Today we’d like to introduce you to Rickkita Taylor.
Rickkita, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In 2013 life took a hard turn for me, I had just lost my job due to the company closing down, I only had minimal education, and I also had just become a single mom of two toddlers under the age of four suddenly. I felt lost and alone in life, so I decided to go back to school to try to better myself. While at school working as a work-study doing peer counseling, I discovered there were a ton of resources for women in need. The only problem was you had to attend the college to receive them. I didn’t think that was fair, so I made a plan to start a non-profit organization to help women in need in the community find resources as well as form a sisterhood so no woman would have to feel alone and helpless like I was feeling. Life got in the way of me starting at first since I wanted to finish college before I started it.
After I graduated, I went right into what I thought was a rewarding career at the time as a marketing supervisor for a well known corporate company. It had been five years since I first thought of my grand idea, yet I was stuck at a job making good money but feeling unfulfilled. I knew I had to make a change and one day, I heard God clearly say leave and trust me. That same day I put in my two weeks’ notice with no full-time job lined up but I had a purposeful plan to help my community and that’s when Sisters Healing Sisters Inc. officially formed. Now today, by me taking that big leap faith, our organization is in turn, able to help hundreds of people in need through our outreach efforts.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road but I’ve learned a lot along the way. The biggest challenge when we first started was fundraising and getting people in the community to support our mission. Having a non-profit isn’t cheap and with me leaving my job to make it happen, our organization start-up fund was very minimal. Trying to feed hundreds of people or fund a workshop for atleast 50 people was definitely a struggle. Securing grants or donations from companies or local businesses who do not know who you are also made fundraising challenging in the beginning. As time went on, physical support was also a challenge as our first workshops were small in numbers. These things sometimes were a discouragement, but whenever I got discouraged, I remembered my “why.” It wasn’t about me, Sisters Healing Sisters Inc. was formed to help others, so I had to keep going to ensure our mission was fulfilled.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Sisters Healing Sisters story. Tell us more about your organization.
Sisters Healing Sisters was formed to empower, educate, and elevate women from all walks of life through different resources, workshops, and outreach. We have made a large impact on our community through our outreach efforts such as linking clients in need to resources, feeding hundreds of people in need in our community, creating a free closet to provide people in need with clothes, shoes, and toiletries, holding multiple free workshops on issues relevant to the organization as well as the community such as financial literacy and mental health and also sponsoring families for back to school and Christmas.
I am most proud of the impact and reach we have made since forming in October 2018. Being able to help so many and give back is what keeps me going. We are different from other organizations because we ensure that anyone we help knows that they are not alone. We don’t just drop off food to the homeless or give out free stuff, we take the time to get to know each person and see how we can further help them building lasting relationships and a sense of community with each person we come into contact with.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
In the next 5 to 10 years, I see our organization as a community pillar of hope for people in need. We plan to open a transitional home for women in the coming years, which is something that is needed in our area. We also plan to collaborate with other organizations to come together and access how we can make the biggest impact to bridge the gap of homelessness in our area.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sistershealingsistersinc.org
- Phone: 757-510-7519
- Email: administration @sistershealingsistersinc.org
- Instagram: instagram.com/sistershealingsistersinc
- Facebook: facebook.com/sistershealing
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