Empowered Ease
Welcome to Empowered Ease, hosted by Jenn Ohlinger—a holistic coach, founder of The Moonflower Collective, and critical care nurse dedicated to revolutionizing women's health. Join us each week as we delve into the transformative stories of healers, health practitioners, and everyday women like you, challenging the patriarchal framework through empowerment and holistic healing. Through engaging storytelling, our podcast highlights each woman's unique journey toward embracing their feminine gifts, trusting their body, and prioritizing their mind, body, and soul. Discover how by empowering ourselves, we can pave the way for stronger relationships and a more balanced world.
Empowered Ease
Terry Grahl on Empowerment, Healing Spaces, and Transforming Lives
Hi!! I would love to hear from you!
What if you had the power to transform not just spaces, but lives? Join us as we talk to Terry Grail, the visionary founder and CEO of Enchanted Makeovers, who turned a simple act of painting a wall in a shelter into a full-blown mission to create healing environments for women and children in need. Terry's journey from facing initial setbacks to securing crucial donations like mattresses is a testament to her unwavering commitment and serves as an inspiring tale of perseverance and compassion.
Throughout this episode, we explore various programs that empower women in overcoming their traumas. From the innovative Capes for Kids initiative to the heartwarming doll adoption program, these efforts show small acts of kindness can have a profound impact. Terry's story highlights the extraordinary resilience and courage of women, often forged through challenging experiences like transient childhoods and homelessness. These women are not just survivors; they are true warriors, turning adversity into strength.
In our conversation, we also dive into the remarkable sewing program that aids women escaping human trafficking and domestic violence. By creating sacred sewing rooms, these initiatives foster new skills, community involvement, and personal healing. Handcrafted treasures carry the love of their makers and the potential to spark joy and connection. As we wrap up, we also introduce an inspiring children's book author whose tales of discovery and love echo the themes of empowerment and transformation woven throughout this episode. Join us, get inspired, and perhaps find your way to contribute to this beautiful mission.
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Hello and welcome to Enchanted Ease. Today, my guest is Terry Grail, founder and CEO of Enchanted Makeovers. Hi, terry, hi. Thank you, jen for having me. Oh, it's a pleasure. I'm so glad you're here. How are you doing today?
Speaker 2:I'm doing good. It's raining here, so here to gloomy, gloomy day.
Speaker 1:So, terry, give me a little bit about just about your company to start with. So we have an idea of kind of what you do and what your nonprofit is all about.
Speaker 2:Well Enchanted Makeovers began in 2007 and I was asked to volunteer my time and paint one wall at a shelter for women and children. So I visited the shelter and it was way beyond paint. The women stayed at this place. It was an old post office, so they stayed there for a year with their children and the last stop was the women's dorm. Now, 30 women stayed in this room with all of their children.
Speaker 2:How big was the dividers? There was no privacy, oh, wow. How big was it? Um, it was enough room to fit the bunk beds and cribs, and that's it. That's about it. Okay, there was no space, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I remember when I went up the stairs, it was just chocolate like brown paint that was donated and they used it for everything the steps, the, the, the trim around the windows, the door. The door was metal because it was old post office, so they used both hands to get in the room. I remember pushing the door open and there was. Everything was broken inside. Because I'm all about repurposing. If I can take it and repaint it and give it, you know, bring it back to life, I will. It was prison beds that were donated. The bedspreads were from a nursing home. I asked where the dressers are. She said well, we use boxes as the dressers. The walls had duct tape, the baby cribs had duct tape.
Speaker 2:And I remember taking before pictures because at that time I had a decorating business, so I would take pictures like I would do for a client. And I remember telling the director I don't know if I can do anything, because it was overwhelming, I didn't have the money, I didn't have the volunteers, so I took before and I went home and I forgot about. I said I'm not doing this, it's just too much. I have my business, my kids were little at the time, I have a family to take care of and a week had passed and I just had this urgency on my heart to say you know, you need to look at those pictures. At the time you downloaded your pictures. You weren't using your cell phone, you used a camera, so I downloaded them and the last picture was a bunk bed and that duct tape on the wall.
Speaker 2:And I've always loved polka dots, since I was a child, and there was two pillow cases, no pillows. There was two pillows, no pillowcases on them, and there was a white, very subtle white polka dots on the pillow. And I heard, heard, trust me. And in that moment I lifted my right hand up and I said I'll do it. I didn't know how I was going to do it.
Speaker 2:And the next day I just went out and I drove to one of the big stores in my town asking for free paint. And the woman rolled her chair out from the office and said we don't have time for you. And I went out in my car, I did the ugly cry. I went to another paint store. They said well, when we get done with the customers, we'll talk to you. I got up to the desk Well, you have to go through corporate to get paint donated.
Speaker 2:And I share that, because my thought at that time was if they could just hear the women's stories, because once I said yes to this, I already had went back to the women and said this is my commitment, I'm going to do the best I can. We cried together, the women. I mean I was just like in tears, sharing that, this hope I had for the women, them, the women crying with me. It's like I felt like we all became children again and girls that were just all healing. So I felt like if someone could just listen to me they would understand the importance of this project.
Speaker 1:So you went to volunteer at a shelter, went home thinking about not doing it, downloaded this picture, got your sign and then went back, spoke to these women, were touched by their story. So now you're out trying to get donations because you're like I'm not going to paint it, this ugly brown color.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's going to be what it's. This simple is. I wanted to give the women exactly what I would do for my clients. Yeah, and my clients came to me if they wanted um country theme or cottage, you know, shabby chic. So it was all handmade, it was a little vintage, it was a little bit new. So I kept getting the no and I remember it was.
Speaker 2:I was turning 40 that year, so I remember sending emails out the week before and I sent out asking mattress companies. I need 30 mattresses. And I remember waking up that morning and before I touched the floor I said I don't want anything for my birthday, I want the largest donation. 12 o'clock hits and I get a phone call and it was a gentleman that owned a mattress company. He says I'm in Mexico right now. I'm on vacation. I received your email and my father always taught me if you can help, you need to do it, I will donate all those mattresses, all the mattress pads and all the pillows. So he did more. Yes, that was my first largest donation and from there I said I am not, no matter how long it takes, I am going to fulfill, I'm going to keep this promise to the women. And the women was.
Speaker 2:The dorm was transformed. It was transformed into the, with the murals, quilts, you name it, new bunk beds and the bunk bed piece. What I want to share is it was a 15 minute appointment of how I got the bunk beds, because I believe that we have divine appointments and we have divine timing in our life and we can choose either to not commit to that appointment and lose something that we don't even know is being added to us. I share this thing about the bunk beds is because my first client if you book appointment with her, you can't first client, if you book an appointment with her, you can't. She's like a year ahead. So she had a 15 minute cancellation. So her client walks in and says, can I get my brows done? And they're like, well, we have a cancellation. So she sits down and starts telling this woman about this project I'm working on and she says, well, I'm friends with which was the largest furniture store here in Michigan was Art Van and she's. I'll reach out to him. He comes to the shelter in his limousine, the owner of the furniture store. So that's basically the cancellation of Herge's sharing. He comes to the shelter, he does the tour of the dorm. He asks me what is this going to look like? Blah, blah, blah, and then he leaves.
Speaker 2:A week passed, he calls me and he says I want to know about you. Do you have children? You know what is? I said well, I have a decorating business and it's all about repurposing. I don't know why I said it, but I said I don't buy your furniture. I have no idea, because I was about repurposing grandma's treasures yeah, the same grandma's dressers and repainting it and giving it you know, just loving it back to life, yeah, new life. So I was just speaking my truth and he, it was kind of quiet and he says well, tell me more about your family. So I shared about my children and it was quiet. He said I'm going to donate all the bunk beds and all new baby cribs. That was 15 minute cancellation and it's been like that for 17 years. It's enchanted. It's truly enchanting when I say that it's cancellations, it's divine appointments. It's just bumping into people that really I know this so-and-so. That's how it's been for 17 years.
Speaker 1:Now, I know you are nationally now, but where was that first shelter at?
Speaker 2:The first shelter was in Michigan.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that where you're oh beautiful, so tell me what, um, what, what made you connect to these women's stories in a way that felt?
Speaker 2:well. At first I didn't know. I know now I had way greater purpose than my decorating business. I was supposed to be there and I was supposed to heal my own story with the women. I can say that now, but as a child we moved place to place. We moved 12 times. We were homeless. It was living in a one room with family. It was all that all turned into trauma. I can say that now as I'm. Obviously I became way stronger than I was 17 years ago. That's how I connected. Was the pain, the trauma?
Speaker 1:um, it wasn't feeling like at home or having like that comfort of a place to go, that feeling Is that what you're related to?
Speaker 2:Yes. Well it was. We have a thing on our website it says she is me. And people, a lot of people, misunderstand that. It's not about the domestic violence, it's not about human trafficking.
Speaker 2:I always say to women have you ever felt pain? Of course they're going to say yes, and I said isn't that enough to say she is me, that's it, that's all that. That one little, those three little words mean that's enough, that that we're not here to save you, we're here to walk beside you. That's it. So that's how I have grown stronger is the women being so bold and honest. And you cannot bowl. You know what? The women, because they see that they've been.
Speaker 2:I mean, a lot of them have lived down the streets. They have not only been had abuse as a child, but then that turns into addiction and then that turns into I have to sell myself to take care of the addiction. Then that turns into incarceration so they can see through any the bullcrap. So that made me have to turn the mirror to myself and speak. My truth as I sat and shared, they, the women, shared stories with me. Truth as I sat and shared, the women shared stories with me. So I call. I always say the women are warriors, who are warriors. They don't see themselves that way. I do, and I now can say I am a warrior too. So that's what this means. Yes, Beautiful.
Speaker 1:I love that. So tell me the kind of work you guys do. So I heard you mention you know you have these shelter. Victims are long term. They're there for I don't know if that's all of them, since you're working in so many different locations. So I know that as part of your nonprofit, you guys provide a number of different services that women donate. Tell me a little bit about the kind of things you guys donate and do for these women who are in need you guys donate and do for these women who are in need.
Speaker 2:Well, first started with just the transformation of bedrooms, because that is really your sacred space that you're not sharing. Some are dorms and then some turn into that. You have your own private room, but usually that's three to four women you're sharing that space with. So that was always my sacred space as a child, was my bedroom. I felt like I could escape and just it was a safe Haven for me. So it was only naturally to say we have to focus on the bedroom. But that organically grew to the capes for kids. None of this was planned out, it's just. It went through, just the emotions that grew through, what I learned, what the women taught me.
Speaker 2:So the capes for kids is not about Superman, cause people always say, oh, we're going to do a superhero cape. No, that was just me watching the news one day and a mother shared with her son to give it up. No one's going to come here and save us. She lived in New York, new Jersey, and in that moment I began to cry. But then I always share with people. What are tears if there's no action? So the action was I saw her son as the superhero. But you can't give hope if you don't have it. So I don't judge the mother. She couldn't give that to her son. So I said you know what? I'm going to go on social media and see if someone will make 25 capes. So I had a woman from North Carolina reach back and she said I'll make them. So she sent 25 capes.
Speaker 2:I went back to my local shelter to see if the children would you know? Would they embrace it? Would they think it's silly? The children came to life. It was laughing and twirling and I'm like in that moment of just how much joy was in the children's face.
Speaker 2:I knew that this had to be one of our programs. So we started that way. It just had. I never thought it would explode into. Pbs reached out, come and talk about this. Then it went into Hilton saying can we make 10,000 capes? A show featured it. That was. I only share that, because what are tears if there's no action? I never thought it would be that. It was just enough of what can I do and I share that with people is just the simplest thing. You never know if it's going to blossom to that. But it doesn't have to be either. It was those 25 children impact that it made. One of the children that had the cape ended up. She obviously grew and she left the shelter, but she kept that cape, the mother told me, in her closet and she used it as show and tell and tell her story in sixth grade. Oh my God, so it's beyond the fabric, it's way deeper than that.
Speaker 1:And you've been doing it long enough. Some of these children are adults now.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, the way that I'm in children anymore. Yeah, that grew to the doll adoption, because the dolls were so important to me as a child. I can say now when I took care of my doll, I was taking care of myself. Oh.
Speaker 1:I love that. I didn't even think about that.
Speaker 2:I know that now but I mean, it was so much about how important it was that they were comfortable, cause I would worry at night before I went to bed are their arms uncomfortable, are their legs warm? I mean, I was that deep of a thinker as a little kid because I thought, well, if they're uncomfortable, I can't sleep. So I thought, well, what if the children? The children need to have dolls? Yeah, so that's how I brought the doll adoption in and the children have so much embraced. I mean, no one has said I don't want a doll. I mean, and when the dolls are laid out, we never give a doll the children get to pick their doll. It's whatever you love, because you know you might not want that doll. It has a. You know, I don't know, there's some that are crocheted, there's some that are a panel doll, but it's what you get to pick.
Speaker 1:Yeah, who knows why a child would connect with whatever they're connecting with?
Speaker 2:yeah, yes, yes, um, from there it went to the pillowcase program and it's a traveling pillowcase project. It is not about a traveling size pillow, because people think that's what it is like you can get the smaller pillows and they have the smaller pillowcase. It's not that I, when I would go to bed at night, even through all that moving and you know I was, I can say this now I used to pull my hair out. That was part of my thing of just I would pull my hair out, pull my eyelashes out. I was very much of like that leg thing of twisting your legs and shaking. I was always shaking. That was how I was coping. But I realized I had the power of my mind to escape. So when I went to bed at night I could travel and that's why it's called the Traveling Pillowcase Project. Is I want children to know that's a powerful coping skill? Is that even though you're in the shelter, you can go another place? So that's why it's called that.
Speaker 1:So what does that look like? What does that project do?
Speaker 2:Well, obviously we encourage. We want colorful, fun fabric. We don't want just a white pillowcase. So, people are making these beautiful pillowcases and donating them across the country. Okay, people add little messages. They add we have a lot for the women. It's I am a warrior, I am precious, I am loved. So we are big about how. The power of words, oh, affirmations I love. Yes, I believe a words can either uplift a life or destroy a life. Yeah, so I know how important that is, so that every single project has way beyond the fabric.
Speaker 1:Beautiful. So now I know you're all over the country. So how does this? Do you reach out to shelters? Did they reach out to you? Did communities reach out to you? How do you get involved in these different shelters and provide the services that women are providing to you?
Speaker 2:Some shelters have reached out, but we've also had another divine appointments. So we went to one just to see is this? No, we've got to learn about that shelter. Are they good stewards of the donor's money? Are they going to fail in a year? There was one that looked like a good, like this. I think we're going to work with them. So we went and just did a tour and then, as we're leaving the volunteer that was, you know, showing us, giving us a tour the director came out. She's like oh, who are you? I said well, we're with Enchanted Makeovers, we're just kind of visiting to see if you're the next you know one that we're going to work with. She said I have to tell you I had a dream the night before and my dream was that someone would come here and bring light and hope into our bedrooms. And I said there's our divine appointment.
Speaker 1:We're done we're here.
Speaker 2:We're supposed to be here. That's how it. It's like a hit and miss with things. That's how it works. So people like, well, I didn't expect that. They want a different answer, but I can only speak my truth that this is how it works. Yeah so, but we are moving into grassroots. We want to work with grassroots um shelters or homes that are for women that are escaping human trafficking or domestic violence, and these are usually maybe one employee, so it's all volunteers, because we know that's really right now. That's where we need to be. They need us more than the ones that are really bringing in the millions Because it's very easy to get paint and paint. We know it's beyond paint, but I think that's where we need to be now is to go to that woman that started that nonprofit that really could use our help.
Speaker 1:And supporting other grassroots nonprofits. Okay, I love that. So I know one thing we spoke about before that I thought was so powerful and we talked just briefly before this. But we talked about how, like these women and children that spend this year there, that year is so powerful because they're coming out of this survival situation and this year is, or however much time they spend there, they're really it's like the first time they can relax and process some of what's happening. Relax and process some of what's happening. So it's a very intense time in an important time in their life where they don't have a lot to give at that point because they're coming out of this intense situation. So tell me a little bit about that and how that plays a role in a lot of these services.
Speaker 2:Well, we have the sacred sewing room program and that is we don't donate machines, we donate a sewing room. So you have to be willing to give up a space and you have to be just really committed that when we set that room up, when we leave, that you continue to make sure volunteer instructors are coming in every week to teach and that you reach out to community to get more fabric. We get you started and from there we need you to commit to that that you don't put those machines away in the closet. You to commit to that that you don't put those machines away in the closet because it takes it takes a lot of work to pull. You know, reach out to those um corporations and companies that we've built relationships with and they, they want that too. They don't want to fail that it's done in a year. So there's the first start.
Speaker 2:But that began with my mother. So my mother battles with depression. She always has, she still does. And um, I just remember as a kid you know me, you know laying there on a Saturday morning watching cartoons and mom sewing. And you got. You hear James Taylor, you heard Carly Simon playing in the background. Everything is good. But then there was also the time where the machine is off and the blinds are shut and there's no food on the table. But I choose to say I'm going to focus on the light. And the light is the sacred sewing room, and each one we set up is mom, you are light, you are not that darkness that you battle here and there. So every room is kind of like um, my mom is sitting there, but it's another mother that's sitting in that chair, so that's why we did it. My mother said that a sewing machine saved her life, and when she told me that, I said we have to have a sewing room in shelters for women.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was around sewing. I love it, yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's that whole therapeutic. You're learning a skill. You can take care of your family. But in that piece we encourage the women to give back to their community. And that is because my mother even when we struggled, she was making those little pans of pizza, the sheets from the little jiffy box At that time it was like 20 cents, because it was in the 70s and our job was to gather the kids in the neighborhood so she can make sure they had a meal on that Friday and we were struggling. So that's why I encourage instructors Ask the women will you be a part of your community? Because that's part of the healing. We step out of ourself too. Even though we're struggling, we also are uplifting and standing next to someone else too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's energizing to find, to connect something with a little purpose too. You know it like creates that energy sometimes and moves that stale, whatever.
Speaker 2:Yes, and sometimes I've said, when we step away, step away from yourself so no one gets hurt. Yeah, great, just take a step back.
Speaker 1:And that has been healing.
Speaker 2:Yes, so we've had women. They're making 250 pillowcases for the local hospital. They make dresses for girls in Africa. They make bibs for teen moms. Everything the women have made they give away because they have no money. So they're giving it to their friends, to their family. So, and if you fall behind in a project, another woman steps right there to say I can help you. There's not exchange of words. This is what the volunteer instructors have shared with us. It's all. That whole team system is on there to support you. So it's even beyond the sewing machine too, and a factor. It's so many different, like branches to every program. That's the beauty of it.
Speaker 1:I love it. It's the grassroots, like love is in every essence and every chain link of this. It's all people just giving. So you seem to have a very a gift, some magic around your ability to get people to come together and provide these services. So any, any insight into how you're so successful Because this is what I hear from you Every time I talk to you or look into it. You just have this gift for bringing people out who want to give, and I love that.
Speaker 2:Well, I think the gift is people want to be seen and heard, and that is serving with your talent, because that is your voice when you're making that quilt. That's you, that's you in that quilt, in your voice. So we want people to serve with their talent. That's it. It's. It's really not rocket science. I mean, when it started, people were saying, well, I thought you was to tell me what to do, but they're also sharing their story. Before they said that and I knew in that moment it had to be full circle. Everyone had to have a voice in this. So people send stories of they're in domestic violence situation, but they're making a quilt. Yeah, everyone needs to be seen and heard, because if it's only half, half-sided, you're really taking away something from the women and children, because they have so much to teach us.
Speaker 1:Yes, so I feel like there's so much power in people telling their stories for them and for the people receiving it. It's so powerful when people just talk, and it's a rarity nowadays that people sit down and take the time to listen. I feel like that's one of the reasons I wanted to do this podcast honestly.
Speaker 2:Oh OK, yes, it's so true. One of the women at the shelter at the time was 2008. And something came over me like I should share their stories like on video. And I got permission, we got everyone signed a release form and I said now this is going to go to YouTube. And they were all good with it. I said you don't know the seeds you're going to plant with your story. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:So one of the mothers I remember sitting in the in the in the cafeteria at the shelter and her baby was in the high chair and she started sharing about. She lived in Detroit and she shared how her father would sell the food stamps and she had brothers and sisters. So she said my first thought was I have to take care of my brothers and sisters. So I turned to stripping. I was 12 years old and she said the sad part is I thought I thought, well, I guess I'm good at something. That's how she saw herself. She said I'm so grateful I'm here now rebuilding my life. I'm grateful for the food and the lighting, but no one ever wants to listen to our story.
Speaker 2:I never forgot that. I never forgot. I see her face. I'm not good with names. I never forget that. I never forgot. I see her face. I'm not good with names. I never forget a face. So years had passed and I was at a fundraising event. She was there and she ran up to me and hugged me and she's, I have to tell you I I went back to college, oh my god, and I shared that video that you did of me to my class, oh my gosh she says I ended up getting an a, and I in the class stood up and she got a standing ovation.
Speaker 2:She incorporated that video of her story with her class. Oh, that's beautiful. You never know. Just that little urge of saying share the story. I just did what I felt in my heart. I never thought years later how it would make a greater impact. Yes, so I love that people is if it touches your heart. If there's tears, please you don't mind, I have all the answers. You don't have the funding. Volunteers, take action. There's something greater out of that.
Speaker 1:Oh, my gosh gosh. I love that. I I say this a lot, I probably say this, I'll probably say it almost every episode. But with women specifically, and trauma survivors specifically, there's so much power in telling and hearing other people tell their stories as well, because there's something about us that is so easily we push it under the rug. Like you said, it took you so long to acknowledge your own experience. I've been that way as well. The older I get, the more I acknowledge about maybe, some of the things that have happened to me in the past. And when you hear another woman or another trauma survivor talk about their story, something in our mind is like oh, maybe that effect, you know it validates something on a level that you can't validate without hearing stories. And then when you tell your story and see how other people connect to it, that also validates things. It's this exchange and that community is so powerful. So I just so heartwarming to hear you making all these connections, giving these women a space to share their stories. I love it.
Speaker 2:Yes. So you know it's beyond the paint. Of course the paint is something, just a tool for something greater. Yes, if I was called to decorate, I would have kept my decorating business. I closed and started, closed it down and started a nonprofit. So when I get those few that say, oh, you decorate shelters, I have to say no. Say no, if I did, I would have kept my decorating business. Yeah, not about that. And I encourage people to come in that say that because they need the transformation themselves to see that it's way bigger than that. You can't deny people. You want them to come in and learn and hopefully they. It's the heart and mind is the bigger piece that when we change the way we serve, it changes the way we see each other, and that's my biggest piece. I've stood by all these years it keeps that humanity alive.
Speaker 1:It doesn't let us do it's not.
Speaker 2:I'm here to help the abused women. I'm here to help the poor person. I'm here to help the homeless. No, we're here to serve each other. It's not. It's not the women and children's identity. It was their circumstance. It's not their identity. And you also have a story because you're here too, because we all have a story. So that's the biggest, because I've been asked before by different reporters like what is that you want to like? Kind of like, when you die, what is the thing you want? What do you want to leave this world with? Yes, and that is it. It's to see ourselves that she is me and it's not that one, two, the two things that we see. You know the trafficking, it's the pain, it's that we all have a story. That's enough right there to say let's walk beside each other.
Speaker 1:That's it Right. We're all connected in that we feel love and we're all connected that we suffering, and suffering is suffering, regardless of who you come from.
Speaker 2:That's it right there.
Speaker 1:Yes, Love that. So this is. You've been doing this 17 years now, is that?
Speaker 2:right, it's 17 on December. In December this past it was 17 years.
Speaker 1:So how do you so cause my thing, like in my personal practice, I'm like a burnout and stress relief coach. This sounds like a lot of stress, a lot of deadlines, a lot of well, how do you manage stress in your personal life? I'd love to know what are the things that keep you sane.
Speaker 2:I love music. Ooh, I love that. I love music. Uh prayer, um just my. I love talking to my sister.
Speaker 1:So you have a good support community around you talking to my sister.
Speaker 2:So you have a good support community around you. Yeah, my sister, my sister is a warrior herself. She's been with me by my side since day one, oh, and she lives next door to me. I love that. So, um, it's either talking through the window, because we're right next to each door to each other, and she always answers the phone. She's always there if I need her to go on a trip. My mom, obviously, my COO, which is Ellen. She is not only the COO but she's a dear friend to me. So friendship is really important.
Speaker 2:But the bottom line too is that this whole process too is I'm still continuing to heal. So just the women and how they taught me about integrity and honesty and truth and being yourself, that's enough too. That keeps me recharged to my battery. And I do need quiet time. I just watch a movie and just zone out and it could be something just totally like I love historical pieces, time period pieces. Yes, yes, those. I love those because I just zone out. So that's kind of my time to like. It's a form of, like a meditation. Yeah, for sure yeah, that's how.
Speaker 1:That's how I do it. I love that. And crafts right. Are you a crafty person yourself? I?
Speaker 2:am, but I have to. My thing is being a voice for other people to make it OK. But I love to find handmade treasures at flea markets and thrift stores because they're one of a kind and they're not mass produced and I feel like, oh, oh, my gosh, somebody just embroidered that pillow and I have to save it and I want to share someone else's love. So I'm big. If I'm gonna go thrifting, I want to find something handmade oh, I love that.
Speaker 1:I'm always getting the handmade pottery, like when there's um any clay pottery that's been like thrown at a thrift store. I'm like mine. I don't know what it is, but I love it.
Speaker 2:Yes, I know what I find is I find the clay pots that the children made in school and the family donated it. I have some at the headquarters and it has like the clay that goes in a circle. I have a pot and I'm like, oh, they didn't save it, so I have it.
Speaker 1:I love it. There's something about like someone made this with their hands and it's beautiful.
Speaker 2:I love it, so I think everything holds energy. Yes, I agree. Yes, so it's bringing that and you got to be careful too. I understand, but it's. I just feel this that's why we're big about handmade is that love and positive energy that you're putting out and you're giving that to someone else and they feel that you can't get that off a shelf at a store. It's not the same.
Speaker 1:No, I love them. So if people want to get involved or say a shelter wants to reach out to you, or women hear this and they're like I love to sell, I will do all of that. How did they get in contact with you? How did they get involved in this beautiful, all these beautiful things you're doing?
Speaker 2:Just email us. It's EnchantedMakeovers at Comcastnet. You can check out the website EnchantedMakeoversorg Our phone number's on there to give us a call. Call us If you want to share. Be a messenger. You, messenger. You now, jen, have become a messenger. Yay, and, as you know, this Monday, february 3rd, kelly Clarkson is featuring our mission. Yes, and I shared with Kelly, you now have become a messenger for the mission. Yes, that's, you now are Jen a messenger for the mission. So that's, you now are Jen, a messenger for us.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm proud to be proud to be. I love it so much. So is there anything you are planning for the future? Are you just barreling ahead with all of that you've got going on? Is there any new projects to look for or anything? You're searching for at the moment that you'd like to put out there.
Speaker 2:Well, I've written a children's book, so that will be announced this coming week. Look for it, okay. Yes, and the second book is already with the illustrator, and the manuscript for my third is already finished. So it's three children's books. It's all based on the pillowcase, the doll, adoption in the case for kids, and it's all animals in their journey of discovery. With all three projects, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:I love it. I can't wait so. And then we hope to have more sewing rooms this year. That's the next thing. So those are. That's enough right now for me. That's the next thing. So those are, that's enough right now for me. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a lot. Yeah, it's a lot. Oh, I love that. Well, thank you so much for coming. We'll put all these links in the show notes. Anything else you want to leave us with?
Speaker 2:Terry, I don't know. I just hope that a lot of seeds are planted in people's hearts and they know that they're loved and they are precious and they do matter.
Speaker 1:Beautiful. I love that. Thank you so much for coming today. Oh you're welcome. We are definitely going to have to do this again to learn more about what you're doing, and, yeah, so really appreciate it. Oh, thank you, jen.
Speaker 2:You are welcome.
