for a magazine came alive in me: a publication designed specifically to encourage and empower women in hard places—with spiritual encouragement and very practical help for everyday life.
For several years, I didn’t know how to move forward, especially in light of traditional magazine publishing. In 2007, God dowloaded to me a clear picture of how to start. With no funds but many connections and a lot of faith, the first issue of Reach UP released on my birthday, December 6, 2007.
Since then, a growing team of professional and passionate volunteers — many with their own stories of inner-city life, trauma, and redemption — has joined in. Together, we create a magazine women love to receive: a free, high-quality resource that speaks directly to their felt needs, circumstances, and God-given potential.
Reach UP is now read across the United States and in some closed, oppressive nations around the world. It remains one of my greatest joys to bring hope-filled, practical articles to women everywhere, no matter their status or circumstances.