August 29, 2023 • 35 mins
Wendy was frustrated that many women weren’t able to participate in female philanthropy that was usually time-based such as bake sales and events. So one day she dreamt up a whole new world called Impact 100—where 100 women each give $1,000 and together they’d make a transformative gift of $100,000 in their community. Today, there’s Impact 100 chapters in 60 cities and they've collectively given away more than $123 million!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.
And we continue now with part two of our conversation
with Wendy Steele. Right after these brief messages from our
generals sponsors, do the applicants? Are you searching out female
(00:30):
applicants or that's not a thing. It's a female based
philanthropy giving power to women to make a difference in
their communities. But you're not specifically seeking out women run
no organizations.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
No, And that was the other thing. Back when Impact
one hundred started, there were women's funds that were just
starting to come into favor around the country. A lot
of them they were giving with a gender lens, meaning
they would only fund women and girls initiatives. And although
I think that's important, I don't think that's the whole story.
(01:13):
What I know about women is that if there were
a cure for prostate cancer, every woman I know would
be happy to fund it. So when we get too
focused on one part of the community, the whole community
can't thrive.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
All right, So you did this, and then here we
are twenty years later, which we'll talk about the unbelievable
amount of money that this organization raised, But How did
other cities and other people find out about this crazy
check writing group of women that you concoct it?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
It was crazy.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I got a call after we gave away our first grant.
I got a call on my landline in Cincinnati from
the deputy Midwest Bureau chief for People magazine and they
wanted to write a story. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
That was Midwest Chief Bureau chief bureau Chi, which means
right yeah for People.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, and they wanted to write the story. I literally
thought it was a prank call. We had tried so
hard to get media.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Can't tell you a funny story real quick, please, I
don't know why this spopped in my hand, but it's
really funny. We had a guy from the middle We
do business in forty two different countries and because of that,
our banking information is everywhere because you see wires and
achs and LC's and we're dealing with different currencies, so
(02:50):
you're exposed a little, as you would know being a banker.
And anyway, this guy from turns out it was Nigeria,
tried to mimic one of our customers and get us
to wire some money and it was close. It's pretty believable.
We didn't do it. We have controls in place. But
at any rate, he had gotten some money from three
(03:12):
people in Canada. And I called to my friend at
the FBI and said, hey, I just want to make
you aware of this number of this email address. This
is what happened. And he said, yeah, I believe this.
I got contacted by someone with the Royal Canadian Police
about this very thing, wire fraud. And he said, if
you don't mind, I'm going to give you the number.
(03:34):
I said, Tim, fine, whatever. Didn't hear anything for two weeks. Whatever,
We didn't get beat out anything. We're moving on in
my phone rings and I pick up and this guy says, hello,
A is this Bill Courtney? I said yeah, and he
said this is Ronald McDonald with the Royal Canadian Police.
You know what. I said, get the hell out of here,
(03:58):
and I hung up as I knew was a buddy
screwt Ronald McDonald with the Canadian Police Department. I did
hang up. Phone came back and he said that happened sometimes.
My name is really Ronald McDonald really with the cops.
And I'm like, okay, got my addiction now, so I
can completely understand you want to hang up on People magazine.
(04:19):
I mean, you're a banker in Cincinnati. What does people
want to do with you? They're writing stories about Steve
Martin and el McPherson exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah, you celebrity Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Well, and at the time we had been trying so
hard to get local media coverage and we were interesting.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Nobody cared.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
But when we gave the money away, like buried in
the living section was this little article that said impact newspaper.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, of this newspaper didn't see it as really newsworthy,
but People, and I think I'm not read. I don't
know if it still is, but People is or has been,
like the most widely read magazine.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
At the time it was.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I don't know if it still is, but at the
time it was the most widely read publication period.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
So it was a big deal with a story, like a.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Real full a real life story.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
All right. So you say, after you don't hang up on.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Them, exactly, I say, okay, And man, did she do
her homework? She was. She asked a lot of questions,
and interestingly, because this conversation started off talking about my childhood,
that's exactly where her interview started.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Now that just means that I'm a stone Hold.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Professional, exactly. Clearly, it is clear.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
So that when she started asking me, and I am
a person who doesn't like lying. Now, let me just
say that at that point, my closest friends did not
know how my mother died.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Oh, but you you had found out.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
So I found out in between. It was shortly after
graduating high school but before I went to college, so
literally four years in the summer.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
But then you never you did. Mum's the word just
like your family, right.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I didn't tell that.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I didn't tell a soul.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Wow, are you telling me you let your friends know
that your mom committed suicide?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
And People magazine, well I did reach out to them
before it came in print. But there definitely are people
who found out because of the magazine.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
And and I, so, you know, I have to tell
her the story. And I beg her like, look, don't
make this sensational. Please don't make everything that I've done
be all about this tragedy, Like, please, don't do that.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
She wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I said, can you show me the article before you
or before it goes to And she's like.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Absolutely not, don't do that. That's not happening.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
So I literally had to call my sisters and say,
I don't know if you've told your friends, but I
think when this article comes out the gigs, you know,
I think.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
They were a little surprised.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I mean the whole thing. It's like, how do you
even react to that?
Speaker 3 (07:29):
They weren't.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
I don't think they were surprised that I told the truth.
I think they were surprised that someone would want to
put it in a story like I think it.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Was hard, but you really do understand it is so
much about who you are, and that's why I'm not sensationalizing.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
No, no, no, and wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
And I have a serious, genuine empathetic art for what
your mom must have struggled with just going day to day,
and your poor father and all and you and the
girls and all of it. But it's really the whole
reason that's so important is because the irony of how
(08:15):
hard your mom struggled just to live life, and what
a strong woman she raised and you became, and how
then you have made this massive impact on our country
with more strong women. I think I think the story
cannot be unconnected right exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
And it was a gift to me in a lot
of ways because I am someone who tells the truth,
so like, I couldn't imagine having a lie in print.
And it ended up being really freeing. But it was
sort of scary in the moment.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Because I bet, I bet you had all kinds of
insecurity over it. I mean, she was this person going
to write about me all that, But turns out out
the article was pretty deck I'm good.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
It turns out, yeah, that the article not only is
what spread the word about Impact one hundred, but randomly
it also because it was People Magazine, parenthetically mentioned that
I was divorced.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Oh you were divorced at this time.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, so while I was building Impact one hundred, my
marriage was falling apart.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
And so why didn't you go.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Up to the woman at the bait shop up Michigan.
She could have set you up.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
She was gone by then. Sadly, yeah, she.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Sims, oh, you had seester, she could have fixed you
up with some dude well down the street.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Actually that's kind of what happened. I'm pretty sure that
Esther channeled her matchmaking through People Magazine because, wait for it,
the guy that I dated during the summers in northern
Michigan when I lived in Saint Louis and went to
high school, and he lived in bar Mingham, Michigan and
(10:01):
went to high school.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
On Walloon Lake.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
He is sitting in a doctor's office waiting for his physical,
picks up the magazine. He sees me, and he knows
who I and of course if he didn't know who
I was, it gives my maiden name. Like it. There
was no mistaking which Wendy they were talking about here.
And he was divorced. He's reading I was divorced. He
(10:31):
picked up the phone. I think he called his mom
first and said, do you remember Wendy Herman? And so
then when I got a call from him, before he
could say his name, I knew his voice, yes, as
he has this very distinctive Michigan accent, Like it's just
(10:51):
this very deep voice and very memorable.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
So you went on a date and never saw him again? Right?
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Well that that happily ever after? Yeah, So we got married.
The article came out in January of three. He was
divorced with two kids. I was divorced with three. We
got married in June of five. We're getting ready to
have eighteen years of marriage and our blended family of
(11:20):
five kids is like the best thing ever and amzing.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Yeah, totally happy.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
You know, it's really interesting the sand dunes and water
of Northern Michigan gave you your mother, your stepmother, and
your husband. Cool, right, Yeah, there's got to be a
story in there about I think you could have a
matchmaking website called Esther of Northern Michigan or something. That
(11:52):
thing's insane.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
It's insane. Yeah, it's so funny how that place was
woven into my dad's romantic life and mine.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Crazy. It is crazy, all right.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
So People Magazine comes out, and I assume because they
did a good job with the story, your email starts
blowing up. Is that what happened? Wendy's answer to that
after the break, Now we return to what happened After
(12:34):
the People magazine feature came out.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
My email started blowing up, My phone started blowing up.
People started saying, how do I buy a franchise? How
do I license by franchise?
Speaker 1 (12:47):
You only made it one year earlier. You don't even
know what you're doing completely yet exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
And this was designed to remove the barriers to get
women involved. So I was over the moon that It's like,
wait a minute, really you want to do that there.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Let me tell you how.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
And that's how it all began.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
And now twenty years later, twenty years later, cities that
it is, so it's.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
It is around the world. So we have chapters in
the United States, we have eight in Australia, When in
New Zealand, When in the UK?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
And what city in the UK is at London or London? Yeah,
you said eight in Australia.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Right, that's interesting, It's really interesting. It's taken off like
wildfire there, which is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
So Australia and New Zealand, UK, yep. And in the
States and.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Around the United States we have so our first grant
was in two thousand and two f one hundred and
twenty three thousand dollars right by the end of twenty
twenty two, so twenty years later we have grown a
thousandfold and we've given away now more than one hundred
and twenty three million dollars one woman at a time.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Is phenomenal, isn't it crazy? And you can't do that
bacon cookies, No, you really can't.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
You really can't.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Listen the story of and it works the same way
you described the first year. Everywhere everywhere it works the.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Same everywhere, although I will tell you in Australia, all
but one chapter is gender neutral, so in other words,
it's not all women in Australia. But other than that, yes,
it works.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
The model works.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
So the thing about it, well, not the thing, but
I mean, how many millions? One hundred what.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Over one hundred and twenty three million dollars.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Which is ironic because that is exactly a thousand times?
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
And I'm embarrassed to tell you how long it took
me to make that connection.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I'm not kidding.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
I'm the king of ironic connections. So it was I'll
miss the most obvious so long.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Because we announced it on what is called the Global
Day of Impact, which is the first Thursday in November
and this year. So last year was the first Global
Day of Impact and we broke through one hundred million,
which was super exciting and lots to celebrate, and it
was a first. Well this year, I'm looking at him
like it's like one hundred and twenty three million and change,
(15:29):
you know, Like I'm like, couldn't it be one hundred
and twenty five million?
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Like couldn't it be like.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
And I literally dawdie, I literally said to someone on
the committee, can we can we just say more than
one hundred and twenty million? Because I like round numbers
and they're like, no, one hundred and twenty three is powerful. Literally,
it took me way longer than it should have, and
I was like, holy mackerel, this is crazy.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
This is the most poetic number you could have had.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
So what look phenomenal? Phenomenal? But you know, has it
dawned on you the the numbers of women you must
have empowered through this as well?
Speaker 3 (16:14):
It's wild.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I mean to me, that's the It's not as big
a blessing as all of what all of that money
having serious, major, profound impacts on nonprofit work all all
over the world. And you can't, by no means do
I want to diminish that. But what I am saying
(16:37):
is I think there's a I think there's an almost
equally powerful byproduct of your work that is changing a
culture for women from work based stuff to being able
to to say, hey we can we can raise too
(17:00):
with the best of them, and we can pull it
off just like anybody. I mean, you've in large smart
changed the way a lot of women think about phalanch
B and their commitment and connection with it.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yes, and really how they think about themselves much interesting
because imagine, so there are so many things that have
come of this that I wish I could say I expected,
but I didn't. One of it is that when you
(17:33):
look across the Impact one hundred universe, roughly fifty percent
of the women who join have never written a check
to a single charity for a thousand dollars prior to
joining Impact. Now, in some cases it is a little
bit of a capacity. They actually had to budget, they
had to rearrange things in order to make that donation.
(17:56):
But there were other women who had the capacity, they
just didn't feel that they knew enough or they were
the right person to give. So you imagine, what do.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
You mean the right person well connected to their husband
or they or they.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Deferred that to another, whether the other was someone in
their own family, or whether the other was an unknown
other in the community that knows more than they do
that are better connected. I think it has to do
with Yeah, I would say sometimes it has to do
with confidence. And I think it has to do with
(18:33):
making philanthropy mystified like like you've got to be in
this ivory tower. You have to know somebody or you
have to be somebody in order to be a philanthropist.
And part of the reason I intentionally used philanthropists is
because when you when you take apart that word and
its Greek origins, to be a philanthropist means to love
(18:57):
humanity and know, what I refer to as an effective
philanthropist is someone who loves others.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Well, you know, Wendy. In a sense, the whole reason
this show exists is because I have this belief that
what ills our society will never be fixed by people
in DC and New York and fancy suits talking big words.
(19:30):
It's just going to be quote an army of normal
folks that just seeing need and say I can help.
And as I hear you, it dawns on me that
you started an army and normal folks twenty years ago.
You empowered women specifically to look at philanthropy different and
(19:52):
just say, yeah, I'm an average person, but a team
of average people can do extraordinary things, and you gave
them a platform to express and to achieve that. I mean,
that's got to be you got to be I'm not
saying you're pious, But I mean, do you allow yourself
(20:13):
to be do you pinch yourself and allow yourself to
be proud of what you've done?
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Absolutely? Absolutely, I mean I am I'm amazed. I'm amazed.
Really when I look at it, and when we change
those hearts, think about the ripple effect of how many
lives women touched. And so if I go, I have.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
To tell you something. Everybody walking was first touched by
a woman.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yes, that is very true.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yes, or as I have friends in the in the
women's health research and they say all life starts with women.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
It does start with women.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
If you imagine going from wringing your hands being concerned
about the problems that are facing our community today and
you pivot to being on the side of the table
that gets to be a part of the solution, you're
a changed person.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
So true. And now that that's true for men or women,
that's true, no.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Matter, right, And then you understand that a lot of
the women who join impact one hundred, they're not what
I would call your usual suspects. So if you go
to any community, there are those women who are involved
in everything, just like I'm sure there are men who
are involved in everything. They are the usual suspects, so
the first people you go to when you want to
(21:43):
do something new, and we get a lot of those
women very happy they.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Do right right.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
But because of the way Impact one hundred works, we
get women who would tell you, I'm not a I
don't like women's groups. I prefer to hang out with men.
I prefer be or overwine. This is not my thing,
and yet they join Impact one hundred. So what happens
(22:13):
is is that when you have these seasoned philanthropists, the
names that you know in every community, sitting alongside women
who are newly minted philanthropists, this is a first for them.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
And under your one check, one vote thing, the season
philanthropists are no more important than the beer drinking chick
that doesn't want to hang out with all the women exactly.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
But when you get them together, suddenly they realize they
have a lot in common. Now, they wouldn't know each other.
They don't live in the same zip code, they don't
shop at the same stores, their kids don't go to
the same schools. They aren't going to the same churches
and synagogues. But they are realizing that there's not very
much that separates them from each other, and so friendships
(23:01):
start to happen. And the impact of Impact one hundred
we see it in the community with extra grants and
more money and connections that go to the nonprofits whether
they get our funding or not. But we also see
it among the women who serve, is that their lives change.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
So they actually build a community.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, I hear my favorite thing to do other than this,
My favorite thing to do is to go to these
communities and meet the women who are making it happen.
And what I hear is these are my lifelong best friends.
This I now know my passion I learned. I didn't
even know that that was a problem. Now I know
(23:47):
this organization is addressing it. I am no longer going
to serve on the leadership team of Impact one hundred.
I want to go volunteer to be on this person's
board because I now know that this was what I
was born to care about. This is what I was
born to do.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Is the one hundred and twenty three million, or what
you're talking about right now, the biggest payoff for you personally?
Speaker 2 (24:10):
This it's those individual women who step into their strength.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I've said one hundred times that I don't think philanthropy
is a nice thing to do. I think, by virtue
of the blessings that we've been graced with, it's a
requirement to give back, not a nice thing to do.
But I've also said, and I also believe with everything
that if you do it humbly and for the right reasons,
(24:38):
motivated by the simple edification of someone who's not as
blessed as you are, and you grow as a result
of the work that you do, that the payoff behind
all of it is you get fifty thousand times more
out of it than you ever put into it. And
I hear and I wish people could see your face
(24:59):
when you're talking about it, because you light up, and
the one hundred and twenty three million dollars is phenomenal, And
it's untold how many people's lives have been bettered as
a result of all the money raised from your idea
twenty years ago. But it is true that you personally
get more out of seeing the strength and power of
(25:20):
women and the relationships fostered. You get so much more
out of that than you ever thought you'd put into
it twenty years ago. Absolutely, And then that the payoff
to getting out in your community and going to work.
Is what you get out of it too, is so
much more what you put into it. We'll be right back.
(25:52):
You know, it's an army of normal folks, and what
could be more normal than one hundred women, none of
which are We're not talking about multi millionaires or whatever,
but one hundred women getting together and write in a
check for one thousand dollars democratizing philanthropy, which is a
(26:15):
phenomenal idea. That's very cool that you came up with
it and then affecting change in their neighborhoods. I read
that some of your chapters have now two hundred women,
and three hundred women, and then four hundred women, and
you would hear that and you would think, well, yeah,
(26:35):
Dallas or Houston or San Francisco or La or Chicago,
or well, now that I know, maybe Sydney or London
where you got these huge population centers, that that's doable.
But if I'm sitting around listening and making Georgia, it'd
be hard to pull one hundred women together, which it
(26:56):
might be read about a chapter in the Panhandle, and
I want you to share that story because it to
me illustrates that You don't have to be in New
York surrounded by an immense amount of wealth to pull
this off.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah, absolutely not.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
My goal is if an Impact chapter can grow to
five hundred women, then they give one grant and each
of those five focused areas every single year. That that
would be my goal for any chapters. And not all
chapters can do it, for sure, and honestly, not all chapters.
(27:41):
They're all run by volunteers, so not all chapters want
to do it, and not all communities you know, will
support that. But you can't judge a book by its cover,
as you are alluding to. In Pensacola, Florida.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
First of all, not all of our listeners know much
about pencil Call of Florida. I mean people from my
Necka Woods do because we all vacation the Panhona of
Florida because it's close to speech.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
But Pittsacaolla, Florida is demographically it's probably the second porest
county in all of Florida.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
It is.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
It's shunningly beautiful.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
It is beautiful, but it's it's also a military town.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Yeah, the navyes there, the Blue Angels make their home there.
It's if you like that which we do. I mean,
watching those blue angels fly is incredible.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
But don't hear Pensacola and think Fame, Miami or whatever
it is. Like you said, I think it is the
second or third porest county in all of Florida, and.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Pensacola by their tenth anniversary reached a thousand members and
they gave away in a single day that has become
known as million Dollars Sunday, they gave away a million dollars.
They gave two grants in each of those five focus areas.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
But they have the second poorest county in Florida.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
But they didn't stop. So that was this year. Twenty
twenty three is their twentieth anniversary year. Every year from
their tenth until twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
I don't know the numbers yet.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
For this year they have given away at least a
million dollars. Most recently, for at least the past four
or five years, they've given away one point one million dollars.
So they give away eleven grants of at least one
hundred thousand dollars in the two counties, which is Santa
(29:37):
Rosa and Escambia. I think counties in Pensacola, which is
just remarkable and.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Honestly, absolutely phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
I don't know what they're gonna do for their twentieth anniversary.
It's pretty hard to beat where they already are. They
are the world's largest Impact one hundred chapter.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Imagine in a community like what we just discussed, how
far that money goes and what it's doing for some
some some amazing organizations. I mean, that's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
It's a lot of money. It is a lot of money,
and it's and yet I travel a lot, and when
I'm on a plane to Pensacola, inevitably someone will say
what brings you there? And I will say, have you
ever heard of Impact one hundred? Now this is on
(30:37):
a plane going to Pensacola and to your largest chapter,
to the largest chapter that has done amazing things. And
they say no, and they say I've never heard of it.
I say, really, So, if there are still people in
Pensacola who've never heard of Impact one hundred, they haven't
reached their highest potential that I don't know what that
(30:59):
looks like. But imagine those bigger cities, the Sydneys, the
New York's, the Palm beach the Miamis.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
That's what has to drive you, is that.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
There's so many people who still haven't heard.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
So Wendy, here's the deal. I can't think of a
more appropriate person to be part of the Army of
Normal Folks, because you're You're a kid who grew up
in Saint Louis and then ended up in Cincinnati. You
(31:39):
know three kids, a dad who traveled and a mom
who struggled, and everybody in the world has struggles. And
you go and get a degree and go into banking,
and get married and get divorced to get remarried, and
and you had an idea, and you've affected countless lives,
(32:01):
not only of the people that your organization has given
money to, but the people actually inside the organization operating it,
and the empowerment and the sense of self they get
from it. It's an amazing story and you should be proud.
And I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed our chat.
(32:24):
One of the things we do on an Army Normal
Folks is we all give our contact information. I have mine.
Our producer Alex he used to have it, but he
was in his car. So would you mind sharing if
anybody hears this and says, I want to do this
in my community. How do they find out more and
(32:46):
get in touch?
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Yeah, thank you. It's very easy.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Wendy at Impact one hundred global dot org. So it's
global one zero zero Impact one hundred global dot org.
Or you can reach me at Wendyhsteel dot com s
T E E A L E.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
My cell phone number is two three one six three
two three five eight eight.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Now you've done it.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
It's I'm pretty easy to find. I want to be
easy to find.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yeah, I love it. Wendy, thank you so much for
coming to Memphis, and thanks for telling us your story.
It's it's uh, it's an amazing it's an amazing trip.
And the fun thing about it is you're still in it,
and God knows where you go from here. I guess
I guess it's time to tack. Is that what you do? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Look at you, look at me.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Thanks for joining me, Wendy.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
Thank you so much. Bill.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
It is a treat, and thank you for joining us
this week. Y'all. If Windy or any other guest has
inspired you in general, or better yet, to take action
by joining an Impact one hundred chapter starting one buying
(34:11):
her book Invitation Impact, or donating to Wendy's organization, Impact
one hundred Global, which is advising all these chapters for
free and helping the movement grow, or something else entirely.
Please let me know I want to hear about it.
You can write me anytime at Bill at normalfolks dot us,
(34:32):
and I promise you I'll respond. And if you enjoyed
this episode, share it with friends that I'm social, subscribe
to the podcast, rate and review it, become a premium
member at normalfolks dot us, all these things that will
help grow an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney.
I'll see you next week.
Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.
And we continue now with part two of our conversation
with Wendy Steele. Right after these brief messages from our
generals sponsors, do the applicants? Are you searching out female
(00:30):
applicants or that's not a thing. It's a female based
philanthropy giving power to women to make a difference in
their communities. But you're not specifically seeking out women run
no organizations.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
No, And that was the other thing. Back when Impact
one hundred started, there were women's funds that were just
starting to come into favor around the country. A lot
of them they were giving with a gender lens, meaning
they would only fund women and girls initiatives. And although
I think that's important, I don't think that's the whole story.
(01:13):
What I know about women is that if there were
a cure for prostate cancer, every woman I know would
be happy to fund it. So when we get too
focused on one part of the community, the whole community
can't thrive.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
All right, So you did this, and then here we
are twenty years later, which we'll talk about the unbelievable
amount of money that this organization raised, But How did
other cities and other people find out about this crazy
check writing group of women that you concoct it?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
It was crazy.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I got a call after we gave away our first grant.
I got a call on my landline in Cincinnati from
the deputy Midwest Bureau chief for People magazine and they
wanted to write a story. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
That was Midwest Chief Bureau chief bureau Chi, which means
right yeah for People.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, and they wanted to write the story. I literally
thought it was a prank call. We had tried so
hard to get media.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Can't tell you a funny story real quick, please, I
don't know why this spopped in my hand, but it's
really funny. We had a guy from the middle We
do business in forty two different countries and because of that,
our banking information is everywhere because you see wires and
achs and LC's and we're dealing with different currencies, so
(02:50):
you're exposed a little, as you would know being a banker.
And anyway, this guy from turns out it was Nigeria,
tried to mimic one of our customers and get us
to wire some money and it was close. It's pretty believable.
We didn't do it. We have controls in place. But
at any rate, he had gotten some money from three
(03:12):
people in Canada. And I called to my friend at
the FBI and said, hey, I just want to make
you aware of this number of this email address. This
is what happened. And he said, yeah, I believe this.
I got contacted by someone with the Royal Canadian Police
about this very thing, wire fraud. And he said, if
you don't mind, I'm going to give you the number.
(03:34):
I said, Tim, fine, whatever. Didn't hear anything for two weeks. Whatever,
We didn't get beat out anything. We're moving on in
my phone rings and I pick up and this guy says, hello,
A is this Bill Courtney? I said yeah, and he
said this is Ronald McDonald with the Royal Canadian Police.
You know what. I said, get the hell out of here,
(03:58):
and I hung up as I knew was a buddy
screwt Ronald McDonald with the Canadian Police Department. I did
hang up. Phone came back and he said that happened sometimes.
My name is really Ronald McDonald really with the cops.
And I'm like, okay, got my addiction now, so I
can completely understand you want to hang up on People magazine.
(04:19):
I mean, you're a banker in Cincinnati. What does people
want to do with you? They're writing stories about Steve
Martin and el McPherson exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah, you celebrity Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Well, and at the time we had been trying so
hard to get local media coverage and we were interesting.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Nobody cared.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
But when we gave the money away, like buried in
the living section was this little article that said impact newspaper.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, of this newspaper didn't see it as really newsworthy,
but People, and I think I'm not read. I don't
know if it still is, but People is or has been,
like the most widely read magazine.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
At the time it was.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I don't know if it still is, but at the
time it was the most widely read publication period.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
So it was a big deal with a story, like a.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Real full a real life story.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
All right. So you say, after you don't hang up on.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Them, exactly, I say, okay, And man, did she do
her homework? She was. She asked a lot of questions,
and interestingly, because this conversation started off talking about my childhood,
that's exactly where her interview started.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Now that just means that I'm a stone Hold.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Professional, exactly. Clearly, it is clear.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
So that when she started asking me, and I am
a person who doesn't like lying. Now, let me just
say that at that point, my closest friends did not
know how my mother died.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Oh, but you you had found out.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
So I found out in between. It was shortly after
graduating high school but before I went to college, so
literally four years in the summer.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
But then you never you did. Mum's the word just
like your family, right.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I didn't tell that.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I didn't tell a soul.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Wow, are you telling me you let your friends know
that your mom committed suicide?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
And People magazine, well I did reach out to them
before it came in print. But there definitely are people
who found out because of the magazine.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
And and I, so, you know, I have to tell
her the story. And I beg her like, look, don't
make this sensational. Please don't make everything that I've done
be all about this tragedy, Like, please, don't do that.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
She wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I said, can you show me the article before you
or before it goes to And she's like.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Absolutely not, don't do that. That's not happening.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
So I literally had to call my sisters and say,
I don't know if you've told your friends, but I
think when this article comes out the gigs, you know,
I think.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
They were a little surprised.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I mean the whole thing. It's like, how do you
even react to that?
Speaker 3 (07:29):
They weren't.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
I don't think they were surprised that I told the truth.
I think they were surprised that someone would want to
put it in a story like I think it.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Was hard, but you really do understand it is so
much about who you are, and that's why I'm not sensationalizing.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
No, no, no, and wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
And I have a serious, genuine empathetic art for what
your mom must have struggled with just going day to day,
and your poor father and all and you and the
girls and all of it. But it's really the whole
reason that's so important is because the irony of how
(08:15):
hard your mom struggled just to live life, and what
a strong woman she raised and you became, and how
then you have made this massive impact on our country
with more strong women. I think I think the story
cannot be unconnected right exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
And it was a gift to me in a lot
of ways because I am someone who tells the truth,
so like, I couldn't imagine having a lie in print.
And it ended up being really freeing. But it was
sort of scary in the moment.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Because I bet, I bet you had all kinds of
insecurity over it. I mean, she was this person going
to write about me all that, But turns out out
the article was pretty deck I'm good.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
It turns out, yeah, that the article not only is
what spread the word about Impact one hundred, but randomly
it also because it was People Magazine, parenthetically mentioned that
I was divorced.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Oh you were divorced at this time.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, so while I was building Impact one hundred, my
marriage was falling apart.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
And so why didn't you go.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Up to the woman at the bait shop up Michigan.
She could have set you up.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
She was gone by then. Sadly, yeah, she.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Sims, oh, you had seester, she could have fixed you
up with some dude well down the street.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Actually that's kind of what happened. I'm pretty sure that
Esther channeled her matchmaking through People Magazine because, wait for it,
the guy that I dated during the summers in northern
Michigan when I lived in Saint Louis and went to
high school, and he lived in bar Mingham, Michigan and
(10:01):
went to high school.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
On Walloon Lake.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
He is sitting in a doctor's office waiting for his physical,
picks up the magazine. He sees me, and he knows
who I and of course if he didn't know who
I was, it gives my maiden name. Like it. There
was no mistaking which Wendy they were talking about here.
And he was divorced. He's reading I was divorced. He
(10:31):
picked up the phone. I think he called his mom
first and said, do you remember Wendy Herman? And so
then when I got a call from him, before he
could say his name, I knew his voice, yes, as
he has this very distinctive Michigan accent, Like it's just
(10:51):
this very deep voice and very memorable.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
So you went on a date and never saw him again? Right?
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Well that that happily ever after? Yeah, So we got married.
The article came out in January of three. He was
divorced with two kids. I was divorced with three. We
got married in June of five. We're getting ready to
have eighteen years of marriage and our blended family of
(11:20):
five kids is like the best thing ever and amzing.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Yeah, totally happy.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
You know, it's really interesting the sand dunes and water
of Northern Michigan gave you your mother, your stepmother, and
your husband. Cool, right, Yeah, there's got to be a
story in there about I think you could have a
matchmaking website called Esther of Northern Michigan or something. That
(11:52):
thing's insane.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
It's insane. Yeah, it's so funny how that place was
woven into my dad's romantic life and mine.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Crazy. It is crazy, all right.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
So People Magazine comes out, and I assume because they
did a good job with the story, your email starts
blowing up. Is that what happened? Wendy's answer to that
after the break, Now we return to what happened After
(12:34):
the People magazine feature came out.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
My email started blowing up, My phone started blowing up.
People started saying, how do I buy a franchise? How
do I license by franchise?
Speaker 1 (12:47):
You only made it one year earlier. You don't even
know what you're doing completely yet exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
And this was designed to remove the barriers to get
women involved. So I was over the moon that It's like,
wait a minute, really you want to do that there.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Let me tell you how.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
And that's how it all began.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
And now twenty years later, twenty years later, cities that
it is, so it's.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
It is around the world. So we have chapters in
the United States, we have eight in Australia, When in
New Zealand, When in the UK?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
And what city in the UK is at London or London? Yeah,
you said eight in Australia.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Right, that's interesting, It's really interesting. It's taken off like
wildfire there, which is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
So Australia and New Zealand, UK, yep. And in the
States and.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Around the United States we have so our first grant
was in two thousand and two f one hundred and
twenty three thousand dollars right by the end of twenty
twenty two, so twenty years later we have grown a
thousandfold and we've given away now more than one hundred
and twenty three million dollars one woman at a time.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Is phenomenal, isn't it crazy? And you can't do that
bacon cookies, No, you really can't.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
You really can't.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Listen the story of and it works the same way
you described the first year. Everywhere everywhere it works the.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Same everywhere, although I will tell you in Australia, all
but one chapter is gender neutral, so in other words,
it's not all women in Australia. But other than that, yes,
it works.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
The model works.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
So the thing about it, well, not the thing, but
I mean, how many millions? One hundred what.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Over one hundred and twenty three million dollars.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Which is ironic because that is exactly a thousand times?
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
And I'm embarrassed to tell you how long it took
me to make that connection.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I'm not kidding.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
I'm the king of ironic connections. So it was I'll
miss the most obvious so long.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Because we announced it on what is called the Global
Day of Impact, which is the first Thursday in November
and this year. So last year was the first Global
Day of Impact and we broke through one hundred million,
which was super exciting and lots to celebrate, and it
was a first. Well this year, I'm looking at him
like it's like one hundred and twenty three million and change,
(15:29):
you know, Like I'm like, couldn't it be one hundred
and twenty five million?
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Like couldn't it be like.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
And I literally dawdie, I literally said to someone on
the committee, can we can we just say more than
one hundred and twenty million? Because I like round numbers
and they're like, no, one hundred and twenty three is powerful. Literally,
it took me way longer than it should have, and
I was like, holy mackerel, this is crazy.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
This is the most poetic number you could have had.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
So what look phenomenal? Phenomenal? But you know, has it
dawned on you the the numbers of women you must
have empowered through this as well?
Speaker 3 (16:14):
It's wild.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I mean to me, that's the It's not as big
a blessing as all of what all of that money
having serious, major, profound impacts on nonprofit work all all
over the world. And you can't, by no means do
I want to diminish that. But what I am saying
(16:37):
is I think there's a I think there's an almost
equally powerful byproduct of your work that is changing a
culture for women from work based stuff to being able
to to say, hey we can we can raise too
(17:00):
with the best of them, and we can pull it
off just like anybody. I mean, you've in large smart
changed the way a lot of women think about phalanch
B and their commitment and connection with it.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yes, and really how they think about themselves much interesting
because imagine, so there are so many things that have
come of this that I wish I could say I expected,
but I didn't. One of it is that when you
(17:33):
look across the Impact one hundred universe, roughly fifty percent
of the women who join have never written a check
to a single charity for a thousand dollars prior to
joining Impact. Now, in some cases it is a little
bit of a capacity. They actually had to budget, they
had to rearrange things in order to make that donation.
(17:56):
But there were other women who had the capacity, they
just didn't feel that they knew enough or they were
the right person to give. So you imagine, what do.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
You mean the right person well connected to their husband
or they or they.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Deferred that to another, whether the other was someone in
their own family, or whether the other was an unknown
other in the community that knows more than they do
that are better connected. I think it has to do
with Yeah, I would say sometimes it has to do
with confidence. And I think it has to do with
(18:33):
making philanthropy mystified like like you've got to be in
this ivory tower. You have to know somebody or you
have to be somebody in order to be a philanthropist.
And part of the reason I intentionally used philanthropists is
because when you when you take apart that word and
its Greek origins, to be a philanthropist means to love
(18:57):
humanity and know, what I refer to as an effective
philanthropist is someone who loves others.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Well, you know, Wendy. In a sense, the whole reason
this show exists is because I have this belief that
what ills our society will never be fixed by people
in DC and New York and fancy suits talking big words.
(19:30):
It's just going to be quote an army of normal
folks that just seeing need and say I can help.
And as I hear you, it dawns on me that
you started an army and normal folks twenty years ago.
You empowered women specifically to look at philanthropy different and
(19:52):
just say, yeah, I'm an average person, but a team
of average people can do extraordinary things, and you gave
them a platform to express and to achieve that. I mean,
that's got to be you got to be I'm not
saying you're pious, But I mean, do you allow yourself
(20:13):
to be do you pinch yourself and allow yourself to
be proud of what you've done?
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Absolutely? Absolutely, I mean I am I'm amazed. I'm amazed.
Really when I look at it, and when we change
those hearts, think about the ripple effect of how many
lives women touched. And so if I go, I have.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
To tell you something. Everybody walking was first touched by
a woman.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yes, that is very true.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yes, or as I have friends in the in the
women's health research and they say all life starts with women.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
It does start with women.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
If you imagine going from wringing your hands being concerned
about the problems that are facing our community today and
you pivot to being on the side of the table
that gets to be a part of the solution, you're
a changed person.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
So true. And now that that's true for men or women,
that's true, no.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Matter, right, And then you understand that a lot of
the women who join impact one hundred, they're not what
I would call your usual suspects. So if you go
to any community, there are those women who are involved
in everything, just like I'm sure there are men who
are involved in everything. They are the usual suspects, so
the first people you go to when you want to
(21:43):
do something new, and we get a lot of those
women very happy they.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Do right right.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
But because of the way Impact one hundred works, we
get women who would tell you, I'm not a I
don't like women's groups. I prefer to hang out with men.
I prefer be or overwine. This is not my thing,
and yet they join Impact one hundred. So what happens
(22:13):
is is that when you have these seasoned philanthropists, the
names that you know in every community, sitting alongside women
who are newly minted philanthropists, this is a first for them.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
And under your one check, one vote thing, the season
philanthropists are no more important than the beer drinking chick
that doesn't want to hang out with all the women exactly.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
But when you get them together, suddenly they realize they
have a lot in common. Now, they wouldn't know each other.
They don't live in the same zip code, they don't
shop at the same stores, their kids don't go to
the same schools. They aren't going to the same churches
and synagogues. But they are realizing that there's not very
much that separates them from each other, and so friendships
(23:01):
start to happen. And the impact of Impact one hundred
we see it in the community with extra grants and
more money and connections that go to the nonprofits whether
they get our funding or not. But we also see
it among the women who serve, is that their lives change.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
So they actually build a community.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, I hear my favorite thing to do other than this,
My favorite thing to do is to go to these
communities and meet the women who are making it happen.
And what I hear is these are my lifelong best friends.
This I now know my passion I learned. I didn't
even know that that was a problem. Now I know
(23:47):
this organization is addressing it. I am no longer going
to serve on the leadership team of Impact one hundred.
I want to go volunteer to be on this person's
board because I now know that this was what I
was born to care about. This is what I was
born to do.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Is the one hundred and twenty three million, or what
you're talking about right now, the biggest payoff for you personally?
Speaker 2 (24:10):
This it's those individual women who step into their strength.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I've said one hundred times that I don't think philanthropy
is a nice thing to do. I think, by virtue
of the blessings that we've been graced with, it's a
requirement to give back, not a nice thing to do.
But I've also said, and I also believe with everything
that if you do it humbly and for the right reasons,
(24:38):
motivated by the simple edification of someone who's not as
blessed as you are, and you grow as a result
of the work that you do, that the payoff behind
all of it is you get fifty thousand times more
out of it than you ever put into it. And
I hear and I wish people could see your face
(24:59):
when you're talking about it, because you light up, and
the one hundred and twenty three million dollars is phenomenal, And
it's untold how many people's lives have been bettered as
a result of all the money raised from your idea
twenty years ago. But it is true that you personally
get more out of seeing the strength and power of
(25:20):
women and the relationships fostered. You get so much more
out of that than you ever thought you'd put into
it twenty years ago. Absolutely, And then that the payoff
to getting out in your community and going to work.
Is what you get out of it too, is so
much more what you put into it. We'll be right back.
(25:52):
You know, it's an army of normal folks, and what
could be more normal than one hundred women, none of
which are We're not talking about multi millionaires or whatever,
but one hundred women getting together and write in a
check for one thousand dollars democratizing philanthropy, which is a
(26:15):
phenomenal idea. That's very cool that you came up with
it and then affecting change in their neighborhoods. I read
that some of your chapters have now two hundred women,
and three hundred women, and then four hundred women, and
you would hear that and you would think, well, yeah,
(26:35):
Dallas or Houston or San Francisco or La or Chicago,
or well, now that I know, maybe Sydney or London
where you got these huge population centers, that that's doable.
But if I'm sitting around listening and making Georgia, it'd
be hard to pull one hundred women together, which it
(26:56):
might be read about a chapter in the Panhandle, and
I want you to share that story because it to
me illustrates that You don't have to be in New
York surrounded by an immense amount of wealth to pull
this off.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah, absolutely not.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
My goal is if an Impact chapter can grow to
five hundred women, then they give one grant and each
of those five focused areas every single year. That that
would be my goal for any chapters. And not all
chapters can do it, for sure, and honestly, not all chapters.
(27:41):
They're all run by volunteers, so not all chapters want
to do it, and not all communities you know, will
support that. But you can't judge a book by its cover,
as you are alluding to. In Pensacola, Florida.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
First of all, not all of our listeners know much
about pencil Call of Florida. I mean people from my
Necka Woods do because we all vacation the Panhona of
Florida because it's close to speech.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
But Pittsacaolla, Florida is demographically it's probably the second porest
county in all of Florida.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
It is.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
It's shunningly beautiful.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
It is beautiful, but it's it's also a military town.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Yeah, the navyes there, the Blue Angels make their home there.
It's if you like that which we do. I mean,
watching those blue angels fly is incredible.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
But don't hear Pensacola and think Fame, Miami or whatever
it is. Like you said, I think it is the
second or third porest county in all of Florida, and.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Pensacola by their tenth anniversary reached a thousand members and
they gave away in a single day that has become
known as million Dollars Sunday, they gave away a million dollars.
They gave two grants in each of those five focus areas.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
But they have the second poorest county in Florida.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
But they didn't stop. So that was this year. Twenty
twenty three is their twentieth anniversary year. Every year from
their tenth until twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
I don't know the numbers yet.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
For this year they have given away at least a
million dollars. Most recently, for at least the past four
or five years, they've given away one point one million dollars.
So they give away eleven grants of at least one
hundred thousand dollars in the two counties, which is Santa
(29:37):
Rosa and Escambia. I think counties in Pensacola, which is
just remarkable and.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Honestly, absolutely phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
I don't know what they're gonna do for their twentieth anniversary.
It's pretty hard to beat where they already are. They
are the world's largest Impact one hundred chapter.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Imagine in a community like what we just discussed, how
far that money goes and what it's doing for some
some some amazing organizations. I mean, that's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
It's a lot of money. It is a lot of money,
and it's and yet I travel a lot, and when
I'm on a plane to Pensacola, inevitably someone will say
what brings you there? And I will say, have you
ever heard of Impact one hundred? Now this is on
(30:37):
a plane going to Pensacola and to your largest chapter,
to the largest chapter that has done amazing things. And
they say no, and they say I've never heard of it.
I say, really, So, if there are still people in
Pensacola who've never heard of Impact one hundred, they haven't
reached their highest potential that I don't know what that
(30:59):
looks like. But imagine those bigger cities, the Sydneys, the
New York's, the Palm beach the Miamis.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
That's what has to drive you, is that.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
There's so many people who still haven't heard.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
So Wendy, here's the deal. I can't think of a
more appropriate person to be part of the Army of
Normal Folks, because you're You're a kid who grew up
in Saint Louis and then ended up in Cincinnati. You
(31:39):
know three kids, a dad who traveled and a mom
who struggled, and everybody in the world has struggles. And
you go and get a degree and go into banking,
and get married and get divorced to get remarried, and
and you had an idea, and you've affected countless lives,
(32:01):
not only of the people that your organization has given
money to, but the people actually inside the organization operating it,
and the empowerment and the sense of self they get
from it. It's an amazing story and you should be proud.
And I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed our chat.
(32:24):
One of the things we do on an Army Normal
Folks is we all give our contact information. I have mine.
Our producer Alex he used to have it, but he
was in his car. So would you mind sharing if
anybody hears this and says, I want to do this
in my community. How do they find out more and
(32:46):
get in touch?
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Yeah, thank you. It's very easy.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Wendy at Impact one hundred global dot org. So it's
global one zero zero Impact one hundred global dot org.
Or you can reach me at Wendyhsteel dot com s
T E E A L E.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
My cell phone number is two three one six three
two three five eight eight.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Now you've done it.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
It's I'm pretty easy to find. I want to be
easy to find.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yeah, I love it. Wendy, thank you so much for
coming to Memphis, and thanks for telling us your story.
It's it's uh, it's an amazing it's an amazing trip.
And the fun thing about it is you're still in it,
and God knows where you go from here. I guess
I guess it's time to tack. Is that what you do? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Look at you, look at me.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Thanks for joining me, Wendy.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
Thank you so much. Bill.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
It is a treat, and thank you for joining us
this week. Y'all. If Windy or any other guest has
inspired you in general, or better yet, to take action
by joining an Impact one hundred chapter starting one buying
(34:11):
her book Invitation Impact, or donating to Wendy's organization, Impact
one hundred Global, which is advising all these chapters for
free and helping the movement grow, or something else entirely.
Please let me know I want to hear about it.
You can write me anytime at Bill at normalfolks dot us,
(34:32):
and I promise you I'll respond. And if you enjoyed
this episode, share it with friends that I'm social, subscribe
to the podcast, rate and review it, become a premium
member at normalfolks dot us, all these things that will
help grow an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney.
I'll see you next week.
Host
Bill Courtney
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