00:00
So not every interest that I've ever had that I've pursued has come to fruition or become anything. And that for me is actually part of the journey. That's the glorious part about it, right? Like many failures, many like, I'm interested here and then it fizzles out and you know, it's just not for you. But following that sort of meandering path, who would have thought that working in a health clinic, you know, as a case manager and home staging would come together to create something that transforms people's lives.
00:40
Today we chat with my friend, Danielle Woodhouse Johnson. You know how every once in a while you meet someone new, you get to talking, and then you shortly find yourself saying, wow, you've lived a very interesting life.
Well, Danielle is definitely one of these people. Along with her many adventures, she's learned some really valuable lessons in ownership and treating everyone with dignity and respect. I'm really excited to introduce you to her today.
01:26
Hi, my love, welcome to the show. I'm really excited to have you. Hey, Gary, I'm excited to be here. Great seeing you. So for our listeners, you need to know that Danielle and I are friends. spent quite a bit of time at Burning Man and preparing for Burning Man. We were both in a committee together, so we got to know each other really well. And this is the first time that we're seeing each other after Burning Man, so we're very, very excited to spend time together.
You look better rested, Gary. I'm sure. look fresh. I'm sure. I was going to say, what a shower does, isn't that amazing? don't have an inch of dirt on me and plow your dust. So I really wanted to talk to you because you are doing, first of all, you just have a fascinating background story in your journey, but you're doing some really beautiful work with a nonprofit that you've launched. And I was so
moved and inspired by that in the work that you're doing there that I wanted to talk about that. But before you even go there, I think that I want to just your background story, right? Because you didn't just wake up one day and decide to launch a nonprofit on top of your busy life, on top of your kids and your marriage and your nine to five and everything else you have going on, Give us a little bit of your, where did you grow up?
your professional journey like starting out and just give us a little background story. Well, background, okay. So I grew up in Northern Virginia, right outside of DC. And I'll start you off at my journey in Peace Corps. So after I graduated from University of Virginia, I studied Spanish and international affairs. And I went to Dominican Republic and lived there for almost three years as a Peace Corps volunteer. So I was out in the sticks like the compo.
countryside, right? Like a hole for a toilet, basically. And that experience was super transformative for me. And the sense that I got to, you know, be a part of a community, learn the language, learn about what was important to me and my value system, in terms of what brought happiness, right? Coming from the United States to a place where it's, you know, not the tourist version of Dominican that you may think of, it's something different and
03:49
you know, spending three years there, earning the same as the people that I lived with so that there was no difference really in the sense of, you know, our lifestyles and stuff like that, and really just being embedded. And that part for me just taught me a lot about my ideals, about what I valued, about what was, you know, what made life worth living, right? And so I come back from the Dominican and I worked on an HIV project there. That was during my time there.
and work with a lot of youth and we taught other youth about how to prevent transmission and sort of around the island. So that was really great. And I came back and I worked at a public health clinic for four years and I was a case manager, counselor, HIV tester. And I had a lot of clients coming in from different countries who had nothing basically, a lot of undocumented folks, people who didn't have health insurance.
and they were looking for resources and to be connected into the community, you know, just for help, right? And so I got to know those people in a very personal way. Our clinic was actually embedded in an apartment building. So one of the apartments was the clinic itself and people would come in for counseling and testing and they, know, next door neighbors. So it was another community centered sort of environment. And I had a couple of clients come in who needed furniture.
So in these apartments, they would share spaces and there may be four families in a single apartment. And they would use curtains and different things to divide the spaces to kind of create their own privacy and, you know, do things that they had to do to be able to survive. And a couple of clients would come in and request furniture. So I'd have to reach out to people in the community. You have a couch, do you have a chair? Do you have a bed? And the donations I would get from them when they bring things were
atrocious, right? It was like trash. And it would make me so angry inside, because I'd be like, just because this person doesn't have anything doesn't mean that they deserve your trash. Like, it's table with the dog legs chewed, you know, like the legs chewed by your dog, or, you know, a couch with like, you know, a spring sticking out where it's uncomfortable to sit on. And, you know, although people would accept the donations, it was communicating a message to them that you're not worth anything.
06:13
Take whatever is given to you. You have no choice in the matter. And I knew these people's lives. I knew their kids. I knew their backstory, their history, sometimes coming from, you know, incredible places to, I mean, doing incredible things to come into the United States and being humbled by their circumstances. So that was a seed for me.
To start the Oasis Alliance, which is, because I haven't explained that yet, but the Oasis Alliance is an organization that creates space for trauma survivors. And by space, I mean physical spaces. rooms, homes, we've recently done some commercial facilities where folks come. And these are people who have been through various types of trauma in their lives, be it homelessness, catastrophic medical illness.
domestic violence situations, vets who suffer with PTSD, mental health issues, all kinds of people in all different walks of life, but they're getting a space, right? It's a transition time in their life and that space has nothing in it. They don't have the resources to furnish it. They don't have the resources to make it home. And so they come to a place that really doesn't represent them and is honestly just depressing to go into.
And so that the time I spent at the clinic learning about how to make people feel important, how to make them feel like they're reflected, how to make them feel valued really sort of was that initial seed to start the Oasis Alliance. And then, you know, on the other side of the coin, I am an artist, I am a designer, an interior designer.
home stager, was I sold made jewelry and sold jewelry for a very long time. That started when I was in the Peace Corps, using materials and found materials in the environment, paint or any kind of art really, is I'm just creative. And so I was doing home staging. And I don't know, Gary, do you know about home staging? Have you ever heard of it before for like
08:25
I know about it when there's like a rental or you're trying to sell a unit and you come and you fill it up with like we make it beautiful and then you walk in and you're like, I want to live here. Exactly. You're like, I'll take it with everything that's here, which happens. So people do that. So that that magic that you see, that's marketing, right? Like home stages go in to a property they're trying to sell or rent and create.
they speak to the buyer that comes in the door and say, you can have this lifestyle, right? So it's really design. It's light design because once the home is sold, of course everything's taken out and it's reused in another home. But the goal is to communicate a lifestyle to the client that comes in the door. So, you know, if you have a young bachelor coming in and he wants a nice condo in the city, you're going to put certain magazines on the table.
You're going to hang a nice sport jacket in the bedroom. You're going to put a cocktail set on the table. Little things where you're saying, this is the life that you want. You're aspiring to that next phase. So I did home staging for quite a while. I started as an intern and then moved up to a lead stager at one of the firms here out of DC. And those skills enabled me to learn about communicating through home aspirations for someone.
I've got the social work aspect of the clinic and dealing with people that at their lowest point, I've got design and sort of psychology, design psychology, and then married the two together into an organization where we can serve people, but also have some artistic outlet and also help people to see themselves again and be confident again and come home to a place that they can recharge in. So yeah, that's kind of a summary of how I got there.
There are so many things I want to unpack, but I to go back. I want to go back to the Peace Corps because I'm placing myself in your shoes. I want to just be, first I just want to really create like, because I think it got skipped over a little bit, but you know, when you're in the Peace Corps, you just said it, like you are living with the people that you're serving.
10:43
It's not like you are in a nice apartment in a different town and you're in an Airbnb type of setup and then you go in, like you are living with the people and you're earning the same salary that the locals earn. you are like your resources are as limited as they are. And like when I started, mean, I'm Dominican so I know exactly what that means.
You know, and so when you said that, I literally go like, What? What was that like for you? I mean, the first thing I'm present to is that takes a lot of courage, you know, to be that young and be willing to take that risk and leave behind so much of your comfort. And, you know, and it's ironic because you're going to college to prepare yourself.
to have success and the things that come with success, but you almost like give all that up and go the opposite way and leave all your material things behind to be in service in this way. So I'm just really present to the selflessness and the leadership and also the courage to do that.
Especially for Americans, because Americans don't have lot of experience with that level of poverty, that level of, you know, we're like, it's hard here, but I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like, you don't know hard. Exactly. It can get worse. So what was that like for you? And if you can kind of just talk about that experience a little bit, think you'd, I don't want to skip over that part.
It's nice to go back down memory lane with like this with you around Peace Corps, because it was a very formative experience for me. So I didn't come from a lot in the States. I mean, a single mom grew up with a single mom. My father was incarcerated for much of my childhood addiction problems and things like that. I mean, we have a relationship, but it was was tough, you know, in that respect. But my mom is also, you know, mom's like just a strong woman, a great
12:57
inspiration to me and I didn't really feel the lack as much, know, but I have always been a sucker for an adventure. We met it. We met at Burning Man, right? I went by myself. Like, yeah, I wanted to see the world and because I didn't come from much, I wasn't doing the backpacking gap year trip where you had, you know, funds to just go and go to Europe and travel around. And I was also studying international affairs.
right, and a major in Spanish. And so, and then I heard there's an island with like, black Hispanic people too. Like, that was cool to me, you know? And so, and also it's not so far away that it feels like I'm unreachable, right? And so it just ended up being a really great opportunity. Then I got there and I was like, do y'all curse on this podcast?
Damn, this is not, this is tough. And when you go into Peace Corps, they give you this little graph that to kind of prepare you for what you're about to go through. And so, you you've got like the excitement, the excitement coming this way, and then it drops down when you first get into your community and all your friends and the other volunteers leave and you're out there and you don't know the language and you don't have a toilet and you're washing your clothes in the river.
by yourself, so you don't even have other, wow, okay. No, the closest volunteer, now this isn't the situation for every volunteer. Some people are hours away from each other, but my best friend now, like my best friend, she was maybe 30 minutes away, but we had a conchill there, like we had to ride a motorcycle to get there, the roads weren't great, you know, that kind of thing. So I had my moment, like they actually, got pretty depressed out there.
and they were gonna send me home, because I wasn't really eating a lot. I just wasn't motivated. I was sad. You know, I came with a boyfriend and that wasn't working out because of the distance, you know, type of thing. He's now my husband, so it did eventually work out. But it was tough, right? And then when they said, we're gonna send you home if you don't start like gaining weight, like your doña, your host mom is saying you're not like...
15:24
you're just really sad and she doesn't know what to do. And then something that was just... Are you staying with a family? is that, when you say your host mom, are you living with her? In the beginning. So... In the beginning. You get like a month of training and then they send you to live with your host family and that's another transition. I don't remember exactly how long it is, because it's been a while, but you know, maybe a month or two. And then you get your own apartment or your own space if you want to. And so during the time I was living there,
and the host family, they were doing everything they could. And I still keep in touch now and it was a beautiful experience, but those first few weeks where everybody's gone and you're just really trying to figure out what did they say? know, you know, Spanish and Dominican. And speak so fast. even if you've been learning Spanish, yeah, they got their accents. Yeah, so it's a whole different, it's not what they're teaching you in school. All that university training, no.
It was like a foreign language all over again. was tough, right? But then after a while, and especially when they said, look, we can't have you out here disappearing. You got to get it together. Something in me switched and I was like, I got to get it together. So, you know, I started to accept what was going on, to lean into the discomfort, to spend time, you know, drinking coffee in everybody's house, you know, like.
really embracing community and eventually that graph started to track up again and to the point where when you have to leave, you're not ready to go because you feel so embedded and you're so close to the people that you have become your family, right? It was definitely tough. And when you're in a situation like this, like when you pull up to these small villages, small towns in DR, it's like...
Everybody knows everything. So you must have been like a beacon. Like everyone knew you were la gringa or whatever they were called. That's exactly right. I wasn't a gringa, but a different kind of gringa because I wasn't white. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What was that like for them? It was a, they thought an American was coming, an American was coming to the compo. And they were like, what's this tall ass black chick?
17:46
What is this? Like, it was strange. And it was strange for me too, because when I would walk around with the volunteers, like if we got together, I was always the tour guide, like the Dominican tour guide. But then I couldn't speak great Spanish, I had, you know, an accent or whatever. And they were just completely confused by me. So, but towards the end, when like the language got really a lot better, and I had, you know, my swag, like, it was great, because then I wasn't a target.
because a lot of the other volunteers were targeted for various reasons. You know what I mean? So then I could kind of get under the radar and that experience was amazing. Yeah, I love it. OK, so I just realized so you're you're you come back, you're in public health. And how did you end up in design? man. So remember, I told you that I started designing jewelry in Peace Corps. I started using materials from
the environment. So I worked with a lot of youth and they needed money. So I was like, you know, I'm going to teach them a little bit about jewelry making. I had done some bead work at home. My mom was sending me beads from the United States because she knew I was depressed and she was like, I know she needs something to do with her hands, right? Like some craft or something. And so they saw me making crafts and then we started making crafts together. Then we started using seeds and different things from the environment to make these. And eventually
that you started selling their own jewelry to make money. So it was sort of an entrepreneurship club type thing that we developed. you know, I also like painted my little shack. Like I could show you pictures. Like I painted the walls. They were wooden and they're, you know, all over the place. like I made my little space my home when I got there. And I've always been that way. Like from from when I high school, you know, like painted my room orange and like
gluing things all over the place and hanging things from the ceiling. Like it's just always been me and me. But when I got back, wanted a way to continue with my artistic journey, but like get paid for it. And I read an article about staging saying like, this is all the rage in terms of the real estate market. And it would teach me the principles of design, but I get to do it over.
20:06
and over again at a rapid pace so I could learn faster that way. Because you design the space and then if it sells in two days, you have to go de-stage and put it in another house. And then you've got a whole other, a new canvas to work on and how am gonna make sure the scale is right and also it's very fast. it's, you do it in one day. So it's really stressful, but it's a great education for design. So I started as an intern free.
Just like, just want to learn to trade. And eventually I was a lead stager. You were working your full-time job type of thing. You were just on the weekends. would be hustling. Pay attention kids. You got to, you got to, you're to get uncomfortable. It's going to be, you're going to be tired. It's going to be uncomfortable. You're going to have to push yourself to grow. You know what I mean? If you don't come from a lot and have that sort of, you know, foundation where you can take your time with these things, you just have to fit it in the ways that you can.
Yeah. So you were how were you working evenings after as an intern? Is that how you did it? Because you had a nine to five, it sounds like I did. I worked on the weekends. So on the weekends, on the weekends. And then at some point I had even gone down to 50 percent time at my job and was balancing that with 50 percent staging because I had some flexibility on the way that my my job worked at the time. We would do projects for the government and then, you know, that would end or whatever.
Yeah. When you do 50 percent, are you getting paid at that point or you're still interning? getting paid at that point. But like not that much. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're still paying. You're still earning your dues type of thing. OK. So how did how did you fully transition? What did that look like? And I'm pointing this out because I feel like, you know, one of the fascinating things about your story and one of the reasons I want to talk to you is that you have these transitions in your life.
And you know, you're someone who has an idea or something that inspires you and then you go put it together. And I think a lot of people get caught up in just thinking about it and then being a victim to life, waiting for the right opportunity or the right opening. And you you're demonstrating that you're willing to take these big leaps and be uncomfortable and...
22:30
get messy and you lose money and do these things to, you know, in order to build what you want. And I think it's a really important lesson for people who are listening, you know, so that's why I wanted to talk about this. That's a great point. It's amazing. I think about this a lot. This concept of like, what's the difference between some people say, you you've done a lot in life. You've done a lot of cool, interesting things. And like, the only difference between me and that person is
is that one moment where you decide to take a step forward. And it's as simple as that. It's like, I didn't know what I was, Peace Corps, that was a risk, right? A lot of people were saying, you just went to this great college. You graduated, especially people of color were like, go make money. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not gonna go volunteer. That's something that you don't do. Go work for, you know, one of the big five or like make money, right? Yeah, yeah. And first of all, my mom was very supportive, right? Because she could have said, no, go make money.
But also, I guess I intrinsically knew there was more and my desire and curiosity would take center stage for me. And I do have perfectionistic tendencies, but they don't prevent me from moving forward. But I know people who are so intelligent, so smart, have so many amazing ideas. And the one thing that holds them back from it is having, they have to have everything in place.
And they have to feel 100 % confident, comfortable to move forward. And I keep saying, that's how you know you should, when you have that nervousness, that nervous energy, and you don't know, that's how you know you're ready. And so, and that comes along at different stages for different people. And there are people who are world changers who are, I don't wanna call it complacent, but just, they just can't, it's too much, you know?
the step is too much that it takes. When you make a decision, it like, is it a quick process for you? Is it you just, you go with it and you move or do you, is it like something that you give a thought and you think about it? And then second part to that question, once you make the decision, are you, do you like question it or are you like all in? I question it. I think so.
24:56
There's so many different personality types, right? I think for me, I am a bit impulsive in the sense that when I like something, I'm diving 100 % all in. I'm learning everything about it. Like I'm obsessed about it. Like I tell my friends, hey, look at this. You know, I've send in links. like, I'm studying at nighttime. Like I'm getting fully immersed in it because the interest moves me that way. And you know, some people would say,
pick one thing and get really good at it. And I've wrestled with that my entire life, you know, and my friends and I have had conversations about that. But I think there's so many different types of people in the world and we need all of them. And for me, it's like, once I'm interested, I'm going for it. Like that curiosity drives me to move forward. And it's like, I know that universe, God will bring people into my path to illuminate the way.
and that it'll fall away when it's time to fall away. So not every interest that I've ever had that I've pursued has come to fruition or become anything. And that for me is actually part of the journey. That's the coolest part about it, right? Like many failures, many like, I'm interested here and then it fizzles out and you know, it's just not for you. But following that sort of meandering path, who would have thought that working in a health clinic, you know, as a case manager,
and home staging would come together to create something that transforms people's lives. you know what mean? Are you a person of faith? I am, absolutely. Yeah, because this is where I think faith also really comes in, right? Because if you, in the sense of believing in something bigger and a higher purpose, it's all preparing you. And sometimes we're so resistant to the struggle. And I think even now, especially
where our society, talk about the US, is in this very place where we don't like to hear opposing views, we don't like to feel discomfort, we cancel people really quickly, there's a way that there's just a, and even in the spirituality movement, where people are seemingly diving into self-development, but then they're like creating boundaries, right? And like, you know,
27:18
But really when you're creating a boundary at the end of the day, you're trying to avoid feeling a discomfort or feeling triggered or feeling, know, so I'm generalizing, don't come for me internet. But my point is that I do think that there is a way that generally we are in patterns of trying to avoid failure, avoid discomfort, avoid pain, avoid, you know, and, but all of that prepares you. All of that is part of it. All of those failures is,
what has you grow? Like I, in my morning prayers, like I started to do this this year where I'm just like, thank you for the struggle. Thank you for all the challenges that you've placed in front of me because I know that they're preparing me for the next thing. I know that I know they're helping me become a better coach. I know they're preparing me for the blessing that you're putting in my path. And, and I don't think that people embrace the struggle enough. I don't think that people embrace.
the hard stuff enough and really ask themselves, what is this here to teach me? What am I meant to learn from this moment? And instead we just like, you know? I mean, you were even doing this. We were having a conversation before we started about your experience at Burning Man. know, Burning Man, that's one of the things about Burning Man that's amazing. It's like, it's such a challenging experience. Like it's magical, it's beautiful, but there is no way that you can be in the middle of the desert for a week.
and just not have to struggle a lot. Just getting there itself is an incredible challenge. so we were discussing some of the challenges that we have, some of the experiences, and you were just like, yeah, that was the lesson for me that I came home and reflected. And there was a way that you brought that struggle with you to integrate into life and learning, right? So I think that's one of your superpowers too. You know, I was thinking about
when you were giving the talk, right? You had a talk one of your session at Burning Man and camp. Yeah, I did a workshop at a camp. Amazing workshop, right? And I love to see like I had been working with you, you know, on committees and things like that. But I never saw you in your in your bag, so to speak, like this is what you do. And I was just like, wow, it was just it was amazing to witness. really enjoy seeing people in sort of their
29:42
What do they call it? Zone of genius. But yeah, yeah, yeah. But I told you that story about, you know, that moment that I was frustrated and sad and how it led to something amazing. I don't know if you if it's OK for me to tell that story. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I feel like it's a good intro. Yeah, to that story. So you were talking about struggle, right? And it not coming with struggle anytime you're taking on something new and you're doing something that's you've never done before.
And even with Oasis, with the organization that we've just been talking about for a bit, there are still moments that are a struggle. There are still new lessons to learn even when you stepped into your purpose. And we do different projects and each comes with its own set of challenges. We just finished a healthcare clinic that was a different challenge, right? Because it's a different space, the staff need different things, the patients need different things. And so you've got to kind of reset everything and become
take that learner's mindset again. so, but in this particular instance, I was just tired. I was coming home from my regular nine to five job and I had picked up a dresser for one of the clients we were gonna help over the weekend. And I had the dresser on like a dolly and was putting it into the storage unit. I had, if you can envision like it's later at night, this woman has her heels on and she's trying to get this dresser into a storage unit and.
loaded up and it's like, why am I doing this? I don't have to, I could stay in the comfort zone. I could just work my regular job and be a mom and a wife and call it a day. But I'm still trying to push for this purpose because that's what has, you know, been given to me. This is, this is it. But I was complaining, you know, in my head. And after I put the dresser in the storage unit, I was sitting in my car getting ready to go home.
that's a whole other set of responsibilities, know, make dinner, get everybody, you know, that kind of thing. It's kind like you need to pause and take a breath. And I was like, practicing gratitude, you know, from, you know, probably hearing a podcast like yours, Gary, you know, like, let's try to transmute this energy to something positive. And so I was like, what are you grateful for? And I was sitting in my car and I looked at the steering wheel and I have...
32:00
You know, my vehicle was basically big enough to carry all of the things that I needed for my clients. You could fit a mattress, you could fit the dressers in there, all the donations we would receive. I could just fit everything in there. It was crazy. People were like, it's not gonna fit. I'm like, it will fit. My car is like magic. It's my chariot, right? To do this work. And so I had a Santa Fe, right? And so I was like, you know, I'm grateful for my car.
because it works and it gets the job done. I don't have to rent a U-Haul every time I need to pick up furniture. And then I thought, and this was not my thought, this was God's thought. This was like the universe speaking to me because I followed the gratitude process, right? Like that transmutation ended up being, opening up a whole universe of opportunity. But I was told to...
write down, right then, right there on my cell phone, write an email and thank the company for this vehicle. Like to explain that I'm using my Santa Fe to deliver to the community and it always has enough space for everything I need. But not wait, don't wait and do it or say I'll do it another day right here in your car in the driver's seat, right out, type out this email. Next day, the
the PR team and the CEO of Hyundai have seen this email has been passed around the leadership team and they write me back. I'm actually in the bed with my husband and I'm like, my God, they got the email. Like that's crazy. Cause you think, you know, that nobody gets those emails. Nobody gets those. Exactly. But I'm just following, like, you know, follow what the spirit tells you. And I was like, that's crazy. And they were like, maybe we can work with you someday.
And then long story short, because we don't have two hours to talk about this, at the end of the day, through COVID, maintain that relationship, know, budget cuts and having money again. At the end of the day, one of the most prolific photographers that ever existed, Annie Leibovitz, did a commercial featuring Oasis Online. She took us around, took pictures of us all day. Her crew was there.
34:15
You know, we took photos, we took video and Hyundai had a commercial about the Oasis Alliance, which is a group of volunteers, not even full time, that are doing work in the community in Virginia, like elevated our platform a thousand percent. And we were able to get more funding, meet more people, and also tell this story to inspire your listeners to inspire other people that a moment of gratitude when you're feeling that trepidation.
can transform your life in ways that you don't even realize. you know, it's an amazing journey. And it's more amazing when you take that step to do something that you're scared to do. Yeah. And something I also want to highlight, you know, it's something that you also seem to be good at is trusting your downloads. You know, I believe I said this on the show, I believe that we're being spoken to at all times. You know, we are
But we go, no, that's just a thought. I'll do it later. no, it's not for me. I'm crazy. And we just dismiss, push away a side and we're literally being guided, spoken to at all times. And the challenge is to trust it, right? And to really honor it. And when you don't, like it gets louder and it gets louder and it gets louder. And eventually it'll come and kick that.
door down or it'll show up in like, you know, some nasty way in your life, like, you know, a sickness or, you know, because you're not listening to that inner intuition. So it's also you're just a really great demonstration of that as well. Thanks, Gary. It takes practice. 100%, 100%, 100%. So as we, I wanna...
you know, as we start to kind of come to the end, I want to talk about your transition and starting this. So you get this idea and for this nonprofit and then what happened? Because I think a lot of people have ideas like that and then they're like, you know, so if you can kind of talk to us a little bit about your journey and getting it started and it's, you know, it's a work in progress, right? Like you're still working.
36:37
As a designer, you're navigating both responsibilities. So again, demonstrating that you're willing to hustle to have your dream. So another moment of raising my hand, right? And we've been talking about raising your hand moments of saying or stepping into something. At my place of worship, we do a lot of community, a community service or community engagement. And at the time I was on that team and we would like
you know, go and go to soup kitchens or do that kind of thing. And that's fine. But there was this one request that came in for a mom and daughter who were coming out of the shelter and domestic violence survivors, and they were getting their first apartment and didn't have furniture. And could someone go to the church storage unit and take out furniture that's been donated to kind of put the package together, right? Create a space for them. And I'm like, like.
This is because I'd been doing the home staging and all that. And I was like, I could do home staging, but for like somebody who's been through something. And I was like, I'll do it. And so so we ended up going through so many, you know, this this church had so many donations over time and this shipping container in the back. And so we had to do a lot of cleaning out of it to find good things. But God, a team of volunteers, we did it like a staging where
We dropped in in a day and designed a space for them and they went and had dinner and hung out mom and daughter and then came back in the evening. But one thing that was really important to me was speaking to them first. So not just bringing over furniture, but like going to the shelter and interviewing them. What is your story? Where have you been? Where do you want to go? What do you love to do? What makes you feel happy inside? What are your hobbies? Just getting to know them. And so I did some extra shopping to make sure that those
those details weren't forgotten in the design, which is different than home staging, right? It's another layer of personalization that really makes someone feel that this is home and not just an Airbnb or a place. Yeah. Sorry, go you do that? I can, you could have done it, you could have done this without doing that. My experience at the clinic that I told you about in the beginning, my experience of how to create
39:03
how to create a place of value where someone's reflected. The experience of dealing with domestic violence survivors that came into the clinic for mental health care and needed services to get away from an abusive person in their lives and then realizing how important those stories were. So I was doing those interviews when I came back from Peace Corps and I just transferred that skill to something different. There's so many skills that translate that people don't even realize because they're siloed in like.
different experiences in their lives that can cross over and create sort of exponential growth, right? Or are just creative, like connecting the dots in different ways. So I said, let me go interview this family first before I create a space for them, right? And the transformative moment when they came in and saw their space, it wasn't the beauty of the overall impression, it was the details that they gravitated to. I told you I liked this cartoon character.
Wow, she's on my bedspread or I have a space where I can bake. I told you that's my safe place. And you bought me all the tools to bake and a baking set, know, things like that that made the difference. And so that when I finished that project, which was the first ever real Oasis project in my book, I walked outside, I cried and I felt like my heart was on fire. Like, I don't know how to explain it any other way. And I was like, this is it.
And that was the beginning. And so then of course, after you do a few of those and you're like, maybe I should make a, you know, a nonprofit. Maybe I should go for 501c3 status. Maybe I should bring in my designer friends who also want to serve, but don't know how, right? And so at this point we've created over 90 spaces. We have done a domestic violence shelter. We've done a reentry facility for women coming out of prison.
We have done a food distribution center for people who during COVID had no food, but created a space where they weren't just getting a trash bag with food in it, but it was like a grocery experience so they could shop in a dignified way, even though it was free food. then just lastly, last week we had our grand opening of the clinic. So first healthcare facility and we're all doing this all volunteer, nobody gets paid and it's all outside of our regular jobs. So you want to talk about like sacrifice and
41:28
Not to mention the sacrifice that my family, my husband and my kids have had to suffer through for the sake of the cause. Right. It's not just me alone in this. I'm not an island. Like I have people who support me, who lift me up when I'm tired and who pushed me forward. And so it's a community effort. But but yeah, that is the story of how it came to be and how it continues to move forward. Well, how?
How are you getting your funding? How are you getting your support? Like what's that process like? Yeah, so part of our growth and strategic plan was to get a board that knows how to fundraise, right? We were a working board for a long time and that's cute until you want to scale and do bigger and better things for the community and you have limited resources. So our first step was to create
to recruit a board that knows people and has networks. So they do a lot of the fundraising. It's mostly individual donations. We do have a few grants that we get from family foundations, but we're at a place where we're small, so small that for certain grants, you need to have at least a couple million dollars in revenue to even qualify for the grant. it's like, you know, in the social safety net, there's people who kind of slip in the middle. Like they don't make too little, but they make
they don't make enough type thing. That's sort of where we're at. And also what I've realized is that what we're doing, mental health through design, interior design is a very niche area. And a lot of people see it as a luxury. Like I see the space behind you. I know you know design, you know, like you, you've got it, right? Like I, we've worked together in that sense and you know how to make something look beautiful.
But some people are like, that's not important. They just need a bed, a dresser, make sure they have food to eat. Why are we putting money into this? We'd rather buy them cans of soup. That makes us feel good. It's a little bit, you know. And we're also focusing on families one at a time. So we don't have a lot of, you know, we're not, we don't have 2,000 widgets that we're, you know, we're not giving out 2,000 bowls of soup. So we don't have like the numbers sometimes that a lot of larger.
43:48
larger organizations want to say, we've helped 5,000 people, but not just like three families solidly, you know? So those are the types of challenges we come up against. But as we go move on in the journey, we always see we meet people who understand and they're they're the people who support us. And so, well, you know, it's funny because when you the moment that you started sharing about this, I
I realized, the first thing I realized was that I was one of those people that would have just said, let's get them furnished. Let's get stuff in there and then let's move on. And the fact that you take the time to hear the stories, to hear what matters to them, to give them an experience of them being seen, immediately I started to go, that has to have.
a huge impact on them. It has to be such a profound experience for them to be seen in that way and to be then be acted on it, right? To be executed. Like the things that matter to me, you're executing on and you're making an effort to deliver on. And I think for a lot of these people, that's probably the first time that that's ever happened.
Have you ever, have you studied or done any follow up to kind of, I don't know how you would do this, but it would be really fascinating to track some of the progress because it has to have a profound impact on their lives in some way. Like it has to. That has been a huge challenge and, also still something we really, really want to figure out a puzzle we want to complete.
Measuring those types of effects can be pretty difficult. Like we ask questions now in the beginning, the first interview we have with a person or family and have people rate themselves. How prepared are you to move forward in life? How happiness levels or joy levels? How creative do you feel? Like we have a whole inventory of questions we ask and then...
46:11
you know, six to eight weeks after they've moved into their space, we ask them again. The people that we work with sometimes have a more transient lifestyle, right? They may be a little bit less stable than others. And so there are questions that we ask them upfront to make sure, first of all, we're not designing this amazing space. And then, you know, in six months, you're going to move out to a new space. Yeah. So we figured out along the way what our ideal client is somebody who
is going to be stable. have a home, you know, have a job, you plan on being here, you've signed a lease for a year or two, you know, that kind of thing. But also we have realized what our scope is and what we can and can't do. And so we we realize that we're giving a start, but we also have to connect those individuals and to the community, to other services, to work on the mental health issues that are not going to be resolved with the design, to work on.
making sure you have access to food and perhaps career counseling or mental health services. So we've started to like say, we did this, but we know they need that to keep moving forward. And instead of trying to do all the things we're comfortable with, we're creating a safe home base for them where they feel loved and cared for and creating the connections to the community for the other things that they need, right? And I think that
through the years we've seen so many different reactions. We've had people come into their space and just literally turn around and walk out. And we have to like go get them off the, you know, outside of the apartment. They're crying. They're like, I don't deserve this. Right? Like we have people fall out on the floor, you know, like just we've had people who just are speechless and can't even say anything. And then call us the next day and say, do you want money for this? Are you sure this is free? Like.
So many different, and those reactions reflect the trauma they've been through, right? Like nothing in life is for free. can't be receiving this gift for nothing. Or I've never had a space this nice growing up. Like I don't really know how to keep this up. There's so many emotional things that happen that we know it's really hitting in certain places and it's pulling things up for people. But the thing it pulls up most is like, just care and love. Like somebody listened to me.
48:31
Like she heard that I said I like this color and she put this pattern, you know? And so we do all different types of things to reflect that. We bring plants into spaces, you know, we do smells, like we try to touch all the senses. So it's become a lot more like it's trauma informed, but it's also therapeutic. Like we think we recognize the power that plants have, the power that certain smells and colors have. So now there's a whole thing, right? We've like built this whole system for how we do things.
but with always with that person at the center. So. Yeah. I think I just saw a book. Have you thought about that? Yeah. We don't talk a lot about it, but we have thought about it. I just saw a book where you're explaining these theories and working. I think there's something really powerful here and something that's untapped. it's like you can't expect somebody to build their life.
to change, to do this really difficult work of unpacking, you know, the stuff that life has put in front of them when you don't feel good at home, when you don't feel safe at home, when you don't feel, you know, and I mean, I know for myself, like, I know what it's like to walk into a space that I've curated that makes me feel like, and I know what it's like to walk into a space when I'm like, don't feel, you know. It impacts my mental state.
You know, it impacts my mental state and my ability to produce and my ability to be calm. So magnify that times a hundred with more intense situations and it has to have an impact. COVID Gary, like so many people were stuck in there.
the design industry did not suffer during COVID. Like it went up. Because people were like, I need this space to be comfortable to me. And you know, that's just a clear sort of example of that. Well, my love, I could talk to you forever. I know, we just got started. Thank you so much. I just love the work that you're doing. How can people...
50:43
get connected, make the donation, support the Oasis Alliance. My gosh. So if you just put our name into Google, you'll find lots of different media, lots of different articles and things that have come out on our work. But if you really want to get connected, you can go to our website or Instagram. That's where we're most active on Instagram. Our website is www.theoasisalliance.org. And up top, can
You can click volunteer. There's different ways you can volunteer. can, if you're interested in a leadership position in design and you're moved by the mission, you could apply to be a board member. You could contribute by connecting us to brands that want to donate, you know, nice things, right? So a lot of what we do, we don't take a lot of donations because of the story I shared. We prefer to use new things for people. And so we want to create brand partnerships so that when we need
decor, we can go to Target and grab the things we need. That kind of thing has been really good for us. So we have a few sponsorships, but those types of connections, even if you can't donate money or time, just connecting us to someone you know that could contribute in that way, that pays off in tenfold. You could write about our work. You could have us on a podcast like you, Gary, just to amplify the work that we're doing and get the word out that this is happening and that it's really important.
So there's just so many ways that you could help, but the first step would be probably going to our website, I would say. Beautiful. I will make sure that I include the link to that in the show notes. Danielle, thank you so much for your time. was a thank you for your platform. I enjoyed it so much, and I look forward to connecting with you soon.
Okay, I feel like I can do another whole episode unpacking all of the lessons that we can learn from Danielle's life. The willingness to take big bold risks. The willingness and discipline to be in the struggle while you're building towards something. The patience and heart to show everyone dignity even when it's not required or expected. I can go on and on really.
53:01
But I think what I really want to focus on for this conclusion is Danielle's willingness to go on and trust the journey. If you see in life, we typically try to follow these very linear paths. We go to college, then master's, then we get the job at the right company, then we promote, then we get into management, so on and so forth. You see where I'm going here, right? But life isn't always like that. There are ups.
and downs and turns and there's a whole lot of pivot. Mostly, we resist the ups and downs. We throw tantrums when there are setbacks. We complain when it doesn't go how we expected it. We beat ourselves up when we don't measure up to our expectations or the expectations of others. But as Danielle shows us, it's so part of the master plan. Each experience, each pivot is all
preparing you for what you have been called to do. Each experience building on the next and building on the next until you're ready to understand how all the pieces come together and only then can you really take full responsibility of the vision. But this requires trust and it requires you to keep leaning in and looking for the next clue that gets placed in front of you. And when you see it, when you get that pull,
Trust it, trust it and go.
If you enjoyed this week's episode, please share, share, share, share, share it, share it, share it. Let's do whatever we can to get the word out and support this amazing work that Danielle and her team of volunteers are doing at the Oasis Alliance. I think this work they're doing is really special and treating so many people with dignity when they are at their most vulnerable. So let's rally and see what we can do to support them. Okay.
54:59
Thank you guys, I'll see you next week.