Season 3. Episode 1: Interview with our Founder and President, Diane Simovich (and her inpiring story!)

Welcome to Episode 1 of Season 3 of the BW NICE Voice podcast! We're thrilled to introduce our two new co-hosts for this season: Debbie Weiss, a long-time BW NICE member, and Lynne Thompson, a newcomer to BW NICE. Our goal is to provide you with inspiring and educational content about women empowering other women!

To kick off our third season, we have the privilege of speaking with founder & president, Diane Simovich. Diane shares her own story and the beginnings of BW NICE.

Diane is the Founder & President of BW NICE, which stands for Business Women Networking Involving Charity & Education. Established in April 2009 It offers support, education, and resources to women at all stages of business and personal life. BW NICE believes in the power of both business networking and charitable outreach. Each BW NICE Chapter focuses on raising awareness and critical funds to support local organizations in the fight against domestic violence and sexual abuse.

In addition each chapter provides crucial support to their charity partners through monthly collections and an annual fundraising gala called The Red Shoe™. The proceeds from The Red Shoe™ directly benefit client services, helping women and families in safe and transitional housing to regain dignity and hope for a better life. The Red Shoe™ symbolizes unity, strength, and empowerment, honoring the journey of those affected by domestic violence and sexual abuse.

Her inspiration for BW NICE came from a successful model she co-founded, launched, and nurtured in California. After facing personal hardships, including an abusive marriage, the loss of her sibling to suicide, and her father's passing, Diane returned to New Jersey to be closer to her family & connect with like-minded businesswomen in the community.

October 2017, Diane released her book "Towards The Light." It features 17 poignant personal stories from domestic violence survivors who courageously overcame immense struggles to find hope and healing for themselves and others. The book serves as a community education tool and a resource for those in need.

Diane's dedication to supporting survivors and raising awareness led her to receive the Barbara W. McConnell Social Justice Award in 2017 from SAFE in Hunterdon, the domestic violence agency in Hunterdon County, NJ.

Originally from Bergen County, NJ, Diane moved to California at the age of 20 and began her career in the health insurance industry, working in sales and management for major companies. Her involvement in women's initiatives and her personal journey inspired the creation of BW NICE. In 2006, Diane returned to New Jersey, settling in Hunterdon County and starting afresh at the age of 50. She currently resides in High Bridge with her adopted son, Nicholas.

"BW NICE gave me the strength to find my voice and come to terms with being a survivor of domestic violence and childhood sexual assault. Carrying that secret for 56 years, I knew BW NICE would provide a powerful platform to share my story while helping others share theirs," says Diane Simovich, Founder & President of BW NICE.

To contact Diane, use the following information:
Diane Simovich
Phone: (908) 894-8219
Email: diane@bwnice.org
Website: www.bwnice.org
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/d

Learn more about BW NICE and our mission to help end domestic violence HERE

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Transcript

Unknown: 0:15

Hello, and welcome to season three of the BW nice voice podcast. My name is Debbie Weiss and I am here along with my co host, Lynne Thompson. And we are very excited to kick this season off. Lynne. We certainly are. And we're lucky to have with us today, Diane, Sumevitch. She is the founder and president of BW nice. And we'd love to hear more about how she founded it and her history. For now, I'll just tell you that she is our founder and president of the whole thing. She, she created it. And it's a professional women's empowerment organization. It was established in April 2009. in central New Jersey, BW nice provides women at all stages of business and personal life with support, education, and resources, and sees value in the balance of business networking and charitable outreach. Each BW nice chapter is dedicated to raising awareness and critical funds supporting a local organization in the fight against domestic violence and sexual abuse. It's a big reason why I really did want to join the networking group. It's just wonderful to support that good work. Can you say a little more about that, Diane, and welcome. Thank you. Well, first of all, I want to say thank you, to you, Lynne, and to Debbie for taking on this endeavor. And being a co host and keeping off season three of our podcast. This is just so wonderful. This is a great opportunity for us and other women to find their voice and to share on this this fabulous platform. So thank you so much. I'm excited. You're both fabulous. And it's going to be a great season by BW nice. Yes. So um, how, how did this all come about? I didn't realize it was going to happen this way. But it did. The way I described it is the pieces of the puzzle came together for me. So what I when I say that I mean my entire journey, my life, and experiences that I had brought me to this point. But just just to wind back a little bit. I had this idea in my head, I was out in California for 25 years. I'm originally born and raised in northern New Jersey and ended up there and my 20s and stayed for 25 years, my family was out there. So I did a corporate career in sales and management and had a very successful career. But towards the latter part of my career. So a lot of different things happened on different levels, but one of them was being involved in a corporate America, and starting in an industry in the health insurance industry to do have a lot of women. I wanted to I felt like we were missing something. But the ironic thing was, in my particular industry, there was a lot of outreach argued marketing for women, because women were the key decision makers in health, health care decision. And I think we still are today for our families. And I wanted to I just felt like, you know, well, if we're key decision makers, and the organizations and the businesses that I was working for, were investing money on women's initiatives, and I was seeing more women coming into the corporate workplace, especially mine, as well as other you know, women starting businesses, I said, Why are we celebrating as there, there were no wars now networking among women or events for women per se. Everything was tied in my industry. Within my industry, we did networking within our own industry, and mostly golf tournaments, which those are great, and they're fine, but a lot of us didn't want to golf, or many didn't. So we'd go for the dinner. And then you know, we would exit and you know, we did it. It was an obligation. Yeah, we wanted to be there because we knew our clients would be there. I said, we need to do something else. I wanted to break the status quo. So I just there were three of us, my co founder, we just came up with this idea that we were going to bring women together. And we were going to support other causes causes that would resonate on a local level. And again, the in our industry, they were raising money and the golf tournaments and other events that they did were raising money for United Way cystic fibrosis great, great organizations, but we wanted something that would be more local and really have an impact within the community. So long story short, we put together put together the event, which is like the blueprint for the red shoe on a wing and a prayer brought women we knew from our own industry and outside the industry. We had our first major event in 2001, and we have 229 Women attend the first year. And they went nuts. They went crazy. We did the luncheon fashion show the silent auction, tricky tray, we had vendors, we honored a Businesswoman of the Year. And it was phenomenal. The women loved it. We did it on a Friday intentionally. Because we wanted women to take the day off, we said come go to work in the morning, come and loving, have some Mimosa shop, network, have fun, we're gonna have a beautiful lunch and a beautiful event. And we're going to give back to this local charity. It was a brand new charity that was just starting in our community. And it was a woman who started at a former nurse and she started in her garage called newhope Grief Support Community, she still is going strong, and has raised, raised so much money for her out in California through through our events out there. And it was beautiful. It was wonderful. And ever since then, it has grown and multiply. And what happened was I ended up coming back to New Jersey, a year or so later, a couple of years later, after going through a number of life events, I lost my dad suddenly. And then within two years, I lost my only sibling who I adored my older brother, she's suicide. And then less than two years then later I my second marriage failed. And married for a long time. We just adopted our son Nicholas and went through a very, very trying divorce. So my family in New Jersey, my cousin said you need to come home. So I Yes, during all of this, I had adopted my son, and I resigned from my corporate position to take care of him is adopted from Russia. And I decided, you know, I was working on this event. We call it a celebration of women in business. And as I said, it's still going strong. So I worked tirelessly on that and to get that off the ground. And then when I made the decision and going through the divorce and what have you decided to move back to New Jersey, my board the board said they're literally their parting words where if you do nothing else study, I mean, you just start this in New Jersey this is. So you know when somebody puts it out there and they tell you something, I thought how am I gonna do this, I'm no longer in corporate I was doing some consulting work, I have this little boy going through a major divorce. My mother was now live near me 80 years old, almost 80 years old, and widowed and lost her husband and her son within a couple of years. And here we are making a huge move back. And starting over. I'm at sort of age 50 starting over and reinventing myself. But we did we made made the move back. And I never lost sight of that vision. From the moment that I got settled in New Jersey, and I told everybody that I knew I told everyone that I knew about what I wanted to do. I had this great event going on in California and created this great model. I'd love to bring you here. And it took a couple of years. And finally many people know Joe Dispenza I live I was living I just recently been living in hybrids just a little town near Clinton and central New Jersey. And we're going to county and lived in the same town with him. partnered with him on some business and told him my vision and he said, I'm happy to help you get it off the crowd. He said it sounds phenomenal. And just helped me put the first meeting together send out invitations. He had the list. I didn't know anyone. I invited my mother. My mother was doing volunteer work. I invited her friends. She you know one thing about my mother was amazing. She didn't sit back. She was very active in AD AD and I said you need to come I need a body. I don't know who's going to show up. I don't know these women. But we had 51 Women attend our first meeting at Beaverbrook Country Club. Yeah, and that many Yes, yeah. Shared shared vision and my story. And they said, Oh my gosh, we have nothing like this. So you're gonna have to find our charity, because we're gonna do you know, connect with a charity. And that's how it all started. And then, you know, let me interrupt you one second. So the charity that you were partnering with in California that just started what were they supporting? What was there they were supporting families and children and teens who had gone through major grief. So they do grief counseling, art therapy, things like that, whether it be losing a loved one from cancer or anything like that, or even abusive relationships, so different, different types of grief. So they kind of do that under the umbrella and they are the group that's, you know, that I started and still support Susan beanie. She's the founder, and still supports Newport News, New Hope, grief support community, so they're still supporting them. And there have, she has ventured out everywhere. She actually wanted to go national with her organization. So they do everything from youth all the way up. Okay, so then, so then, it wasn't necessarily I didn't realize that I didn't realize that when you came here, you didn't know specifically what, or who you wanted your charity partner to be? No, because, again, coming here, we were looking, you know, at different, you know, could have been through the hospital or through other organizations I shared. We were supporting, you know, had support in California, I said, But you know, we're kind of doing this on a clean slate when I started the 501, c three. And it was at our one of our first board meetings that we were discussing who we wanted to see. And I said, you know, there are several options, as we talked about them. And all of a sudden, during the course of discussion, one of the women shared her story of domestic violence. And I looked around and I said, and I said, Well, part of the reason I am here is because I have also been in an abusive relationship has surprised, not once or twice. And I said, How many of you have experienced that, and pretty much almost every woman at the table raised her hand. And it was the epiphany due to gold always mentioned that it was like an epiphany, and this awakening or enlightening, and we said we looked at each other. And it's like, I think we found our charity. And from that moment on, I did the research. And I said this is what we're going to do, we're going to align ourselves with the agencies throughout the state. And for New Jersey, it was pretty easy because there is a domestic violence agency in every county, I do that outreach on and we came up with a mission and a vision of what we wanted to do, we never looked back and opening up that started the conversation and that was part of my healing process. But also the start of putting the pieces of the puzzle together of the experiences that I had that dated back. I do ever discuss that are gone and seeked out any help from any any organization. Never because it was never considered domestic violence. So in my situation, the first time it happened, I was my first marriage was 13 years older. I wasn't even equipped to handle it because it was so scary to me. It started with verbal abuse, and it was very nasty. And then it escalated to physical abuse where he cornered me in a room in the house for no reason, literally, like he switched on a dime, and then ended up hitting me and throwing me across the room and down the stairs. I was able to get out you know, I mean, I stayed I didn't tell anyone I didn't tell my family I tried to process try to figure out what am I doing wrong? You know, you think what have I done wrong? What am I doing wrong? Marriage? I didn't know. But you blame yourself? Yeah, we blame ourselves so became so bad, finally was able to get out, I moved out with the help of my brother and some friends and got out of the house. And I had a job I didn't have chose so I was in a position where I was able to get myself out figure an exit plan and get out. wasn't easy for a time but I was able to do that. But the only thing you know that basically it was go to a marriage counselor. So you go to a marriage counselor. And then they tell you what to say I kind of tell him you know, this is what you're doing for yourself and you need it. And basically I was told that we don't You don't need a marriage counselor. We don't all I need is some cooperation around here from you. And that was startling. So again, it just was one of those situations where back then many years ago, they didn't call it domestic violence. I didn't know anything about domestic I didn't know. It was a learning experience. So was very, very difficult. And I didn't realize again until getting involved and starting BW nice and picking this charity. I can tell you I've learned so much from this organization myself that it helped me process and then start healing All of the different events that happen in my life, I'm sure and then I think it's incredible that so many of the women that gathered there all had also been victims like how, I don't know, karma, whatever I can think of the right word, right, that everybody just showed up, it was just clearly meant to be. And you were all there to support each other. And then, like you said, heal and then now in turn, help other women. Exactly. And I had no idea. It was almost like opening it sounds strange, but opening the floodgates of these women. When we started, you know, our first chapter was Hunterdon. County, here in New Jersey. All of these women coming forward women, successful women saying I thank you for sharing, I do have a story. I had no idea, the level. But again, learning and researching and aligning with the agencies, these agencies are amazing. And hearing the statistics, domestic violence impacts all of us, you know, men, women, children, but it really is a woman's issue. And just looking by the numbers, that girl when I started to go back to my own experiences in my life, and I and I, you know, recognize the first marriage, the second parent, when I was in my corporate during the height of my corporate career and work for MetLife, one of my co workers was brutally murdered by her fiance, who we knew he worked for a competitor, literally murdered, was horrific. She was pregnant, three months pregnant, they were due to get married. And, you know, the stories came out afterwards, from several of the different you know, my colleagues, the most days, we didn't have phones, we had pagers, but how he was paging her and how to incessantly jealous he was all of those indicators and red flags. And she was starting to open up and have Rosa had reservations about getting married 31 years old. But again, they didn't refer to it as domestic violence. It was front page news in California, but it was a homicide. And we had asked, we had asked management to bring in, you know, some some psychologist or therapist or something, because we were so traumatized by what happened. They wouldn't do it. But again, no mention of domestic violence. And when that led up to that, yeah, that's crazy. I was going when that happened. I was going through my own situation, I was like, and I had no connection, no, nothing. So yeah, no, you know, what breaks my heart is that it was a simple crime. He was doing he, he did a crime. He beat you up, but because it was in the context of marriage, back then. Nobody identified it like that. It's a crime. Yes, a criminal. Yes, threatened, plates threatened to destroy everything that I owned our house, everything just constant. So here we are, you know, you put the pieces together. And you know, nothing happens. Just happens. It didn't happen by accident. Of the experiences we do, what happened to us in life are to me, bring us to this point and brought me to the point, you know, of that meeting that board meeting, finding, you know, our cause we're taking this on and going full force and focused and determined that yes, this is what we're going to take on. And, you know, fast forward 1314 years now, I can't tell you, the hundreds and hundreds of women. I have spoken to people even at situations with men who have needed to contact a domestic violence agency or city house. But the stories that people have shared has been on believable of their own situation. It has been so incredible. But I've learned so much and it's helped me heal. It's just been incredible. And I will share with me one more story. This was the final piece. So I came to terms and I knew that I had to share about my own stories of my marriages and things that happened. But there was one other defining moment. It was a few years back when we were starting the Middlesex County Chapter in New Jersey and I was meeting with the executive director Phyllis Adams and her development director doing the normal meeting about Chapter setup and what it would look like our organization during the course of the meeting asserted crying out of nowhere. I've shared the story now several times. I just started crying. I said, Forrest, I am so sorry. I, I don't know what's come over me. But I know this, I am compelled to share something with you right now. And I said, you know, I've shared my stories of my marriages and the domestic violence, the emotional and verbal and physical abuse. I said, but when I was a child, about four years old growing up in Bergen County, one of our neighbors had four sons and the oldest son used to babysit my brother, and quite frequently, and when he would come in, I don't know when it started. But I know what happened multiple times. He sexually molested me, he sat me on his lap. He held me down. He said, If I were good girl, and but my pajamas. And I would sit there frightened and scared. And this happened happened multiple times. I was about four, my brother was three and a half years older, had no clue what was going on. I never told my parents I never told anyone I did not want to vote. In my mind. I don't know how it for you think that but I didn't want to burden my parents. I was afraid. I was afraid to say anything. So I carry that. So at the time I was I think would would fill us i can't i was i was about 60 When I met with Phyllis when we were doing the Middlesex chapter. So I carried that for about 56 years. My parents, obviously my brother's disease, the only ones that found out were some of my cousins who were just shocked, you know, absolutely shocked. But I've never shared it with anyone. And I said, Thank you for listening. And she was so amazing. She said, this is wonderful, Diane, this is part of your healing process. But you're also again, what you're doing with this organization, you're helping others, but you're helping to heal yourself. And it just came out like that, for the first time in my entire life. It just say amazing. That is amazing. So that was the final piece in terms of opening up and sharing my my circumstances or my experience says, and putting tying it all together and understanding why I'm here today, why we do what we do, and relate to help and support and be a voice for others that need our help. So pretty. I wonder what it was, since you've had that conversation so many times with others. Interesting that it just tumbled out of you that day, isn't it something I to this day? I can't tell you why. Debbie, I cannot tell you why or how I just in the middle of a conversation, I started crying. And I said I have to say this, I'm i The words I use where I feel compelled to do something. For whatever we read, she received it so beautifully. Maybe you knew that, like you just had a feeling or some instinct that you could share that with her? Because sometimes we share things and they're not received well, you know, they're not believed or people you know, doubt you or, I mean, I've had some things happen. My friend just told me about something today. Terrible, you know, her dentist was like questioning the whole case with Trump. And I'm like, you know, he sounded so casual and so removed from it. And I just was like, that's where they go, you know, some some men do they go right to? Oh, well, she didn't remember the date. You know? Like, it's like, please, you're still doing this to women, you know, there's no way a woman would put herself through that. No, and it wasn't true. The agencies, the staff, Executive Director, so all of the entire staff of the agencies that we support, our charity partners are phenomenal. The work they do is so incredible, it's amazing. But they they are there to support the victim 100% They are amazing. And I just admire all of them for the work that they do. I do wish I had known about services, you know, way back when they didn't have those services. But I'm grateful that they have these services today to help support victims and their families because it's so critically important. It really is amazing. And it's it's our job, the organization and mine but the organization as a whole for us to take this important, you know, become educated and empower ourselves to take this information and share it with someone who's in need, because based on the statistics, we're all going to know someone you know, who's been impacted, whether directly or indirectly, but we're able to share this information and pass this on On to help someone who's in need. Because you feel very isolated when you go through such a domestic route you're gonna have you feel like you're so alone. I know I did. I felt like part of what's why you don't want to say anything's you feel like you're the only one you know. And you're very down when someone great to over and over again and verbally believe it, you start to believe it right? You have no, you know, you don't Yeah, you don't believe in yourself. And your self confidence, everything. So horrible feeling you feel very much alone? What did I do? What should I have done? What could you know, you didn't do anything. And so to be able to share some important information to say there is hope there is like, there are resources available in the community. And people want to help, we want to help there's help. So I just think that is the most important message ever that we can we can share with our community. Absolutely. And I think too, you know, there's, we can all do that on an individual basis. But the amazing thing about BW nice to me, is the marriage of business, women coming together and networking, right to meet others. But in doing so, banding together, and then supporting a charity. And if you don't mind talk about the Red Shoe events, because let me just say I was very lucky to work on many red shoe events. And you know, it's like any event, right? There's so much to think about. And it's arduous and stressful and all of that. But when it comes together, and you're in that moment, and the bonds that you create with the others that put this all together with you, and you see what you've done, and how you've supported and the money you raised. I mean, there's there's nothing better. So why don't you tell us? What is the Red Shoe event? The red shirt the red shoes come from. So the red shoe event isn't wonderful that Debbie, I totally agree. They're all they've all been wonderful. So when a chapter is established, obviously we know the chapters hold monthly networking meetings. But in addition to that, they also hold an annual charity fundraising event called the rent show. And that event is whatever the chapter decides luncheon fashion show evening event again, a tricky tray. We honor our Businesswoman of the Year ready to know, which is great in our community. We have our charity partner there, we typically ask for an impact speaker, so a woman who was in a position to share her story or audience to our attendees, how the charity partner, the agency helped them and proceeds from that event, go to support clients services. So they go directly to the agency to the women and families that are in safe and transition housing, get back on their feet and become independent. So there's that directly unpack the red shoe, we call it the red shoe, because we want everyone wearing red shoes. But more importantly, the Red Shoe symbolizes unity, strength and empowerment. And it honors the Vic, the journey of all victims and survivors of domestic violence. Because you never can understand the challenges or struggles that they go through until you walk in their shoes. So as you know, I always wear red shoes for meetings. That's I made that commitment a long time ago, I will always wear my red shoes proudly, because I want to honor every victim and every survivor and that we will be a voice for them. But it is fun. We have read some of the events have rich and contests now. It's great. We have first Gretchen was in Hunterdon County back in 2012 since then, and even through the pandemic, we were able to squeeze in a couple. We've had 30 ritual events, we've raised over $300,000 through all of those ritual events not every chapter has had an opportunity to do a ritual of that yet that thing Well, we've raised $300,000 That's on our grassroots volunteer basis. It is amazing and I mean literally rolling up our sleeves. It's amazing. And those dollars have gone again, you know directly to the agency and that the chapter support score, Client Services, which is awesome. So I am so proud of that. Yeah, it's a lot of hard work but there's so much meaning. You know, I always say I help you find satisfaction and you find it meaningful and purposeful because understand you are making a difference. We are all making a difference in the lives of these women and men Emily's directly. So yes, there, they are a lot of fun. And I'm looking forward to as we're getting back, you know, back out and about and having our meetings or monthly meetings that we'll see more ritual events start popping up. That sounds like fun. I'm a new member. So I haven't done one yet. And I have to tell you, when I walked in alone to that first meeting, and I'm not somebody that has trouble walking into a place alone, I'm not shy. But I was wondering, like, what would it be like, every single woman was so relaxed and warm and welcoming. And I was like, Well, I want to do this again. And then when I heard that you support the organization, Hunterdon county that fights domestic abuse, that just sealed the deal. For me, it's like I wanted to be part of it anyway. And I think it's so wonderful, that that's what you end up supporting, if you join, like, I just love that. It made it so easy for me to do something good. I just think that's the magic sauce, you know, about giving back. And that's what we're about. Yeah, that's at the heart of what we do when you do get back in greater measure. Absolutely. And you know, what, Lynn, I have to I don't even know what year I joined, maybe 2011, something like that. And I walked into that room. And I at that point was not comfortable with that. I remember having I didn't care for networking, I had been to other networking events, and I couldn't stand it. And I had a client who had gone to everything. And she said out of every networking organization that I've gone to, you have to go to be w nice. And I trusted her. And I walked into that meeting, same thing. I know, still to this day, I know exactly who I sat next to. And it was just electric. It was just, I was almost jumping out of my seat by the end like saying Sign me up. I need this. And I need these women. And you know, like I said it was probably around 2011 2012. The next month, I called a friend and I said, Oh, you have to come you have to see this. And yeah, it's it's been amazing ever since now. So back then, when I first started, that was only a few years after you launched here in New Jersey. So there was only that one chapter that you first opened. So talk about then the vision about taking it nationally and and how that happened and where we are with that. Yes, you're right. Getty. So really we just started with Hunterdon County, it was sort of I don't want to say an experiment. But But I had, I did have the great vision and you know, of what I wanted to do. So we had Hunterdon County, and we had our 501 C three. And then we said the chapter was doing phenomenal. And then we launched that first red shoe event in 2012. And that was phenomenal. So I knew we were off to a great start and was going to work. So we had some women in from the Lehigh Valley area attending. And somehow it caught on with them. So that was our next chapter. And they they were so excited. So they took off all they could think about was starting getting the chapter up and running and holding a red shoe event. And then from there, I went to Somerset County. So my my vision was once we decided to take on domestic violence, I reached out to did my due diligence and reached out to just about every agency in every county in New Jersey. And I said I don't know if we're going to be in every single county but we're going to try and be in every major county with a chapter and that chapter will align with that domestic violence agency so started to make that happen. And it was you know, taking off rather quickly. Once Lehigh Valley started then we had I had someone reaching out up in the Poconos and I thought oh my gosh, opened a chapter in Monroe out in the Poconos, Florida took off, and then followed by Bucks County now we have a Montgomery County Chapter. So the idea is have created a national platform, a turnkey system so we can start a chapter anywhere. They have an infrastructure of how the chapters are created. And that took a couple of years to iron out. But actually a Debbie, when you are on the leadership team, you are the beta test slash first official chapter when we created this model of the setup every chapter as an entity, so it'd be a little patient with working out some things. Now I've got it down. It's great. We've actually made some enhancements with through the pen anthemic, I made it a little easier to streamline some things. So we can start a chapter anywhere. So what happened was during the, during the pandemic, we opened a chapter in Oakland, California. Now that chapter is on pause right now, because they were going through a lot of struggles with a pandemic, and never were able to open, you know, to do in person meetings. So we're kind of restructuring that right now. But we have a chapter in Florida, Broward County, Florida right now, which is really starting to take off, it's wonderful. And I expected my hope. And the vision is that we will continue to grow and fan out throughout the United States. Again, we can open a chapter any anywhere, we can align with an agency. And you know, what is sadly, you know, there's, you know, doesn't matter. Yeah, there's a need everywhere, and it doesn't matter where you are, what steak County, town city, there is a need? And can you imagine if we could do you know, just think of getting the word out, and how many families, women and families we can help and the agencies, I mean, we are a force to be reckoned with. And yes, Debbie, to your point, we are a women's networking organization, we are here to help support and empower one another. But in tangent, in tandem with that we are doing something for the greater good and to do on this, this epidemic in our country. And making such an impactful difference. I mean, I can't think of anything greater. And I go back to, you know, the fact that again, it's about giving back and when you give you get in greater measure, and no matter how bad things are in our own lives, and we all have issues and challenges to deal with all of us have been touched by something new can shift that to somebody else who is in need. It really is, I find it therapeutic, or cathartic to be able to do that. And it really does ship helps shift our mindset and to know that we're doing good for others, that has always been part of my life, always. And I couldn't think of any anything else, you know, that I would want to do. I will tell you through all the tragedies in my own life, and failed marriages, and you know, the trauma that I went through, even when I moved back and went through another failed marriage, and a loss of a business and my mother being a caregiver and my mother very sick and Ellen Wu, obviously have lived through that. So you know, all of these things and raising my son, I never let go dw and so I kept it moving. But so every single moment and experience that I went through, way back when when I started in California, women of the organization, whether it was California's organization of beautifulness had been there for me, this has been my well my faith. In addition to my faith and my family, this organization on the women have been there to be supportive, and, and doing the work of the good work and knowing that we're helping others. It's just been a blessing, but helps me get through all of my. My was okay. valances I'm so impressed with this. I'm sorry, Debbie. Go ahead. No, no, I didn't mean to cut you off, I was pretty much going to say that your perseverance and your dedication is truly unmatched because I think most people you know, and then throw COVID In which of course for everyone, you know, whatever, whatever your job, occupation, life, whatever, you know, we everybody had a pivot. You had so many chances and to say, forget it, I gave it a go. But you never did that. I know you'll never do that. Because you are just so dedicated. And just I don't know, you're a force. I don't know what else. You are right? Your strength is so impressive. And very few people can take tragedy in their own life, find a way to turn it around, learn from it and help others and you've done that in an incredibly impressive way. And we're all benefiting from it and I love that you share your story that you that you were personal on our podcast today. Because people understand that you understand. Yes and you know really cool. Sharing is empowering. I'm not I used to be you know on embarrassed or what will people think I don't think I shared cuz I know so many others are going through the same and even worse, and you know what this is doesn't define who you are, these are things that happen. But I also understand a lot of the decisions I made really tied back to what happened to me early in my life. And by that, you know, coming to terms with that, putting that together, you know, as a child leaves, you know, with childhood sexual abuse, now I get, I realized why maybe I need some, you know, the decisions I did, and I never felt I was worthy, you know, that self worth, we lose that, in the midst of everything else, even though trying to be the perfect person and all this more you can be used to be who you are and be authentic. And you don't beat yourself up and just be true to who you are. And to know that it's okay, if you're when you're want to share, you can share. And that's the nice thing about our organization, right, you come to our meetings, you can share whatever you want, if you want to share your story, you can if you don't, but I will tell you this, if you share, we will be right there to support you. And that's what this conversation has done for me. And with me, I've always been there through my own trials and tribulations. And now sometimes it wasn't very, pretty ugly, but I always kept going as bad and as down as I got, or it seemed like the end of the world. Moving forward. Always keep moving forward. And just to know that you have the support of this group of women in this tribe, simpleton army of women. I mean, it's been amazing. I've known Debbie for years. She's an amazing woman, Lynn and getting to know you now. You're amazing. We're happy to have you. I just I I realized this has been my extended family for me, really, like this has been my life. Now. There's such a meant to be feeling about your story, you know, like it was just so meant to be like you said it brought you here, everything that happened to you. Now tell us about how women can join BW nice? Yes. So first of all, we'd love to have you join for women out there, there's lots of chapters, you can go to our website, BW nice.org, take a look at the different chapters, take a look at our mission. See if it fits in with you, we'd love to have you join us, you can come as a guest for two meetings prior to joining. You know, we have great networking meetings as a member, you can go to any chapter meeting, you can be a guest speaker in chapter meeting. So you have Yeah, again, options and flexibility, you're not tied into just one chapter, you can do that. If for whatever reason, you can't make our monthly meetings or breakfast meetings, and would like to help support us, we're always looking for volunteers for the red shoe. We do our chapters do some other events that are open to the public, like our BW nice on ice Happy Hour events, you have to look to see what chapters are holding them, they usually hold them on a quarterly basis. They're lots of fun, usually 530 to 730. In the evening, we just finished doing a speed networking event, which was phenomenal. Lynn, you were there, Debbie has also fun. It was great. So we want to do a few more of those. Again, that's a great way for us to get our name out there. So come sign your name up on our newsletter on the website. So you'll start getting more information. But we'd love to have you participate help us look for volunteers. And then if you know, you just simply want to make a donation to help our cause and our mission. You again can go to the website on the homepage, there's a Donate now. And you may donate anything that you'd like and we'd be most appreciative to help our 501 C three VW nicing. Those funds will help us again to sustain the organization and carry on our mission of helping to end domestic violence. So And what about Diane, somebody who might be interested not they're not in New Jersey, Pennsylvania area, and they might be interested in starting a chapter of their own or learning more? Absolutely, Debbie. Yes, you can start a chapter anywhere. If you are interested, you can email me directly at Diane, DIA and E at BW nice.org. Or there's an email address on our website info at BW nice.org. I get those emails as well. And if you have an interest, just reach out, I would love to have a conversation with you talk a little bit more about the organization, what we're doing where you're located. And we can go from there. That'd be wonderful. Yes, I hope we have every city up right. That's the goal. Yes, that's the vision. Yep. We'll be sure to put all this contact info and more of your story in the show notes. Is there anything else you'd like to tell us? I would just like to say thank you to all of those that have supported DW nice over the last 14 years. We just had our 40th anniversary last month, April our first or First meeting launched in April 2009. And I want to thank the many, many women volunteers, those that have served on our executive leadership committee served as presidents, volunteers, everyone to our charity partners just for making this organization so amazing. I, you know, it's not just me, I'm kind of the messenger. It's all you, all of you out there, Debbie, Lynn and everybody else that have really made this organization what it is today. And I'm just so honored, and excited and grateful and thankful and blessed to have you all a part of this organization. And I promise, you know, I am committed this committed to this to the end. And I know we're going to continue to do great things. So I just want to throw a big thank you out to everybody for being part of it and supporting our endeavor, it really, it means the world to me, it means the world to those that were helping us that we want to thank you, that was phenomenal. I didn't know most of that story. So it was really great to hear you tell it and I think it's just a inspiring story. And people can understand what BW nice is really about. Yes, yes. I would agree. It's, I hope, I hope it's been an interesting journey. But you know, we are doing great things. And you don't ever want to lose sight on that and don't want to lose sight on the money, the money we raised and how much more we can do. You know, that's really important. Just well, it feels good to be part of that. Definitely. And I would who was I talking to this morning at the meeting? Oh, I think it was, and Wayne, I said, you know, I've also as I'm out and about, you know, this this last year, talking about the fact please don't lose sight of, again, what our mission is and what we've done, because when he talked to the agencies, what we keep hearing is this continued uptick in the need for services and for the clients. It's not not getting better, you know, we're just hearing more and more, you know, they are getting more and more clients and what you know, that's good, because more people are reaching out for services. But we now more than ever, you know, our mission is so important. And we can really be a part of that integral part of that make a huge difference. So we must keep this going is very important. That's very powerful. Yeah, absolutely. Well, Diane, I can't imagine a better guest for our first guest of season three. Right, Lynn? I agree. This has been so much fun. And thank you for having me. I'm thrilled to be able to kick up Season Three for both of you and thrilled to have both of you as the CO hosts and excited to see the podcast move forward. So I'm excited to I'll be tuning in for your future guests as well. I can't wait. Thank you so much.