February 24, 2026 • 33 mins
What if the thing that changed someone’s life wasn’t charity — but a purchase?
In this episode, Lauren McCann shares the deeply personal story of her brother’s struggles with mental health, addiction, and homelessness — and the $10,000 art purchase that helped spark his transformation. That moment didn’t only restore his confidence, it also inspired Lauren to build Procure Impact, an extraordinary marketplace connecting businesses to mission-driven suppliers such as ones who employ survivors of trafficking, people in recovery, adults with disabilities, and those returning from prison.
You’ll learn why opportunity often works better than intervention, how bottom-up solutions outperform top-down programs, and how your everyday spending decisions can become part of your service journey. This conversation might just change the way you think about helping others.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
My brother's story hit sort of an inflection point. He
had been dealing with mental health issues compounded by addiction
and a disability. There's an organization called Artlifting, and they
specifically represent artists who've been on house and artists with disabilities,
and they started representing him and his art to corporate buyers.
(00:24):
A one point, Feizer bought a painting. At one point,
an airport bought a painting, and in each purchase, he
was getting this confidence boost right like, he felt seen,
he felt valued. And then Amazon was building one of
their data centers in the DC area. They picked eight
of his original paintings for that building. It's ten thousand dollars.
(00:47):
He'd never seen a ten thousand dollars check at that point.
It completely changed his life. The thing that kept me
up at night was how do we scale what happened
to my brother?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney,
I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, I'm a father,
I'm an entrepreneur, and I'm a football coach in Inner
City Memphis. And that last part, somehow it led to
an oscar for the film about one of my teams.
That movie is called undefeated. I believe our country's problems
(01:23):
are never going to be solved by a bunch of
fancy people wearing nice suits, using big old words that
nobody ever really uses on cinn and fogs, but rather
by just an army of normal folks. Guys. That's us,
just you and me saying you know what, maybe I
can help. That's what Lauren McCann, the voice you just heard,
(01:45):
has done, and in only three and a half years,
she has scaled what happened to her brother. Procure Impact
is a business to business marketplace where businesses can secure
products they need from mission based suppliers such as folks
who employ survivors of human traffic, people in recovery, and
(02:09):
those returning from prison. The marketplace helps the social enterprises grow.
It helps their people grow and their customers grow through
meaningful products that help them stand out among the competition.
Believe this or not, Today, procure Impact is an extraordinary
(02:29):
marketplace of over one hundred suppliers who provide six thousand
products to over twenty five hundred hotels across the country.
The story is phenomenal. I cannot wait for Lauren to
teach all of us how to use our own unique
experiences to create a better world. Right after these brief
(02:50):
messages from our general sponsors, Lauren McCann, Welcome to Memphis.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Thank you for having me excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
So everybody, Lauren is the co founder and CEO of
Procure Impact, which is really a fascinating venture that I
can't wait to get into. And I can't help but
think you didn't really plan but almost arrived at.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
That is very true. Definitely wasn't on the Bengo card
to be an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, that's kind of cool, but we're going to get
down to that, but first we got to set it up.
Let everybody know kind of your perspective, which I also
found vastly interesting, and I kind of want to open
with talking to you about your brother, who I feel like,
as I read it, maybe has been a part of
the inspiration for your work. Interestingly, at one time he
(04:01):
was unhoused, he was missing, and he was in the
middle of a mental health crisis. And when you hear
the word Procure Impact and you hear that set up,
you would think, oh, she's probably working in unhoused folks
and things like that. And we've highlighted people who do that.
(04:23):
But actually maybe that's a byproduct to what you do,
but that's not really intrinsically what you do. But to
set it all up with a brother who was homeless, missing,
in the middle of mental health crisis, what's that like
for a sister?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
I mean, those were pretty dark times for my family
and for my brother. He had been dealing with mental
health issues compounded by addiction and a disability. He started
exhibiting signs in elementary school and middle school. At that time,
we didn't have words for that, We didn't understand the diagnosis.
(05:06):
He definitely self medicated, which then turned into addiction. But
he has severe mental health issues, and you know, he's
been on a journey trying to figure out the right
care to help him stabilize and live a meaningful life,
you know, since his diagnosis early in his life. And
so when you ask, you know, what it was like
(05:27):
for a sister, it's pretty devastating to see your sibling
dealing with those issues and having such significant barriers to
just getting up in the morning and getting a job
and feeling fulfilled and feeling valued, and the kind of
groundhog day he was dealing with at the time. He'd
(05:47):
have moments of stability and then have moments where he
was unhoused. He'd have jobs he'd love, and stress would
push him over the edge. And so it was really
really difficult your poor parents. Yes, I mean the amount
of hospitalizations and rehabs and the treatment that you know,
(06:08):
you're trying to find the right solutions for your child.
The reality though, is that like one in six families
are dealing with this. And what I've realized over time
is that we often have so much shame and fear
around the experience that we don't share and we don't
support one another. And there's you know, neighbors and friends
(06:28):
and other people that were in my life that actually
had similar experiences and similar challenges, And if we only
just opened up a bit more vulnerably as a society,
we could really help one another through those times.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, it's interesting. If someone has breast cancer, we wear
ribbons and football players wear pink stuff and we run
around and raise a bunch of money for that disease.
But mental health disease we tend to hide in the
shadows and have shame about it. Why would we have
shame about one disease and almost celebrate working on another
it is is an interesting commentary on the way society
(07:03):
views mental illness, but we do all have to get
our arms around it is a disease no different than
heart disease or cancer.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
That's absolutely right. And you know, organizations like the National
Alliance and Mental Illness and others are out there, you know,
Shatterproof and Addiction. They are really trying to address stigma
and bring people out of the shadows. The phoenix is
another one where people are very proud about their sobriety
and the resilience and grit and determination it's created in
(07:33):
them through those difficult times. So I do think we're
making progress. But at the time when my brother was
dealing with all of this and it was at its
sort of heightened peak, we were pretty hopeless. And is
you reference like my journey is really based on that experience,
(07:53):
that lived experience realizing the system was broken, realizing that
or to help my brother live a fulfilling life where
he had meaning and purpose and he was seen through
his strengths instead of through his struggles. We had to
do things differently, and my brother's story hit sort of
(08:14):
an inflection point. Was it was the winter period in
the DC area, it was freezing outside.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
How old was he at this time? When when reading
this story, I never really had perspective on.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah, ages, Yeah, my brother had had many bouts of
kind of being unhoused or living in his car in
different in different regions in the country. But this was
about ten years ago, and so I'm like, helld am,
I I always have to He was in his early
thirties at all time, so he wasn't a kid, yeah,
or late twenties, late twenties.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
But the point is he'd been if the onset of
this was middle school, more than half his life. He'd
been struggling.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
That's right, Yeah, it was. He was not a kid.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Before you go on, and I'm sorry, but I I
really think it's remained of the story, and I think
it matters so that we have real perspective as to
your passion behind what amazing thing this whole procure impact
is because it doesn't just well, I'll get to the
word impact, which I think is interesting. But did he
(09:20):
ever have times of stark lucidity that with you and
his parents? Your parents, he would say, you know, I
feel lost. I don't want to be this way, you know,
I think everybody can see the story unfolding of the
(09:43):
wheels coming off, But what about the times where the
wheels weren't coming off? How was his interaction with you? Then?
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, I mean that's such an important question because I definitely,
even though I'm painting this picture of how difficult those
times were. My brother has always been incredibly gifted. He's
a writer, he's a musician, he is as an artist,
he is philosophical, he is incredibly bright. He always got
(10:15):
good grades in school, and so he was able to
contribute at times, and he would get the job. He
would actually sometimes get a job and then get promoted.
But his ability to maintain was always That's why I
described it like groundhog Day. He would have incidents where
his mental health would turn or the stress would get
(10:36):
too much, and figuring out that right balance to help
him live sustainably and manage his health took a very
long time. But to your point, oftentimes in those early days,
there's a lack of self awareness about what's going on,
and until you get to the point of seeing the patterns,
understanding the triggers, understanding how to manage through them, you're
(10:59):
off and on that roller coaster and cycle.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
The roller coaster part for him, certainly, But I can
only imagine the desperation replaced by excitement and hope by
the people that love him, you and his parents that okay,
maybe now he's on the right track, and then just
the gut punch when he fell off again. How how
(11:27):
emotionally tolling. That has to be the love and care
for somebody that's dealing with all of these types of issues.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Absolutely, I mean the devastation when you know it's not
his fault.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
I know me, I'd be mad at him at first.
That's only a natural human reaction to what are you doing?
You know better? Because when you were lucid you told
me you knew better? But then to have to train
your brain and make sure that the human of you
understands he's sick. He doesn't want this for him anymore
(12:05):
than we want this for him, and he's sick. But
the whole emotional rollercoaster for him and his loved ones
and everything else, and for people like him suffering with
mental health issues, and then often self medicating, which makes
the whole thing worse because alcohol leads to weed, and
we leads to whatever else, and then that leads to
(12:26):
severe addiction. That's horrible.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Yeah, I mean it for our family. You know, those
early days, you're just in triage mode, you know, and
then when the patterns continue to show themselves, you start
to lose perspective about what's possible because you're just sort
of managing the current state.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Like you lose everything's reactionery.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
You're in that fight or flight mode, you know, just
trying to triage and firefight through the next wave. And
I think we were in that for many years. I
think that was the reality of my family dynamic, as
we were just kind of waiting for a shoe to drop.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
And now a few messages from our gender sponsors. But first,
I hope you'll consider signing up to join the army
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about our incredible guests, we'll be right back, all right,
(13:48):
last emotional question on this. You said he was smart,
you said he's aware, but he's not suffering a break
or whatever words you meant I call it. I would
have to believe that on top of everything else. Your
poor brother's dealing with is shame.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
For many years. I think he especially now that he
has perspective on the past and can really look at
his actions. Yeah, there's a lot of things that he
knows he did, or mistakes he made, or opportunities he lost.
(14:29):
It's almost like watching a movie of your life, and
I think that playing in your head can be very debilitating.
And again, that's not the whole story. Like, there was
also so many bright points of good he was doing
and his potential showing during those moments. Contributions he was
(14:53):
making art, he was creating things, he was writing that
you knew underneath all of that there was a lot.
There was a lot. There was a well of ways
he could contribute and add value and almost like figuring
out how to move your attention towards those negative things,
(15:13):
but make those your north star. How do we help
you do more of that? How do we help you
create more consistency to be able to pull those things out?
But I mean, when I look back, it's hard to imagine,
like putting myself in his shoes, It's really hard to
imagine getting up every day and trying.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Again, I can hear in your words and seeing your
face and your body movements as you talk about it,
the great EmPATH that you speak about this with, and
there's so much good that's about to come in the story.
But I think it's really important for all of those
listening to us now that they understand that mental health
(15:54):
issues and folks that have disabilities and addictions, the homeless
person you see on the street that you try to
avoid is only a piece of the story typically, and
you have to think about how difficult it is for
somebody who has a mental health issue or addiction or
both that they're also dealing with their own shame and
(16:17):
their own issues on top of everything else. And we
need to look past the overly Oh you know, I
think we all see the homeless person outside the convenience
store looking for a buck, and unfortunately many times we
(16:41):
sum that up. And I think it's important that we
don't sum that up. And I think you know, your
candor about your brother gives that some perspective, So thank
you for kind of going into that. But the point
is he was homeless, and he was under addiction, and
he was in his early twenty and something amazing happened.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah, so he he was pretty in a desperate place
for a very long time, and there was this one
season that I referenced before where he just took off
without a jacket or cell phone during freezing temperatures in
the DC area, and we for many days were working
(17:26):
with police to try to locate him, and it had
gotten pretty desperate. And to give you a sense, at
the time, I remember this story distinctly, there was a
man who walked off from like a home depot, who
had dementia, and he was found frozen to death outside.
So we were really incredibly worried about his well being,
(17:49):
not having access to medication, obviously not prepared for the elements,
and I remember at first the cops were a little
bit like, he's probably at a friend's house, you know,
he's probably okay, and we're like, no, he's not okay.
We as a family got to a pretty desperate point
(18:10):
about a week in and we ended up going public
with our story and we posted on social media and
it kind of went viral in a very short amount
of time. Thousands of people were reposting. I was getting
calls from people who were, you know, flyering in certain communities,
(18:31):
and a miracle happened. I mean, it's it's the only
really the way to describe it is that a complete
stranger who had seen a man walking on the side
of the road without a jacket and then thought that's
that's odd, happened to see the post and social media
(18:51):
like twenty minutes later, and that person was a pregnant rabbi.
I mean, you can't make this stuff out. Yeah, she's
literally about to give birth, has the baby like two
weeks later, she has two kids in the car and
her husband, and she sees this social media post and said,
I think that's who we saw twenty minutes ago. And
(19:12):
that family decides to turn around and my brother is
actually not where he was, but they keep searching and
they find him. And I'm on Facebook at the time
seeing this complete stranger like documenting, Hey, we think we
saw him. We're turning around. People are commenting on it
(19:34):
and boosting it on my page, and they found my brother,
called the police, called us, and he was in a
pretty bad spot at that point. Had he stayed outside
any longer, it's very likely he would have had frostbite.
Like there's no way he would have been able to
survive those elements. And I mean, I just sat there sobbing.
(20:00):
This was a complete stranger who just decided to take
action without any direct connection to me or my family.
And for my brother, that led to you know, him
getting help in us really stabilizing him at that time
and very that same time frame. You know, I mentioned
(20:23):
my brother was always a creative, a writer, an artist.
My brother was painting to help himself process what he
was going through. And he's a very gifted artist. He's
never been taught, you know, in formal way. He's always
just had intuition around his art. And at a time
when he was still in the thhroes of that whole episode,
(20:46):
he applied for an organization that represents artists with disabilities,
and he applied. He sent them some pictures of his art,
and I remember thinking like, oh, I wish you had
worked with me. I wish I could have helped you.
Like I immediately was kind of big sistering it and
trying to intervene, and he knew what he was doing.
He applied and showed them some really wonderful pieces and
(21:11):
they ended up picking him to become one of their artists.
It's an organization called Artlifting, and they specifically represent artists
who've been on house and artists with disabilities, and they
started representing him and his art to corporate buyers. And
the very long story short there is that he started getting,
you know, some random companies buying pieces of his art.
(21:34):
One point, Fizer bought a painting at an airport, bought
a painting, and in each purchase, he was getting this
confidence boost, right, like he felt seen, he felt valued.
And then truly something miraculous happened, which is that Amazon
was building one of their data centers in the DC
area and they wanted to pick a unknown DC area
(22:00):
artists and they chose my brother. They picked eight of
his original paintings for that building. It's ten thousand dollars.
It's literally more than he'd ever earned, Like he'd never
seen a ten thousand dollars check at that point, and
it completely changed his life that one purchase.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
At all of this is happening generally in the same
time period where he's walking down the street without a
code about to die.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
This is the same timeframe. So when he applied he
was getting help. He was still in like sort of
medical care, getting help, and so it was just this
absolute god send, Right, he gets this ten thousand dollars check.
But obviously ten thousand dollars isn't enough to sustain you, right,
(22:49):
it's not an income, it's not going to provide housing,
it's not going to solve all your problems. But he
started to call himself an artist.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
That indicates self worth.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Value absolutely, like that was his job, right, that was
his vocation. He ended up taking some of that money.
He rented an art studio in Frederick, Maryland, and so
he had a place to go to paint in this
art community.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
So now I have value an agency.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Exactly, and community and purpose and a place to go
every day. And he was incredibly prolific during that time
and just painted all the time.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
When we fast forward. That check really acted as a
trigger for a mindset change what he was capable of
and what he can contribute to society, and it propelled
him to have more confidence in all other aspects of
his life. He ended up moving out of my parents' house,
(24:12):
you know. A year or so later he ended up
meeting the love of his life. And you fast forward
to today. My brother is married, he is employed full time,
he is helping others. His vocation now is actually as
a recovery support specialist. He actually helps other people who've
(24:35):
dealt with mental health issues and addiction, and he's painting
on the side. He has an organization he started with
his wife called Art from the Heart, with a gift
free art to help people who are dealing with challenges.
He took that moment, that inflection point, that surge opportunity
that Amazon provided him through that purchase, and it became
(24:59):
the springboard for him. And so when all of that
was happening, you know, I had tried so many ways
to help my brother right, get him into programs, get
him access to you know, various different support services. But
what ultimately helped him was getting access to opportunity where
he could leverage his gifts and feel seen and earn
(25:22):
income and build confidence, which then became that transitionary period
for him that helped him stabilize and live the life
he was always wanting to live. And you know, when
we were talking before about this dark period, you know
that we had as a family, like this was not
(25:42):
a conceivable outcome for me.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I was wondering, was there ever a time before this
that you actually would allow yourself to believe that he
would be married and happy and productive in society.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Not hoped, No, I I I mean the truth is,
you get so used to living in crisis that that
felt almost like too hard to dream that big for him,
And and and my vision for him wasn't as big
as his vision has become for himself. Like it's I'm
(26:22):
so proud of him for pushing through which which most
people would realize and understand, is like incredible barriers to
where he is now and what he's building and the
serve the way he is serving others, like he's also
chosen a job and a vocation, and the way where
(26:44):
he spends his time to actually reach back into the
community and help other people. It is, it is mind
blowing to me.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
So no doubt that's a celebration for your family and
for him. But I think it's so vitally important that
you learned firsthand through the eyes of your brother and
your experience with your brother, that value, community agency, All
(27:13):
of those things really is the anecdote to so much
of what ales some of the most disadvantaged among us.
So about the same time you're working at Stand Together,
Is that right? I was, Yeah, Yeah, tell everybody about
Stand Together. And what you were doing there.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Yeah. Stand Together is a philanthropic community that is working
on different solutions that help people break these barriers to opportunity.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Can you explain that a little more talk to a
dumb guy from Memphis so that because you know, our
listeners are much smarter than me, but just don't use
big words.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Sure. So Stand Together is a community of philanthropists and
change makers and they are investing in solutions to some
of our biggest problems in society. And they have a
number of different strategies of how they invest in things
around social change. So they invest in education, they invest
(28:15):
in business, they invest in communities. And where I sat
within that broader strategy is I was actually one of
the first employees that was building their efforts in communities.
And what brought me to that work was actually leaders
in Stand Together, actually knowing about my experience with my
brother and my lived experience, my passion in my heart
(28:36):
or civil society solutions, bottom up solutions to help people
improve their lives.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Talk about bottomber well.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
It stand Together And I personally deeply believe, given my
lived experience, that the people closest to the problem are
often the ones that are most equipped to solve the problem.
And you know, my story is an example of that, frankly,
because my experience with my brother helped me gain insights
into where there was an opportunity in a gap and
(29:07):
we had stand together. When I was there, invested in
models that were helping people break the cycle of poverty,
and obviously a job is one of the most impactful
ways to do that sustainably, and so we were investing
in a lot of workforce development programs at the time,
and I would travel all over the country and see
(29:27):
these amazing programs that were helping people tap into their
innate gifts and talents and skills by helping them learn
new services or build products. And when all of that
was happening with my brother, the thing that kept me
up at night was how do we scale what happened
(29:48):
to my brother, Like, how do we make it easier
for people who are buying products, companies that are buying
products to find products made by people who have gifts
just like my brother, extraordinary people with extraordinary talents. Because
what ultimately changed his life wasn't more charity, It was
(30:09):
a purchase.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Let's talk about that for a second. Yeah, Well, let's
go back and then talk about that for a second,
because we're starting to get to the to your right idea?
Is I am? You know?
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Or not?
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Own a lumber company? On football coach? You know? Pretty simple?
And I, like everybody, I have thoughts about things and
how things should work, and probably most of them are wrong,
and every once in a while I'm right, I guess.
Before being introduced to the platform of stand together, which
(30:56):
I wouldn't have ever been introduced to if it wasn't
for the Alex the doucer dragging me into this world,
which I often do kicking and screaming. I never even
contemplated this idea of bottom up verse top down. Those
are like phrases that people that go to Ivy League
(31:17):
schools use. I mean, I'm from all miss nobody talks
about stuff like that, right, I don't even know when
I first heard it. I was like another catchphrase, you know.
I mean, I just really, honestly, I mean bottom up
verse top down. I mean that sounds good and I'm
sure it looks good in a pamphlet. What the hell
does that mean? Right? And so I keep hearing it
(31:42):
all the time, and then introduced to stand together, and
I think you did a good job explaining bottom up,
Why don't you explain top down?
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Yeah, I mean the kind of classic example is how
we attacked poverty for so long through we as a country, right,
We as a country for many years would design programs
in Washington, d c. Study the problem, and then fund
programs that met the criteria for the things that we studied,
(32:18):
which was very distant from the people on the ground
actually working day and day out with the people in
communities that we're dealing with those barriers themselves. And it
was very it was architected, you know, in a way
that felt very clean and academic. But when you actually
go to communities and ask them, you know, how do
(32:40):
you get access to a job or how do you
get access to supportive services? They'll likely tell you about
someone named sister Edna, you know, who's in the community
who's acting as a conduit. They'll tell you things about
the community themselves, like what they need, and people will
often parachute in trying to help prescribe a solution.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
To an already that parting.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Versus ask the community empower them with resources to solve
the problem.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
And that concludes part one of our conversation with Laurama
Cann and trust me, there's a lot more to come.
Don't miss it in part two. It's now available to
listen to you. Together, guys, we can change this country.
It starts with you. I'll see in Part two.
My brother's story hit sort of an inflection point. He
had been dealing with mental health issues compounded by addiction
and a disability. There's an organization called Artlifting, and they
specifically represent artists who've been on house and artists with disabilities,
and they started representing him and his art to corporate buyers.
(00:24):
A one point, Feizer bought a painting. At one point,
an airport bought a painting, and in each purchase, he
was getting this confidence boost right like, he felt seen,
he felt valued. And then Amazon was building one of
their data centers in the DC area. They picked eight
of his original paintings for that building. It's ten thousand dollars.
(00:47):
He'd never seen a ten thousand dollars check at that point.
It completely changed his life. The thing that kept me
up at night was how do we scale what happened
to my brother?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney,
I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, I'm a father,
I'm an entrepreneur, and I'm a football coach in Inner
City Memphis. And that last part, somehow it led to
an oscar for the film about one of my teams.
That movie is called undefeated. I believe our country's problems
(01:23):
are never going to be solved by a bunch of
fancy people wearing nice suits, using big old words that
nobody ever really uses on cinn and fogs, but rather
by just an army of normal folks. Guys. That's us,
just you and me saying you know what, maybe I
can help. That's what Lauren McCann, the voice you just heard,
(01:45):
has done, and in only three and a half years,
she has scaled what happened to her brother. Procure Impact
is a business to business marketplace where businesses can secure
products they need from mission based suppliers such as folks
who employ survivors of human traffic, people in recovery, and
(02:09):
those returning from prison. The marketplace helps the social enterprises grow.
It helps their people grow and their customers grow through
meaningful products that help them stand out among the competition.
Believe this or not, Today, procure Impact is an extraordinary
(02:29):
marketplace of over one hundred suppliers who provide six thousand
products to over twenty five hundred hotels across the country.
The story is phenomenal. I cannot wait for Lauren to
teach all of us how to use our own unique
experiences to create a better world. Right after these brief
(02:50):
messages from our general sponsors, Lauren McCann, Welcome to Memphis.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Thank you for having me excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
So everybody, Lauren is the co founder and CEO of
Procure Impact, which is really a fascinating venture that I
can't wait to get into. And I can't help but
think you didn't really plan but almost arrived at.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
That is very true. Definitely wasn't on the Bengo card
to be an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, that's kind of cool, but we're going to get
down to that, but first we got to set it up.
Let everybody know kind of your perspective, which I also
found vastly interesting, and I kind of want to open
with talking to you about your brother, who I feel like,
as I read it, maybe has been a part of
the inspiration for your work. Interestingly, at one time he
(04:01):
was unhoused, he was missing, and he was in the
middle of a mental health crisis. And when you hear
the word Procure Impact and you hear that set up,
you would think, oh, she's probably working in unhoused folks
and things like that. And we've highlighted people who do that.
(04:23):
But actually maybe that's a byproduct to what you do,
but that's not really intrinsically what you do. But to
set it all up with a brother who was homeless, missing,
in the middle of mental health crisis, what's that like
for a sister?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
I mean, those were pretty dark times for my family
and for my brother. He had been dealing with mental
health issues compounded by addiction and a disability. He started
exhibiting signs in elementary school and middle school. At that time,
we didn't have words for that, We didn't understand the diagnosis.
(05:06):
He definitely self medicated, which then turned into addiction. But
he has severe mental health issues, and you know, he's
been on a journey trying to figure out the right
care to help him stabilize and live a meaningful life,
you know, since his diagnosis early in his life. And
so when you ask, you know, what it was like
(05:27):
for a sister, it's pretty devastating to see your sibling
dealing with those issues and having such significant barriers to
just getting up in the morning and getting a job
and feeling fulfilled and feeling valued, and the kind of
groundhog day he was dealing with at the time. He'd
(05:47):
have moments of stability and then have moments where he
was unhoused. He'd have jobs he'd love, and stress would
push him over the edge. And so it was really
really difficult your poor parents. Yes, I mean the amount
of hospitalizations and rehabs and the treatment that you know,
(06:08):
you're trying to find the right solutions for your child.
The reality though, is that like one in six families
are dealing with this. And what I've realized over time
is that we often have so much shame and fear
around the experience that we don't share and we don't
support one another. And there's you know, neighbors and friends
(06:28):
and other people that were in my life that actually
had similar experiences and similar challenges, And if we only
just opened up a bit more vulnerably as a society,
we could really help one another through those times.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, it's interesting. If someone has breast cancer, we wear
ribbons and football players wear pink stuff and we run
around and raise a bunch of money for that disease.
But mental health disease we tend to hide in the
shadows and have shame about it. Why would we have
shame about one disease and almost celebrate working on another
it is is an interesting commentary on the way society
(07:03):
views mental illness, but we do all have to get
our arms around it is a disease no different than
heart disease or cancer.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
That's absolutely right. And you know, organizations like the National
Alliance and Mental Illness and others are out there, you know,
Shatterproof and Addiction. They are really trying to address stigma
and bring people out of the shadows. The phoenix is
another one where people are very proud about their sobriety
and the resilience and grit and determination it's created in
(07:33):
them through those difficult times. So I do think we're
making progress. But at the time when my brother was
dealing with all of this and it was at its
sort of heightened peak, we were pretty hopeless. And is
you reference like my journey is really based on that experience,
(07:53):
that lived experience realizing the system was broken, realizing that
or to help my brother live a fulfilling life where
he had meaning and purpose and he was seen through
his strengths instead of through his struggles. We had to
do things differently, and my brother's story hit sort of
(08:14):
an inflection point. Was it was the winter period in
the DC area, it was freezing outside.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
How old was he at this time? When when reading
this story, I never really had perspective on.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah, ages, Yeah, my brother had had many bouts of
kind of being unhoused or living in his car in
different in different regions in the country. But this was
about ten years ago, and so I'm like, helld am,
I I always have to He was in his early
thirties at all time, so he wasn't a kid, yeah,
or late twenties, late twenties.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
But the point is he'd been if the onset of
this was middle school, more than half his life. He'd
been struggling.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
That's right, Yeah, it was. He was not a kid.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Before you go on, and I'm sorry, but I I
really think it's remained of the story, and I think
it matters so that we have real perspective as to
your passion behind what amazing thing this whole procure impact
is because it doesn't just well, I'll get to the
word impact, which I think is interesting. But did he
(09:20):
ever have times of stark lucidity that with you and
his parents? Your parents, he would say, you know, I
feel lost. I don't want to be this way, you know,
I think everybody can see the story unfolding of the
(09:43):
wheels coming off, But what about the times where the
wheels weren't coming off? How was his interaction with you? Then?
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, I mean that's such an important question because I definitely,
even though I'm painting this picture of how difficult those
times were. My brother has always been incredibly gifted. He's
a writer, he's a musician, he is as an artist,
he is philosophical, he is incredibly bright. He always got
(10:15):
good grades in school, and so he was able to
contribute at times, and he would get the job. He
would actually sometimes get a job and then get promoted.
But his ability to maintain was always That's why I
described it like groundhog Day. He would have incidents where
his mental health would turn or the stress would get
(10:36):
too much, and figuring out that right balance to help
him live sustainably and manage his health took a very
long time. But to your point, oftentimes in those early days,
there's a lack of self awareness about what's going on,
and until you get to the point of seeing the patterns,
understanding the triggers, understanding how to manage through them, you're
(10:59):
off and on that roller coaster and cycle.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
The roller coaster part for him, certainly, But I can
only imagine the desperation replaced by excitement and hope by
the people that love him, you and his parents that okay,
maybe now he's on the right track, and then just
the gut punch when he fell off again. How how
(11:27):
emotionally tolling. That has to be the love and care
for somebody that's dealing with all of these types of issues.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Absolutely, I mean the devastation when you know it's not
his fault.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
I know me, I'd be mad at him at first.
That's only a natural human reaction to what are you doing?
You know better? Because when you were lucid you told
me you knew better? But then to have to train
your brain and make sure that the human of you
understands he's sick. He doesn't want this for him anymore
(12:05):
than we want this for him, and he's sick. But
the whole emotional rollercoaster for him and his loved ones
and everything else, and for people like him suffering with
mental health issues, and then often self medicating, which makes
the whole thing worse because alcohol leads to weed, and
we leads to whatever else, and then that leads to
(12:26):
severe addiction. That's horrible.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Yeah, I mean it for our family. You know, those
early days, you're just in triage mode, you know, and
then when the patterns continue to show themselves, you start
to lose perspective about what's possible because you're just sort
of managing the current state.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Like you lose everything's reactionery.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
You're in that fight or flight mode, you know, just
trying to triage and firefight through the next wave. And
I think we were in that for many years. I
think that was the reality of my family dynamic, as
we were just kind of waiting for a shoe to drop.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
And now a few messages from our gender sponsors. But first,
I hope you'll consider signing up to join the army
at normal folks dot us. By signing up, you'll receive
a weekly email with short episodes summaries in case you
happen to miss an episode, or if you prefer reading
about our incredible guests, we'll be right back, all right,
(13:48):
last emotional question on this. You said he was smart,
you said he's aware, but he's not suffering a break
or whatever words you meant I call it. I would
have to believe that on top of everything else. Your
poor brother's dealing with is shame.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
For many years. I think he especially now that he
has perspective on the past and can really look at
his actions. Yeah, there's a lot of things that he
knows he did, or mistakes he made, or opportunities he lost.
(14:29):
It's almost like watching a movie of your life, and
I think that playing in your head can be very debilitating.
And again, that's not the whole story. Like, there was
also so many bright points of good he was doing
and his potential showing during those moments. Contributions he was
(14:53):
making art, he was creating things, he was writing that
you knew underneath all of that there was a lot.
There was a lot. There was a well of ways
he could contribute and add value and almost like figuring
out how to move your attention towards those negative things,
(15:13):
but make those your north star. How do we help
you do more of that? How do we help you
create more consistency to be able to pull those things out?
But I mean, when I look back, it's hard to imagine,
like putting myself in his shoes, It's really hard to
imagine getting up every day and trying.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Again, I can hear in your words and seeing your
face and your body movements as you talk about it,
the great EmPATH that you speak about this with, and
there's so much good that's about to come in the story.
But I think it's really important for all of those
listening to us now that they understand that mental health
(15:54):
issues and folks that have disabilities and addictions, the homeless
person you see on the street that you try to
avoid is only a piece of the story typically, and
you have to think about how difficult it is for
somebody who has a mental health issue or addiction or
both that they're also dealing with their own shame and
(16:17):
their own issues on top of everything else. And we
need to look past the overly Oh you know, I
think we all see the homeless person outside the convenience
store looking for a buck, and unfortunately many times we
(16:41):
sum that up. And I think it's important that we
don't sum that up. And I think you know, your
candor about your brother gives that some perspective, So thank
you for kind of going into that. But the point
is he was homeless, and he was under addiction, and
he was in his early twenty and something amazing happened.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah, so he he was pretty in a desperate place
for a very long time, and there was this one
season that I referenced before where he just took off
without a jacket or cell phone during freezing temperatures in
the DC area, and we for many days were working
(17:26):
with police to try to locate him, and it had
gotten pretty desperate. And to give you a sense, at
the time, I remember this story distinctly, there was a
man who walked off from like a home depot, who
had dementia, and he was found frozen to death outside.
So we were really incredibly worried about his well being,
(17:49):
not having access to medication, obviously not prepared for the elements,
and I remember at first the cops were a little
bit like, he's probably at a friend's house, you know,
he's probably okay, and we're like, no, he's not okay.
We as a family got to a pretty desperate point
(18:10):
about a week in and we ended up going public
with our story and we posted on social media and
it kind of went viral in a very short amount
of time. Thousands of people were reposting. I was getting
calls from people who were, you know, flyering in certain communities,
(18:31):
and a miracle happened. I mean, it's it's the only
really the way to describe it is that a complete
stranger who had seen a man walking on the side
of the road without a jacket and then thought that's
that's odd, happened to see the post and social media
(18:51):
like twenty minutes later, and that person was a pregnant rabbi.
I mean, you can't make this stuff out. Yeah, she's
literally about to give birth, has the baby like two
weeks later, she has two kids in the car and
her husband, and she sees this social media post and said,
I think that's who we saw twenty minutes ago. And
(19:12):
that family decides to turn around and my brother is
actually not where he was, but they keep searching and
they find him. And I'm on Facebook at the time
seeing this complete stranger like documenting, Hey, we think we
saw him. We're turning around. People are commenting on it
(19:34):
and boosting it on my page, and they found my brother,
called the police, called us, and he was in a
pretty bad spot at that point. Had he stayed outside
any longer, it's very likely he would have had frostbite.
Like there's no way he would have been able to
survive those elements. And I mean, I just sat there sobbing.
(20:00):
This was a complete stranger who just decided to take
action without any direct connection to me or my family.
And for my brother, that led to you know, him
getting help in us really stabilizing him at that time
and very that same time frame. You know, I mentioned
(20:23):
my brother was always a creative, a writer, an artist.
My brother was painting to help himself process what he
was going through. And he's a very gifted artist. He's
never been taught, you know, in formal way. He's always
just had intuition around his art. And at a time
when he was still in the thhroes of that whole episode,
(20:46):
he applied for an organization that represents artists with disabilities,
and he applied. He sent them some pictures of his art,
and I remember thinking like, oh, I wish you had
worked with me. I wish I could have helped you.
Like I immediately was kind of big sistering it and
trying to intervene, and he knew what he was doing.
He applied and showed them some really wonderful pieces and
(21:11):
they ended up picking him to become one of their artists.
It's an organization called Artlifting, and they specifically represent artists
who've been on house and artists with disabilities, and they
started representing him and his art to corporate buyers. And
the very long story short there is that he started getting,
you know, some random companies buying pieces of his art.
(21:34):
One point, Fizer bought a painting at an airport, bought
a painting, and in each purchase, he was getting this
confidence boost, right, like he felt seen, he felt valued.
And then truly something miraculous happened, which is that Amazon
was building one of their data centers in the DC
area and they wanted to pick a unknown DC area
(22:00):
artists and they chose my brother. They picked eight of
his original paintings for that building. It's ten thousand dollars.
It's literally more than he'd ever earned, Like he'd never
seen a ten thousand dollars check at that point, and
it completely changed his life that one purchase.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
At all of this is happening generally in the same
time period where he's walking down the street without a
code about to die.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
This is the same timeframe. So when he applied he
was getting help. He was still in like sort of
medical care, getting help, and so it was just this
absolute god send, Right, he gets this ten thousand dollars check.
But obviously ten thousand dollars isn't enough to sustain you, right,
(22:49):
it's not an income, it's not going to provide housing,
it's not going to solve all your problems. But he
started to call himself an artist.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
That indicates self worth.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Value absolutely, like that was his job, right, that was
his vocation. He ended up taking some of that money.
He rented an art studio in Frederick, Maryland, and so
he had a place to go to paint in this
art community.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
So now I have value an agency.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Exactly, and community and purpose and a place to go
every day. And he was incredibly prolific during that time
and just painted all the time.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
When we fast forward. That check really acted as a
trigger for a mindset change what he was capable of
and what he can contribute to society, and it propelled
him to have more confidence in all other aspects of
his life. He ended up moving out of my parents' house,
(24:12):
you know. A year or so later he ended up
meeting the love of his life. And you fast forward
to today. My brother is married, he is employed full time,
he is helping others. His vocation now is actually as
a recovery support specialist. He actually helps other people who've
(24:35):
dealt with mental health issues and addiction, and he's painting
on the side. He has an organization he started with
his wife called Art from the Heart, with a gift
free art to help people who are dealing with challenges.
He took that moment, that inflection point, that surge opportunity
that Amazon provided him through that purchase, and it became
(24:59):
the springboard for him. And so when all of that
was happening, you know, I had tried so many ways
to help my brother right, get him into programs, get
him access to you know, various different support services. But
what ultimately helped him was getting access to opportunity where
he could leverage his gifts and feel seen and earn
(25:22):
income and build confidence, which then became that transitionary period
for him that helped him stabilize and live the life
he was always wanting to live. And you know, when
we were talking before about this dark period, you know
that we had as a family, like this was not
(25:42):
a conceivable outcome for me.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I was wondering, was there ever a time before this
that you actually would allow yourself to believe that he
would be married and happy and productive in society.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Not hoped, No, I I I mean the truth is,
you get so used to living in crisis that that
felt almost like too hard to dream that big for him,
And and and my vision for him wasn't as big
as his vision has become for himself. Like it's I'm
(26:22):
so proud of him for pushing through which which most
people would realize and understand, is like incredible barriers to
where he is now and what he's building and the
serve the way he is serving others, like he's also
chosen a job and a vocation, and the way where
(26:44):
he spends his time to actually reach back into the
community and help other people. It is, it is mind
blowing to me.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
So no doubt that's a celebration for your family and
for him. But I think it's so vitally important that
you learned firsthand through the eyes of your brother and
your experience with your brother, that value, community agency, All
(27:13):
of those things really is the anecdote to so much
of what ales some of the most disadvantaged among us.
So about the same time you're working at Stand Together,
Is that right? I was, Yeah, Yeah, tell everybody about
Stand Together. And what you were doing there.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Yeah. Stand Together is a philanthropic community that is working
on different solutions that help people break these barriers to opportunity.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Can you explain that a little more talk to a
dumb guy from Memphis so that because you know, our
listeners are much smarter than me, but just don't use
big words.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Sure. So Stand Together is a community of philanthropists and
change makers and they are investing in solutions to some
of our biggest problems in society. And they have a
number of different strategies of how they invest in things
around social change. So they invest in education, they invest
(28:15):
in business, they invest in communities. And where I sat
within that broader strategy is I was actually one of
the first employees that was building their efforts in communities.
And what brought me to that work was actually leaders
in Stand Together, actually knowing about my experience with my
brother and my lived experience, my passion in my heart
(28:36):
or civil society solutions, bottom up solutions to help people
improve their lives.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Talk about bottomber well.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
It stand Together And I personally deeply believe, given my
lived experience, that the people closest to the problem are
often the ones that are most equipped to solve the problem.
And you know, my story is an example of that, frankly,
because my experience with my brother helped me gain insights
into where there was an opportunity in a gap and
(29:07):
we had stand together. When I was there, invested in
models that were helping people break the cycle of poverty,
and obviously a job is one of the most impactful
ways to do that sustainably, and so we were investing
in a lot of workforce development programs at the time,
and I would travel all over the country and see
(29:27):
these amazing programs that were helping people tap into their
innate gifts and talents and skills by helping them learn
new services or build products. And when all of that
was happening with my brother, the thing that kept me
up at night was how do we scale what happened
(29:48):
to my brother, Like, how do we make it easier
for people who are buying products, companies that are buying
products to find products made by people who have gifts
just like my brother, extraordinary people with extraordinary talents. Because
what ultimately changed his life wasn't more charity, It was
(30:09):
a purchase.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Let's talk about that for a second. Yeah, Well, let's
go back and then talk about that for a second,
because we're starting to get to the to your right idea?
Is I am? You know?
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Or not?
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Own a lumber company? On football coach? You know? Pretty simple?
And I, like everybody, I have thoughts about things and
how things should work, and probably most of them are wrong,
and every once in a while I'm right, I guess.
Before being introduced to the platform of stand together, which
(30:56):
I wouldn't have ever been introduced to if it wasn't
for the Alex the doucer dragging me into this world,
which I often do kicking and screaming. I never even
contemplated this idea of bottom up verse top down. Those
are like phrases that people that go to Ivy League
(31:17):
schools use. I mean, I'm from all miss nobody talks
about stuff like that, right, I don't even know when
I first heard it. I was like another catchphrase, you know.
I mean, I just really, honestly, I mean bottom up
verse top down. I mean that sounds good and I'm
sure it looks good in a pamphlet. What the hell
does that mean? Right? And so I keep hearing it
(31:42):
all the time, and then introduced to stand together, and
I think you did a good job explaining bottom up,
Why don't you explain top down?
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Yeah, I mean the kind of classic example is how
we attacked poverty for so long through we as a country, right,
We as a country for many years would design programs
in Washington, d c. Study the problem, and then fund
programs that met the criteria for the things that we studied,
(32:18):
which was very distant from the people on the ground
actually working day and day out with the people in
communities that we're dealing with those barriers themselves. And it
was very it was architected, you know, in a way
that felt very clean and academic. But when you actually
go to communities and ask them, you know, how do
(32:40):
you get access to a job or how do you
get access to supportive services? They'll likely tell you about
someone named sister Edna, you know, who's in the community
who's acting as a conduit. They'll tell you things about
the community themselves, like what they need, and people will
often parachute in trying to help prescribe a solution.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
To an already that parting.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Versus ask the community empower them with resources to solve
the problem.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
And that concludes part one of our conversation with Laurama
Cann and trust me, there's a lot more to come.
Don't miss it in part two. It's now available to
listen to you. Together, guys, we can change this country.
It starts with you. I'll see in Part two.
Host
Bill Courtney
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