When faced with the kind of adversity that would bring most to their knees, Wendy Bird stands tall. Her story is one of remarkable transformation—a journey from the heartbreak of betrayal amidst her son's medical crisis to the pinnacle of human compassion, diffusing a riot in India with peace. As Wendy recounts her experiences with Pearls with Purpose Foundation, you'll witness the embodiment of true resilience, and how she's turned her trials into a force for empowering women through vocational training.
Betrayal can cut deep, especially when it comes from those we trust. Wendy Bird's tale is one of such deception, where embezzlement threatened to crumble her world just as she was supporting her son through a medical emergency. But from the ashes of disappointment rose a story of revival, underscored by the power of community and the courage to face adversity. Wendy's candid discussion on navigating through this storm, with the aid of a supportive network, lays bare the heartaches and triumphs of her inspiring journey.
While some tales end with the closing of a book, Wendy's narrative is an open invitation to join her mission. Weaving in her family's unique tradition of planking worldwide, this episode is more than just a recount of challenges; it's a celebration of the hope and confidence she instills in women across Uganda to the Philippines. For those stirred by Wendy's dedication, we offer a bridge to connect and draw strength from her unwavering spirit. So tune in, and prepare to be motivated by the woman who planks on the pillars of empowerment and resilience.
When faced with the kind of adversity that would bring most to their knees, Wendy Bird stands tall. Her story is one of remarkable transformation—a journey from the heartbreak of betrayal amidst her son's medical crisis to the pinnacle of human compassion, diffusing a riot in India with peace. As Wendy recounts her experiences with Pearls with Purpose Foundation, you'll witness the embodiment of true resilience, and how she's turned her trials into a force for empowering women through vocational training.
Betrayal can cut deep, especially when it comes from those we trust. Wendy Bird's tale is one of such deception, where embezzlement threatened to crumble her world just as she was supporting her son through a medical emergency. But from the ashes of disappointment rose a story of revival, underscored by the power of community and the courage to face adversity. Wendy's candid discussion on navigating through this storm, with the aid of a supportive network, lays bare the heartaches and triumphs of her inspiring journey.
While some tales end with the closing of a book, Wendy's narrative is an open invitation to join her mission. Weaving in her family's unique tradition of planking worldwide, this episode is more than just a recount of challenges; it's a celebration of the hope and confidence she instills in women across Uganda to the Philippines. For those stirred by Wendy's dedication, we offer a bridge to connect and draw strength from her unwavering spirit. So tune in, and prepare to be motivated by the woman who planks on the pillars of empowerment and resilience.
Have you ever wondered what it truly means to turn adversity into opportunity? Today on the Shine On Success podcast, we're thrilled to welcome Wendy Bird, a beacon of hope and transformation. From founding the Pearls with Purpose Foundation to skydiving and hiking some of the world's most challenging trails, wendy embodies the spirit of resilience and the power of a positive mindset. Join us as we dive into her journey of humanitarian work I can't even say it right and personally with and how she's helping others to unstick the stuck. Don't forget to connect with us on social media to continue the conversation. Wendy, how do you do this? Seven, seven, five kids? I don't have any, so I have no idea how you're even doing all this. Anyways Dionne Malush I'm , the host of Shine On Success podcast. Let's get started, wendy. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Wendy Bird:
Oh my gosh. Thanks, Dionne. I'm so grateful that you're willing to have me on here with you today. It's just an honor and a privilege, and so thank you for taking the time to make this happen. I deeply appreciate it. Wow, I don't even know where to start. It's kind of like how do you package up 25 years and shove in a nice little ball that says 35 minutes?
Dionne Malush:
I don't know, I already have no idea, but we're going to give it a shot.
Wendy Bird:
Okay, that sounds really good. So yeah, is it like how the nonprofit got started.
Dionne Malush:
Let's just start with this Share. A moment of adversity that tested your resolve and how you overcame it. Let's start there. You had adversity, okay, gracious, you know.
Wendy Bird:
I've been quite a bit of adversity. We just did a live last night in our group and one of the questions we got was how do I have peace within myself when there's so much turmoil and conflict in everything? And so we're kind of talking about self-regulation and emotional resilience and things. And it brought back to my recollection. I was in India about a decade ago working and I'd been there seven times to date and there was this massive riot that erupted in the village and I don't speak Tamil and there was just these streams of consonants, you know, flying around like thousands of consonants. If you've ever heard the Indian languages, they're complex and I just remember thinking I have no idea what's going on.
Wendy Bird:
I'm the only Caucasian woman in this remote village and there was food getting thrown, like it was high energy, high rioting, and I just kind of turned and said a quick prayer. I kind of found a little corner of this community room that we were working in and this answer was just you need to share about Buddha and ask these people if this is what Buddha would condone or, you know, appreciate, and I was like. So I kind of like pulled a little patio chair out and I just stood up amongst this group of about 80 Indians and I was just like you guys. This riot doesn't need to be happening. And if Buddha was here today, would he love or appreciate how you were treating each other over the fact that we are trying to help the women in this village, these women affected with leprosy, and you're throwing food at them simply because they're actually achieving something in their life? Is that how Buddha would treat? And I'm breaking it up and I'm trying to speak really slow for them and it stopped everything, everything stopped.
Wendy Bird:
And if you had looked underneath my tutti-dara and sorry and stuff, you would have been like she's a sweat, hotty, nervous mess. You know, because I was like you know I'm going to be confronting these people who feel really strongly about what we're doing here in their village, and it was one of those moments where you have to take a step back, emotionally, regulate, take some deep breaths and kind of ask yourselves can I see both sides of this coin here? Can I see the perspective of those who weren't allowed to come do the training? And can I see the perspective of those who are here to do the training and where they each lie and why they have the opinions they do. So that was a moment in crisis that I was able to navigate, with the sweaty armpits and the nervous nervous knees.
Dionne Malush:
So what do you do with the audience? Exactly what you do, so they know what, what?
Wendy Bird:
Oh, that's a good point. Yeah, so I do my.
Dionne Malush:
Foundation. Let's talk about that.
Wendy Bird:
I do a nervous training for women rescued from either human trafficking, disadvantaged situations, poverty, squatters areas. We don't really care what they're coming in from, all we care about is helping them to, you know, open their eyes from this to this, you know, to the outward perspective of I could change my life. You know I have control, I have a choice I can make. And it's kind of hard to do if you're familiar with Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the individuals that are just struggling every day for that bowl of rice, or wondering where they're going to sleep, or wondering if their kids are going to have to go begging, you know, the next day.
Wendy Bird:
It's really hard for an individual in that capacity to say I want to learn a skill I want to provide. You know, myself there's kind of that scarcity and so I do this vocational training, this 12-week modules Well, it's 12 modules that we couldn't buy into two weeks and these women go from I am nothing to I am something. You know I can change, I can contribute, and it's a beautiful thing to watch unfold because that foundational level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs of clothing, food and shelter gets met. And then they go into education, they go into, you know, contribution to others, they go into community and then they go into self-actualization, wherein they become fully aware that they are in charge of their life and they are the ones that will make or break the differences in the life that they have long term. So it's kind of cool.
Dionne Malush:
It's extremely cool. And then I start reading a little about you and I find out about this bucket list and these items in post 40. What is going on? Well, before we head home, let me dump you right here. So, wow, learning to ski at age 40, like I don't like to ski at all. So I can be so much for doing that. I just not my thing, and I tried it at age 25 and didn't like it. So I know at 55 I'm not getting back on skis. So tell me a little bit about the exciting things you're doing skydiving, hiking Tell me a little about that.
Wendy Bird:
So I Okay, I'll just come right out with it. I I've had 56 surgeries. I've been hit by a car three times.
Dionne Malush:
Wait a minute. Um 56 surgeries 56.
Wendy Bird:
I am half titanium. I am not faster or stronger because of that titanium. A little dismeeting for those of us that know the bionic woman and the six million dollar mandates. Um, that was very misleading to to show that. Bionic parts you could make really special jump ever buildings.
Dionne Malush:
Yeah, you don't do that.
Wendy Bird:
Yeah, I don't hear better, I don't see better and I'm definitely not faster or stronger, but that has definitely led to a great appreciation for mortality and for you really can't put off actually I shouldn't even preface it with that that came my I, five kids middle child Jenner At the age of 12, was given 90 days to live, and that diagnosis came with a huge Epiphany of okay, if this was his last day today, how do I want him going to bed at night? How do I want him to wake up today? What do I want him to have experienced? And so our whole family started shifting, how we, you know, interacted together and today he is still alive. He's 31. He just turned 31, but he and his four siblings, like they're they're tighter than you know nuts in a squirrel tree, I mean, they are like so bonded. And we've all began, way back then and 20 years ago, to just really have an appreciation and an ability to let go of the stupid little things that might, you know, push some people to, I don't know, go to anger quickly or whatever.
Wendy Bird:
And and we stepped into the role of what if it's the last day? And and so that kind of began. A lot of you know, I guess you could say my Adrenaline junkie time.
Wendy Bird:
I remember at 40 like okay, I don't know how to ski and I had a lot of friends in high school that Skied and it was great. So I just kind of said I'm gonna go learn to ski and the very like.
Wendy Bird:
I knew the only way to do it was if I had a capability. So I signed up for a woman's skiing group and Knew that I had to be there that morning, wednesday morning at 9 am and I was so petrified Deon, okay, this is the humanness of everybody, right that I curl. Like that morning I'm doing breakfast for the kids, getting them off to school, and I've got my ski gear on, like I got on my winter jacket, got on my ski pants, my gloves, my scarf, I have the ski goggles on top of my head and I'm driving my kids to school. They're like wow, you're gonna go learn to ski today. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'm gonna go learn to ski.
Wendy Bird:
I drove home I crawled under the covers of my bed and turned my phone off and was like there's no way in hell I'm doing that, like that's the most stupid thing I could do at the what was I even thinking? And I didn't get out of bed until it was time to go get my kids from school and I still had my ski stuff on. And I go pick them up and they're like how was? I'm like it was so fun, it was so scary and they're like are you going back? I say yeah, going. And then that night at dinner I just start crying. I said I can't lie to you guys, I didn't go and like you were scared and I was like I was so scared I came home and stayed in bed all day and they're like what?
Wendy Bird:
what were you scared of, mom? It's snow. I'm like, but it's fast snow, I could fall, like I don't know. It was the fear of the unknown, right Of course. So all my kids were like the next Wednesday came and it was mom, can we trust you to drop us off to school and go up to Sundance? I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna go. Mom, are you really gonna go? I'm like, yeah, I'm going, I promise I'm going. And then I got home and I crawled back in bed again and I was literally not going to go. And then my phone rang. I hadn't turned it off and it was my bio mom, I'm adopted. And I was like, oh my gosh, she keeps me on the phone for hours.
Wendy Bird:
I might as well be driving while I talk to her and so I literally crawled out to the van answer the phone, drove up to Sundance and she was like what are you doing? I'm like, oh, I'm gonna go learn to ski. She's like aren't you 40? You're really gonna get to ski at 40? I'm like, yeah, I'm really excited. And I kind of taught. By talking to her, I talked myself into the fact that I was actually excited about learning to ski at 40 and I learned to ski.
Wendy Bird:
Six months later, I was doing a black diamond up at Alta. I Hit some ice and I shattered my shoulder, broke my humors, and I was like that's it, this thing that I love so much, I just have to say goodbye to. And I got my shoulder replaced, got the humors phone, you know, played it, screwed all that. And come September, everyone's like are you gonna go back and ski again? I'm like, heck no. And in December, um, the Christmas present I got from my family was ski passes. And they're like mom, you got to get back out there. You are letting your life be lived by fear. And they were right. I was like I didn't want to go out and play in the snow. I was too scared to fall, I was scared of slipping, I had all these fears, and so my kids gave me these passes and I went up the next week and I got back on the slope.
Dionne Malush:
So that takes me right into my favorite quote of yours no growth in the comfort zone, no comfort in the growth zone.
Wendy Bird:
Yeah, it's pretty uncomfortable in my zones.
Dionne Malush:
What a great motivational quote for everybody listening, I mean that is. I read that at least five times just in the last 10 minutes. Just, I kept reading it, thinking that was so true. And you know it won't make me get on skis, though. I'm gonna tell you that right now, no matter what you try, it's not happening. I'm not getting on skis, but you know it's so interesting. You just have so many things that we could talk about, but you have this amazing adventurous spirit, which is remarkable, and you know, with challenges. So let's talk about Challenge, because that's part of what you know shine on successes, about getting through adversity to the other side of success. So let's talk about another challenge that may have happened. I know that what happened over there would be explained. You know, when you were in that crowd Was something that we'll probably never experience, right? That's just not something normal in our lifestyle in America, right? So let's talk about something maybe that happened in your business that you pushed through to the other side.
Wendy Bird:
There's been a lot that's happened on the business level. We've had our fair share of theft, embezzlement, things like that, and those were definitely times that probably challenged me the hardest, because it wasn't something that affected just me, it affected hundreds of women in developing countries, and the worst one was when my son was diagnosed and we had four employees at the time and two of them kind of got together and decided that that would be the good time to start a business and competition to mine, and they told the judge well, we did it because her son was dying and we felt like we didn't want her business to go away and that's why we stole all this money from her and rebranded her products for her and all this.
Dionne Malush:
And in that process.
Wendy Bird:
I took on that road of embezzlement but it was really amazing to me. I remember I was in the store, we had a storefront at that time and I was there very discouraged looking at all of the ramifications that had led to that. Was it partially on me? Absolutely. I was in California dealing with my son at Cedar Sinai and but I had placed a lot of trust in who I have left behind. And there is moments of that where we can kind of get on ourselves Like why did you give so much trust or why did you allow so much autonomy around running something that was so important to you? If this was your baby, you probably would have handled it differently. And I know that I can definitely say with truth I always did the best I could in every situation that I was handed. And the same occurred with this embezzlement.
Wendy Bird:
But I did get to a point of high discouragement and I was in the store one day. I was up here, I'd come up from California, and I was scrambling, trying to save the store, trying to save the nonprofit, just trying to do it all, and was debating if I should file for bankruptcy or not and just walk away and just focus on the family. It was probably one of the hardest decisions I ever had to come to grips with. And one of my board members walked in the store that day and I quickly was wiping away my tears and I'm like, hey, jared, what's going on? He's like, oh, I need a gift for my wife for our anniversary, da-da-da and I always know I can get the best products from you because they're heart made. And all this money's going back to the artisans and they love that about you and your organization. And he's just bullying me up and stuff. And then he kind of looks and even goes what's going on? And I said this is so hard. I said it's so hard. I said I don't think I'm going to make it, I think I just need to shut down. I need to let the board members know this embezzlement broke us and I just need to walk away and go be a mom.
Wendy Bird:
And he said Wendy, you are forgetting how many people are in your corner. He said you know how many people are in the corner for Wendy, and not just pearls with purpose and your fat like all of that, but they're in Wendy's corner. And he's like have you reached out to the board members? And at that point I was like no, I've been too embarrassed. I had reached out to him and two others, but we had 12 member board and I hadn't let the whole board know because I was embarrassed. You know that this had happened under my watch, but they all knew what was going on with my son and so he's like here's what you need to do. You need to hold a board meeting. You need to disclose everything that's going on. You need to let loose with the police reports. You need to just I know these were people you love and you trust, but you need to let the consequences fall. You need to let them go to jail. So they were facing eight years in prison.
Wendy Bird:
And I was kind of about that and just, you know this is a natural consequence. I'm like but I know them, I know their families Like I can't do this, he goes. No, they did it to themselves and so really reframing things for how they really are is so pivotal to being able to push through the hard things. It's not being in denial, it's saying OK, yeah, my eyes were off the ball a little bit, not fully.
Wendy Bird:
I was still doing the meetings, I was still checking in, I was still getting, you know, the financial reports and the P&Ls and all that stuff. I just didn't have my finger on the pulse daily. It was, you know, twice a week because of the infusions for my son and things, and so I took ownership for my role of neglect. But I also allowed the chips to fall for those who weren't willing to take the ownership, who got caught. And really validating to know that the people in my corner understood that, yeah, personal challenges happen. And so you open up to those that are in your corner and you let them rally around you and carry you and support you.
Dionne Malush:
I get that as a business owner myself, which you said meant so much to me just now because you know you go through a lot when you're in a business and a roller coaster ride. All the time you have upstands Don't be happy yeah so don't be happy in the back.
Dionne Malush:
You think they're your friends, and really, one of my coaches says friendly, not friends. You know you get too close to them. What you said, though, just meant so much forgetting who's in your corner. I think sometimes we do that because we think we're in this all by ourselves, right, there's nobody else but us.
Wendy Bird:
But you never know.
Dionne Malush:
There are so many people that will fight for you if you let them, and I love that. You said that and you know. You have some products Like. You have some jewelry. You have something unstick the stock planner. You have this amazing children's book that is so enchanting, Call me the Purple Dress. I wish everyone could see it, but I will definitely share a link to it. And how cool, Like, the illustrations are awesome. So tell me a little bit about these products that you have and you know what your plan is. Tell me about it.
Wendy Bird:
So the Purple Dress was. It's a story, a true story that happened in the Philippines and I would share it as part of our keynotes, and it was amazing how many people would come up afterwards. Is that a book? Have you written that? I need to share this with my kids. I need my nieces to know that my grandchildren need to understand the value of contribution and I was just like I should write a book. I need to write a book. I'm going to write a book. Somebody all write a book.
Wendy Bird:
You know, because, like you just alluded to, we're all wearing so many hats and it's so hard to juggle the balls. Well then, we all know what happened in 2020. I had the opportunity to not travel, to not train, to not do keynotes, to just sit still, and in that moment, my husband and I were like we should get this book out. We need to get this done, and I think there's timing in everything, because I had pursued writing the book years earlier and hired a couple of different artists and those had not turned out and the artwork wasn't quite right, or the artwork was just like too expensive. We couldn't afford it as a nonprofit and at this point in time, in 2020, everybody's outdoors more so.
Wendy Bird:
I was with my hiking groups and one day I was hiking with a woman who I hadn't hiked with before and in introducing herself, she's like, oh my gosh, I've heard so many amazing things that you do micro enterprise training, you have products made by women and 64% goes back to them and this is so cool. And I was like, yay, whatever, what do you do? She goes oh it's. You know, I just do book writing and publishing and that I'm like you really happen to have a children's illustrator. And she said, well, yeah, but you won't want to deal with them because they're located in the Philippines. And as soon as she said that, I'm like oh, that's what I need, that's what I've been waiting for, because this story took place in the Philippines.
Wendy Bird:
And so the story is my daughter, my youngest. She's 25 now, but when she was eight she was a flower girl in her cousin's wedding. She got this purple dress. It was gorgeous. It was her favorite as a mom running on profit as she outgrew it. I'm like, jerica, you should really let us donate that to these containers that go over. No, mom, it's my favoriteist, I'm not giving up my dress. And I'm like, jerica, come on, it's a dress. You've got 20 on the floor, you've got shoes, you've got toys, you've got everything. No, mom, this is my favorite. So we had her try it on. She saw it was too small, it was missing a couple of buttons in the back. The sash was ripped and I was like, jerica, let's just fix it and donate it. And she's like OK, so we sew the buttons on. They don't match. We sew the satin with black thread and it goes, and that's it right.
Wendy Bird:
Well, two years passed and we moved back to Utah. Sun was still alive and a documentary wanted to do, a film on pearls of purpose, and I said, ok, let's go to Philippines and do it. They said, well, the condition is we're going to go interact with these other two nonprofits that work in the Philippines, as well as yours. I'm like that's fine. So we're gone for two weeks. We go head up Antipolis City, look on first, and then we do this overnight bus to an area called Lagospe City, where I'd never been before, and as my daughter and I my oldest daughter we get off the bus. There's this girl running down the dirt road and she's in a purple dress, and my daughter grabs my arm Mom, mom, that's Jerika's dress. I'm like, no, are you kidding me? There's no way, that's her dress, mom, it's her dress. So we go running down the street and we stop this little girl. Hey, what's your name? Grace Cavallero. We were so pretty, where'd you?
Dionne Malush:
get such a beautiful dress.
Wendy Bird:
Oh, two years ago, an angel from America sent me a ship box as to my village, my family was chosen to get items we'd needed. I always wanted the dress to wear to church, Isn't it pretty.
Wendy Bird:
She spins around and we see these two mismatched buttons black thread on the sash and I was just like bawling my daughter's taking pictures and I'm like, where do you live? She goes oh, I live out in the jungle, three kilometers. Can we come meet your family? Oh, yes. So we go out, we don't even tell her, we're the ones that ship the dress, we just go out. We meet her family, all pictured in the book, and she goes in her little squatters hut thing and I'm talking like the thatched roof right, the thatched walls.
Wendy Bird:
She takes her dress off, puts on this tink top and shorts, hangs this dress up on a piece of wire, hangs it on the grass wall of their house and she comes running out. She's got a machete, you like coconut. She climbs up a tree, Machete is down a coconut. I have to do it. I'm like what is going on? And I said, well, where's your dress? Oh, I take very good care of my little sister. We'll have her first dress when I'm too big for it. And I just start falling again because these kids they get it. You know, they're not living for the next iPhone, they're not living for what's in it for me. They're living to give to their community. They're living to, you know, to give to anybody like a stranger. You know, she's given us this coconut to drink and I'm just like Grace, what about like your family? And she goes. Oh, we are many, but we are very happy.
Dionne Malush:
And then they're just nine kids and they're just in this little jungle, and so when you told her that it was you guys that sent, her, I never told her, never told her, never told her.
Wendy Bird:
No, why would I ruin that beautiful dress for her?
Dionne Malush:
Why would I let her know?
Wendy Bird:
Oh, now honor me, because I gave you that dress Right? Yeah, would it change the whole.
Dionne Malush:
What a beautiful story. I didn't even know how that happens, like how is it sitting here just stunned, I don't even know what to say next. But what a story. I love it. It's so and everyone should get it, because it's adorable and the illustration is awesome. So I can't wait to read it, and I'm going to be ordering it.
Wendy Bird:
Yeah, they did it with it.
Dionne Malush:
So, in all of this, what's the next item on your bucket list of how do you plan to achieve it? Talk about the fact that, about the planking, I think that's something you should tell us about.
Wendy Bird:
I have planks all over everywhere I've gone. I want to put together a plank book.
Dionne Malush:
I'm not planking. I just don't say I wouldn't you're going to make me go home and plank today just because I talked to you, because it is so cool, you feel so strong.
Wendy Bird:
You do.
Dionne Malush:
Yeah, so go ahead and tell us about that, the planking, or what's next, so you could do the planking and then what's next? How about that?
Wendy Bird:
Okay, so the planking started, we had seen this guy and he was like dancing all over the world. This is way back in early 2000s, like iPhone 3. I think it was even Blackberry Days and we saw this video of him and this music's playing in the background. He's not seeing anything and he's doing this really kooky dance to this song and I was like I want to do that. I got to find a song and I remember spending like a few weeks because this is like circa 2000-ish and I was like I'm never going to find a song that I'm just going to dance to wherever I am, and so I decided I would start planking and I remember the first time I did it.
Wendy Bird:
My kids were just like, Mom, that's not a plank. I'm like no, it's planking. They're like no, it's like the top of the airplane seat, across the aisle to the other airplane seat. I'm like I'll do that. And so it just kind of became this joke with me and my kids and then it started to turn into well, what if what's behind me is something that has a story? And so I started plaking in those areas that had meaning for me, like it was a hike that I really loved, or it was the temples in Seen Reap where I got to meet the artist who was drawing the Seen Reap temple area, those rooted temples with the trees and stuff, or maybe it was. I planked on a helicopter over at Base Camp, mount Everest. It's like just memorable type things. I took the prayer flags and I planked at Base Camp and it was just like I want these to be photos that when I look at it, it's like that spot had X meaning for me.
Dionne Malush:
And if so many people are going to take something away from that today, I know it, because that's such a great idea.
Wendy Bird:
Yeah, it's kind of better than the postcard, better than the magnet. It's just me planking somewhere and yeah, and now my husband's planking with me. So that's been really fun. I can't wait to look at it. I can't wait to look at it in Costa Rica, and I remember the photographers like okay, I'm getting this picture of this waterfall. And then I was kind of like I hear this giggling. I looked at my husband's planking right behind me, so then we started planking and kissing together at places.
Wendy Bird:
It's just been super fun to just have it be like our thing that we do.
Dionne Malush:
But if I think you've had 52 surgeries. Is that correct?
Wendy Bird:
I just did my 56 surgery. Got the replacement in December, so that's not been my favorite.
Dionne Malush:
I'm not. I'm sure it hasn't. So let's talk about what's next. What's the next thing you're going to do, Wendy?
Wendy Bird:
The next thing we've got. We are opening, hopefully, honduras, mexico and Uganda this year, so we'll be doing the training over in those three countries, which is super exciting. We already did Uganda the first of December to do the research on it and it, the people there, oh my gosh. I probably could say this about every country. I probably have said this about every country we've worked in. But I cannot even adequately describe when those women we have pictures of it in this PowerPoint and when you see these images of these women and they're just starting and they're like this just swollen, they're depressed, they're lips are down, everything is downward, everything is downward. They don't even want to look at the camera. And then you get like a week or two in and they're just staring at the camera and they have this vibrant smile and they're holding their business card or they're holding the product that they've made and they just look at you and you just see the light bulb has clicked for them. They have gone from.
Wendy Bird:
Life is not worth living. I'm downtrodden. I could never, ever get X fill in the blank right and there, all of a sudden, I did this, I did something, I created it. This came from me and this American woman helped me. This person loved me through it and was patient with me. I live for that and I get to see that miracle unfold in every country. It's not with every woman, but it has been in every country and that, to me, is worth every gold bar in the world, because you can't put a price on an individual gaining hope, gaining confidence, gaining value. You just can't price that out.
Wendy Bird:
And when you see where these individuals are starting from, whether it's male or female, and you see where they end up going, every woman that we train in the Philippines has built their house. Every woman in India built their own house, put their kids through college. They haven't needed a dole system or a handout or a scholarship. They've done it because they had vocational training. They had somebody on the other side of the world who said I'll train you, I'll help you, I believe in you and you can do this. And we're going to work through it together. And sometimes it's taken two trips, sometimes it's taken 17 trips, sometimes it's taken three years, sometimes it's taken a month, like the time doesn't matter, the inconvenience doesn't matter. What matters is that countenance and that hope that they instill within themselves. That's what matters.
Dionne Malush:
You matter, wendy. I don't know if I've met many people like you ever. You're amazing. Wow, what you're doing is incredible. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you're doing. It's emotional, it's beautiful and you're so kind and happy. I love seeing this, and even with all those kids, you're still smiling.
Wendy Bird:
So they're like I'll move down, it's all good.
Dionne Malush:
I'm sure it's great to have so many kids and so many grandkids. I'm sure it's awesome. So, as much as I don't want to, it's time to wrap up and I hope that the listeners will have gained what I did today no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone. So what an incredible journey we shared with you, wendy, and your story is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and the impact of living a life fueled by purpose and passion. If Wendy's story inspired you, reach out to us on social media and share your thoughts and, wendy, for those looking to connect or learn more about your work, how can they reach you?
Wendy Bird:
I would go to pearlswithpurposeorg. Whether it's social media or the website, it doesn't matter. You'll get to us and anybody can reach out to us at wendyat pearlswithpurposeorg, and we will respond. We will inspire.
Dionne Malush:
We will get in touch with people. We definitely can see that. So remember, every step towards your goal may not be easy, but it's worth it. Keep pushing through and don't forget to shine on your own unique way, until next time.