EP 31: Phyllis Everette - CEO and Founder of Saffron Trust Women's Foundation

02/05/20 • 33 min

In episode 31 of The Charity Charge Show, Stephen Garten chats with Phyllis Everette, the CEO and Founder of Saffron Trust Women's Foundation.

Phyllis is a woman of passion, vision, and purpose is the Founder of the Saffron Trust Women's Foundation (STWF). An organization that strives to remove barriers creating better life outcomes for women. Before STWF, Phyllis served as Program Director of a Health Clinic, working with Women's Health Care. Phyllis has 25 years of experience in corporate environments. She has been employed at Warner Chilcott Pharmaceuticals, ADP Brokerage, and Dell. Phyllis started her first organization In 2000 where she was the founder of Parents Taking Action Today ( PTAT )advocating for parents whose children were incarcerated, leading support groups for parents at the Essex County Juvenile detention center in Newark, New Jersey, where she also published a weekly newsletter. Phyllis also served as Executive Director of Family Support, a non- profit organization, centered on creating healthy families.

Phyllis holds an MSM Specialization in Organizational Structure, BS in Business, concentration in Human Resources Management. She holds a Certification in Supportive Employment and is a practicing life coach.

Phyllis Everette aka writer Saffron Trust put pen to paper to heal her wounds. What culminated was a story, “From Insanity to Serenity,” filled with drama and an overarching theme and message of recognizing the importance of community and how significant surrounding love, forgiveness, and freedom is important to live your truth. Focusing and praying to understand how to fulfill the purpose God had intended for her life, led Phyllis to become active in causes far bigger than her.

Writing her memoir, she undertook a literary journey that encompasses her personal life experience which describes a journey in her heart. Phyllis strongly feels her journey directed her to the mission of STWF. Her hope and desire for her personal story are that readers remain steadfast and become consciously aware of what forgiveness means, and of a much greater duty that each of us is morally obligated to recognize. Phyllis has 3 children and 4 grands, who she quotes “are the wind beneath her wings”.

The recognition and success that Phyllis has achieved that continue to inspire her, gave her pause when asked, “why me”, with “why not me”. Her signature mantra is “Born to give herself away.” So, she is committed and has dedicated her life to unconditionally helping to make a difference in someone else’s life.

Phyllis socially engaged in her community. She is pursuing coursework in Undoing Racism and Undoing White Supremacy Austin, addressing multi-racial communities to end personal structural, and cultural racism to building a racially just Austin.

In episode 31 of The Charity Charge Show, Stephen Garten chats with Phyllis Everette, the CEO and Founder of Saffron Trust Women's Foundation.

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EP: 30 Sally Blue - Consultant and Interim Executive Director of TAME

In episode 30 of The Charity Charge Show, Stephen Garten chats with Sally Blue, social change consultant and Interim Executive Director of The Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering(TAME).

Sally has worked in a variety of settings – university offices, Girl Scout campfires, unpaved paths in the mountains of Guatemala, board rooms, and sustainable gardens, to name a few of the more than 50 transitioning orgs she has worked with to date.

After serving in both frontline and management positions, including six months as an Interim Executive Director, Sally joined a nationally-recognized consulting firm where she facilitated strategic planning and visioning work, capital campaigns, and training for Boards, volunteers and staff. She founded Sally Blue Consulting in 2013.

An active volunteer in the community, Sally is past Board President of the Association of Fundraising Professionals – Greater Austin Chapter, a mentor for young professionals, and a graduate of Leadership Austin Essentials Class of 2017. When she’s not at theater practice with her daughter Ruby, Sally’s working on her first novel and plotting her next trip to Mexico or maybe the beach.

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EP 32: Sam Porritt - Founder of Falling Forward

In episode 32 of The Charity Charge Show, our founder Stephen Garten chats with Sam Porritt, founder of the organization Falling Forward.

In August of 2011, Sam suffered a spinal cord injury that resulted from an accident while he was on vacation in Italy. Initially, Sam was paralyzed from the waist down. His recovery from such a catastrophic injury would be a long one. Thankfully, Sam learned that his medical insurance placed no limit on rehabilitation. Fewer than 1% of policies have such a benefit. Sam's insurance covered nearly two years of intensive physical therapy. With the skill and support of many rehab professionals, Sam recovered. He's now able to walk with a cane, drive a car, and work part-time.

During his more than two years in rehab, Sam saw the impact of therapy caps first-hand. Sam met hundreds of patients whose recoveries were cut short when their insurance benefits stopped and they were unable to pay out of their own pockets. In August of 2013, Sam launched the Foundation to give other patients the same opportunity that he had --- to continue medical rehabilitation and to recover to their full potential.

Prior to his accident, Sam spent more than 25 years in marketing and advertising, building some of America's largest brands. While working for Payless ShoeSource, Sam's responsibilities included managing the company's Foundation and philanthropic activity. Sam earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.