December 10, 2025 • 57 mins
What if the person most likely to spot early signs of domestic violence isn’t a police officer, clinician, or counselor—but your hairstylist? In this episode of the 1in3 Podcast, Ingrid sits down with salon owner and advocate Susanne Shepherd Post to reveal how Shear Haven is transforming everyday salon appointments into potentially life-saving interactions through a free, 20-minute domestic violence training.
Susanne shares how a short news clip about an Illinois law sparked a statewide movement in Tennessee. Starting with in-person trainings through the YWCA, she discovered a powerful truth: stylists often hear the earliest indicators of abuse—sudden schedule changes, love-bombing, isolation from friends, controlling partners—long before physical signs ever appear.
The Shear Haven training teaches beauty professionals how to listen without judgment, recognize warning signs of domestic violence, and offer safe, appropriate resources. It emphasizes clear boundaries too: stylists are not therapists or mandatory reporters—just trusted, consistent humans who can hold space and guide someone to help.
When the pandemic halted in-person workshops, Shear Haven partnered with Barbicide to launch a short, accessible online course with global hotline resources. The impact was immediate and worldwide: 160,000+ learners across 100+ countries, with training now offered in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Susanne also breaks down recent policy wins, including Tennessee’s requirement that keeps the training free, fast, and accessible, plus the bipartisan federal effort helping other states adopt similar laws.
You’ll also hear how teen-led advocacy, including Burd Beauty’s bottles printed with a QR code linking directly to the training, is helping spark conversations about teen dating violence.
If you’ve ever sensed something was “off” but didn’t know how to interpret it, this episode gives you the signs to watch for, the language to use, and the confidence to support someone safely without causing harm.
If this conversation resonates, subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review—your one conversation might change a life.
Susanne’s Links:
https://www.1in3podcast.com/guests/susanne-shepherd-pos/
https://shearhaventraining.org/
https://www.instagram.com/shearhavenywca?igsh=NHN6MDR4cTZnY2Zr&utm_source=qr
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sushepherd/
Burd Beauty:
1 in 3 is intended for mature audiences. Episodes contain explicit content and may be triggering to some.
If you are in the United States and need help right now, call the national domestic violence hotline at 800-799-7233 or text the word “start” to 88788.
Contact 1 in 3:
- Send your emails to 1in3podcast@gmail.com
- Follow on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @1in3podcast
- Check out the website https://www.1in3podcast.com/
Thank you for listening!
Cover art by Laura Swift Dahlke
Music by Tim Crowe
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:47):
Hi, Warriors.
Welcome to One and Three.
I'm your host, Ingrid.
A victim of domestic violenceencounters many people
throughout the course of theirabuse, and any one of those
individuals could be thecatalyst that changes the
trajectory of that victim'slife.
My guest today, Suzanne ShepherdPost, understands that from both
(01:08):
a personal experience and herprofessional background.
She founded Sheerhaven, whichwas initially a small
organization based out ofNashville, but has now reached
over 100,000 professionalsworldwide.
Let's dive in to hear more abouther mission and advocacy.
(01:28):
Hi, Suzanne.
Welcome to One and Three.
Thank you so much for joiningme.
Oh, thank you so much, Ingrid.
I'm so happy to be here.
I'm very happy to have you here,and I'm very excited to talk
about your topic because I thinkthis is so creative, so
necessary.
But before we get into that,could you give just a background
so we can get to know you alittle bit?
SPEAKER_01 (01:49):
Absolutely.
I am um so grateful for thisopportunity to share about my
passion project.
Um, my background is actually inthe beauty world.
I am a stylist and a salonowner.
I've been in the industry forover 30 years, and I'm also a
(02:11):
survivor of domestic violence.
And these two worlds collidedback in 2017.
And I had heard about a law thatwas passed in Illinois.
It um it required my industry,the beauty industry, to be
educated about the science ofdomestic violence.
(02:33):
And it absolutely stopped me inmy tracks and caught my
attention, and it um basicallybirthed this initiative that I
started here in Tennessee.
And the timing of it wasinteresting.
I'm also a mom.
I have two beautiful kiddos.
And at my internal nudging afterhaving my second child, I had
(02:56):
let go of my bigger salon spaceand had actually downsized into
what I thought was a muchsimpler world for um kind of
holding motherhood and myworking, you know, time behind
the chair.
And at that point, it, I believeit created that opening, that
(03:17):
creative space that allowed meto then step into this next
chapter.
And I know we'll go much deeperinto that, but that's that's the
gist.
I am a beauty professional slashmom slash wife and uh advocate
for domestic violence awarenessand education, which is the
(03:39):
perfect storm to come up withyour projects.
SPEAKER_00 (03:41):
So, quick before we get into that, did you do you
just get to hear all of thebeauty news throughout the
states, or is this somethingthat you just stumbled upon, or
how did you find out aboutIllinois?
SPEAKER_01 (03:53):
Well, that's interesting.
I was I was actually in themiddle of cleaning up my closet.
It was a snowed in uh Januaryday, and I must have just been
listening to the news.
I came across a story that umjust was just a blip on the news
about this law that had beenpassed in Illinois.
(04:15):
So it was um interesting timingfor it to uh just pop in front
of me that way.
But of course, after hearingabout it, I I did some research
and read up a little bit more onit, and it was everywhere.
It it was kind of groundbreakingat that point.
Um, it was a new requirement forthe industry, and I had been
(04:40):
looking for a way as a survivorto get plugged into my community
and support survivors and andvictims in the community in that
interesting way.
I had been thinking aboutvolunteering at the local YW
shelter to do hair for forpeople that might be uh in
(05:02):
shelter or moving back into theworkforce.
I had been to some of thefundraising events and um yes,
was just looking for that rightplace to plug in and had
actually reached out to themabout that.
And I was very familiar with thestatistics in Tennessee because
(05:23):
of those events.
I knew that Tennessee was prettyconsistently in the top 10 in
the nation at the rate thatwomen are killed by men.
And of course, I knew thatstatistically, at least one in
four women, um, I think morethan one in four women and one
in seven men would experiencedomestic violence in their
(05:47):
lifetime.
So I knew that in Tennessee,half of all calls to law
enforcement are domesticviolence related, and that it
was a really big issue in ourcommunity that uh needed perhaps
some unique ways to address it.
I thought this is so outside thebox, and yet it made perfect
(06:09):
sense to me.
Um and so that that was when Ireached out to them initially
and said, okay, is thissomething that that you would
like to join me in?
Is this an effort that makessense?
And they said, Yes, we haveactually been looking for a you.
We have been uh trying to startbreaking into this world and
(06:31):
didn't have uh a hairprofessional to actually be the
face of it.
And so it was just perfecttiming.
SPEAKER_00 (06:39):
That really is.
It's kind of eerie, actually,how it just all fell into place
exactly perfectly.
So let's talk about it.
SPEAKER_01 (06:48):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (06:49):
Yes.
Okay.
So what is the name of yourproject and what it what have
you what have you done?
We'll start with past and thenmove to present and future.
SPEAKER_01 (06:58):
Yes.
So the past.
My my reaching out to them backin 2017 led to us creating a
curriculum together that wasbased in the YWs.
They're the largest provider ofdomestic violence resources and
education in our community.
And so they did domesticviolence 101 trainings.
(07:22):
And I stepped in as the beautyprofessional to dig in a little
bit deeper to the signs that ourindustry might be uniquely
positioned to hear.
And the why around our industryis because of the relationship
and the consistency that we seeour clients.
We have people in our chair thatwe'll see month after month,
(07:47):
often for decades.
I have clients that I've seensince truly day one in the
salon, that I've now seen onceevery four weeks, some of them
once every three weeks for nowover 30 years.
And have been able to build sucha close, trusting relationship
with them that they open up tous about everything.
(08:12):
I have found myself, you know,the first person to hear that
someone's pregnant, that they'reexpecting a baby even before
their husband is.
I have heard about, you know,the exciting job change, career
change, shakeups andrelationships, for better or for
worse, you know, the person thatsays, I can't believe I'm
(08:33):
falling in love with my bestfriend and I haven't told anyone
it's top secret.
Or I've also been um on journeyswith people through really
difficult seasons.
And of course, our relationship,it's times that people will kind
of expose little bits of theirstory as they're ready.
(08:56):
Um, it could unfold over years.
And so there's times thatlooking back, I've had little
glimpses that maybe somethingwasn't quite right in a
relationship, but it wasn'tuntil maybe two years later that
they really started sharing indepth more details that were
more discernible that I was ableto put into um context with
(09:23):
okay, this this was actually anabusive relationship that I was
privy to, that maybe nobody elsewas.
And so the why is importantbecause, you know, a lot of
people have asked why not everyindustry.
Domestic violence educationshould reach everyone in the
community.
(09:44):
And I agree with that.
I think it's really important tospread awareness and um reduce
stigma, open up conversationsabout what the signs are so that
any of us are able to supportour friends in a different way.
But our my industry is of coursewhere I am grounded, and so that
is what I'm building from.
(10:05):
And the relationship that wehave is very unique and um makes
us really kind of that perfectyear.
So we started doing in-persontrainings with the YWCA, and um
we had our first training backin 2017 during October, which
(10:27):
was Domestic Violence AwarenessMonth, and we opened it up to
the community at the healthdepartment.
Uh, we thought this is how we'lldo it.
We'll just make it a communityevent.
It can um attract anyone fromany salon that wants to be a
part of it.
And interestingly, when we putit into a press release and
reach the community with thenews, we had people from other
(10:51):
industries that showed up.
We had a couple of nurses thatshowed up.
We had um an attorney who showedup, which we were thrilled with
because um it's very importantto us that anyone who wants this
information is able to receiveit, uh, even if they're outside
of our industry.
(11:11):
But very quickly we realizedthat it might be more successful
with in-person salon trainingsto make it as easy for the salon
owner or the stylist aspossible.
So we shifted from the bigcommunity event to more intimate
(11:32):
in-person salon events.
And we had, you know, groups of10, groups of 20 that we would
go and uh provide thisinformation to.
And often the trainings wereseveral hours.
Um, we would usually book it foran hour, but the conversations
that would unfold were soincredible that um often they
(11:55):
ended up being two hours, threehours at times.
And the response was incredible.
The questions that were asked,the light bulbs that would go
off.
You could see people um havemoments of awakening where they
they would say, okay, Icurrently have a client that I
(12:16):
could see these signs in.
Or looking back years ago, therewas a client that I think I
missed.
Um, a few really heartbreakingstories unfolded.
Like uh one of my friendsreached out and she said, I lost
a client to a domestic violenceincident.
It was a murder suicide.
(12:39):
And she said, looking back, Inow know after going through the
training that there were somevery obvious signs in front of
me, but I didn't, I just didn'tquite know what it was.
I knew something wasn't quiteright, but I didn't know that it
was abuse.
And so as we started doing thesein-person trainings, it very
(13:04):
quickly became evident that itneeded to be bigger than what we
were doing there.
And that's when a couple ofyears in, I decided to reach out
to my local lawmaker and see ifthey would be willing to
introduce legislation like wehad seen Illinois pass.
And he's wonderful.
(13:27):
His name is Sam Whitson.
He's actually retired from beinga representative now, but um,
Tennessee is a supermajority redstate.
And as I've done more work atthe state level, I know that
it's very important to find theright lawmaker to carry your
legislation.
And in Tennessee, it needed tobe someone like Sam who was
(13:51):
highly respected and had a realheart for an issue like this.
And so we started working in2020 to um introduce this
legislation.
And it's a windy road that wecan go into, but that that was
kind of the condensed version ofthe beginning.
(14:17):
In-person trainings, which ledinto our legislative efforts
here in Tennessee, whichultimately have really good
news, and we can go into that.
But it uh it's been anincredible journey that is so
outside of my realm of uhunderstanding of how how big
(14:38):
this little seed of inspirationwould grow.
SPEAKER_00 (14:42):
And during 2020, which is you know what a
horrible year for so manypeople.
But 2020 actually ended up just,I don't know, I don't know if it
was because of COVID or despiteCOVID, but just so many
incredible things happened tothat year.
SPEAKER_01 (15:00):
Well, and something that COVID did is it really
exposed the the issue ofdomestic violence.
There were so many people thatwere not safer at home, to your
point.
You know, there was so muchmagic that happened.
I think all of us were um atleast temporarily kind of
brought together in a reallybeautiful way and showed
(15:22):
incredible depth of caring foreach other in an incredible way.
Of course, we were broughtonline.
We didn't know how to do thisbefore 2020, really.
Um and it actually, as far asour legislative efforts, ended
up being a huge gift in our inour mission.
(15:44):
Um, sadly, with the increase indomestic violence, it became
even more crucial to um find aunique way to respond.
And during the shutdown, ourindustry was one of the close
contact industries that didn'thave the ability to pivot
(16:04):
online.
You know, we're up close andpersonal with our clients.
And so when I was asked to be onGovernor Lee's economic recovery
group as the representative formy industry, I was thrilled to
have um honestly something toput my anxious energy into at
(16:26):
that point.
And it connected me with a keyplayer in our future, our
current um Shearhaven journey.
And that was a company calledBarbicide.
Um, they were the leaders indisinfection, they're the
leaders in safety in ourindustry.
They're in the blue jar that'son every station of every salon
(16:51):
around the world.
They're um the liquid that weput our combs and our brushes in
to keep them clean.
And they were really putting outincredible information about how
to stay safe during a pandemic,how to clean our instruments
properly, which of course weknow how to do anyway, but they
were um reinvigorating ourknowledge about how to do this
(17:15):
um pandemic, this globalpandemic thing.
And I was able to gatherinformation from them to then
pass on to the state to givethem information about how we
how our industry could reopen asquickly as possible.
And through that partnership,they had actually just launched
their trainings online.
(17:37):
They had just scaled theirwebsite to be able to reach
people in that way, rather thanhaving to do in-person
trainings.
And um, it wasn't an immediatelight bulb for me, but over time
it occurred to me maybe thiscould be a key partner as our
legislative efforts had come toa close during 2020.
(18:01):
Um, it allowed us to take abreath and figure out how to
meet some of the requirementsthat lawmakers had asked for.
So our um our legislation hadbeen moving through committees.
I had been testifying andsharing my personal story as a
survivor and of course as abeauty professional, and
(18:23):
explaining why this was soimportant and why this um
additional requirement, which bythe way was the only
requirement, the only continuingeducation requirement in our
state, um, was important and howit could save lives.
And when we came to a halt, werealized that a couple of the
(18:47):
things lawmakers had asked forwere a quick training, which, of
course, we had been doingmulti-hour in-person trainings.
So I was like, I don't even knowhow we shrink this into one
hour.
And they wanted it online, whichwe had no idea how to do.
(19:07):
And they wanted it to be free,which that was the part that we
knew, okay, even if we canfigure out a way to make this
less than an hour, even if wecould figure out a way, of
course, we knew we could film avideo and um do maybe quarterly
webinars or do a video thatlives on a website somehow.
(19:30):
We knew that we couldn't figureout how to do that at no charge.
And that was something theysaid, we don't want it to cost a
single dollar for the beautyprofessional.
We don't want it to be any sortof additional weight that they
have to do in order to keeptheir license.
And so that was the part that wehad like retracted and we said,
(19:54):
okay, we're just going to passthis for people in school.
That's something that we coulddo.
We could go into schools,provide the education, wrap it
into their hours.
We could figure out a way to dothat.
But through a partnership withBarbicide, they agreed to
actually host our training andprovide it on their education
(20:17):
platform at no charge, which ohmy gosh, was the biggest gift.
And we ended up we found$500 andcreated a simple, concise 20
minute video and wrote a littlequiz that went at the end and
(20:40):
provided it to Barbicide.
They were gracious enough to putit on their website and Ingrid
overnight within three days, wewent from having reached a
couple of hundred people inTennessee, perhaps, which we
were thrilled with, to reachingover five thousand people
(21:03):
globally in three days.
And my mind and my heart wereabsolutely blown wide open.
I could not believe the impactthat that had.
I mean, that people around theworld were embracing this
education the way that theywere.
(21:26):
And Barbicide has a very largefollowing globally.
They're, of course, veryestablished here in the United
States, but they also havedistributors.
Um, they have a huge amount inthe UK and of course across
Europe, but they have followersall over the world.
(21:48):
And they ended up putting out anemail blast to their million
email addresses and reachedpeople everywhere.
And the feedback that startedrolling in, the people that were
sharing their certificate onsocial media just became this
grassroots movement.
Um, Barbaside's caveat inreleasing the training was that
(22:12):
they wanted to make sure it wasnot Tennessee specific.
They said, we understand this isa tool that you need, but we
want you to provide theresources to every state.
And beyond that, we want you toprovide international resources.
So include hotlines, includeresources for people around the
(22:32):
globe.
And so we were we were like, oh,okay, of course.
We were a little nervous thatlawmakers here in Tennessee
would be put off by that, butthey were not.
(23:05):
Um, in spring of 2021.
And so we were able to reachevery licensed cosmetologist,
barber, aesthetician, nail tech,and natural hairbraider, as well
as everyone in school for all ofthose um industries with
(23:25):
domestic violence education.
SPEAKER_00 (23:28):
And that is incredible.
I mean, just because I know thenumbers are no longer 5,000, but
when you take that initial 5,000and you think those are 5,000
professionals, and how manylives those individuals touch
beyond I'm it's just it's likean astronomical amount of
people.
And that was just the beginning.
SPEAKER_01 (23:49):
It it really is thinking about how many clients
I have on my book, you know,just that I see in rotation over
the course of a month, and thenmultiply that by certainly even
5,000.
It's incredible because it's notjust the clients that we see
(24:13):
behind the chair, it's ourcoworkers, it's our family
members, our friends, ourfriends' friends.
You know, we're just so muchmore aware and able to listen
with a different uh sensitivity,a different amount of compassion
and um awareness that allows usto support everyone in our lives
(24:37):
in a different way.
SPEAKER_00 (24:38):
Absolutely.
And, you know, you can you thinkif you have a favorite
restaurant you go to and youdevelop any kind of a
relationship with the bar staffor the wait staff, you may even
pick up on cues from thoseindividuals.
SPEAKER_01 (24:52):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
I've I've had so many of thosestories come back to me.
You know, just you know, I hadone stylist who said that she,
you know, knew that when she wasshopping in her favorite
boutique here in Nashville, thatuh one of her friends that she
had met that works there wastalking about her relationship
(25:15):
one day and kind of opening upabout things.
And she was like, I I knew whatshe was in the middle of.
I knew that she was in the earlystages of being love-bombed and
that there was some serious redflags.
He was moving way too fast, andshe recognized it because of
that training, that awareness.
SPEAKER_00 (25:37):
And that awareness is so key because there are so
many people.
I've gotten messages from a lotof different people of my loved
one went through this domesticviolent relationship.
And I wish that I would haveunderstood the situation more.
I could have intervened, I couldhave reacted possibly different
when they started talking to meabout this abuse.
(25:59):
And there are so many piecesthat just stretch along that
timeline of abuse, of like youmentioned, the beginning stages
of the love bombing and the redflags that are there, to the
more subtle abuse, to theblatant abuse.
And those victims need to beheard and they need to be seen,
they need to be believed.
(26:20):
And even post-escape of thatrelationship, the survivors
still need to be seen, heard,and believed.
And that healing process isdifficult.
So to bring an entire industrywho touches, like literally
touches so many lives, thatawareness and then that
(26:40):
information that they can justpass on in conversation to
others, that may be the onlyexposure people get to
understand abuse and violence.
SPEAKER_01 (26:53):
Yes, I every single bit of that.
I I know that because of thelong relationships that we
build, that I've heard behindthe chair with people around me,
stylists even get reallyfrustrated.
Like it's frustrating to knowthat someone who might be kind
(27:15):
of in that cycle who is maybeeven leaves but goes back, you
know, being able to educatepeople that it could take up to
seven times on average, youknow, so we know it could take
many more than seven times forsomeone to finally be able to uh
pull themselves out of thatrelationship successfully.
(27:37):
And teaching people about howyou need to hold space, you need
to be patient, encouraging, butnot pushy.
Um, our hope is that we areeducating people as much about
how not to respond is how torespond in those kinds of
situations.
And um just really open up theirhearts and their eyes in a
(28:02):
different way, uh knowing whatthat may look like.
SPEAKER_00 (28:08):
Yeah, because the the response or the
inappropriate response holdssuch weight in what a victim may
or may not do.
If they're not believed or ifthey're blamed for what's
happening to them, that can leadto them not leaving because
they're going to think, what amI, what am I going up against
(28:28):
here?
This person, this individualthat I've been going to for 30
years is questioning what I'mdoing.
How is anyone else going tobelieve what I'm doing?
How am I going to get anysupport when I leave?
SPEAKER_01 (28:41):
Well, and that feeling of if they open up being
so exposed, you know, reallybeing gentle with the way that
you respond in a way thatdoesn't um where they don't feel
uncomfortable coming back, evenif they haven't quite left yet,
knowing that you are gentlyholding that space, that you're
(29:05):
a friend, that you're not, youknow, that you're there as a
support, but you're not beingpushy.
Um, our law that we passed doesnot make us mandatory reporters.
And we really emphasize that inthe training.
That is not your, that is notyour role.
Your role is to be aware of thesigns so that you can listen
(29:27):
effectively, be aware of theresources so that you're able to
be that warm referral that cansend someone to the therapist or
to the expert if given theopportunity.
But you don't have to be thetherapist.
I know that we are kind oftherapist.
I was just about to say that.
(29:47):
But we're not trainedtherapists, we are not the
expert.
And even the years in this workmyself, if I have someone in the
chair, I'm very careful to say,I can speak from my own
experience, I can speak fromwhat I've gathered by doing
these trainings, but I am notthe trained professional.
(30:08):
And there are incredibleprofessionals out there that are
there and are a support.
So yeah, just leading people tothem.
SPEAKER_00 (30:19):
So before we get into the future, because that
part's really exciting too.
You went from owning a salon andbeing a survivor to jumping into
politics.
Did you have any past experiencewith that or how did you do
that?
SPEAKER_01 (30:34):
Oh no, absolutely zero experience.
Um it's been wild.
I I'm still kind of in shockthat that's even part of part of
my story now.
But no, I I absolutely wouldbreak into a full sweat walking
(30:56):
into the Tennessee legislature,you know, just walking into the
General Assembly and being like,okay, I'm gonna go in and have
this meeting and share my story.
And um, and yet I think most ofus as survivors that are in a
position to share any bit of ourstory are experienced some form
(31:19):
of healing in doing so.
It it feels incredible to beable to give back.
And even if we can help oneperson through that really
incredibly hard process that wewent through, that really
difficult season, it it kind ofum yeah, it's healing.
(31:40):
It it feels incredible to beable to get back in that way.
So I pushed through discomfortand just kind of put one foot in
front of the other, and uh itfelt like the direction that I
was being nudged in.
So I just kind of leaned intoit.
But no, learning, I still knownothing.
(32:01):
I just am showing up wherever Ican be useful.
SPEAKER_00 (32:06):
I still know nothing.
So what I was going to commentis I have found that every time
a survivor shares part of theirstory, it's almost like a little
bit of a weight that they'reable to take off of themselves.
And then in the same respect,this shame that all of us at
(32:26):
some point did carry or stillcarry, you know, the amounts of
shame it's not our shame tohave.
It's should not be anything todo with us.
But I think also by hearingothers' stories, it releases
some of your own shame too.
So it is so important.
SPEAKER_01 (32:45):
1000%.
Um that's so true.
Yes, it was very hard at first.
I wasn't, I mean, of course, Ihad shared my story with people
that I was close with, and itwas fairly public because I'm a
salon owner.
I was a business owner at thetime that I was going through
(33:05):
it.
So a lot of people kind ofwalked through the season with
me.
But, you know, it it is verydifficult to open up and lean
into and kind of revisit thatpart of it.
And yet so rewarding to, well,first of all, my I'm able to
(33:28):
share in a different way becausemy abuser's no longer here.
And I I know there's a lot ofpeople that it's not that they
wouldn't love to share a littlebit more, but maybe they don't
feel safe.
And that is a a privilege thatI'm able to kind of step fully
(33:49):
into for that reason.
I I wish that um, you know, ofcourse, that's not the path that
I wish life had led through.
You know, I I would never havesaid this is how I want it to
turn out.
But because of what is, I'm ableto um step more fully into that
(34:11):
advocate role from that place.
And I'm deeply grateful that I'mable to um to do that on behalf
of people that can't, who havebeen able to share their story
with me through this training.
And I found that so many of uswho are survivors, even though
(34:32):
they're very distinctlydifferent details in all of our
stories, there's also a lot ofsimilarity.
And so while my story is unique,it's not unique.
You know, there's the the cycleof power and control that is at
the center of every story.
There's um, you know, themanipulation, the fear, the
(34:54):
isolation that I experience thatI know also speaks to what so
many, so many others have havebeen through and are still in.
And I'm deeply fueled by mykids, my kids' generation,
looking at my beautiful babiesand their beautiful friends, and
(35:15):
just hoping that by reaching somany people, especially in
cosmetology school and barberschool, that are being educated
in a way that our generation wasnot, about what the signs are,
how to respond, how to spot itearly, that potentially we are
(35:37):
reaching people that will notneed the education in the same
way that we did, because theywill not uh walk as deeply into
the relationship as I did, as somany did and do.
And so, but so much of it isthat our generation didn't know.
(35:58):
We knew about the physical signsof abuse, but they didn't
educate us about thenon-physical, you know, the
emotional, the verbal, thefinancial abuse.
And I know that there's so muchpower in education because
education is ultimately whatsaved my life, I believe.
(36:19):
It was someone that I was closeto that recognized that I was in
an abusive relationship and putthe power of that word into that
context for me.
I knew that I was in a hardrelationship, I knew that I was
in a bad relationship, I knewthat I um had a toxic
(36:40):
relationship.
But the word abuse, havingsomeone say, This isn't just a
bad relationship, this is anabusive relationship, that is
ultimately what fueled my desireto find out more about what that
was and do the research thatthen allowed me to safety plan,
(37:01):
that then allowed me to be moreaware as I was leaving about
what I was experiencing as Iwas, to have context to that was
so important.
And um I I hope that byproviding education, that that
will um do the same for others.
SPEAKER_00 (37:25):
I believe it will.
And I think that realization orsomebody telling you or you're
finally willing to admit it orrecognize it yourself of this is
abuse, that begins thattransition from I'm a victim of
abuse to becoming the survivorof abuse.
And that that's super powerfulto be able to educate so many
(37:50):
individuals to help otherindividuals understand that
process.
Um, so okay, so this is like allthe things that you've already
accomplished, but what is what'son the horizon?
SPEAKER_01 (38:04):
Well, so there's a lot of things on the horizon.
Um about two years ago, we weare still partners with
Barbicide, but we actually endedup launching our own website.
So we now have ShearhavenTraining.org, which um has our
(38:25):
training not only in English,but we were able to launch
Spanish and Vietnamese as wellto be able to more effectively
reach a broader part of ourcommunity and our world.
We still want many morelanguages.
So I hope that this time nextyear we have more to add.
(38:46):
But um we have downloadableresources on our website.
So there's printable resourcesthat people can put in their
changing area or the bathroom orlittle flyers, one-pagers that
they can put in their waitingroom to give nonverbal cues to
people in their space, to beable to say, you know, here you
(39:10):
are in a safe space.
And um also add that additionallayer of here's the hotline, if
someone wanted to just take apicture of the QR code.
Of course, pass the law inTennessee, which is about at its
completion.
Beauty professionals in ourindustry had two renewal cycles,
(39:31):
which is ultimately four years.
Each renewal cycle is two years,to receive up to an hour of
domestic violence training.
Hours is 20 minutes, it's freeand online.
But if someone wanted to go andtake an in-person training, as
long as it's recognized by theTennessee Coalition Against
Domestic Violence, it is greatfor that requirement.
(39:55):
And we are also working onfederal legislation.
So a couple of years ago, I hadthe opportunity to go with our
YWCA team up to DC and presentat their national conference.
And the day before we presented,we had a day on the hill, and we
(40:16):
were able to meet with all ofour U.S.
representatives and senators.
And we met with um one of thestaff from Senator Blackburn's
team who really connected withwhat we were doing.
He has a sister who's a beautyprofessional here in Tennessee.
(40:36):
And he heard that we had passedthis legislation here at the
state level and said, you knowwhat, I think that there might
be.
I know the senator is going toconnect with this, and there
might be something at thefederal level that we could do.
And we ended up fast forwardmeeting with them again and
ended up hearing (40:59):
yes, the senator has found a way.
We are going to, you know,basically present this
bipartisan legislation.
It's Senator Blackburn andSenator Duckworth from Illinois.
We have a lot of other Senateco-sponsors who are incredible
that have joined the mission.
And it's a bill that willincentivize states to pass laws
(41:23):
like we did in Tennessee andIllinois.
Arkansas also has a requirement.
And it would provide stop grantfunding to each state after they
pass the law.
And so it can be a one, youknow, it's not a one size fits
all.
Our bill is very different thanIllinois's, which is very
(41:45):
different than Arkansas's, butall of us have our own unique
requirements.
And so it basically wouldincentivize states to do what we
did here.
And it's been an incredibleeffort.
It's also been introduced in theHouse.
It's Representative Laura Leefrom Florida and Representative
(42:07):
Dingle from Michigan.
And um we've been up to DC andwe've been talking to lawmakers
and presenting the case for whythis is so important.
And my hope is that we willeventually get to the finish
line.
There's been great momentum, andit's exciting to see a
(42:28):
bipartisan effort in today'sworld, which is so incredibly
split, and we're so polarizedabout so many things, but to see
um the effort and the the heartfor how important it is to do
things differently, and how howmany um outside the box
(42:54):
opportunities there could be toaddress this incredibly hard
issue.
And uh so, yes, to your point,my my advocate hat has become a
little more sharpened than itwas back in the day.
It's exciting, it's it'sincredible.
And we've actually spoken withpeople in other states that have
(43:17):
expressed interest.
Um we hope to see legislationintroduced in Kentucky at the
beginning of the year next year.
And uh we've had some amazinginterest in Montana, in uh South
Carolina, in uh truly states allover the place.
(43:39):
We've had many, many YWs expressinterest, and even individuals
that just have a heart fordomestic violence awareness that
are not connected with the YW,but that have reached out saying
this is something that we wouldlove to see passed in our state.
And so I'm hoping that there isincredible movement at that
(44:01):
level.
And so, truly, if anyone'slistening and wants to reach
out, we would love to talk.
Um I I hope that it's a snowballof states.
And we have um we have created aplaybook that is a very concise
(44:22):
step-by-step that hopefully canhelp guide anyone who wants to
pass legislation like this.
SPEAKER_00 (44:29):
This is insane.
This is just absolutely insane.
Do you so we talked about 5,000before?
Do you have an approximation ofthe current amount of numbers?
SPEAKER_01 (44:41):
We have now reached over 160,000 people in over 100
countries with domestic violenceeducation.
And that doesn't even seem realto me.
And I know that's enormous.
And yet, if you look at thenumbers of beauty professionals
(45:01):
around the world, around just inthe states, but certainly around
the world, I know that this isthe tip of the iceberg.
Um and my hope is that just likeI hope that it snowballs with
states, I hope that there justcontinues to double and triple
the numbers of beautyprofessionals we've reached.
(45:23):
Um, let me also say that it wasvery important to us that even
if you're not a beautyprofessional, that you find the
training helpful.
And I've had um my doctor hastaken it.
She said she felt like it wasmore concise, more helpful for
her than even the training thatshe received in her official
(45:45):
training.
So she has now encouraged herstaff to take it.
Um, I've had teachers take it,again, attorneys, physical
therapists, personal trainers,you know, people in all
different industries ofhealthcare, to you name it, who
just have this heart and this uhcuriosity for it, that have
(46:07):
received this education and arewelcome to take it.
So if you want to find it, youcan just go to
sharehaventraining.org andregister.
It's a quick 20-minute trainingfollowed by a quick quiz.
And uh it's incredible if youfeel led to share your
certificate and encourage peoplein your community to also take
(46:31):
it.
Share it with your beautyprofessional, share it with um
your best friend, you know, havethem continue to spread the
word.
We we haven't had a lot of, letme just say, this is also not
unique in the nonprofit world,but we haven't necessarily had
(46:52):
dedicated funding to pour intoit to really properly market it
necessarily.
So a lot of our spread has justbeen word of mouth and um, you
know, various news clips orsegments that we've had that
have gone out that have thenencouraged people to go and take
(47:14):
the training.
So every single share makes adifference.
SPEAKER_00 (47:20):
So I got actual chills when you said those
numbers.
And then, you know, even justsaying that's not even the tip
of the iceberg, that's just it'sso exciting.
I teared up a little bit.
I I'm tearing up over too manythings lately, but uh that's so
cool.
And I was about to ask if thiswas a beauty professional
(47:40):
specific training.
So it that is very exciting thatanyone can go in.
Uh, it makes me as a healthcareprofessional myself, it is a
little, and I'm not saying it'sdisheartening because your
doctor didn't get theappropriate training, but it is
disheartening because I've hadthe training that I've received
on domestic violence, I can sayis subpar.
(48:03):
And this, I mean, you wouldthink that healthcare
professionals should have thegold standard of education on
this, and in law enforcementsand other law enforcement
officers and other firstresponders, but those are all
amazing people that can go checkthis out.
20 minutes is nothing.
SPEAKER_01 (48:22):
It's nothing.
And uh there are a couple of Ifeel like what we do, of course,
we go into some of the physicalsigns that people can spot, but
a lot of it is the more covertsigns that as a human being with
(48:45):
another human being, your spideysense might go off with.
But without the officialeducation, you may not quite
know what it is.
And so we really speak intobehind the chair, yes, you can
see things like bruising, orsomeone who comes in maybe with
(49:07):
inappropriate amounts ofclothing for the time of year,
maybe they're covering bruises,or hair that's been pulled,
because, you know, of course,we're on top of people's heads,
we're in in that realm.
We can see very closely thephysical signs.
But some of the less visiblesigns like increased
(49:30):
cancellations, you know, orsudden uh frequent cancellations
from the person that you've seenconsistently for years, that you
know it's out of character, ormaybe isolation from some of
their close friends and family.
When you sit down and have thoseconversations and you know, oh,
(49:51):
they they're very social andthey're out with their best
friends, you know, quite a bit.
We all know that there might betimes that with a new
relationship, you're extra cozywith someone for a period.
But if someone's truly pullingback from their best friends or
their close family members, thatof course would be a sign.
And there's a lot of the um thenon-physical cues that we try to
(50:18):
really shine a spotlight on thatwe um, yes, we might be in a
unique position to spot becauseof those relationships that we
build.
SPEAKER_00 (50:27):
I love all of this.
I mean, I I am so excited aboutall of this.
Um, do you think there'sanything that we missed?
Any points that we missed atall?
Well, I actually yes.
SPEAKER_01 (50:45):
I was approached about a year ago by a woman who
her name is Julie Smolinsky, andshe reached out saying that her
daughters are about to launch ahair care brand called Bird
Beauty that is incredible.
They are teenage girls that wantto shine a spotlight on teen
(51:10):
dating violence and domesticviolence awareness, which as I
touched on with my my kids'generation, uh, is my heart.
I I'm so touched to see uh youngpeople that are that passionate
about this issue.
(51:30):
And so each shampoo andconditioner says this shampoo
could save a life, thisconditioner could save a life,
and on the back of it, it hasthe QR code to our training.
And they are really diving in,opening up conversations through
(51:51):
their friends, their followersto really um expose that hidden
pandemic of domestic violence.
And uh seeing change makers inthe community like that
absolutely just set me on fire.
(52:12):
Like I'm so excited to see thatthere is a movement like that,
and their mom is a powerhouse ofher own.
She she's the CEO of a companycalled Lifeway.
She uh started a nonprofitcalled Test Kit 400 that
actually encourages states toprocess test kits for rape and
(52:38):
has passed legislation in statesthat are now putting pressure on
that system to move it onforward.
And I hope that through uniquepartnerships like that, through
movements like that, that wewill just continue to open up
even deeper conversations in umsegments of our population that
(53:04):
can truly be difference makers.
SPEAKER_00 (53:07):
And so, Suzanne, you did it again.
I got chills and tears again.
So, what was the name of thegirls project again?
SPEAKER_01 (53:16):
It's called Bird Beauty, B-U-R-D.
SPEAKER_00 (53:20):
I love this.
SPEAKER_01 (53:22):
Please go follow them and order your delicious
shampoo and conditioner becauseevery single bit of it, every
sale is going to ultimately umsupport Sheerhaven and our our
initiative and help us provideeven more resources.
(53:43):
We will always keep our trainingfree.
So it will always be a freeresource for anyone who needs
it.
SPEAKER_00 (53:51):
Okay.
And you mentioned it already,but how do people get in touch
with you or the organization?
SPEAKER_01 (53:57):
Um, we will link all of our social media handles at
the end of this.
And um there's an email link onour website if anyone ever needs
to get in touch with me.
We're a very small but mightygroup of Shearhaveners, myself
and a couple of others.
So um absolutely do not hesitateto reach out.
(54:21):
And um, of course,Shearhaventraining.org is our
website.
And I would love for anyone toshare it with anyone who they
think it could impact.
SPEAKER_00 (54:33):
Perfect.
And I would say that Mighty isprobably an understatement.
You guys are quite thepowerhouse.
That's you have accomplished somuch in such crazy times.
COVID, government shutdowns, youguys are still trucking.
This is amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (54:49):
Um, we can get to a couple of finish lines before
maybe we can do a bigcelebration podcast in a couple
of years with some big news.
SPEAKER_00 (54:59):
Yes, I would love that.
Uh okay, so before we wrap upand close, are there any words
of encouragement or wisdom,specific words of encouragement
or wisdom you would like toleave with listeners today?
SPEAKER_01 (55:15):
Well, around this topic, likely anyone who's
listening to this podcast is hasa heart for domestic violence
awareness.
And it's a topic that can feelit's heavy, it's daunting.
And I just want to say thatthere's so much power in just
(55:36):
holding space for people andbeing a compassionate friend
that you never know how onesmall conversation could change
a life.
And I know that in my own life,it was that one conversation
with someone that I deeplytrusted that was the change
(55:58):
maker that ultimately led me tothis path, to um a beautiful
life on the other side.
And so, you know, just one footin front of the other, be a
friend.
SPEAKER_00 (56:12):
Thank you so much, Suzanne.
This was an amazing episode.
You are doing so much.
I appreciate your time today.
I appreciate everything you'redoing.
SPEAKER_01 (56:22):
Thank you so much.
I'm so grateful.
SPEAKER_00 (56:25):
Thank you again, Suzanne, for joining me today,
and thank you, warriors, forlistening.
I have included the linksSuzanne was referring to as well
as her one in three profile inthe show notes.
I will be back next week withanother episode for you.
Until then, stay strong.
And wherever you are in yourjourney, always remember you are
(56:46):
not alone.
Find more information, registeras a guest, or leave a review by
going to the websiteonein3podcast.com.
That's the number one, I in thenumber three podcast.com.
Follow one in three onInstagram, Facebook, and Twitter
at one and three podcasts.
(57:07):
To help me out, please rememberto rate review and subscribe.
One in three is a point fivePinoy production.
Music written and performed byTim Crow.
Hi, Warriors.
Welcome to One and Three.
I'm your host, Ingrid.
A victim of domestic violenceencounters many people
throughout the course of theirabuse, and any one of those
individuals could be thecatalyst that changes the
trajectory of that victim'slife.
My guest today, Suzanne ShepherdPost, understands that from both
(01:08):
a personal experience and herprofessional background.
She founded Sheerhaven, whichwas initially a small
organization based out ofNashville, but has now reached
over 100,000 professionalsworldwide.
Let's dive in to hear more abouther mission and advocacy.
(01:28):
Hi, Suzanne.
Welcome to One and Three.
Thank you so much for joiningme.
Oh, thank you so much, Ingrid.
I'm so happy to be here.
I'm very happy to have you here,and I'm very excited to talk
about your topic because I thinkthis is so creative, so
necessary.
But before we get into that,could you give just a background
so we can get to know you alittle bit?
SPEAKER_01 (01:49):
Absolutely.
I am um so grateful for thisopportunity to share about my
passion project.
Um, my background is actually inthe beauty world.
I am a stylist and a salonowner.
I've been in the industry forover 30 years, and I'm also a
(02:11):
survivor of domestic violence.
And these two worlds collidedback in 2017.
And I had heard about a law thatwas passed in Illinois.
It um it required my industry,the beauty industry, to be
educated about the science ofdomestic violence.
(02:33):
And it absolutely stopped me inmy tracks and caught my
attention, and it um basicallybirthed this initiative that I
started here in Tennessee.
And the timing of it wasinteresting.
I'm also a mom.
I have two beautiful kiddos.
And at my internal nudging afterhaving my second child, I had
(02:56):
let go of my bigger salon spaceand had actually downsized into
what I thought was a muchsimpler world for um kind of
holding motherhood and myworking, you know, time behind
the chair.
And at that point, it, I believeit created that opening, that
(03:17):
creative space that allowed meto then step into this next
chapter.
And I know we'll go much deeperinto that, but that's that's the
gist.
I am a beauty professional slashmom slash wife and uh advocate
for domestic violence awarenessand education, which is the
(03:39):
perfect storm to come up withyour projects.
SPEAKER_00 (03:41):
So, quick before we get into that, did you do you
just get to hear all of thebeauty news throughout the
states, or is this somethingthat you just stumbled upon, or
how did you find out aboutIllinois?
SPEAKER_01 (03:53):
Well, that's interesting.
I was I was actually in themiddle of cleaning up my closet.
It was a snowed in uh Januaryday, and I must have just been
listening to the news.
I came across a story that umjust was just a blip on the news
about this law that had beenpassed in Illinois.
(04:15):
So it was um interesting timingfor it to uh just pop in front
of me that way.
But of course, after hearingabout it, I I did some research
and read up a little bit more onit, and it was everywhere.
It it was kind of groundbreakingat that point.
Um, it was a new requirement forthe industry, and I had been
(04:40):
looking for a way as a survivorto get plugged into my community
and support survivors and andvictims in the community in that
interesting way.
I had been thinking aboutvolunteering at the local YW
shelter to do hair for forpeople that might be uh in
(05:02):
shelter or moving back into theworkforce.
I had been to some of thefundraising events and um yes,
was just looking for that rightplace to plug in and had
actually reached out to themabout that.
And I was very familiar with thestatistics in Tennessee because
(05:23):
of those events.
I knew that Tennessee was prettyconsistently in the top 10 in
the nation at the rate thatwomen are killed by men.
And of course, I knew thatstatistically, at least one in
four women, um, I think morethan one in four women and one
in seven men would experiencedomestic violence in their
(05:47):
lifetime.
So I knew that in Tennessee,half of all calls to law
enforcement are domesticviolence related, and that it
was a really big issue in ourcommunity that uh needed perhaps
some unique ways to address it.
I thought this is so outside thebox, and yet it made perfect
(06:09):
sense to me.
Um and so that that was when Ireached out to them initially
and said, okay, is thissomething that that you would
like to join me in?
Is this an effort that makessense?
And they said, Yes, we haveactually been looking for a you.
We have been uh trying to startbreaking into this world and
(06:31):
didn't have uh a hairprofessional to actually be the
face of it.
And so it was just perfecttiming.
SPEAKER_00 (06:39):
That really is.
It's kind of eerie, actually,how it just all fell into place
exactly perfectly.
So let's talk about it.
SPEAKER_01 (06:48):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (06:49):
Yes.
Okay.
So what is the name of yourproject and what it what have
you what have you done?
We'll start with past and thenmove to present and future.
SPEAKER_01 (06:58):
Yes.
So the past.
My my reaching out to them backin 2017 led to us creating a
curriculum together that wasbased in the YWs.
They're the largest provider ofdomestic violence resources and
education in our community.
And so they did domesticviolence 101 trainings.
(07:22):
And I stepped in as the beautyprofessional to dig in a little
bit deeper to the signs that ourindustry might be uniquely
positioned to hear.
And the why around our industryis because of the relationship
and the consistency that we seeour clients.
We have people in our chair thatwe'll see month after month,
(07:47):
often for decades.
I have clients that I've seensince truly day one in the
salon, that I've now seen onceevery four weeks, some of them
once every three weeks for nowover 30 years.
And have been able to build sucha close, trusting relationship
with them that they open up tous about everything.
(08:12):
I have found myself, you know,the first person to hear that
someone's pregnant, that they'reexpecting a baby even before
their husband is.
I have heard about, you know,the exciting job change, career
change, shakeups andrelationships, for better or for
worse, you know, the person thatsays, I can't believe I'm
(08:33):
falling in love with my bestfriend and I haven't told anyone
it's top secret.
Or I've also been um on journeyswith people through really
difficult seasons.
And of course, our relationship,it's times that people will kind
of expose little bits of theirstory as they're ready.
(08:56):
Um, it could unfold over years.
And so there's times thatlooking back, I've had little
glimpses that maybe somethingwasn't quite right in a
relationship, but it wasn'tuntil maybe two years later that
they really started sharing indepth more details that were
more discernible that I was ableto put into um context with
(09:23):
okay, this this was actually anabusive relationship that I was
privy to, that maybe nobody elsewas.
And so the why is importantbecause, you know, a lot of
people have asked why not everyindustry.
Domestic violence educationshould reach everyone in the
community.
(09:44):
And I agree with that.
I think it's really important tospread awareness and um reduce
stigma, open up conversationsabout what the signs are so that
any of us are able to supportour friends in a different way.
But our my industry is of coursewhere I am grounded, and so that
is what I'm building from.
(10:05):
And the relationship that wehave is very unique and um makes
us really kind of that perfectyear.
So we started doing in-persontrainings with the YWCA, and um
we had our first training backin 2017 during October, which
(10:27):
was Domestic Violence AwarenessMonth, and we opened it up to
the community at the healthdepartment.
Uh, we thought this is how we'lldo it.
We'll just make it a communityevent.
It can um attract anyone fromany salon that wants to be a
part of it.
And interestingly, when we putit into a press release and
reach the community with thenews, we had people from other
(10:51):
industries that showed up.
We had a couple of nurses thatshowed up.
We had um an attorney who showedup, which we were thrilled with
because um it's very importantto us that anyone who wants this
information is able to receiveit, uh, even if they're outside
of our industry.
(11:11):
But very quickly we realizedthat it might be more successful
with in-person salon trainingsto make it as easy for the salon
owner or the stylist aspossible.
So we shifted from the bigcommunity event to more intimate
(11:32):
in-person salon events.
And we had, you know, groups of10, groups of 20 that we would
go and uh provide thisinformation to.
And often the trainings wereseveral hours.
Um, we would usually book it foran hour, but the conversations
that would unfold were soincredible that um often they
(11:55):
ended up being two hours, threehours at times.
And the response was incredible.
The questions that were asked,the light bulbs that would go
off.
You could see people um havemoments of awakening where they
they would say, okay, Icurrently have a client that I
(12:16):
could see these signs in.
Or looking back years ago, therewas a client that I think I
missed.
Um, a few really heartbreakingstories unfolded.
Like uh one of my friendsreached out and she said, I lost
a client to a domestic violenceincident.
It was a murder suicide.
(12:39):
And she said, looking back, Inow know after going through the
training that there were somevery obvious signs in front of
me, but I didn't, I just didn'tquite know what it was.
I knew something wasn't quiteright, but I didn't know that it
was abuse.
And so as we started doing thesein-person trainings, it very
(13:04):
quickly became evident that itneeded to be bigger than what we
were doing there.
And that's when a couple ofyears in, I decided to reach out
to my local lawmaker and see ifthey would be willing to
introduce legislation like wehad seen Illinois pass.
And he's wonderful.
(13:27):
His name is Sam Whitson.
He's actually retired from beinga representative now, but um,
Tennessee is a supermajority redstate.
And as I've done more work atthe state level, I know that
it's very important to find theright lawmaker to carry your
legislation.
And in Tennessee, it needed tobe someone like Sam who was
(13:51):
highly respected and had a realheart for an issue like this.
And so we started working in2020 to um introduce this
legislation.
And it's a windy road that wecan go into, but that that was
kind of the condensed version ofthe beginning.
(14:17):
In-person trainings, which ledinto our legislative efforts
here in Tennessee, whichultimately have really good
news, and we can go into that.
But it uh it's been anincredible journey that is so
outside of my realm of uhunderstanding of how how big
(14:38):
this little seed of inspirationwould grow.
SPEAKER_00 (14:42):
And during 2020, which is you know what a
horrible year for so manypeople.
But 2020 actually ended up just,I don't know, I don't know if it
was because of COVID or despiteCOVID, but just so many
incredible things happened tothat year.
SPEAKER_01 (15:00):
Well, and something that COVID did is it really
exposed the the issue ofdomestic violence.
There were so many people thatwere not safer at home, to your
point.
You know, there was so muchmagic that happened.
I think all of us were um atleast temporarily kind of
brought together in a reallybeautiful way and showed
(15:22):
incredible depth of caring foreach other in an incredible way.
Of course, we were broughtonline.
We didn't know how to do thisbefore 2020, really.
Um and it actually, as far asour legislative efforts, ended
up being a huge gift in our inour mission.
(15:44):
Um, sadly, with the increase indomestic violence, it became
even more crucial to um find aunique way to respond.
And during the shutdown, ourindustry was one of the close
contact industries that didn'thave the ability to pivot
(16:04):
online.
You know, we're up close andpersonal with our clients.
And so when I was asked to be onGovernor Lee's economic recovery
group as the representative formy industry, I was thrilled to
have um honestly something toput my anxious energy into at
(16:26):
that point.
And it connected me with a keyplayer in our future, our
current um Shearhaven journey.
And that was a company calledBarbicide.
Um, they were the leaders indisinfection, they're the
leaders in safety in ourindustry.
They're in the blue jar that'son every station of every salon
(16:51):
around the world.
They're um the liquid that weput our combs and our brushes in
to keep them clean.
And they were really putting outincredible information about how
to stay safe during a pandemic,how to clean our instruments
properly, which of course weknow how to do anyway, but they
were um reinvigorating ourknowledge about how to do this
(17:15):
um pandemic, this globalpandemic thing.
And I was able to gatherinformation from them to then
pass on to the state to givethem information about how we
how our industry could reopen asquickly as possible.
And through that partnership,they had actually just launched
their trainings online.
(17:37):
They had just scaled theirwebsite to be able to reach
people in that way, rather thanhaving to do in-person
trainings.
And um, it wasn't an immediatelight bulb for me, but over time
it occurred to me maybe thiscould be a key partner as our
legislative efforts had come toa close during 2020.
(18:01):
Um, it allowed us to take abreath and figure out how to
meet some of the requirementsthat lawmakers had asked for.
So our um our legislation hadbeen moving through committees.
I had been testifying andsharing my personal story as a
survivor and of course as abeauty professional, and
(18:23):
explaining why this was soimportant and why this um
additional requirement, which bythe way was the only
requirement, the only continuingeducation requirement in our
state, um, was important and howit could save lives.
And when we came to a halt, werealized that a couple of the
(18:47):
things lawmakers had asked forwere a quick training, which, of
course, we had been doingmulti-hour in-person trainings.
So I was like, I don't even knowhow we shrink this into one
hour.
And they wanted it online, whichwe had no idea how to do.
(19:07):
And they wanted it to be free,which that was the part that we
knew, okay, even if we canfigure out a way to make this
less than an hour, even if wecould figure out a way, of
course, we knew we could film avideo and um do maybe quarterly
webinars or do a video thatlives on a website somehow.
(19:30):
We knew that we couldn't figureout how to do that at no charge.
And that was something theysaid, we don't want it to cost a
single dollar for the beautyprofessional.
We don't want it to be any sortof additional weight that they
have to do in order to keeptheir license.
And so that was the part that wehad like retracted and we said,
(19:54):
okay, we're just going to passthis for people in school.
That's something that we coulddo.
We could go into schools,provide the education, wrap it
into their hours.
We could figure out a way to dothat.
But through a partnership withBarbicide, they agreed to
actually host our training andprovide it on their education
(20:17):
platform at no charge, which ohmy gosh, was the biggest gift.
And we ended up we found$500 andcreated a simple, concise 20
minute video and wrote a littlequiz that went at the end and
(20:40):
provided it to Barbicide.
They were gracious enough to putit on their website and Ingrid
overnight within three days, wewent from having reached a
couple of hundred people inTennessee, perhaps, which we
were thrilled with, to reachingover five thousand people
(21:03):
globally in three days.
And my mind and my heart wereabsolutely blown wide open.
I could not believe the impactthat that had.
I mean, that people around theworld were embracing this
education the way that theywere.
(21:26):
And Barbicide has a very largefollowing globally.
They're, of course, veryestablished here in the United
States, but they also havedistributors.
Um, they have a huge amount inthe UK and of course across
Europe, but they have followersall over the world.
(21:48):
And they ended up putting out anemail blast to their million
email addresses and reachedpeople everywhere.
And the feedback that startedrolling in, the people that were
sharing their certificate onsocial media just became this
grassroots movement.
Um, Barbaside's caveat inreleasing the training was that
(22:12):
they wanted to make sure it wasnot Tennessee specific.
They said, we understand this isa tool that you need, but we
want you to provide theresources to every state.
And beyond that, we want you toprovide international resources.
So include hotlines, includeresources for people around the
(22:32):
globe.
And so we were we were like, oh,okay, of course.
We were a little nervous thatlawmakers here in Tennessee
would be put off by that, butthey were not.
(23:05):
Um, in spring of 2021.
And so we were able to reachevery licensed cosmetologist,
barber, aesthetician, nail tech,and natural hairbraider, as well
as everyone in school for all ofthose um industries with
(23:25):
domestic violence education.
SPEAKER_00 (23:28):
And that is incredible.
I mean, just because I know thenumbers are no longer 5,000, but
when you take that initial 5,000and you think those are 5,000
professionals, and how manylives those individuals touch
beyond I'm it's just it's likean astronomical amount of
people.
And that was just the beginning.
SPEAKER_01 (23:49):
It it really is thinking about how many clients
I have on my book, you know,just that I see in rotation over
the course of a month, and thenmultiply that by certainly even
5,000.
It's incredible because it's notjust the clients that we see
(24:13):
behind the chair, it's ourcoworkers, it's our family
members, our friends, ourfriends' friends.
You know, we're just so muchmore aware and able to listen
with a different uh sensitivity,a different amount of compassion
and um awareness that allows usto support everyone in our lives
(24:37):
in a different way.
SPEAKER_00 (24:38):
Absolutely.
And, you know, you can you thinkif you have a favorite
restaurant you go to and youdevelop any kind of a
relationship with the bar staffor the wait staff, you may even
pick up on cues from thoseindividuals.
SPEAKER_01 (24:52):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
I've I've had so many of thosestories come back to me.
You know, just you know, I hadone stylist who said that she,
you know, knew that when she wasshopping in her favorite
boutique here in Nashville, thatuh one of her friends that she
had met that works there wastalking about her relationship
(25:15):
one day and kind of opening upabout things.
And she was like, I I knew whatshe was in the middle of.
I knew that she was in the earlystages of being love-bombed and
that there was some serious redflags.
He was moving way too fast, andshe recognized it because of
that training, that awareness.
SPEAKER_00 (25:37):
And that awareness is so key because there are so
many people.
I've gotten messages from a lotof different people of my loved
one went through this domesticviolent relationship.
And I wish that I would haveunderstood the situation more.
I could have intervened, I couldhave reacted possibly different
when they started talking to meabout this abuse.
(25:59):
And there are so many piecesthat just stretch along that
timeline of abuse, of like youmentioned, the beginning stages
of the love bombing and the redflags that are there, to the
more subtle abuse, to theblatant abuse.
And those victims need to beheard and they need to be seen,
they need to be believed.
(26:20):
And even post-escape of thatrelationship, the survivors
still need to be seen, heard,and believed.
And that healing process isdifficult.
So to bring an entire industrywho touches, like literally
touches so many lives, thatawareness and then that
(26:40):
information that they can justpass on in conversation to
others, that may be the onlyexposure people get to
understand abuse and violence.
SPEAKER_01 (26:53):
Yes, I every single bit of that.
I I know that because of thelong relationships that we
build, that I've heard behindthe chair with people around me,
stylists even get reallyfrustrated.
Like it's frustrating to knowthat someone who might be kind
(27:15):
of in that cycle who is maybeeven leaves but goes back, you
know, being able to educatepeople that it could take up to
seven times on average, youknow, so we know it could take
many more than seven times forsomeone to finally be able to uh
pull themselves out of thatrelationship successfully.
(27:37):
And teaching people about howyou need to hold space, you need
to be patient, encouraging, butnot pushy.
Um, our hope is that we areeducating people as much about
how not to respond is how torespond in those kinds of
situations.
And um just really open up theirhearts and their eyes in a
(28:02):
different way, uh knowing whatthat may look like.
SPEAKER_00 (28:08):
Yeah, because the the response or the
inappropriate response holdssuch weight in what a victim may
or may not do.
If they're not believed or ifthey're blamed for what's
happening to them, that can leadto them not leaving because
they're going to think, what amI, what am I going up against
(28:28):
here?
This person, this individualthat I've been going to for 30
years is questioning what I'mdoing.
How is anyone else going tobelieve what I'm doing?
How am I going to get anysupport when I leave?
SPEAKER_01 (28:41):
Well, and that feeling of if they open up being
so exposed, you know, reallybeing gentle with the way that
you respond in a way thatdoesn't um where they don't feel
uncomfortable coming back, evenif they haven't quite left yet,
knowing that you are gentlyholding that space, that you're
(29:05):
a friend, that you're not, youknow, that you're there as a
support, but you're not beingpushy.
Um, our law that we passed doesnot make us mandatory reporters.
And we really emphasize that inthe training.
That is not your, that is notyour role.
Your role is to be aware of thesigns so that you can listen
(29:27):
effectively, be aware of theresources so that you're able to
be that warm referral that cansend someone to the therapist or
to the expert if given theopportunity.
But you don't have to be thetherapist.
I know that we are kind oftherapist.
I was just about to say that.
(29:47):
But we're not trainedtherapists, we are not the
expert.
And even the years in this workmyself, if I have someone in the
chair, I'm very careful to say,I can speak from my own
experience, I can speak fromwhat I've gathered by doing
these trainings, but I am notthe trained professional.
(30:08):
And there are incredibleprofessionals out there that are
there and are a support.
So yeah, just leading people tothem.
SPEAKER_00 (30:19):
So before we get into the future, because that
part's really exciting too.
You went from owning a salon andbeing a survivor to jumping into
politics.
Did you have any past experiencewith that or how did you do
that?
SPEAKER_01 (30:34):
Oh no, absolutely zero experience.
Um it's been wild.
I I'm still kind of in shockthat that's even part of part of
my story now.
But no, I I absolutely wouldbreak into a full sweat walking
(30:56):
into the Tennessee legislature,you know, just walking into the
General Assembly and being like,okay, I'm gonna go in and have
this meeting and share my story.
And um, and yet I think most ofus as survivors that are in a
position to share any bit of ourstory are experienced some form
(31:19):
of healing in doing so.
It it feels incredible to beable to give back.
And even if we can help oneperson through that really
incredibly hard process that wewent through, that really
difficult season, it it kind ofum yeah, it's healing.
(31:40):
It it feels incredible to beable to get back in that way.
So I pushed through discomfortand just kind of put one foot in
front of the other, and uh itfelt like the direction that I
was being nudged in.
So I just kind of leaned intoit.
But no, learning, I still knownothing.
(32:01):
I just am showing up wherever Ican be useful.
SPEAKER_00 (32:06):
I still know nothing.
So what I was going to commentis I have found that every time
a survivor shares part of theirstory, it's almost like a little
bit of a weight that they'reable to take off of themselves.
And then in the same respect,this shame that all of us at
(32:26):
some point did carry or stillcarry, you know, the amounts of
shame it's not our shame tohave.
It's should not be anything todo with us.
But I think also by hearingothers' stories, it releases
some of your own shame too.
So it is so important.
SPEAKER_01 (32:45):
1000%.
Um that's so true.
Yes, it was very hard at first.
I wasn't, I mean, of course, Ihad shared my story with people
that I was close with, and itwas fairly public because I'm a
salon owner.
I was a business owner at thetime that I was going through
(33:05):
it.
So a lot of people kind ofwalked through the season with
me.
But, you know, it it is verydifficult to open up and lean
into and kind of revisit thatpart of it.
And yet so rewarding to, well,first of all, my I'm able to
(33:28):
share in a different way becausemy abuser's no longer here.
And I I know there's a lot ofpeople that it's not that they
wouldn't love to share a littlebit more, but maybe they don't
feel safe.
And that is a a privilege thatI'm able to kind of step fully
(33:49):
into for that reason.
I I wish that um, you know, ofcourse, that's not the path that
I wish life had led through.
You know, I I would never havesaid this is how I want it to
turn out.
But because of what is, I'm ableto um step more fully into that
(34:11):
advocate role from that place.
And I'm deeply grateful that I'mable to um to do that on behalf
of people that can't, who havebeen able to share their story
with me through this training.
And I found that so many of uswho are survivors, even though
(34:32):
they're very distinctlydifferent details in all of our
stories, there's also a lot ofsimilarity.
And so while my story is unique,it's not unique.
You know, there's the the cycleof power and control that is at
the center of every story.
There's um, you know, themanipulation, the fear, the
(34:54):
isolation that I experience thatI know also speaks to what so
many, so many others have havebeen through and are still in.
And I'm deeply fueled by mykids, my kids' generation,
looking at my beautiful babiesand their beautiful friends, and
(35:15):
just hoping that by reaching somany people, especially in
cosmetology school and barberschool, that are being educated
in a way that our generation wasnot, about what the signs are,
how to respond, how to spot itearly, that potentially we are
(35:37):
reaching people that will notneed the education in the same
way that we did, because theywill not uh walk as deeply into
the relationship as I did, as somany did and do.
And so, but so much of it isthat our generation didn't know.
(35:58):
We knew about the physical signsof abuse, but they didn't
educate us about thenon-physical, you know, the
emotional, the verbal, thefinancial abuse.
And I know that there's so muchpower in education because
education is ultimately whatsaved my life, I believe.
(36:19):
It was someone that I was closeto that recognized that I was in
an abusive relationship and putthe power of that word into that
context for me.
I knew that I was in a hardrelationship, I knew that I was
in a bad relationship, I knewthat I um had a toxic
(36:40):
relationship.
But the word abuse, havingsomeone say, This isn't just a
bad relationship, this is anabusive relationship, that is
ultimately what fueled my desireto find out more about what that
was and do the research thatthen allowed me to safety plan,
(37:01):
that then allowed me to be moreaware as I was leaving about
what I was experiencing as Iwas, to have context to that was
so important.
And um I I hope that byproviding education, that that
will um do the same for others.
SPEAKER_00 (37:25):
I believe it will.
And I think that realization orsomebody telling you or you're
finally willing to admit it orrecognize it yourself of this is
abuse, that begins thattransition from I'm a victim of
abuse to becoming the survivorof abuse.
And that that's super powerfulto be able to educate so many
(37:50):
individuals to help otherindividuals understand that
process.
Um, so okay, so this is like allthe things that you've already
accomplished, but what is what'son the horizon?
SPEAKER_01 (38:04):
Well, so there's a lot of things on the horizon.
Um about two years ago, we weare still partners with
Barbicide, but we actually endedup launching our own website.
So we now have ShearhavenTraining.org, which um has our
(38:25):
training not only in English,but we were able to launch
Spanish and Vietnamese as wellto be able to more effectively
reach a broader part of ourcommunity and our world.
We still want many morelanguages.
So I hope that this time nextyear we have more to add.
(38:46):
But um we have downloadableresources on our website.
So there's printable resourcesthat people can put in their
changing area or the bathroom orlittle flyers, one-pagers that
they can put in their waitingroom to give nonverbal cues to
people in their space, to beable to say, you know, here you
(39:10):
are in a safe space.
And um also add that additionallayer of here's the hotline, if
someone wanted to just take apicture of the QR code.
Of course, pass the law inTennessee, which is about at its
completion.
Beauty professionals in ourindustry had two renewal cycles,
(39:31):
which is ultimately four years.
Each renewal cycle is two years,to receive up to an hour of
domestic violence training.
Hours is 20 minutes, it's freeand online.
But if someone wanted to go andtake an in-person training, as
long as it's recognized by theTennessee Coalition Against
Domestic Violence, it is greatfor that requirement.
(39:55):
And we are also working onfederal legislation.
So a couple of years ago, I hadthe opportunity to go with our
YWCA team up to DC and presentat their national conference.
And the day before we presented,we had a day on the hill, and we
(40:16):
were able to meet with all ofour U.S.
representatives and senators.
And we met with um one of thestaff from Senator Blackburn's
team who really connected withwhat we were doing.
He has a sister who's a beautyprofessional here in Tennessee.
(40:36):
And he heard that we had passedthis legislation here at the
state level and said, you knowwhat, I think that there might
be.
I know the senator is going toconnect with this, and there
might be something at thefederal level that we could do.
And we ended up fast forwardmeeting with them again and
ended up hearing (40:59):
yes, the senator has found a way.
We are going to, you know,basically present this
bipartisan legislation.
It's Senator Blackburn andSenator Duckworth from Illinois.
We have a lot of other Senateco-sponsors who are incredible
that have joined the mission.
And it's a bill that willincentivize states to pass laws
(41:23):
like we did in Tennessee andIllinois.
Arkansas also has a requirement.
And it would provide stop grantfunding to each state after they
pass the law.
And so it can be a one, youknow, it's not a one size fits
all.
Our bill is very different thanIllinois's, which is very
(41:45):
different than Arkansas's, butall of us have our own unique
requirements.
And so it basically wouldincentivize states to do what we
did here.
And it's been an incredibleeffort.
It's also been introduced in theHouse.
It's Representative Laura Leefrom Florida and Representative
(42:07):
Dingle from Michigan.
And um we've been up to DC andwe've been talking to lawmakers
and presenting the case for whythis is so important.
And my hope is that we willeventually get to the finish
line.
There's been great momentum, andit's exciting to see a
(42:28):
bipartisan effort in today'sworld, which is so incredibly
split, and we're so polarizedabout so many things, but to see
um the effort and the the heartfor how important it is to do
things differently, and how howmany um outside the box
(42:54):
opportunities there could be toaddress this incredibly hard
issue.
And uh so, yes, to your point,my my advocate hat has become a
little more sharpened than itwas back in the day.
It's exciting, it's it'sincredible.
And we've actually spoken withpeople in other states that have
(43:17):
expressed interest.
Um we hope to see legislationintroduced in Kentucky at the
beginning of the year next year.
And uh we've had some amazinginterest in Montana, in uh South
Carolina, in uh truly states allover the place.
(43:39):
We've had many, many YWs expressinterest, and even individuals
that just have a heart fordomestic violence awareness that
are not connected with the YW,but that have reached out saying
this is something that we wouldlove to see passed in our state.
And so I'm hoping that there isincredible movement at that
(44:01):
level.
And so, truly, if anyone'slistening and wants to reach
out, we would love to talk.
Um I I hope that it's a snowballof states.
And we have um we have created aplaybook that is a very concise
(44:22):
step-by-step that hopefully canhelp guide anyone who wants to
pass legislation like this.
SPEAKER_00 (44:29):
This is insane.
This is just absolutely insane.
Do you so we talked about 5,000before?
Do you have an approximation ofthe current amount of numbers?
SPEAKER_01 (44:41):
We have now reached over 160,000 people in over 100
countries with domestic violenceeducation.
And that doesn't even seem realto me.
And I know that's enormous.
And yet, if you look at thenumbers of beauty professionals
(45:01):
around the world, around just inthe states, but certainly around
the world, I know that this isthe tip of the iceberg.
Um and my hope is that just likeI hope that it snowballs with
states, I hope that there justcontinues to double and triple
the numbers of beautyprofessionals we've reached.
(45:23):
Um, let me also say that it wasvery important to us that even
if you're not a beautyprofessional, that you find the
training helpful.
And I've had um my doctor hastaken it.
She said she felt like it wasmore concise, more helpful for
her than even the training thatshe received in her official
(45:45):
training.
So she has now encouraged herstaff to take it.
Um, I've had teachers take it,again, attorneys, physical
therapists, personal trainers,you know, people in all
different industries ofhealthcare, to you name it, who
just have this heart and this uhcuriosity for it, that have
(46:07):
received this education and arewelcome to take it.
So if you want to find it, youcan just go to
sharehaventraining.org andregister.
It's a quick 20-minute trainingfollowed by a quick quiz.
And uh it's incredible if youfeel led to share your
certificate and encourage peoplein your community to also take
(46:31):
it.
Share it with your beautyprofessional, share it with um
your best friend, you know, havethem continue to spread the
word.
We we haven't had a lot of, letme just say, this is also not
unique in the nonprofit world,but we haven't necessarily had
(46:52):
dedicated funding to pour intoit to really properly market it
necessarily.
So a lot of our spread has justbeen word of mouth and um, you
know, various news clips orsegments that we've had that
have gone out that have thenencouraged people to go and take
(47:14):
the training.
So every single share makes adifference.
SPEAKER_00 (47:20):
So I got actual chills when you said those
numbers.
And then, you know, even justsaying that's not even the tip
of the iceberg, that's just it'sso exciting.
I teared up a little bit.
I I'm tearing up over too manythings lately, but uh that's so
cool.
And I was about to ask if thiswas a beauty professional
(47:40):
specific training.
So it that is very exciting thatanyone can go in.
Uh, it makes me as a healthcareprofessional myself, it is a
little, and I'm not saying it'sdisheartening because your
doctor didn't get theappropriate training, but it is
disheartening because I've hadthe training that I've received
on domestic violence, I can sayis subpar.
(48:03):
And this, I mean, you wouldthink that healthcare
professionals should have thegold standard of education on
this, and in law enforcementsand other law enforcement
officers and other firstresponders, but those are all
amazing people that can go checkthis out.
20 minutes is nothing.
SPEAKER_01 (48:22):
It's nothing.
And uh there are a couple of Ifeel like what we do, of course,
we go into some of the physicalsigns that people can spot, but
a lot of it is the more covertsigns that as a human being with
(48:45):
another human being, your spideysense might go off with.
But without the officialeducation, you may not quite
know what it is.
And so we really speak intobehind the chair, yes, you can
see things like bruising, orsomeone who comes in maybe with
(49:07):
inappropriate amounts ofclothing for the time of year,
maybe they're covering bruises,or hair that's been pulled,
because, you know, of course,we're on top of people's heads,
we're in in that realm.
We can see very closely thephysical signs.
But some of the less visiblesigns like increased
(49:30):
cancellations, you know, orsudden uh frequent cancellations
from the person that you've seenconsistently for years, that you
know it's out of character, ormaybe isolation from some of
their close friends and family.
When you sit down and have thoseconversations and you know, oh,
(49:51):
they they're very social andthey're out with their best
friends, you know, quite a bit.
We all know that there might betimes that with a new
relationship, you're extra cozywith someone for a period.
But if someone's truly pullingback from their best friends or
their close family members, thatof course would be a sign.
And there's a lot of the um thenon-physical cues that we try to
(50:18):
really shine a spotlight on thatwe um, yes, we might be in a
unique position to spot becauseof those relationships that we
build.
SPEAKER_00 (50:27):
I love all of this.
I mean, I I am so excited aboutall of this.
Um, do you think there'sanything that we missed?
Any points that we missed atall?
Well, I actually yes.
SPEAKER_01 (50:45):
I was approached about a year ago by a woman who
her name is Julie Smolinsky, andshe reached out saying that her
daughters are about to launch ahair care brand called Bird
Beauty that is incredible.
They are teenage girls that wantto shine a spotlight on teen
(51:10):
dating violence and domesticviolence awareness, which as I
touched on with my my kids'generation, uh, is my heart.
I I'm so touched to see uh youngpeople that are that passionate
about this issue.
(51:30):
And so each shampoo andconditioner says this shampoo
could save a life, thisconditioner could save a life,
and on the back of it, it hasthe QR code to our training.
And they are really diving in,opening up conversations through
(51:51):
their friends, their followersto really um expose that hidden
pandemic of domestic violence.
And uh seeing change makers inthe community like that
absolutely just set me on fire.
(52:12):
Like I'm so excited to see thatthere is a movement like that,
and their mom is a powerhouse ofher own.
She she's the CEO of a companycalled Lifeway.
She uh started a nonprofitcalled Test Kit 400 that
actually encourages states toprocess test kits for rape and
(52:38):
has passed legislation in statesthat are now putting pressure on
that system to move it onforward.
And I hope that through uniquepartnerships like that, through
movements like that, that wewill just continue to open up
even deeper conversations in umsegments of our population that
(53:04):
can truly be difference makers.
SPEAKER_00 (53:07):
And so, Suzanne, you did it again.
I got chills and tears again.
So, what was the name of thegirls project again?
SPEAKER_01 (53:16):
It's called Bird Beauty, B-U-R-D.
SPEAKER_00 (53:20):
I love this.
SPEAKER_01 (53:22):
Please go follow them and order your delicious
shampoo and conditioner becauseevery single bit of it, every
sale is going to ultimately umsupport Sheerhaven and our our
initiative and help us provideeven more resources.
(53:43):
We will always keep our trainingfree.
So it will always be a freeresource for anyone who needs
it.
SPEAKER_00 (53:51):
Okay.
And you mentioned it already,but how do people get in touch
with you or the organization?
SPEAKER_01 (53:57):
Um, we will link all of our social media handles at
the end of this.
And um there's an email link onour website if anyone ever needs
to get in touch with me.
We're a very small but mightygroup of Shearhaveners, myself
and a couple of others.
So um absolutely do not hesitateto reach out.
(54:21):
And um, of course,Shearhaventraining.org is our
website.
And I would love for anyone toshare it with anyone who they
think it could impact.
SPEAKER_00 (54:33):
Perfect.
And I would say that Mighty isprobably an understatement.
You guys are quite thepowerhouse.
That's you have accomplished somuch in such crazy times.
COVID, government shutdowns, youguys are still trucking.
This is amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (54:49):
Um, we can get to a couple of finish lines before
maybe we can do a bigcelebration podcast in a couple
of years with some big news.
SPEAKER_00 (54:59):
Yes, I would love that.
Uh okay, so before we wrap upand close, are there any words
of encouragement or wisdom,specific words of encouragement
or wisdom you would like toleave with listeners today?
SPEAKER_01 (55:15):
Well, around this topic, likely anyone who's
listening to this podcast is hasa heart for domestic violence
awareness.
And it's a topic that can feelit's heavy, it's daunting.
And I just want to say thatthere's so much power in just
(55:36):
holding space for people andbeing a compassionate friend
that you never know how onesmall conversation could change
a life.
And I know that in my own life,it was that one conversation
with someone that I deeplytrusted that was the change
(55:58):
maker that ultimately led me tothis path, to um a beautiful
life on the other side.
And so, you know, just one footin front of the other, be a
friend.
SPEAKER_00 (56:12):
Thank you so much, Suzanne.
This was an amazing episode.
You are doing so much.
I appreciate your time today.
I appreciate everything you'redoing.
SPEAKER_01 (56:22):
Thank you so much.
I'm so grateful.
SPEAKER_00 (56:25):
Thank you again, Suzanne, for joining me today,
and thank you, warriors, forlistening.
I have included the linksSuzanne was referring to as well
as her one in three profile inthe show notes.
I will be back next week withanother episode for you.
Until then, stay strong.
And wherever you are in yourjourney, always remember you are
(56:46):
not alone.
Find more information, registeras a guest, or leave a review by
going to the websiteonein3podcast.com.
That's the number one, I in thenumber three podcast.com.
Follow one in three onInstagram, Facebook, and Twitter
at one and three podcasts.
(57:07):
To help me out, please rememberto rate review and subscribe.
One in three is a point fivePinoy production.
Music written and performed byTim Crow.
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