Domestic violence remains one of the biggest issues in the United States. Both men and women can be a victim, yet the police, whom the victims often first seek for help, can’t really do a lot for them. With her passion for raising awareness and prevention against domestic violence, Heather Knight, my guest for today’s episode, founded Surviving to Thriving. Surviving to Thriving is an Atlanta-based non-profit organization which aims to provide a long-term sustainability program for victims of domestic violence to help them get their lives back.
Let’s dive into this episode and find out how Heather gets through her mindset journey to find happiness and create ways to help victims of domestic violence to thrive.
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How is domestic violence still one of the biggest issues in the US, and how are we not providing enough services to stop this? Today I spoke with Heather Knight, the founder and CEO of Surviving to Thriving, an Atlanta based non-profit organization that provides a long-term sustainability program for victims of domestic violence. The passion for domestic violence awareness and prevention started from a personal situation in her teen years and then grew into a career in law enforcement to start her own non-profit organization.
Let’s dive into this episode and find out how she gets through her mindset journey to find mental happiness and creates ways to help victims of domestic violence to thrive.
Things you will learn in this episode:
[00:01 – 09:29] Opening Segment
- I introduce my guest, Heather Knight, to the show
- Heather talks briefly about her current life
- Supporting the behind the scene aspects of Knight Protection Service
- Surviving to Thriving
- Women self-defense class
- Heather shares about her background and how her story began
- Grew up in Minnesota
- Faced self-esteem issues
- Mentally abused by her high school boyfriend and toxic environment
- Having the mature mindset of having divorced parents
- Went to Georgia for criminal justice degree
- Hired at a police department in Georgia
[11:45- 24:15] Surviving to Thriving
- Heather talks about her journey in finding her mental happiness in college
- Taking courage to leave the toxic relationship and environment
- Started to do all the things she loves
- Unintentionally taking her step out to move forward
- The intuition to survive
- Heather shares her experiences in the Police Department in Suburb Atlanta
- The wild ride since day one
- She shares the story being in night shifts
- Encountered so many domestic violence calls
- Shift into Community Policing officer role
- Community awareness, media relation, and certified in self-defense, etc
- Heather talks about her encounter and experience in dealing with victims of domestic violence
- Researching and learning the reasons behind it
- Taking a list of what they need to get out of the situation
- Got motivated to start a non-profit organization to help the victims
- Heather shares the toxicity and unhealthy balance of Policing Culture
- Being a woman in a man’s’ world
- The pressure from a Macho culture
- Great community relation vs. Poor Policing relation within the department
- Heather shares the biggest obstacle to help the victims of domestic violence as an officer
[24:16 – 35-24] The Step to the Entrepreneurial Shift
- Heather shares about the pivot to entrepreneurship
- 2018 went into Thriving organization
- She shares the dilemma of keeping her job
- Get through the deployment of her husband
- Keeping the house and the business afloat
- The self-realization to focus on her mindset shift
- Aware of the discomfort
- Affected on everybody else around her
- Taking the step of faith to fully jump into entrepreneurship
- Focusing on building the Organization back
- The momentum of learning
- Joined a mastermind group
- Started a Podcast in January 2020
- She interviews some survivors of Domestic Violence
- Heather shares her motivation to keep going and finally taking a step to leave the Government work
- Finding her entrepreneurial drive
[33:00 – 40:14] Turning Empathy to Solution
- Heather talks about the impact of COVID-19 on her Non-profit
- Finding ways to keep the sponsors while also keep providing services to the community
- Preparing for the conference and projects in 2021
- Heather talks about the main approach she took in helping the victims of domestic violence.
- Giving education to the victims on the outside
- Prevent victim shaming
- Using empathy to find the solution
[40:15 – 44:07] The FOCUS FIVE Segment
- What book have you gifted most often?
- The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
- If you can get an hour of somebody’s time and ask questions, who would that be and why?
- Ted Bundy or Jeffry Dahmer
- What is one thing you believe that most people would disagree with you:
- Chocolate is disgusting
- Morning routine; How do you start your day?
- Wake up
- Read news for 15 minutes
- Drink Pre-workout and hit the gym
- Get back home and start working
- What is the best place we can connect with you online and find your book?
- See below for social links.
- Final words from me
Tweetable Quotes:
“ One thing I realize from being on the night shift is, the number one call besides silent alarm is domestic violence.” – Heather Knight.
“How is domestic violence still one of the biggest issues in the US and how are we not providing enough services to stop this? ” – Heather Knight
“You can’t judge somebody on what they do with the resources that you give them, all you can do is provide them what you feel is necessary and step back.” – Heather Knight.
Resources mentioned in the episode:
You can connect with Heather on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. You can also visit her website on https://tothriving.org/ or listen to her podcast at Surviving to Thriving.
LEAVE A REVIEW + help someone who wants to explode their business growth by sharing this episode or click here to listen to our previous episodes.
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[00:01 – 09:29] Opening Segment
Why a non-profit? Why domestic violence? Before she tells us more about what inspired her to found Surviving to Thriving, Heather first takes us back in time with her story of how she was also in an abusive relationship during her high school years. In addition, she also suffered from self-esteem issues then as a result of being with the wrong group of friends. She, however, found her escape when she realized she wanted to become a police officer, graduating from a criminal justice degree and being hired by a department she likes shortly after.
However, although she really loved being a cop, she realized from doing her duties as a police officer that she can’t really do much for victims of domestic violence with this role. Heather later on resigned from her job and went on to become a full time entrepreneur.
At present, Surviving to Thriving’s program is comprised mostly of lifestyle learning courses like budgeting, resume building, job searching, interview skills, self-defense, and a lot of other life skills. Heather and her husband Zack also own multi-family real estate complexes where they house women who are attending their programs.
[11:45- 24:15] Surviving to Thriving
Before she was founder and CEO of her own company, Heather’s first job after graduation was in the Suburb Atlanta Police Department.
Heather shares that being assigned to night shift, when people’s number one reason for calling the police is domestic violence, is the start of her pivotal journey. She also later on shifted to a community policing officer role where she had more experiences dealing with victims of domestic violence. However, Heather also shares the biggest obstacle to helping the victims of domestic violence as an officer. Police officer duties, after all, are really just to respond and report. After that, there’s nothing much they can do for the victims.
Later on, Heather and her husband attended an event called Thrive where Heather learned that there’s always a deeper purpose for your business. And when she thought about these women, she already know what her purpose is going to be. She already know what she wants to do.
[24:16 – 32:59] The Step to the Entrepreneurial Shift
Wanting to help women who are victims of domestic violence yet not being allowed to while she’s still a police officer made Heather frustrated. She has always known that she wants to start a non-profit with her husband, Zack. Unfortunately, this plan got put into the back burner when Zack got deployed. During this time, Heather had to focus on keeping their household and all their other businesses afloat.
Fortunately, Zack came home and told Heather “We gotta do this.” He told her to focus on her own mindset shift from working for the government to being a full-time entrepreneur. He also told her that it’s okay for her to quit her job if she wants to.
Fast forward to earlier this year, they were finally able to pursue their pans. Heather and Zack also started their podcast where they interview survivors of Domestic Violence and are also currently working on organizing their first conference where they plan to invite all their donors and all the people they are servicing right now.
[33:00 – 40:14] Turning Empathy to Solution
Heather talks about some challenges they’re experiencing running their non-profit during Covid. Heather talks about her plans about keeping their donors alive so they can keep on helping more and more victims to restart their lives and thrive.
Since there are a lot of victims of domestic violence in the country, there’s also a chance that you, or someone you know, also know someone who’s a victim. To give us a better idea how we can effectively help someone who’s suffering from domestic violence, Heather shares a few tips how to best approach them. She talks about their main approach for helping victims—they focus on educating them from the outside but looking in.
Lastly, Heather shares another way we can help the victims which we can also remind other people to do—stop victim shaming. And of course, let’s all give them more empathy– this will truly help them get over faster about what they’re experiencing.
[40:15 – 44:07] The FOCUS FIVE Segment
The FOCUS FIVE are five questions I ask every guest on my show. Keep on listening to find out what book Heather gifts most often; who would he talk to if he can get an hour of any person living or dead, from the past or the present, and why; that one thing he believes but most people will disagree with; his morning routine; and lastly, where are the best places we can connect with him online. (See the links below for Heather’s social media links!)
Tweetable Quotes:
“ One thing I realize from being on the night shift is, the number one call besides silent alarm is domestic violence.” – Heather Knight
“How is domestic violence still one of the biggest issues in the US and how are we not providing enough services to stop this? ” – Heather Knight
“You can’t judge somebody on what they do with the resources that you give them, all you can do is provide them what you feel is necessary and step back.” – Heather Knight
Resources mentioned in the episode:
You can connect with Heather on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. You can also visit her website on https://tothriving.org/ or listen to her podcast at Surviving to Thriving.
LEAVE A REVIEW + help someone who wants to explode their business growth by sharing this episode or click here to listen to our previous episodes.
A few last words
Are you working HARD but not really moving the needle on anything? You should check out my POWER LIST and find out how you can get more done to move your business, project, or relationship closer to where you want it to be. Let’s go!
