After hearing a woman's heartbreaking story of addiction, Kelly Lyndgaard was moved to make a difference. Inspired by the strength and commitment of women doing the hard work of recovery, Unshattered was born. This week we’re exploring social enterprise and the road to recovery through the lens of Unshattered, a Hudson Valley non-profit with the mission of helping women in recovery to build a path forward.
This week's episode features Kelly Lyndgaard, Founder & CEO of Unshattered, a 501c3 non-profit social enterprise providing pathways toward economic independence and sustained sobriety for women winning their fight against addiction. The women of Unshattered hand craft bags and accessories out of repurposed materials as a tangible representation of the transformation happening in their own lives - something discarded and without purpose crafted into something beautiful, purposeful, and meaningful.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
We are experiencing a paradigm shift, a fundamental
change in the way we usually dothings.
We are intentionally choosing tosee the silver lining
opportunity arises.
We can shine a light on thethings that weren't working well
(00:25):
on those things that weren'treally working at all, we can
regroup reevaluate andre-engineer it's time to explore
new patterns and paradigms thosethat inspire us to rise above
the chaos and explore how theconditions of today and take us
(00:47):
to a better tomorrow patternsand paradigms the pattern
podcast from Hudson Valleypattern for progress.
Your listening to season two,episode three, unsheltered,
social enterprise and recoverywith your host pattern,
president and CEO, JonathanDropkin.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I hope you're able to join us last week for our
episode with architect MichaelMurphy, Michael is truly one of
the most creative architectsthat we've run across in a long
time.
Um, who's has the capacity to,to integrate environment with,
(01:35):
um, buildings in a way that hasgained recognition throughout
the world.
I hope you have a chance tolisten to it.
Um, I'm going to be brief abouta trend that I want you to look
at, but it's so exciting that ifyou were ever a fan of the Ford
motor company, Mustang, Tesla isnow going to build an electric
(02:01):
version of the Mustang.
And so if you bought it becauseyou wanted to, um, have a car
that had horsepower, if you'veever driven a Tesla, this is
going to, so they werepreviewing this for a group of
people and the reaction, thelist of people who own the
(02:25):
high-end automobiles.
Um, but this is, uh, actually Ithink it sells, it's going to be
sold for just over 40,000 with a$7,500 rebate from the federal
government making the cost about32,000.
So not crazy, not obviously foryour, you know, person with less
(02:51):
money, but kind of interestingin watching this trend of what
happens with electric cars.
Um, please remember to subscribeto us at Apple or wherever you
find your podcasts.
And other than that, Joe, Cheikawhat's up, Joe.
(03:11):
I thought this week we had tothe governor Cuomo's state of
the state.
And, uh, there was a lot onhousing.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Absolutely.
So as you said, last week, thegovernor released his state of
the state in, he did it a littledifferent this year.
It was in a series of, of, uh,three or four different press
conferences.
And so part four, the state ofthe state included language on
how to ensure access toaffordable housing.
(03:39):
And as you know, as a pastsecretary of HUD housing is very
near and dear to the governor'sheart.
So I wanted to cover a couple ofhighlights very quickly from the
governor.
And we'll start off by saying,we're entering now the fourth
year of a five-year housing planthat he had set forth in 2018.
The plan had promised a hundredthousand preserved and new
(04:03):
affordable housing units and6,000 supportive housing units
to date.
Well, the States about 66,500with 2100 new supportive units
with another 5,000 in thepipeline who are doing very,
very well, right on, right ontarget the governors for
(04:23):
proposals for housing in 2021,we're going to run through those
pretty quickly mortgage relieffor homeowners and assistance
for renters moratorium onforeclosures.
Now set until may and proposedto be extended through the end
of 2021 moratorium on evictionsthrough may in a ban on fees for
(04:46):
missed or late payments to theproperty owners, the renters are
actually going to be able to usetheir security deposits for
immediate payment, and thenrepay those deposits over time.
Again, these are proposed for2021 number two investment in
supportive housing.
(05:08):
He wants to create an additional20,000 units over the next 15
years.
That's a pretty big target, butI got a feeling they're going to
be able to do that.
Number three, expand access tothe state of New York mortgage
Hagen's agency.
Otherwise known as sone may inan effort to combat
(05:28):
discriminatory lending practicesand build wealth in historically
red line communities,neighborhoods of color and low
income households.
They want to expand.
Sony may essentially reducingthe barriers to entry for
homeowners.
They want to increase a programthat's called the downtown down
payment assistance program from3000 to$7,500.
(05:53):
They want to expand the numberof lenders that can actually use
Mae products by adding moresmall banks, credit unions, and
an entity or entities that arecalled community development,
finance institutions, otherwiseknown as CDFI.
And they're primarily inbusiness to, um, to serve people
(06:16):
in, um, in, in low incomecommunities authorizing sone may
to offer temporary loanmodifications.
So borrowers can stay in theirhome homes during these, uh,
these times of crisis.
That's, that's the last part ofhis sone may proposal opening
other pathways to homeownership.
(06:37):
That's his fourth component ofhousing launch, the give us
credit program, and that hasfive pieces.
He wants to target borrowerswith non-traditional or
fluctuating sources of incomeallow financial support for
family members and friends allowborrowers to rely on traditional
sources and various layers ofdown payment assistance makes it
(07:01):
easier for applicants toovercome past financial
hardships, to qualify and rewardborrowers who demonstrate a song
, a strong alternative credithistory that about wraps up his
four elements of proposals for2021 in housing.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Hey Joe, um, I, there's a big difference between
the way in which the governordelivers the, um, state of the
state.
And this year was actually verydifferent than how we did it in
the past.
It was broken into four separatehalf hour presentations.
(07:42):
Um, but then there's the 330page written version, which you
and I, and the staff hadpattern, Oh, he's actually read
the entire document.
Are you satisfied with what youread?
You know, all these elements,these sound like they came from
actually the written document.
And was there anything that youwere hoping for, or do you think
(08:05):
that these are actually headingus in the right direction in, in
new York's housing crisis?
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I think they are heading, you know, they're,
they're pushing us in the rightdirection.
Uh, clearly over the last threeyears, there's been a great
advancement in housing.
Has there been enough?
No, there hasn't, but it doescome down to, to, to critical
element of who's going to payfor it.
And there's one missing piece inhere that I thought should be in
(08:33):
here and that's grant assistanceto property owners because of
missed rent from people thathave been impacted from the
financial crisis throughCOVID-19.
I know that the state has put upsome loan programs and the loan
programs are good to a point.
(08:55):
And the reason I say that ispeople will have to pay those
loans back.
They are not grants.
They're not going to be forgivenand landlords may or may not end
up receiving all of the missedrent from their tenants.
So at some point the rent doescome due.
So does the mortgage, so do allof the other expenses.
(09:18):
So this domino effect, dominantdomino activity of the rent
doesn't get paid.
The landlord doesn't have thedollars, somebody's going to end
up missing something in there.
And a grant program I thinkwould, would be a great help.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
And it's very interesting.
I know that, you know, your workin affordable housing, um, your
concern for tenants, um, butyou're actually saying, as you
look at the entire picture ofhousing, there are a number of,
um, landlords that still alsohave to, um, have enough working
capital so that they don't walkaway from the buildings they
(09:58):
own.
And that's part of the puzzle.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Well, that's right.
And if they do walk away or ifthey're not able to make, uh,
you know, maintenance repairs,if they're not able to make
those other improvements, that'sgoing to unfortunately have the
potential of leading todisinvestment.
And that's just the opposite ofwhat the governor wants to see.
(10:21):
Um, and obviously all of ourhousing agencies want to see in,
uh, in our, in our communities.
So it's, it's going to be a,it's going to be a tough road to
come back.
Uh, the next six months, I thinkwe're going to learn a lot.
And then the latter half of thisyear, uh, we'll we'll make, um,
there's, there's going to haveto be some changes made.
I think that's my prediction for2021.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Thanks, Joe.
And we'll all look forward towhen the governor presents the
budget for the next fiscal year,because, um, while the state of
the state is sort of likepainting a canvas, it's the
budget that actually tells youwhat he intends on doing.
(11:05):
So, um, thanks for that analysison housing, Joe, and I
appreciate, um, your take onthat section.
Um, so let me introduce ourguest for today's episode.
Her name is Kelly Lynn guard.
Kelly is the founder and CEO ofan organization, a
(11:26):
not-for-profit calledunchartered here in Duchess
County.
Um, it is one of the mostfascinating models that has been
developed for taking peoplewho've gone through drug
rehabilitation or alcoholrehabilitation and move them
(11:47):
into the next step of recovery.
What unsheltered does is itteaches them skills for the
production of women's handbags.
Not surprisingly all of theparticipants in the program are
women.
Um, there have been at least 25people.
(12:07):
It's a relatively new model, um,that have worked with
unsheltered and havesuccessfully during their
period, which unsheltered.
Um, Kelly will tell you ahundred percent of the people
while they were working withher, did not go back to whatever
their, um, substance abuse was.
(12:29):
It's a quite a remarkablerecord.
It's remarkable story made evenmore remarkable by Kelly's
background.
Kelly actually was an engineerat IBM for 18 years.
Um, she started off as anengineer and grew all the way up
to the director of databasemanagement.
(12:49):
Um, she did TJ planning for them.
She worked with billion dollarportfolio and then decided that
that was not what she wanted todo with her life.
Um, so I hope you enjoy thisspecial episode with Kelly Lynn
guard and a discussion aboutunsheltered and the way in which
(13:13):
even we hope our listeners couldlook at their lives.
Um, and this is not just thepeople who participate in
unsheltered, but pay attentionto what Kelly did herself with
her own life to pursue herdream.
Hi Kelly, and how are you doingand how are you fairing
throughout the pandemic?
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Well, thank you so much for having me hello to you.
It's an honor to be here.
I'm fairing pretty well.
All things considered.
It was a tough year for amillion reasons, not the least
of which is I unexpectedly lastmonth lost my father at the
beginning of the onset of COVIDlast March.
And then he was an only childand his mom, uh, got sick.
(13:57):
And so I have spent the lastyear caring for a mom and a
grandmother on top of trying tokeep a business alive here.
So I'm doing well.
I'm happy to have good people inmy life that love me.
Um, but for everybody it's been,it's been a lot, hasn't it?
Speaker 2 (14:10):
It sure has.
I keep saying it's likeconcentric circles until that
keep coming in on you.
And then that circle is people,you know, very closely and it's,
it seems that it's only a matterof time, but let's, let's just
leave that aside for the next 40or 45 minutes.
(14:31):
And let's talk about this reallyfantastic program you've
developed called unsheltered.
So tell me a bit about itsmission and what is it?
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Absolutely.
So unsheltered is a non-profitfive Oh one C3 social
enterprise, our mission to endthe addiction relapse cycle by
employing women and providingpathways toward economic
independence and sustainedsobriety, not to pass that I
ever thought that my own lifewould take, I was an executive
(15:05):
with IBM here in the HudsonValley.
Speaker 5 (15:07):
Wait, hold on.
What did you say?
You were an executive with IBMfor how many years?
And
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Yeah, I spent 16 years with IBM.
The last couple of that, I wasin a couple of strategy roles
and I owned IBM's databasebusiness.
So I had a P and L of over abillion dollars that I had
responsibility for was growingmy career and never thought that
I would leave.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
So do what, what's your, uh, training?
Was it engineering or
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Engineering and physics?
So I'm a physicist by training.
Yes.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Okay.
So I think there's gotta be apretty good story here for how
you go from an engineer and aphysicist working at IBM would a
billion dollar portfolio, twounsheltered what happened?
Okay.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Well, I happened to be at an event at my church and
they were partnering with alocal recovery program here in
the Hudson Valley.
And a couple of women from thatprogram spoke that night about
their journey through addictionand recovery.
Leading up to that night, I wasthe type of person who thought
maybe you should just be moreresponsible and put down the
(16:18):
bottle or stop sticking a needlein your arm and get a job until
I actually heard those women'sstories of how addiction
happened, how hard it was to getout of it and how hard it was to
sustain their sobriety once theyhad gone through recovery.
So in particular that night wasthe story of a woman named Emily
who had been eight years old atthe time she was taking care of
(16:42):
her mom who was ill.
She was from a broken home andher brother and at eight years
old, a 15 year old neighborthought it would be funny to get
an eight year old high, fastforward, 10 years later, her
addiction escalates and she is ahomeless IV drug user that
started at eight years old.
And I just thought, wait aminute, what?
(17:03):
I had no idea how young itstarted for most people, even my
team right now, the average ageof use is about 11 years old.
I have one that started at fiveat the hands of a father.
Um, and all of them would tellyou that the substance abuse
wasn't the problem.
It was the solution to adifferent problem.
It just turned out to be areally bad solution.
(17:25):
Uh, so I got involved with thatprogram fell in love with the
work that they were doing andthe journey that these women
were on of getting to sobriety.
But as I watched people stepback out into society in a lot
of cases, they didn't have jobskills.
A lot of cases, they didn't havean education, but most
importantly, they didn't have asafe community to go back home
(17:49):
to the relapse rate is reallyhigh.
Um, depends on the substanceyou're talking about, but
arguably between 60 and 80% ofpeople that achieve recovery
relapse and particularly in thisopioid epidemic, that relapse
often is death.
And it just seems like a badplan for us to cycle people
through relapse program untilthat's the natural outcome.
(18:11):
And I really believe that therewas a way to change course for
women and tap into their naturalskill sets and help them thrive
and survive in sobriety.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
So you, but when you started working with that
program, were you still at IBMor w
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Yup.
I was.
So I, somehow I did it nightsand weekends for a couple of
years just getting it off theground.
In the very beginning, I justthought I was providing jobs
skills training.
So helping them, um, have a pathwhere they had someone that
could speak well of them and saythat they showed up on time and
they did hard work and they werelearning leadership skills.
(18:47):
But when you started watchingwomen make these handbags, um,
we'll talk about this, butthey're all out of thrown away
and discarded materials turnthat literal trash into
something beautiful that aconsumer wants that moment where
they sold a product thatsomebody wanted because they
made something beautiful anduseful, turned out to be
life-changing for them.
(19:08):
And I just saw this switch go onof potential and possibility and
meaning, and we just needed theright pathway.
So even if we got them jobskills, and even if we got them
an employer, the only placewhere they had any kind of
relationships was back wherethey had been using, and it just
(19:30):
doesn't work as much as youdesire to go home and stay sober
this time, it's a recipe forrelapse.
And so I realized that we didn'tjust have to solve the
employability problem.
We actually had to provide thejob.
We had to providetransportation.
We had to had a connection tohousing.
Uh, we had to solve all of thoseresources to begin a pathway
(19:52):
where women could succeed andbuild that economic stability so
they could deliver all thosethings for themselves on their
own.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
So, okay.
So during the course of theprogram, you're volunteering
with something happens, youhear, you know, a story, you
know, dozens of stories.
And then how do you conceive ofthe structure that you wanted to
do for unsheltered?
(20:19):
I, you know, the little that Iunderstand of it, there's, you
know, three stages are stageone, stage two, stage three, but
you have a very deliberateapproach.
How did you figure out what youwanted to do?
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Yeah.
While we've have certainlyiterated and learned along the
way.
But I think the firstrealization, like I said is that
, um, we had to get women awayfrom going back to where their
use was, the abuse washappening.
Uh, and so I had built a programwhere they were learning job
(20:55):
skills.
They were making handbags.
We were doing the six monthinternship process.
It became clear that there wasenough viability to the product
and enough interest in talentfrom the women that we could
turn this into real jobs.
And so I left my career with IBMin 2015, and started to build a
(21:15):
pathway that included all ofthose steps along the way.
Uh, people often ask why in theworld were you making handbags
out of it?
You get there.
Uh, first I always have toconfess that I have loved
handbags since I was a child.
I go to store to visit thehandbags in the same way that
people might go to the zoo tovisit the animals.
(21:36):
So I've always loved awell-designed bag.
Um, and then I had, after mygrandfather passed away, I had
his suite codes and it hung in acloset for a long, long time
until, I mean, it was, the seamswere ripped out.
It was too big for me.
It was just going to stay in thecloset, but it was special and I
would never get rid of it untilone day I got brave enough to
cut out the good pieces of thesuede, sew them back together
(21:59):
into a tote bag and havesomething that was meaningful
and useful at the same time.
And so I thought, I'm sure wecould get people to donate some
old leather coats.
We could recover some fabricfrom companies that are throwing
it out.
I'm sure we can find a fewpieces.
I knew how to, so my mom taughtme growing up and those were the
components, but it just took offlike wildfire beyond, even
(22:22):
beyond my wildest dreams of whatwe were capable of doing, um,
together with these women.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
So as, as I understand it, stage one is in
recovery at one of yourresidential programs that are
partners of yours.
So how does someone go from, howdo you find the women that are
then part of unsheltered?
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
Yes.
Well, obviously I do not have abackground in social work or in
addiction recovery.
And so it's very important topartner with organizations that
know how to bring people out ofaddiction, to do the detox, to
get them back on their feet, torebuild the health and
psychology around sobriety,right?
So we lean on those partners tohelp women get to sobriety.
(23:09):
Our job is to step in and buildthat pathway.
I like to say that we paved theroad between sobriety and
long-term success.
So we partner with recoveryprograms around the country.
Um, most of them are 12 monthprograms that tends to work the
best a 12 month residentialprogram, and then offering a
woman an opportunity to come in.
So, so for the local one that wework with, we will start
(23:32):
training them while they'restill a student in the program.
Um, but for some of them, wewill bring them to unsheltered
after they complete theirprogram.
They start with a 10 weektraining program where we're
just teaching them how to be anemployee.
Uh, that took me a long time tofigure out is that in a lot of
cases, not only have women notheld a job themselves before,
(23:54):
uh, but often they didn't haveparents that were coming and
going to work each day.
So they, they lived in somechaos that they just never
learned those principles ofemployment and employability,
that that's where we have tostart to teach them that part.
And then at the end of 10 weeks,we kind of treat them like an
entrepreneur that if they aredoing the right work with the
(24:16):
right attitude and, um,contributing their max to the
team, they're eligible to createemployment for themselves to
come into full time employmentwith unsheltered.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
So are you also then helping them find a shelter, a
residential, is there, is that acomponent of unsheltered or it's
just something that you willassist them in and you're really
the employer side of this.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Yes.
So we partner with one of thelocal recovery programs who has
a transitional program, so theycan stay in that.
Well, they're a trainee.
They stay in that program as noat no cost.
Uh, we run a shuttle back andforth.
So they have transportation to,and from work, they can stay
there for roughly up to a yearin transitional living.
Our track record is that withina year of employment with
(25:04):
unsheltered, we've been able toget everybody into their own
home or apartment.
But during that year, they canstay in transitional living.
It's reduced rent.
Uh, like I said, there's ashuttle, so they get
transportation back and forth towork.
And then we're working withpartners in the community to
help find them lower costapartments, or people that have
a room to rent, or, uh, rightnow we have a few of them that
(25:25):
are roommates renting a greathouse near our location as well.
Speaker 5 (25:30):
So I, in your material, it says that you have
a 100% rate of people who havebeen in the unsheltered program.
That doesn't necessarily meanthose who are coming out of a
recovery, but once they're inyour program, they remain, uh,
(25:51):
sober.
And if it, do I have that right?
Or
Speaker 4 (25:56):
We like to say that we have seen 100% of our
employees continue to choosesobriety.
So we don't track after theyhave left us.
In some cases they will leaveand they'll choose to go back
home.
It's kind of proof of our modelthat if you choose to do that,
we think your risk of relapse isreally, really high, but we've
had a 100% success rate.
(26:16):
Every single one of ouremployees in our going on five
years of providing full-timeemployment for women in
recovery, we've seen everysingle one of those shoes
sobriety during their time withus.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
And what's the, what's the give us a couple of
examples are the longest coupleof years that people have been
with you or
Speaker 4 (26:36):
No, we, um, we have several that have been there
going on about three years.
Wow.
One of them incredible successstory.
Amanda was a heroin addict,many, many years, several
relapses in her history, uh,incarcerated, homeless, um, you
know, all kinds of toughcircumstances and choices in her
(26:56):
life and came through ourpartnership with hoping home and
has been with us.
Gosh, I think over three yearsfor her now, she has been
promoted several times.
She is our, um, product managerand creative lead.
She last spring completed, uh,the leadership Duchess class
(27:17):
with the chamber of commerce inSeptember.
She started her collegeeducation.
Uh, she's built a relationshipback with her young kids.
She has a son of her own, so shehas her own apartment, uh, with
her son that she's able tosupport and just has been an
incredible success story.
She's spoken, um, in New Yorkcity at the business council of
(27:38):
New York state, she's spoken atthe white house about her story.
She's spoken on podcasts, justreally unbelievable to watch her
thrive and grow and be anincredible example for the rest
of the team.
Speaker 5 (27:51):
Fabulous story.
So in thinking of your model,which is been, um, finding a, a,
the next step from recovery isthen finding a job and
supportive environment.
Have you looked at otherprograms or is this, have you
(28:11):
ever thought this is, um, this,this model could be improved.
I know you have big dreams abouthow it can be enlarged, but is
there anything other people thatyou other programs because
you've done so well at this thatyou've said, Hey, you know, I'm
watching those people if onlythey would understand.
(28:34):
So have you gone to speak toother recovery programs, have
other recovery problems come tovisit you?
Yeah,
Speaker 4 (28:41):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, first of all, we don'thave it all figured out.
And in fact, I just got off aleadership meeting with my team
and the message was like, you'rehere because I expect you to
make mistakes in your work.
We're learning.
Our job is to always be on thebleeding edge of how we can
improve and how we can servebetter and how we can get more
educated in the work that we'redoing and improve what we offer
(29:04):
and offer it to more women.
Um, but we have been recognizedfor the work that we are doing.
We were invited to the whitehouse a couple of years ago,
alongside Facebook, Google,Amazon, Walgreens, red cross,
and little tiny on shattered tobe recognized for our creative
and effective work in fightingthe opioid crisis.
(29:24):
Um, we got to speak to thesurgeon general and the heads of
health and human services, um,really sharing the work that
we're doing and why we believeit's working, what the pieces of
our model and how we think thatcan be translated to other
places.
But even in those conversations,learning all the time from other
people.
One of my biggest inspirationsis Becca Stevens from this'll
(29:48):
farms in Nashville.
And many, many years ago, Iheard her say, how can you say
that you love somebody if youdon't care about their economic
wellbeing.
And I think that launched in mymind many years ago and just
became a catalyst for the workthat I'm doing now.
So we're constantly learning andalso constantly sharing what we
(30:08):
have learned to help otherservices.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
So I would imagine during the pandemic, you like
everyone else either had torethink your business model a
little bit, or maybe took onother responsibilities.
What happened, I guess almost ayear?
Well, it's not quite a year ago,but back in March, let's say,
Speaker 4 (30:30):
Yeah.
Wow.
Uh, let's see.
I think it was March 18th whenthe governor said that non
essential businesses had toreduce staffing by 25%.
And so I sat at my dining roomtable and I made a plan about
who was going to work from homeand how we could shift the
workload and what we were goingto do.
And then on the 19th, he said,non-essential businesses can
only be staffed at 50%.
(30:51):
And I literally pushed the planup and started over.
And then Friday morning he said,uh, Nope, you have to only be
staffed at 25%.
That was 8:00 AM rebuilding by11:00 AM.
He said, Nope, all not essentialbusinesses are closed.
And at that point I was like, Idon't, I don't, what are we
(31:12):
going to do?
What are we going to do?
But he also said that there wasa need for personal protective
equipment.
And so really led by the womenon my team within 24 hours, we
shifted to making masks.
We partnered with a physicianfrom Vassar brothers medical
center.
Uh, by Saturday morning, we wereup and running on producing
(31:35):
masks for our community.
We donated all the masks that wemade for three and a half months
until we were able to reopen asour normal day to day business.
So we donated 9,000 masks toover 240 caregiving, hospitals,
jails, uh, retirement homes andnursing centers in the Hudson
Valley community.
(31:56):
So we were really proud of that.
Um, but at the time, of course,our bread and butter is making a
product.
And while we're a nonprofit, wetake donations, our product
sales account for about 70% ofour total revenue.
Uh, so I told the team that Iwas committed to employing them
for as long as I could.
I knew that this was the mostemotionally and economically
(32:18):
vulnerable population thatsending people in recovery home
to sit on their couch for whoknows how long was a terrible
idea.
Um, but I didn't know if we weregonna make another sense that
year.
And so I told them that we wouldjust, if worst case scenario, I
could get everybody to December.
And I felt like that gave meenough of a runway.
And I have enough of a networkthat I could place them in other
(32:40):
jobs if I had to.
But I put the cry out to thecommunity to say, these women
deserve employment.
They deserve hope and a chancethey deserve to be cared for.
And the community trulyresponded and supported our
employees so that they couldmake and donate everything that
(33:00):
they were making.
Um, the other thing I thinkthat's pretty incredible.
And I mentioned this at the verybeginning when you asked, how I
was doing is, um, March 26.
So right after we switched ourentire production and business
model, my dad unexpectedlypassed away.
And so I was out of the officetrying to figure out what to do
(33:22):
through that take care of mymom.
And then my father's mom gotsick and I had to care for her.
And so I was out a lot and had alot of other responsibilities on
my shoulders.
And I'm telling you what a teamof women who within the last on
average two years were addicted,homeless, incarcerated, abused,
rebuilt a new business from theground up.
(33:44):
They stepped up into leadership,they served the community.
One of them said, thank you fortrusting us with such a noble
task, the incredible story towatch what they did.
Speaker 5 (33:59):
Um, the, okay, so we pivot they, but then you come
back.
So here's what I think I needyou to do because the, the
difficulty of trying to describehow special these handbags are
is that this is audio, right?
So if you were gonna sort oftake a moment to try to say, you
(34:22):
know, look it starts with, oreach one I think starts with,
uh, the repurpose materials.
So there's something special inthe material itself for the
person that is seeking the bat.
Do I have that?
Right?
And then, and then, so then takeme through it and help, help me
(34:43):
try to visualize something in anaudio format.
Speaker 4 (34:47):
Right, right.
Um, you know, I think mostpeople's perception, you say
you're a social enterprise andthey think, Oh, people are just
buying their products becausethey really want to help your
patient.
We're actually the opposite.
Most people buy our productbecause it's really beautiful
and really well done and reallyhigh quality.
And then they find out there's asocial mission behind it.
(35:08):
So we make all of our bags outof reclaimed upcycling
materials.
Best we can tell we're savingNorth of about 3000 pounds of
fabric a year out of mostly theHudson Valley based system.
Uh, so we're using things likemanufacturing scrap.
We use uniforms that the Westpoint cadets are discarding when
they graduate.
A lot of that was going to anincinerator.
(35:31):
Uh, we use that for Broadwayshows, uh, reclaimed vinyl from
company down in Tarrytown,
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Ultra fabrics that provides to the hospitality
industry.
So anything that you see in arestaurant or hotel that you
think is leather probably is thehigh-end vinyl from ultra fabric
.
So it's a really high-endmaterials and really well-made
bags.
So we partner with Maristcollege, a lot on our design
practices and, um, thestructural integrity of the
(35:59):
product, the efficiency of theway that we manufacture them.
And we do everything from totesto really gorgeous handbags or
clutches or wristlets.
We do men's bags and do walletsfor men.
We do, um, like travel bags orlaptop bags and the retired us
army battle uniform.
(36:20):
We do toiletry kits like to say,well, it's more manly then it's
the trick is made up of aretired army battle uniform.
Um, just some really beautifulthings.
Uh, we also have a custom linewhere, like I talked about my
grandfather's suede coat, wetake family heirloom and we'll
turn that into a gorgeous bag.
(36:41):
Occasionally we to pillows too.
But, um, just really beautifulbags made from anything from a
wedding gown to, uh, we've usedScottish health heirloom kilts
from a family that belonged to agreat-grandmother.
We have used school uniforms,really amazing.
Your kids' sports uniforms, alot of things that you're just
(37:03):
never going to get rid ofleather coats.
Um, one of everybody says,what's the strangest thing
you've made a backyard.
Well, one day I walked into theoffice and on our custom shelves
, there was a pair of oldrunning shoes.
And I said to the team, and theysaid, Oh, they belong to
somebody whose father he passedaway.
And, uh, you know, these weren'treally special.
(37:25):
The kids wouldn't have atoiletry kit.
Speaker 6 (37:28):
I think we can do that.
They're like, Oh no, no, don'tworry.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
And they did.
They took the upper piece offthe shoe.
It took it off the solereconfigured it until really
gorgeous toiletry kit for one ofthe songs.
It was just amazing.
And there's something reallyinteresting that happens through
that process.
Uh, here's an example.
There were two women that theirfather was in the Navy and he
(37:53):
had, uh, died in an accident, aboating accident when they were,
I believe three and seven, theywere young.
In any case, they had one of hisNavy uniforms that they brought
in for us to make a reallygorgeous handbag out of his
uniform.
But in the process of workingthrough that design with their
team, they started to tellstories about their father and
(38:13):
the whole time it was like,well, I never heard that story
about him.
I didn't know that about him.
I didn't remember that.
And that happens all the timethat, that tactile experience of
handling a piece of your familyhistory, re-imagining with our
team, how you might configurethat into something new and
beautiful and useful just onearth, these stories and moments
(38:36):
for family, that's pretty fun toparticipate.
So we do that both virtually youcan do a virtual appointment and
mail us, uh, your heirloompiece, or you can do that.
One-on-one with our designers.
Speaker 5 (38:47):
Wow.
So they partner with you in thedesign and they get to say,
wait, could you do a little bitof this or a little bit of that?
And they add to it.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Yeah.
So for example, often when wemake, if you maybe lost a spouse
or something, and we'll make abag out of maybe a husband's
leather coat, we like to keep apocket maybe on the back of the
handbag that maybe your phonecan drop in there, but you can
still put your hand where yourloved one's hand was.
Speaker 5 (39:13):
So it seems not even a pandemic can slow you down.
Um, so tell me a bit about yourvision.
You know, if, if this is it, if,if the world was good to you and
you could take this model andyou could scale it up, what
would you, what wouldunsheltered look like?
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Well, I mean, first of all, I think our statistics
speak to the validity of ourmodel, that we've had a hundred
percent success rate for ouremployees continuing to choose
sobriety.
Um, we've been able to get allof them within a year out of
transitional living into theirown home or apartment.
And we made it through 2020, notonly with not a single relapse
(39:56):
on our team.
Um, but with the investment ofthe community, our sales went up
in 2020, our, our revenue, bothin donations and sales went up
in 2020.
So for us to have growth lastyear really spoke to us about
how much our community caresabout our work and cares about
our women and identifies withthe mission of unsheltered.
(40:20):
I want to do more of it.
Uh, our, our only limitation isthe space that we need to
function.
We are in about 2000 square feetright now.
We have 10 of us, several of usare working from home, uh, in
order.
I mean, we were, we were keptbefore this happened in our
ability to hire more women, um,trying to stay six feet apart
(40:41):
and still do that gets evenharder.
So I'm trying to, we've takenmachines to people's houses,
we've offloaded some of the workto other sites, but the only
thing holding us back right nowis more space and the investment
to make that happen.
And it breaks my heart to seethe, um, to know that we have a
(41:01):
waiting list of people that wantto work for us.
And I tell them now I had awoman a few years ago that we
hired Brenda, who, uh, had livedin Los Angeles and spent all of
her, um, 35 years of her adultlife, um, incarcerated and
using, and homeless andprostituting.
(41:22):
And when she completed her 10week training program and I
offered her full timeemployment, she, she teared up
when I offered it to hergratefully and then turned
around and started to walk backto her space on the production
floor.
And she got halfway through andshe stopped and she just started
sobbing.
And she said, I'm never going tohave to sleep behind the trash
(41:45):
can.
Again, I'm never going to haveto sell my body in order to eat
again.
And to know that like, that'swhat we're solving.
And yet to know that I havewomen that that's probably their
next best alternative save forme, offering them employment,
breaks my heart to know that Iliterally don't have physical
(42:07):
space for them.
So step one is getting thefunding and building.
We have our eye on one rightnow.
Um, so seeking the funding to beable to move into a larger
space, to expand the number ofpeople that we're serving.
And then the big long dream iswe have a model that's working
and it's not limited to makinghandbags.
We can build in the process thatwe have into other skillsets.
(42:32):
So I would love to open a coffeeshop or a daycare center or a
women's mechanic shop, or youname it.
Um, but what's really specialabout our work is it's not just
making handbags, but 10% to 10%of their work time every week is
dedicated to ongoing personalprofessional development.
(42:53):
So we are not only paying forthings like therapeutic
counseling.
We're paying them for an hour oftheir time to go and get that in
, invest in their own wellness.
We do lunch and learns everyweek with our community where
people are coming in andteaching topics from heart
health to creative writing, tohow to use your phone, to take
great photographs to you, nameit, um, really just investing in
(43:18):
that holistic wellness of theindividual so much so that, like
I said, we're paying them forfour hours a week just for their
personal professional spiritualdevelopment.
Speaker 5 (43:28):
Um, so it would be a larger building, more staff.
Uh, how has, how has yourmarketing right now?
Is there more that could bedone?
I mean, I know of on chatteredbecause I'm in the Hudson
Valley, but, um, is what wouldbe the next step and promote?
Speaker 1 (43:47):
Yeah, that is a great question.
Um, that was another thing thepandemic shifted up until the
end of last February 84% of oursales were face-to-face.
We have a walk-in boutique andHopewell junction.
We're still open right now.
Um,
Speaker 5 (44:01):
I was in Duchess County in the Hudson Valley,
just for some of our listeners.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
Yep.
Not too far from Fishkill.
Uh, we did a ton of eventsaround the country.
So we were a sponsored vendor bycountry living magazine in their
vendor fairs around the country.
Uh, so 84% came fromface-to-face sales now, greater
than that is online sales.
So now we have all the otherthings we had to address last
(44:28):
year.
Like everybody else, we had tobecome a digital business, which
means we need social ads,digital marketing, Google ads,
um, that's investment.
And, you know, sometimes thatfeels disconnected from the work
that we're doing, but it'sthrough those investments in
things like social ads andGoogle ads that drive the
(44:49):
revenue for the product.
And that revenue turns into jobsfor women like Brenda, who spent
many of her days slipping behinda trash can and selling her body
.
Speaker 5 (44:59):
So it seems like there there's actually, there's
two pipelines going on here.
There's the pipeline of helpingwomen through recovery.
And then there's the pipeline ofthe products.
Those women are making to bemarketed sold in order to help
(45:19):
reinvest in on shattered andcontinue to provide this, um,
uh, environment for women to,uh, prosper.
It is a, uh, for those who haveworked in the recovery world, it
is an incredible feat whatyou're trying to do here at
(45:41):
Kelly, because the, the, youknow, as you mentioned, the
relapse rate in general issomewhere around 80%.
And so if there is this periodwhere you can actually, um,
provide a window and add, no, noone has 100% all the time, at
(46:02):
least while they're with you,that's sort of phenomenal
success rate.
Um, but no one can, uh, thereare so many things that can go
wrong.
The collective environment ofwhat is necessary in order to
help people stay sober, whetherit's from drugs or from alcohol.
And they're usually coming fromenvironments that most people
(46:25):
barely can imagine.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
Absolutely.
That was me.
I had no idea, no idea whatpeople survive.
Speaker 5 (46:35):
What else would you want people to know about an on
shattered?
You know, so we've talked abouthow it came, you know, your
background being an IBMengineer, which I can't think of
a more disconnected, uh, uh,transition like, gee, I'll go to
IBM, I'll be an engineer.
(46:56):
And then I'm going to run arecovery program.
Women's tan bags, the transitionfor you personally let alone the
people that you have helpedalong the way.
Um, what else should people knowabout on chatter?
Speaker 1 (47:14):
Yeah, well, first it seems obvious that there is a
huge disconnect there, but whatI bring that I think is valuable
and makes us succeed is that I'mvery good at seeing patterns.
And I think that has helped us
Speaker 4 (47:30):
Iterate and grow.
And zero in on what's reallyeffective about our business and
organizational model is that asan engineer, I'm primed to see
patterns of success.
And so that's what I'm alwaysusing to constantly tweak and
refine, um, the organization atlarge, but also to tailor the,
the, the opportunity and thepathway of possibility for the
(47:54):
individual.
And so I spent a lot of timereally trying to know them to
understand their strengths andmotivation, and to place them in
a role where they can thrive andsucceed.
So it's everybody for the mostpart starts by sowing, but women
in recovery pretty much run ourwhole organization.
They do the whole backend of thewebsite.
They do all of our productionmanagement and fulfillment and
(48:18):
shipping systems.
They run our boutique there,they design the product, they
handle our externalrelationships.
So it's that bigger pathway thatI'm trying to create for them to
really succeed in a career, notjust learn how to sell, right.
And it's because I can seepattern in the way that they
communicate in the way that theyuse a words that tells me how
(48:40):
they think about the world.
Um, what types of things theytend to succeed at gives me a
way of making them reallysuccessful.
Speaker 5 (48:48):
I want us to stay with that just for a couple of
minutes here, because this is ashow about how do we get from
the combination of a pandemiceconomic disruption, social
unrest, to a better place.
And the pivot that, you know,became such a overused word in
(49:11):
2020, but the pivot you made,you know, talking about yourself
and your own experience issomething that we're going to
need a lot of people to do,whether they're, it doesn't
matter what field they're ineducation technology.
We are going to need a lot ofcreativity.
And it's funny, the HudsonValley has a whole history of
(49:34):
its relationship with IBM and,you know, many people tell the
story of how IBM was much largerand then it downsize.
Then it left, you know, citieslike Poughkeepsie and Kingston
in significant, um, uh, decline.
Um, and yet you were a currentIBM or who saw something very
(50:00):
different in the world and wentfor it.
What would you tell, uh, someonein college right now who is
struggling to say, I don't knowwhat to do.
My world just got completelyup-ended and yet you, you did
something truly remarkable inthe sense of how you move from
(50:25):
the safety of say a largeemployer that you had an
established career with and setup, I'll take a chance.
And we need to thatentrepreneurial spirit.
In your case, you invested thatspirit in the notion of helping
people in recovery, but whatwould you tell college students?
(50:48):
Because that, that the essenceof what you did is something
that is critical, that weinstill in people all over the
place in many sectors coming outof the pandemic.
Speaker 4 (51:05):
Um, I think as much as my passion is creating
opportunity and success forwomen who are in recovery, I'm
just as passionate aboutchanging people's minds in the
same way that mine was changed.
Um, before I had that encounterwith Emily and the women who
(51:26):
shared their stories at mychurch that night, if you would
asked me if I would have hiredsomebody in recovery, I probably
would've told you no, because Iwas just so uneducated.
I mean, I, I just had a lot ofvery wrong assumptions.
Um, and so part of my passion ischanging people's mind in the
(51:47):
same way that my mind has beenchanged, that this is the most
tenacious, creative problemsolving, committed, incredible
group of people that I have everworked with in my lifetime.
Um, there's a quote I heardrecently that said that talent
(52:08):
lives everywhere, butopportunity doesn't and, and
overlooking an entire populationbecause poor, poor opportunity
in their life led to poor choiceled to poor outcome.
The talent is still there.
In fact, it's been exercised,maybe it's not in the right
(52:29):
context, but if that can beredirected.
Um, in fact, the surgeon generalhimself has a brother who
struggled with addiction andincarceration.
Um, but he, one of the things welearned from him was that people
in recovery are actually themost reliable workforce because
the rhythm and the community ofwork is so important to their
(52:50):
recovery, that they miss fewerdays of work than any other
population.
And I find that to be true.
I mean, I have to force my teamto take the sick days and
vacation, and you certainlywould not expect that.
Um, the other thing I would sayto a college students is, uh,
well, I guess first at thatpoint is that your passion of a
(53:10):
business of building a productof whatever doesn't have to be
separate from serving people whoneed an opportunity.
Those can be the same thing.
Um, and also a quote by CornellWest that I love it never forget
that justice
Speaker 1 (53:26):
Is what love looks like in public.
And so just treating people andemployees and family and friends
and the stranger who's in lineof you and in front of you at
the grocery store.
And just the people that we'reencountering.
You want to have justice startwith the guy who's driving you
crazy.
Cause he cut you off in theparking lot, right?
(53:47):
Looks like love
Speaker 5 (53:50):
Kelly Lynn guard.
I'm going to give you the finalword there and thank you so much
for spending some time with, uh,patterns and paradigms.
It's a truly remarkable storyand thank you for what you do
Speaker 1 (54:06):
Well, thank you.
I'm honored to be able to shareit.
And I just want to encouragepeople to check out our website
at unsheltered, that org, uh,we're just about to publish our
annual report with all kinds ofgreat stories and for the past
year.
So I'll sign up, you can go toour website, you'll get a little
pop up for our email list aswell.
And to follow us on social mediaon shattered and why on
(54:28):
Instagram, Twitter, andFacebook.
So you can hear our stories andsee our latest, amazing
products.
Speaker 5 (54:34):
And if people are, were so moved other than to just
purchase or get involved in theactual acquisition of a handbag,
is there other ways that theycan support or contribute to on
shatter?
Do you accept donations?
Speaker 1 (54:49):
We absolutely do.
You can donate atunsheltered.org/donate.
That is huge for us to help usgrow and create more jobs.
So we're always grateful forthat financial support as well.
Speaker 5 (55:02):
Thanks Kelly.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you.
Thank you for tuning in topatterns and paradigms the
pattern podcast.
For more information about thisepisode, visit our website
pattern for progress.org forwardslash podcast.
Speaker 7 (55:41):
[inaudible].
We are experiencing a paradigm shift, a fundamental
change in the way we usually dothings.
We are intentionally choosing tosee the silver lining
opportunity arises.
We can shine a light on thethings that weren't working well
(00:25):
on those things that weren'treally working at all, we can
regroup reevaluate andre-engineer it's time to explore
new patterns and paradigms thosethat inspire us to rise above
the chaos and explore how theconditions of today and take us
(00:47):
to a better tomorrow patternsand paradigms the pattern
podcast from Hudson Valleypattern for progress.
Your listening to season two,episode three, unsheltered,
social enterprise and recoverywith your host pattern,
president and CEO, JonathanDropkin.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I hope you're able to join us last week for our
episode with architect MichaelMurphy, Michael is truly one of
the most creative architectsthat we've run across in a long
time.
Um, who's has the capacity to,to integrate environment with,
(01:35):
um, buildings in a way that hasgained recognition throughout
the world.
I hope you have a chance tolisten to it.
Um, I'm going to be brief abouta trend that I want you to look
at, but it's so exciting that ifyou were ever a fan of the Ford
motor company, Mustang, Tesla isnow going to build an electric
(02:01):
version of the Mustang.
And so if you bought it becauseyou wanted to, um, have a car
that had horsepower, if you'veever driven a Tesla, this is
going to, so they werepreviewing this for a group of
people and the reaction, thelist of people who own the
(02:25):
high-end automobiles.
Um, but this is, uh, actually Ithink it sells, it's going to be
sold for just over 40,000 with a$7,500 rebate from the federal
government making the cost about32,000.
So not crazy, not obviously foryour, you know, person with less
(02:51):
money, but kind of interestingin watching this trend of what
happens with electric cars.
Um, please remember to subscribeto us at Apple or wherever you
find your podcasts.
And other than that, Joe, Cheikawhat's up, Joe.
(03:11):
I thought this week we had tothe governor Cuomo's state of
the state.
And, uh, there was a lot onhousing.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Absolutely.
So as you said, last week, thegovernor released his state of
the state in, he did it a littledifferent this year.
It was in a series of, of, uh,three or four different press
conferences.
And so part four, the state ofthe state included language on
how to ensure access toaffordable housing.
(03:39):
And as you know, as a pastsecretary of HUD housing is very
near and dear to the governor'sheart.
So I wanted to cover a couple ofhighlights very quickly from the
governor.
And we'll start off by saying,we're entering now the fourth
year of a five-year housing planthat he had set forth in 2018.
The plan had promised a hundredthousand preserved and new
(04:03):
affordable housing units and6,000 supportive housing units
to date.
Well, the States about 66,500with 2100 new supportive units
with another 5,000 in thepipeline who are doing very,
very well, right on, right ontarget the governors for
(04:23):
proposals for housing in 2021,we're going to run through those
pretty quickly mortgage relieffor homeowners and assistance
for renters moratorium onforeclosures.
Now set until may and proposedto be extended through the end
of 2021 moratorium on evictionsthrough may in a ban on fees for
(04:46):
missed or late payments to theproperty owners, the renters are
actually going to be able to usetheir security deposits for
immediate payment, and thenrepay those deposits over time.
Again, these are proposed for2021 number two investment in
supportive housing.
(05:08):
He wants to create an additional20,000 units over the next 15
years.
That's a pretty big target, butI got a feeling they're going to
be able to do that.
Number three, expand access tothe state of New York mortgage
Hagen's agency.
Otherwise known as sone may inan effort to combat
(05:28):
discriminatory lending practicesand build wealth in historically
red line communities,neighborhoods of color and low
income households.
They want to expand.
Sony may essentially reducingthe barriers to entry for
homeowners.
They want to increase a programthat's called the downtown down
payment assistance program from3000 to$7,500.
(05:53):
They want to expand the numberof lenders that can actually use
Mae products by adding moresmall banks, credit unions, and
an entity or entities that arecalled community development,
finance institutions, otherwiseknown as CDFI.
And they're primarily inbusiness to, um, to serve people
(06:16):
in, um, in, in low incomecommunities authorizing sone may
to offer temporary loanmodifications.
So borrowers can stay in theirhome homes during these, uh,
these times of crisis.
That's, that's the last part ofhis sone may proposal opening
other pathways to homeownership.
(06:37):
That's his fourth component ofhousing launch, the give us
credit program, and that hasfive pieces.
He wants to target borrowerswith non-traditional or
fluctuating sources of incomeallow financial support for
family members and friends allowborrowers to rely on traditional
sources and various layers ofdown payment assistance makes it
(07:01):
easier for applicants toovercome past financial
hardships, to qualify and rewardborrowers who demonstrate a song
, a strong alternative credithistory that about wraps up his
four elements of proposals for2021 in housing.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Hey Joe, um, I, there's a big difference between
the way in which the governordelivers the, um, state of the
state.
And this year was actually verydifferent than how we did it in
the past.
It was broken into four separatehalf hour presentations.
(07:42):
Um, but then there's the 330page written version, which you
and I, and the staff hadpattern, Oh, he's actually read
the entire document.
Are you satisfied with what youread?
You know, all these elements,these sound like they came from
actually the written document.
And was there anything that youwere hoping for, or do you think
(08:05):
that these are actually headingus in the right direction in, in
new York's housing crisis?
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I think they are heading, you know, they're,
they're pushing us in the rightdirection.
Uh, clearly over the last threeyears, there's been a great
advancement in housing.
Has there been enough?
No, there hasn't, but it doescome down to, to, to critical
element of who's going to payfor it.
And there's one missing piece inhere that I thought should be in
(08:33):
here and that's grant assistanceto property owners because of
missed rent from people thathave been impacted from the
financial crisis throughCOVID-19.
I know that the state has put upsome loan programs and the loan
programs are good to a point.
(08:55):
And the reason I say that ispeople will have to pay those
loans back.
They are not grants.
They're not going to be forgivenand landlords may or may not end
up receiving all of the missedrent from their tenants.
So at some point the rent doescome due.
So does the mortgage, so do allof the other expenses.
(09:18):
So this domino effect, dominantdomino activity of the rent
doesn't get paid.
The landlord doesn't have thedollars, somebody's going to end
up missing something in there.
And a grant program I thinkwould, would be a great help.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
And it's very interesting.
I know that, you know, your workin affordable housing, um, your
concern for tenants, um, butyou're actually saying, as you
look at the entire picture ofhousing, there are a number of,
um, landlords that still alsohave to, um, have enough working
capital so that they don't walkaway from the buildings they
(09:58):
own.
And that's part of the puzzle.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Well, that's right.
And if they do walk away or ifthey're not able to make, uh,
you know, maintenance repairs,if they're not able to make
those other improvements, that'sgoing to unfortunately have the
potential of leading todisinvestment.
And that's just the opposite ofwhat the governor wants to see.
(10:21):
Um, and obviously all of ourhousing agencies want to see in,
uh, in our, in our communities.
So it's, it's going to be a,it's going to be a tough road to
come back.
Uh, the next six months, I thinkwe're going to learn a lot.
And then the latter half of thisyear, uh, we'll we'll make, um,
there's, there's going to haveto be some changes made.
I think that's my prediction for2021.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Thanks, Joe.
And we'll all look forward towhen the governor presents the
budget for the next fiscal year,because, um, while the state of
the state is sort of likepainting a canvas, it's the
budget that actually tells youwhat he intends on doing.
(11:05):
So, um, thanks for that analysison housing, Joe, and I
appreciate, um, your take onthat section.
Um, so let me introduce ourguest for today's episode.
Her name is Kelly Lynn guard.
Kelly is the founder and CEO ofan organization, a
(11:26):
not-for-profit calledunchartered here in Duchess
County.
Um, it is one of the mostfascinating models that has been
developed for taking peoplewho've gone through drug
rehabilitation or alcoholrehabilitation and move them
(11:47):
into the next step of recovery.
What unsheltered does is itteaches them skills for the
production of women's handbags.
Not surprisingly all of theparticipants in the program are
women.
Um, there have been at least 25people.
(12:07):
It's a relatively new model, um,that have worked with
unsheltered and havesuccessfully during their
period, which unsheltered.
Um, Kelly will tell you ahundred percent of the people
while they were working withher, did not go back to whatever
their, um, substance abuse was.
(12:29):
It's a quite a remarkablerecord.
It's remarkable story made evenmore remarkable by Kelly's
background.
Kelly actually was an engineerat IBM for 18 years.
Um, she started off as anengineer and grew all the way up
to the director of databasemanagement.
(12:49):
Um, she did TJ planning for them.
She worked with billion dollarportfolio and then decided that
that was not what she wanted todo with her life.
Um, so I hope you enjoy thisspecial episode with Kelly Lynn
guard and a discussion aboutunsheltered and the way in which
(13:13):
even we hope our listeners couldlook at their lives.
Um, and this is not just thepeople who participate in
unsheltered, but pay attentionto what Kelly did herself with
her own life to pursue herdream.
Hi Kelly, and how are you doingand how are you fairing
throughout the pandemic?
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Well, thank you so much for having me hello to you.
It's an honor to be here.
I'm fairing pretty well.
All things considered.
It was a tough year for amillion reasons, not the least
of which is I unexpectedly lastmonth lost my father at the
beginning of the onset of COVIDlast March.
And then he was an only childand his mom, uh, got sick.
(13:57):
And so I have spent the lastyear caring for a mom and a
grandmother on top of trying tokeep a business alive here.
So I'm doing well.
I'm happy to have good people inmy life that love me.
Um, but for everybody it's been,it's been a lot, hasn't it?
Speaker 2 (14:10):
It sure has.
I keep saying it's likeconcentric circles until that
keep coming in on you.
And then that circle is people,you know, very closely and it's,
it seems that it's only a matterof time, but let's, let's just
leave that aside for the next 40or 45 minutes.
(14:31):
And let's talk about this reallyfantastic program you've
developed called unsheltered.
So tell me a bit about itsmission and what is it?
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Absolutely.
So unsheltered is a non-profitfive Oh one C3 social
enterprise, our mission to endthe addiction relapse cycle by
employing women and providingpathways toward economic
independence and sustainedsobriety, not to pass that I
ever thought that my own lifewould take, I was an executive
(15:05):
with IBM here in the HudsonValley.
Speaker 5 (15:07):
Wait, hold on.
What did you say?
You were an executive with IBMfor how many years?
And
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Yeah, I spent 16 years with IBM.
The last couple of that, I wasin a couple of strategy roles
and I owned IBM's databasebusiness.
So I had a P and L of over abillion dollars that I had
responsibility for was growingmy career and never thought that
I would leave.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
So do what, what's your, uh, training?
Was it engineering or
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Engineering and physics?
So I'm a physicist by training.
Yes.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Okay.
So I think there's gotta be apretty good story here for how
you go from an engineer and aphysicist working at IBM would a
billion dollar portfolio, twounsheltered what happened?
Okay.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Well, I happened to be at an event at my church and
they were partnering with alocal recovery program here in
the Hudson Valley.
And a couple of women from thatprogram spoke that night about
their journey through addictionand recovery.
Leading up to that night, I wasthe type of person who thought
maybe you should just be moreresponsible and put down the
(16:18):
bottle or stop sticking a needlein your arm and get a job until
I actually heard those women'sstories of how addiction
happened, how hard it was to getout of it and how hard it was to
sustain their sobriety once theyhad gone through recovery.
So in particular that night wasthe story of a woman named Emily
who had been eight years old atthe time she was taking care of
(16:42):
her mom who was ill.
She was from a broken home andher brother and at eight years
old, a 15 year old neighborthought it would be funny to get
an eight year old high, fastforward, 10 years later, her
addiction escalates and she is ahomeless IV drug user that
started at eight years old.
And I just thought, wait aminute, what?
(17:03):
I had no idea how young itstarted for most people, even my
team right now, the average ageof use is about 11 years old.
I have one that started at fiveat the hands of a father.
Um, and all of them would tellyou that the substance abuse
wasn't the problem.
It was the solution to adifferent problem.
It just turned out to be areally bad solution.
(17:25):
Uh, so I got involved with thatprogram fell in love with the
work that they were doing andthe journey that these women
were on of getting to sobriety.
But as I watched people stepback out into society in a lot
of cases, they didn't have jobskills.
A lot of cases, they didn't havean education, but most
importantly, they didn't have asafe community to go back home
(17:49):
to the relapse rate is reallyhigh.
Um, depends on the substanceyou're talking about, but
arguably between 60 and 80% ofpeople that achieve recovery
relapse and particularly in thisopioid epidemic, that relapse
often is death.
And it just seems like a badplan for us to cycle people
through relapse program untilthat's the natural outcome.
(18:11):
And I really believe that therewas a way to change course for
women and tap into their naturalskill sets and help them thrive
and survive in sobriety.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
So you, but when you started working with that
program, were you still at IBMor w
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Yup.
I was.
So I, somehow I did it nightsand weekends for a couple of
years just getting it off theground.
In the very beginning, I justthought I was providing jobs
skills training.
So helping them, um, have a pathwhere they had someone that
could speak well of them and saythat they showed up on time and
they did hard work and they werelearning leadership skills.
(18:47):
But when you started watchingwomen make these handbags, um,
we'll talk about this, butthey're all out of thrown away
and discarded materials turnthat literal trash into
something beautiful that aconsumer wants that moment where
they sold a product thatsomebody wanted because they
made something beautiful anduseful, turned out to be
life-changing for them.
(19:08):
And I just saw this switch go onof potential and possibility and
meaning, and we just needed theright pathway.
So even if we got them jobskills, and even if we got them
an employer, the only placewhere they had any kind of
relationships was back wherethey had been using, and it just
(19:30):
doesn't work as much as youdesire to go home and stay sober
this time, it's a recipe forrelapse.
And so I realized that we didn'tjust have to solve the
employability problem.
We actually had to provide thejob.
We had to providetransportation.
We had to had a connection tohousing.
Uh, we had to solve all of thoseresources to begin a pathway
(19:52):
where women could succeed andbuild that economic stability so
they could deliver all thosethings for themselves on their
own.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
So, okay.
So during the course of theprogram, you're volunteering
with something happens, youhear, you know, a story, you
know, dozens of stories.
And then how do you conceive ofthe structure that you wanted to
do for unsheltered?
(20:19):
I, you know, the little that Iunderstand of it, there's, you
know, three stages are stageone, stage two, stage three, but
you have a very deliberateapproach.
How did you figure out what youwanted to do?
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Yeah.
While we've have certainlyiterated and learned along the
way.
But I think the firstrealization, like I said is that
, um, we had to get women awayfrom going back to where their
use was, the abuse washappening.
Uh, and so I had built a programwhere they were learning job
(20:55):
skills.
They were making handbags.
We were doing the six monthinternship process.
It became clear that there wasenough viability to the product
and enough interest in talentfrom the women that we could
turn this into real jobs.
And so I left my career with IBMin 2015, and started to build a
(21:15):
pathway that included all ofthose steps along the way.
Uh, people often ask why in theworld were you making handbags
out of it?
You get there.
Uh, first I always have toconfess that I have loved
handbags since I was a child.
I go to store to visit thehandbags in the same way that
people might go to the zoo tovisit the animals.
(21:36):
So I've always loved awell-designed bag.
Um, and then I had, after mygrandfather passed away, I had
his suite codes and it hung in acloset for a long, long time
until, I mean, it was, the seamswere ripped out.
It was too big for me.
It was just going to stay in thecloset, but it was special and I
would never get rid of it untilone day I got brave enough to
cut out the good pieces of thesuede, sew them back together
(21:59):
into a tote bag and havesomething that was meaningful
and useful at the same time.
And so I thought, I'm sure wecould get people to donate some
old leather coats.
We could recover some fabricfrom companies that are throwing
it out.
I'm sure we can find a fewpieces.
I knew how to, so my mom taughtme growing up and those were the
components, but it just took offlike wildfire beyond, even
(22:22):
beyond my wildest dreams of whatwe were capable of doing, um,
together with these women.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
So as, as I understand it, stage one is in
recovery at one of yourresidential programs that are
partners of yours.
So how does someone go from, howdo you find the women that are
then part of unsheltered?
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
Yes.
Well, obviously I do not have abackground in social work or in
addiction recovery.
And so it's very important topartner with organizations that
know how to bring people out ofaddiction, to do the detox, to
get them back on their feet, torebuild the health and
psychology around sobriety,right?
So we lean on those partners tohelp women get to sobriety.
(23:09):
Our job is to step in and buildthat pathway.
I like to say that we paved theroad between sobriety and
long-term success.
So we partner with recoveryprograms around the country.
Um, most of them are 12 monthprograms that tends to work the
best a 12 month residentialprogram, and then offering a
woman an opportunity to come in.
So, so for the local one that wework with, we will start
(23:32):
training them while they'restill a student in the program.
Um, but for some of them, wewill bring them to unsheltered
after they complete theirprogram.
They start with a 10 weektraining program where we're
just teaching them how to be anemployee.
Uh, that took me a long time tofigure out is that in a lot of
cases, not only have women notheld a job themselves before,
(23:54):
uh, but often they didn't haveparents that were coming and
going to work each day.
So they, they lived in somechaos that they just never
learned those principles ofemployment and employability,
that that's where we have tostart to teach them that part.
And then at the end of 10 weeks,we kind of treat them like an
entrepreneur that if they aredoing the right work with the
(24:16):
right attitude and, um,contributing their max to the
team, they're eligible to createemployment for themselves to
come into full time employmentwith unsheltered.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
So are you also then helping them find a shelter, a
residential, is there, is that acomponent of unsheltered or it's
just something that you willassist them in and you're really
the employer side of this.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Yes.
So we partner with one of thelocal recovery programs who has
a transitional program, so theycan stay in that.
Well, they're a trainee.
They stay in that program as noat no cost.
Uh, we run a shuttle back andforth.
So they have transportation to,and from work, they can stay
there for roughly up to a yearin transitional living.
Our track record is that withina year of employment with
(25:04):
unsheltered, we've been able toget everybody into their own
home or apartment.
But during that year, they canstay in transitional living.
It's reduced rent.
Uh, like I said, there's ashuttle, so they get
transportation back and forth towork.
And then we're working withpartners in the community to
help find them lower costapartments, or people that have
a room to rent, or, uh, rightnow we have a few of them that
(25:25):
are roommates renting a greathouse near our location as well.
Speaker 5 (25:30):
So I, in your material, it says that you have
a 100% rate of people who havebeen in the unsheltered program.
That doesn't necessarily meanthose who are coming out of a
recovery, but once they're inyour program, they remain, uh,
(25:51):
sober.
And if it, do I have that right?
Or
Speaker 4 (25:56):
We like to say that we have seen 100% of our
employees continue to choosesobriety.
So we don't track after theyhave left us.
In some cases they will leaveand they'll choose to go back
home.
It's kind of proof of our modelthat if you choose to do that,
we think your risk of relapse isreally, really high, but we've
had a 100% success rate.
(26:16):
Every single one of ouremployees in our going on five
years of providing full-timeemployment for women in
recovery, we've seen everysingle one of those shoes
sobriety during their time withus.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
And what's the, what's the give us a couple of
examples are the longest coupleof years that people have been
with you or
Speaker 4 (26:36):
No, we, um, we have several that have been there
going on about three years.
Wow.
One of them incredible successstory.
Amanda was a heroin addict,many, many years, several
relapses in her history, uh,incarcerated, homeless, um, you
know, all kinds of toughcircumstances and choices in her
(26:56):
life and came through ourpartnership with hoping home and
has been with us.
Gosh, I think over three yearsfor her now, she has been
promoted several times.
She is our, um, product managerand creative lead.
She last spring completed, uh,the leadership Duchess class
(27:17):
with the chamber of commerce inSeptember.
She started her collegeeducation.
Uh, she's built a relationshipback with her young kids.
She has a son of her own, so shehas her own apartment, uh, with
her son that she's able tosupport and just has been an
incredible success story.
She's spoken, um, in New Yorkcity at the business council of
(27:38):
New York state, she's spoken atthe white house about her story.
She's spoken on podcasts, justreally unbelievable to watch her
thrive and grow and be anincredible example for the rest
of the team.
Speaker 5 (27:51):
Fabulous story.
So in thinking of your model,which is been, um, finding a, a,
the next step from recovery isthen finding a job and
supportive environment.
Have you looked at otherprograms or is this, have you
(28:11):
ever thought this is, um, this,this model could be improved.
I know you have big dreams abouthow it can be enlarged, but is
there anything other people thatyou other programs because
you've done so well at this thatyou've said, Hey, you know, I'm
watching those people if onlythey would understand.
(28:34):
So have you gone to speak toother recovery programs, have
other recovery problems come tovisit you?
Yeah,
Speaker 4 (28:41):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, first of all, we don'thave it all figured out.
And in fact, I just got off aleadership meeting with my team
and the message was like, you'rehere because I expect you to
make mistakes in your work.
We're learning.
Our job is to always be on thebleeding edge of how we can
improve and how we can servebetter and how we can get more
educated in the work that we'redoing and improve what we offer
(29:04):
and offer it to more women.
Um, but we have been recognizedfor the work that we are doing.
We were invited to the whitehouse a couple of years ago,
alongside Facebook, Google,Amazon, Walgreens, red cross,
and little tiny on shattered tobe recognized for our creative
and effective work in fightingthe opioid crisis.
(29:24):
Um, we got to speak to thesurgeon general and the heads of
health and human services, um,really sharing the work that
we're doing and why we believeit's working, what the pieces of
our model and how we think thatcan be translated to other
places.
But even in those conversations,learning all the time from other
people.
One of my biggest inspirationsis Becca Stevens from this'll
(29:48):
farms in Nashville.
And many, many years ago, Iheard her say, how can you say
that you love somebody if youdon't care about their economic
wellbeing.
And I think that launched in mymind many years ago and just
became a catalyst for the workthat I'm doing now.
So we're constantly learning andalso constantly sharing what we
(30:08):
have learned to help otherservices.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
So I would imagine during the pandemic, you like
everyone else either had torethink your business model a
little bit, or maybe took onother responsibilities.
What happened, I guess almost ayear?
Well, it's not quite a year ago,but back in March, let's say,
Speaker 4 (30:30):
Yeah.
Wow.
Uh, let's see.
I think it was March 18th whenthe governor said that non
essential businesses had toreduce staffing by 25%.
And so I sat at my dining roomtable and I made a plan about
who was going to work from homeand how we could shift the
workload and what we were goingto do.
And then on the 19th, he said,non-essential businesses can
only be staffed at 50%.
(30:51):
And I literally pushed the planup and started over.
And then Friday morning he said,uh, Nope, you have to only be
staffed at 25%.
That was 8:00 AM rebuilding by11:00 AM.
He said, Nope, all not essentialbusinesses are closed.
And at that point I was like, Idon't, I don't, what are we
(31:12):
going to do?
What are we going to do?
But he also said that there wasa need for personal protective
equipment.
And so really led by the womenon my team within 24 hours, we
shifted to making masks.
We partnered with a physicianfrom Vassar brothers medical
center.
Uh, by Saturday morning, we wereup and running on producing
(31:35):
masks for our community.
We donated all the masks that wemade for three and a half months
until we were able to reopen asour normal day to day business.
So we donated 9,000 masks toover 240 caregiving, hospitals,
jails, uh, retirement homes andnursing centers in the Hudson
Valley community.
(31:56):
So we were really proud of that.
Um, but at the time, of course,our bread and butter is making a
product.
And while we're a nonprofit, wetake donations, our product
sales account for about 70% ofour total revenue.
Uh, so I told the team that Iwas committed to employing them
for as long as I could.
I knew that this was the mostemotionally and economically
(32:18):
vulnerable population thatsending people in recovery home
to sit on their couch for whoknows how long was a terrible
idea.
Um, but I didn't know if we weregonna make another sense that
year.
And so I told them that we wouldjust, if worst case scenario, I
could get everybody to December.
And I felt like that gave meenough of a runway.
And I have enough of a networkthat I could place them in other
(32:40):
jobs if I had to.
But I put the cry out to thecommunity to say, these women
deserve employment.
They deserve hope and a chancethey deserve to be cared for.
And the community trulyresponded and supported our
employees so that they couldmake and donate everything that
(33:00):
they were making.
Um, the other thing I thinkthat's pretty incredible.
And I mentioned this at the verybeginning when you asked, how I
was doing is, um, March 26.
So right after we switched ourentire production and business
model, my dad unexpectedlypassed away.
And so I was out of the officetrying to figure out what to do
(33:22):
through that take care of mymom.
And then my father's mom gotsick and I had to care for her.
And so I was out a lot and had alot of other responsibilities on
my shoulders.
And I'm telling you what a teamof women who within the last on
average two years were addicted,homeless, incarcerated, abused,
rebuilt a new business from theground up.
(33:44):
They stepped up into leadership,they served the community.
One of them said, thank you fortrusting us with such a noble
task, the incredible story towatch what they did.
Speaker 5 (33:59):
Um, the, okay, so we pivot they, but then you come
back.
So here's what I think I needyou to do because the, the
difficulty of trying to describehow special these handbags are
is that this is audio, right?
So if you were gonna sort oftake a moment to try to say, you
(34:22):
know, look it starts with, oreach one I think starts with,
uh, the repurpose materials.
So there's something special inthe material itself for the
person that is seeking the bat.
Do I have that?
Right?
And then, and then, so then takeme through it and help, help me
(34:43):
try to visualize something in anaudio format.
Speaker 4 (34:47):
Right, right.
Um, you know, I think mostpeople's perception, you say
you're a social enterprise andthey think, Oh, people are just
buying their products becausethey really want to help your
patient.
We're actually the opposite.
Most people buy our productbecause it's really beautiful
and really well done and reallyhigh quality.
And then they find out there's asocial mission behind it.
(35:08):
So we make all of our bags outof reclaimed upcycling
materials.
Best we can tell we're savingNorth of about 3000 pounds of
fabric a year out of mostly theHudson Valley based system.
Uh, so we're using things likemanufacturing scrap.
We use uniforms that the Westpoint cadets are discarding when
they graduate.
A lot of that was going to anincinerator.
(35:31):
Uh, we use that for Broadwayshows, uh, reclaimed vinyl from
company down in Tarrytown,
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Ultra fabrics that provides to the hospitality
industry.
So anything that you see in arestaurant or hotel that you
think is leather probably is thehigh-end vinyl from ultra fabric
.
So it's a really high-endmaterials and really well-made
bags.
So we partner with Maristcollege, a lot on our design
practices and, um, thestructural integrity of the
(35:59):
product, the efficiency of theway that we manufacture them.
And we do everything from totesto really gorgeous handbags or
clutches or wristlets.
We do men's bags and do walletsfor men.
We do, um, like travel bags orlaptop bags and the retired us
army battle uniform.
(36:20):
We do toiletry kits like to say,well, it's more manly then it's
the trick is made up of aretired army battle uniform.
Um, just some really beautifulthings.
Uh, we also have a custom linewhere, like I talked about my
grandfather's suede coat, wetake family heirloom and we'll
turn that into a gorgeous bag.
(36:41):
Occasionally we to pillows too.
But, um, just really beautifulbags made from anything from a
wedding gown to, uh, we've usedScottish health heirloom kilts
from a family that belonged to agreat-grandmother.
We have used school uniforms,really amazing.
Your kids' sports uniforms, alot of things that you're just
(37:03):
never going to get rid ofleather coats.
Um, one of everybody says,what's the strangest thing
you've made a backyard.
Well, one day I walked into theoffice and on our custom shelves
, there was a pair of oldrunning shoes.
And I said to the team, and theysaid, Oh, they belong to
somebody whose father he passedaway.
And, uh, you know, these weren'treally special.
(37:25):
The kids wouldn't have atoiletry kit.
Speaker 6 (37:28):
I think we can do that.
They're like, Oh no, no, don'tworry.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
And they did.
They took the upper piece offthe shoe.
It took it off the solereconfigured it until really
gorgeous toiletry kit for one ofthe songs.
It was just amazing.
And there's something reallyinteresting that happens through
that process.
Uh, here's an example.
There were two women that theirfather was in the Navy and he
(37:53):
had, uh, died in an accident, aboating accident when they were,
I believe three and seven, theywere young.
In any case, they had one of hisNavy uniforms that they brought
in for us to make a reallygorgeous handbag out of his
uniform.
But in the process of workingthrough that design with their
team, they started to tellstories about their father and
(38:13):
the whole time it was like,well, I never heard that story
about him.
I didn't know that about him.
I didn't remember that.
And that happens all the timethat, that tactile experience of
handling a piece of your familyhistory, re-imagining with our
team, how you might configurethat into something new and
beautiful and useful just onearth, these stories and moments
(38:36):
for family, that's pretty fun toparticipate.
So we do that both virtually youcan do a virtual appointment and
mail us, uh, your heirloompiece, or you can do that.
One-on-one with our designers.
Speaker 5 (38:47):
Wow.
So they partner with you in thedesign and they get to say,
wait, could you do a little bitof this or a little bit of that?
And they add to it.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Yeah.
So for example, often when wemake, if you maybe lost a spouse
or something, and we'll make abag out of maybe a husband's
leather coat, we like to keep apocket maybe on the back of the
handbag that maybe your phonecan drop in there, but you can
still put your hand where yourloved one's hand was.
Speaker 5 (39:13):
So it seems not even a pandemic can slow you down.
Um, so tell me a bit about yourvision.
You know, if, if this is it, if,if the world was good to you and
you could take this model andyou could scale it up, what
would you, what wouldunsheltered look like?
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Well, I mean, first of all, I think our statistics
speak to the validity of ourmodel, that we've had a hundred
percent success rate for ouremployees continuing to choose
sobriety.
Um, we've been able to get allof them within a year out of
transitional living into theirown home or apartment.
And we made it through 2020, notonly with not a single relapse
(39:56):
on our team.
Um, but with the investment ofthe community, our sales went up
in 2020, our, our revenue, bothin donations and sales went up
in 2020.
So for us to have growth lastyear really spoke to us about
how much our community caresabout our work and cares about
our women and identifies withthe mission of unsheltered.
(40:20):
I want to do more of it.
Uh, our, our only limitation isthe space that we need to
function.
We are in about 2000 square feetright now.
We have 10 of us, several of usare working from home, uh, in
order.
I mean, we were, we were keptbefore this happened in our
ability to hire more women, um,trying to stay six feet apart
(40:41):
and still do that gets evenharder.
So I'm trying to, we've takenmachines to people's houses,
we've offloaded some of the workto other sites, but the only
thing holding us back right nowis more space and the investment
to make that happen.
And it breaks my heart to seethe, um, to know that we have a
(41:01):
waiting list of people that wantto work for us.
And I tell them now I had awoman a few years ago that we
hired Brenda, who, uh, had livedin Los Angeles and spent all of
her, um, 35 years of her adultlife, um, incarcerated and
using, and homeless andprostituting.
(41:22):
And when she completed her 10week training program and I
offered her full timeemployment, she, she teared up
when I offered it to hergratefully and then turned
around and started to walk backto her space on the production
floor.
And she got halfway through andshe stopped and she just started
sobbing.
And she said, I'm never going tohave to sleep behind the trash
(41:45):
can.
Again, I'm never going to haveto sell my body in order to eat
again.
And to know that like, that'swhat we're solving.
And yet to know that I havewomen that that's probably their
next best alternative save forme, offering them employment,
breaks my heart to know that Iliterally don't have physical
(42:07):
space for them.
So step one is getting thefunding and building.
We have our eye on one rightnow.
Um, so seeking the funding to beable to move into a larger
space, to expand the number ofpeople that we're serving.
And then the big long dream iswe have a model that's working
and it's not limited to makinghandbags.
We can build in the process thatwe have into other skillsets.
(42:32):
So I would love to open a coffeeshop or a daycare center or a
women's mechanic shop, or youname it.
Um, but what's really specialabout our work is it's not just
making handbags, but 10% to 10%of their work time every week is
dedicated to ongoing personalprofessional development.
(42:53):
So we are not only paying forthings like therapeutic
counseling.
We're paying them for an hour oftheir time to go and get that in
, invest in their own wellness.
We do lunch and learns everyweek with our community where
people are coming in andteaching topics from heart
health to creative writing, tohow to use your phone, to take
great photographs to you, nameit, um, really just investing in
(43:18):
that holistic wellness of theindividual so much so that, like
I said, we're paying them forfour hours a week just for their
personal professional spiritualdevelopment.
Speaker 5 (43:28):
Um, so it would be a larger building, more staff.
Uh, how has, how has yourmarketing right now?
Is there more that could bedone?
I mean, I know of on chatteredbecause I'm in the Hudson
Valley, but, um, is what wouldbe the next step and promote?
Speaker 1 (43:47):
Yeah, that is a great question.
Um, that was another thing thepandemic shifted up until the
end of last February 84% of oursales were face-to-face.
We have a walk-in boutique andHopewell junction.
We're still open right now.
Um,
Speaker 5 (44:01):
I was in Duchess County in the Hudson Valley,
just for some of our listeners.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
Yep.
Not too far from Fishkill.
Uh, we did a ton of eventsaround the country.
So we were a sponsored vendor bycountry living magazine in their
vendor fairs around the country.
Uh, so 84% came fromface-to-face sales now, greater
than that is online sales.
So now we have all the otherthings we had to address last
(44:28):
year.
Like everybody else, we had tobecome a digital business, which
means we need social ads,digital marketing, Google ads,
um, that's investment.
And, you know, sometimes thatfeels disconnected from the work
that we're doing, but it'sthrough those investments in
things like social ads andGoogle ads that drive the
(44:49):
revenue for the product.
And that revenue turns into jobsfor women like Brenda, who spent
many of her days slipping behinda trash can and selling her body
.
Speaker 5 (44:59):
So it seems like there there's actually, there's
two pipelines going on here.
There's the pipeline of helpingwomen through recovery.
And then there's the pipeline ofthe products.
Those women are making to bemarketed sold in order to help
(45:19):
reinvest in on shattered andcontinue to provide this, um,
uh, environment for women to,uh, prosper.
It is a, uh, for those who haveworked in the recovery world, it
is an incredible feat whatyou're trying to do here at
(45:41):
Kelly, because the, the, youknow, as you mentioned, the
relapse rate in general issomewhere around 80%.
And so if there is this periodwhere you can actually, um,
provide a window and add, no, noone has 100% all the time, at
(46:02):
least while they're with you,that's sort of phenomenal
success rate.
Um, but no one can, uh, thereare so many things that can go
wrong.
The collective environment ofwhat is necessary in order to
help people stay sober, whetherit's from drugs or from alcohol.
And they're usually coming fromenvironments that most people
(46:25):
barely can imagine.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
Absolutely.
That was me.
I had no idea, no idea whatpeople survive.
Speaker 5 (46:35):
What else would you want people to know about an on
shattered?
You know, so we've talked abouthow it came, you know, your
background being an IBMengineer, which I can't think of
a more disconnected, uh, uh,transition like, gee, I'll go to
IBM, I'll be an engineer.
(46:56):
And then I'm going to run arecovery program.
Women's tan bags, the transitionfor you personally let alone the
people that you have helpedalong the way.
Um, what else should people knowabout on chatter?
Speaker 1 (47:14):
Yeah, well, first it seems obvious that there is a
huge disconnect there, but whatI bring that I think is valuable
and makes us succeed is that I'mvery good at seeing patterns.
And I think that has helped us
Speaker 4 (47:30):
Iterate and grow.
And zero in on what's reallyeffective about our business and
organizational model is that asan engineer, I'm primed to see
patterns of success.
And so that's what I'm alwaysusing to constantly tweak and
refine, um, the organization atlarge, but also to tailor the,
the, the opportunity and thepathway of possibility for the
(47:54):
individual.
And so I spent a lot of timereally trying to know them to
understand their strengths andmotivation, and to place them in
a role where they can thrive andsucceed.
So it's everybody for the mostpart starts by sowing, but women
in recovery pretty much run ourwhole organization.
They do the whole backend of thewebsite.
They do all of our productionmanagement and fulfillment and
(48:18):
shipping systems.
They run our boutique there,they design the product, they
handle our externalrelationships.
So it's that bigger pathway thatI'm trying to create for them to
really succeed in a career, notjust learn how to sell, right.
And it's because I can seepattern in the way that they
communicate in the way that theyuse a words that tells me how
(48:40):
they think about the world.
Um, what types of things theytend to succeed at gives me a
way of making them reallysuccessful.
Speaker 5 (48:48):
I want us to stay with that just for a couple of
minutes here, because this is ashow about how do we get from
the combination of a pandemiceconomic disruption, social
unrest, to a better place.
And the pivot that, you know,became such a overused word in
(49:11):
2020, but the pivot you made,you know, talking about yourself
and your own experience issomething that we're going to
need a lot of people to do,whether they're, it doesn't
matter what field they're ineducation technology.
We are going to need a lot ofcreativity.
And it's funny, the HudsonValley has a whole history of
(49:34):
its relationship with IBM and,you know, many people tell the
story of how IBM was much largerand then it downsize.
Then it left, you know, citieslike Poughkeepsie and Kingston
in significant, um, uh, decline.
Um, and yet you were a currentIBM or who saw something very
(50:00):
different in the world and wentfor it.
What would you tell, uh, someonein college right now who is
struggling to say, I don't knowwhat to do.
My world just got completelyup-ended and yet you, you did
something truly remarkable inthe sense of how you move from
(50:25):
the safety of say a largeemployer that you had an
established career with and setup, I'll take a chance.
And we need to thatentrepreneurial spirit.
In your case, you invested thatspirit in the notion of helping
people in recovery, but whatwould you tell college students?
(50:48):
Because that, that the essenceof what you did is something
that is critical, that weinstill in people all over the
place in many sectors coming outof the pandemic.
Speaker 4 (51:05):
Um, I think as much as my passion is creating
opportunity and success forwomen who are in recovery, I'm
just as passionate aboutchanging people's minds in the
same way that mine was changed.
Um, before I had that encounterwith Emily and the women who
(51:26):
shared their stories at mychurch that night, if you would
asked me if I would have hiredsomebody in recovery, I probably
would've told you no, because Iwas just so uneducated.
I mean, I, I just had a lot ofvery wrong assumptions.
Um, and so part of my passion ischanging people's mind in the
(51:47):
same way that my mind has beenchanged, that this is the most
tenacious, creative problemsolving, committed, incredible
group of people that I have everworked with in my lifetime.
Um, there's a quote I heardrecently that said that talent
(52:08):
lives everywhere, butopportunity doesn't and, and
overlooking an entire populationbecause poor, poor opportunity
in their life led to poor choiceled to poor outcome.
The talent is still there.
In fact, it's been exercised,maybe it's not in the right
(52:29):
context, but if that can beredirected.
Um, in fact, the surgeon generalhimself has a brother who
struggled with addiction andincarceration.
Um, but he, one of the things welearned from him was that people
in recovery are actually themost reliable workforce because
the rhythm and the community ofwork is so important to their
(52:50):
recovery, that they miss fewerdays of work than any other
population.
And I find that to be true.
I mean, I have to force my teamto take the sick days and
vacation, and you certainlywould not expect that.
Um, the other thing I would sayto a college students is, uh,
well, I guess first at thatpoint is that your passion of a
(53:10):
business of building a productof whatever doesn't have to be
separate from serving people whoneed an opportunity.
Those can be the same thing.
Um, and also a quote by CornellWest that I love it never forget
that justice
Speaker 1 (53:26):
Is what love looks like in public.
And so just treating people andemployees and family and friends
and the stranger who's in lineof you and in front of you at
the grocery store.
And just the people that we'reencountering.
You want to have justice startwith the guy who's driving you
crazy.
Cause he cut you off in theparking lot, right?
(53:47):
Looks like love
Speaker 5 (53:50):
Kelly Lynn guard.
I'm going to give you the finalword there and thank you so much
for spending some time with, uh,patterns and paradigms.
It's a truly remarkable storyand thank you for what you do
Speaker 1 (54:06):
Well, thank you.
I'm honored to be able to shareit.
And I just want to encouragepeople to check out our website
at unsheltered, that org, uh,we're just about to publish our
annual report with all kinds ofgreat stories and for the past
year.
So I'll sign up, you can go toour website, you'll get a little
pop up for our email list aswell.
And to follow us on social mediaon shattered and why on
(54:28):
Instagram, Twitter, andFacebook.
So you can hear our stories andsee our latest, amazing
products.
Speaker 5 (54:34):
And if people are, were so moved other than to just
purchase or get involved in theactual acquisition of a handbag,
is there other ways that theycan support or contribute to on
shatter?
Do you accept donations?
Speaker 1 (54:49):
We absolutely do.
You can donate atunsheltered.org/donate.
That is huge for us to help usgrow and create more jobs.
So we're always grateful forthat financial support as well.
Speaker 5 (55:02):
Thanks Kelly.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you.
Thank you for tuning in topatterns and paradigms the
pattern podcast.
For more information about thisepisode, visit our website
pattern for progress.org forwardslash podcast.
Speaker 7 (55:41):
[inaudible].
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.