Turning Pain into Purpose | Cynthia Kersey

Episode Topics:

• Discover how Cynthia Kersey turned personal pain into a powerful purpose.
• Learn about the life-changing work of the Unstoppable Foundation.
• Understand the importance of giving and its impact on both the giver and receiver.
• Get inspired by stories of perseverance and triumph from vulnerable communities.
• Find out how you can get involved and make a difference.

 

Rick Jordan  

Hey, what’s shakin, hey, I’m Rick Jordan today. We’re going all in. All right today, I’m so pumped because this is an organization that I support myself, the Unstoppable Foundation, and I have with me today the CEO who is also a best-selling author of two books, The Unstoppable and Unstoppable Women which I especially want to talk with her about the second one, and an international speaker featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, which is just badass to begin with. Cynthia Kersey, welcome to the show.

 

Cynthia Kersey  

Thank you, it’s so good to see you. And thank you for all your great support.

 

Rick Jordan  

Oh, my pleasure. I’m so excited because when I found out really, as we know, through a mutual friend, David Meltzer, who’s on the board, right? And, he introduced me to your entire foundation and some amazing people of your foundation. And I’m just really blown away by these enrichment centers in Kenya. Could you tell me a lot about those? And then I want to dive into you personally, too, because I mean, this is what got me excited to begin with, right about unstoppable.

 

Cynthia Kersey  

Yeah, well, you’re kind of jumping.

 

Rick Jordan  

I’m jumping way ahead.

 

Cynthia Kersey  

This is what I do is that, yeah, you’re jumping way ahead. Because I think the bottom line is, we’re looking for how do you help commute vulnerable communities sustain themselves. So obviously, you have to provide access to education, clean water, healthcare, and training for the parents to generate an income. So it’s self-sustaining, and these enrichment centers really are that place where we focus on the parents because while the children are getting an education, the families have been left behind. And at the end of the day, if our goal is to work ourselves out of a job, right? So this the enrichment centers provide, you know, a vsla, it’s a village, savings, and loan, teaches them how to generate an income teaches them how to have an entrepreneurial mindset, all of the things that are necessary for them to be able to lift themselves out of poverty, and make it a sustainable solution.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, would Kenya because they’re only in Kenya right now. Right? This is the country that you pretty much support 100% with the enrichment centers. Yeah, yeah.

 

Cynthia Kersey  

Yes! We’re working. Yeah,

 

Rick Jordan  

that’s awesome. Ironically, what I found out a while back was that in the entrepreneurship category, this was for a period of about three months, this show you’re on right now is actually number one in Kenya. Which is ironic to me. Yeah. It’s a it’s like, that’s awesome. We’ve got to I started when I met David, and then also heard about Unstoppable. It’s like, maybe there’s something to that, right, because these enrichment centers and that’s why there was this insane connection. You know, like, there’s first I couldn’t believe it, right? Like, there are entrepreneurs in Kenya, you know, because I didn’t know much about the country at the time, you know, except that I think and correct me if I’m wrong, it would be considered a third-world country, correct? And impoverished.

 

Cynthia Kersey  

Developing country for sure.

 

Rick Jordan  

For sure. Right on. So when I heard about the Unstoppable Foundation, and what you’re doing with these enrichment sounded like I have to get involved. I’m hearing now from you even something more than I didn’t know, with the enrichment centers, they support the parents, right? The to allow the families, to be able to actually make a decent living and break out of that cycle. How did you get involved in this, to begin with?

 

Cynthia Kersey  

Well, you know, it’s interesting, because it really started with a challenge in my life, you know, kind of turning pain into a purpose. And I was writing my first book, you know, It finally got published, you know, I’m an unknown author. I mean, that’s a whole other journey, right? Just getting a book published. But the book comes out a year and a half into the book, you know, I’m living my purpose, you know, helping people live unstoppable lives. And my 20-year marriage ended. And I was devastated. It was more like an identity. I felt like I’d been married my whole life. And I talked to my mentor, Millard Fuller, who was the founder of Habitat for Humanity. And I told him what had happened. He was actually in my first book. And he said, When you have a great pain in your life, you need a greater purpose. Wow. And I quit my job cash in my entire life savings to write my first book. But that wasn’t bigger than my pain. And so as I started looking at it, he said, Well, why don’t you build a house for a family in need? And I thought, well, how many houses would I need to build to offset this pain in my life? Wow. And I’d never built one house before the house was $2,000 in the Paul do I mentioned Nepal, we decided, yeah, I didn’t mention that part. But he had just gotten back from Nepal. And it was just this most beautiful area, but also one of the most impoverished nations of the world. So he’s like, why don’t you build a house in Nepal? And that was $2,000. And as I thought about it, I thought, well, maybe like five houses would be that’s five more than I’d ever done, and really checked in, it’s like, no, you know, that I thought, 10 houses and then 50 houses. And it wasn’t till I got to the number 100 houses, that that felt bigger than my pain. So that year, Rick, while I’m speaking, you know, my eyes are so swollen from crying, I could barely open them right when I’m speaking at all these conferences, but I would think about these families that didn’t have a simple decent place to live. And that kept me going. And so that year, I raised $200,000, just speaking at events, and took 18 people to Nepal the following year. And we worked on the first three of the 100 homes that were subsequently built. And what happened was, I thought I was doing something great for them, you know, your Do you know what I’m saying. And what I realized is that my life changed, I got a purpose, and again, I got a new inspiration for my life. And what I hadn’t counted on was that I made more money that year, selling a $14.95 cent book than I did at a corporate job, I had sold $30 million accounts, and I was making a very strong six-figure income. And that was the beginning of my curiosity, around giving, and receiving, you know, this law of giving and receiving,

 

Rick Jordan  

that’s, I swear, I mean it whether you’re spiritual or not, right? Because that gets into a lot of like, you reap what you sow, and having a spiritual background myself, right, a lot of our listeners do and don’t you know, but clearly, I believe in God, you know, he’s the number one source of my life. And there’s this principle, though, I mean, outside of even spiritualism, religion, anything else, it’s, it just seems to happen, doesn’t it? It’s kind of the is when you focus on being able to provide the value first, that this just ends up coming up behind it to where your own needs are abundantly taken care of. It’s not just slightly, right? It’s not just a little bit to where it’s like you can skate by. And that’s where I think that I, you know, I’m not gonna get on a soapbox about the church in general, but that I think that’s where the church misses out. What is that? Overall abundance, it’s like, you know, it’s not like, you’re just gonna skate vibe, but because you’re diving into giving and having that being your focus, that you gain abundance out of that, and then you can actually get even more out of the overflow of that abundance in your life.

 

Cynthia Kersey  

That’s how it works. You know, it’s like we’ve all been, I mean, maybe all of us, many of us have been raised with this scripture Give and it shall be given unto you. And it’s like, it’s not, it’s like, it doesn’t matter if it’s money. It could be time. It could be, you know, resources. But it doesn’t say, wait until you have more time, more love more support, it’s give and giving, activates receiving. And I’ve learned this in, you know, through spiritual teachers. I mean, we’ve talked, I mean, for centuries, you know, they’ve talked about that Lao Tzu. You know, I love his quote, he said, The wise man does not lay up his own treasures, the more he gives to others, the more he has for others. And one of my favorite teachers in this area is Thomas Trower. I don’t know if you’ve read anything about him, or from him no enlightened. He’s fantastic. He wrote a book called Hidden Power which really talks about what are the six secrets of prosperity. And he said, our attention should be directed on the giving rather than the receiving, we should look upon ourselves not as misers chests to be kept locked up for our own benefit. But as centers of distribution, and the greater we fulfill our function as centers, the greater will be the corresponding inflow. So it’s exactly what you said, we are simply centers of distribution. And when we look at how we’re giving, I don’t know if you’ve heard of Reverend Ike, but he has a mantra that I really love. And it’s, it’s this every dollar I circulate enriches me and returns to me multiplied. So whether I’m paying for someone to clean my house or cut my grass, or a tax bill or whatever, we see ourselves as a center of distribution. And when you have that consciousness, you’re blessed. It’s like, Oh, I’m so grateful I can help this person. I’m not always trying to get the cheapest price. You know, Bob Proctor was my mentor, and dear friend for many, many years. 25 yours that’s phenomenal. He said he never tried to get the cheapest best deal. Like it was never about that it was always about a win win. And when you come from that place, you feel richer, you feel more abundant. And it just, allows us to circulate even more.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, I know we got an A pretty emotional in like passion tangent there. I’m thinking back to your 100 houses, right, and you started telling the story and how you got there. And you built the first three after speaking all over. And also, what gripped me was that 100 houses, it took that many to get to the point where it felt like you kind of squash your pain. What was that timeline from the first three to 100?

 

Cynthia Kersey  

Well, it was one year that I raised the money. So I raised it in one year. And then I took a group of people over there, and we helped build the first three of the 100 that were built the next year. So, you know, I feel like so many people go through challenges, right? It could be the death of a loved one. I mean, it could be an illness. I mean, there’s so many things where you think, you know, it’s your loss of identity or financial situation. And I love the concept of finding something that’s bigger than your pain because it allows you to focus on creating something versus what was, you know, you’re staying in the problem. And it was a big transition for me. And Rick, every time I would think about those families that didn’t have a simple decent place to live. It got me thinking about myself because I literally bought my own home that year. You know, I mean, I was fine. I may have been grieving, but my physical needs were met, and so many people don’t even have their physical needs met. And thinking about that purpose. It enlivened me, it inspired me. And like I said, it gave me a purpose that really catapulted me to a whole different level and path in my life.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s incredible. So as I’m following you in the timeline, you built the first three, but then within the next year, it was the next 97 to make it to 100.

 

Cynthia Kersey  

That’s right. They built. Yeah, that’s right. They built them Yes. 100

 

Rick Jordan  

homes in a year. That’s absolutely incredible. I think even that’s a testament that’s what really kind of gripped me was this timeline, because I didn’t think it would be like, Oh, this took me 10 years, we were doing 10 homes a year. It’s like sucks when people finally make that shift. Right. And you had a purpose you had almost like, which is interesting, right? You had a trauma that was almost driving you a pain in your life? Oh, yeah. I think everybody in this world has a deep-rooted pain. Agree. And that’s, I mean, I did write the death of my dad when I was 16. And that was a deep-rooted pain to help provide for a lot of other people in this world, you know, and it still continues to drive me even though I’ve dealt with the trauma and, and I’ve dealt with the emotions behind that it still continues to drive me. But at this point, it just becomes you get stuck in this. And I say stuck in a good way. In this scenario. Normally, we’re always talking about entrepreneurs, oh, you’re stuck. That’s bad, right? This is like, you’re stuck in that perpetual cycle of giving and receiving. And it just continues to amplify and become exponential, and just even emergent in a different area. So, everyone that’s listening, I want you to grasp what Cynthia is saying right now because that was only a year. Right? Think of it and that was starting from scratch.

 

Cynthia Kersey  

Nothing and I’m a brand new author, I don’t have a list I didn’t have I didn’t know people that had a lot of money, but I had a purpose that was bigger than my pain. And I started with that. It’s like starting with where you are with what you have. And so I’m this new author, I’m speaking on stages. And it wasn’t like a big huge ask it was at the end, I learned one thing from Mary Morrissey. She calls it a final invitation to feel invited, not obligated. So it was just sharing something at the end of my presentations and people felt inspired. I invited them to give what I found, and you know this for yourself, people are looking for ways to contribute. They want to make a difference. They want to know that what they’re doing really matters. And if you give them a way to do that, people say yes. They just do.

 

Rick Jordan  

They absolutely do. And it’s that ask to write because a lot are afraid to even ask and what I would have loved to see you like in your early years of speaking, you know, just cuz oh my gosh, it’s like a, it’s something that gives me such fulfillment is when I see like a young speaker or just blossoming speaker, where it’s their first couple of times, and all of a sudden it’s like they have their first response like tangible, palpable response from the people that are in the room. And it’s almost shocking, isn’t it? I know, because I went through it too. It is

 

Cynthia Kersey  

I hear you and you know what’s interesting about what I’ve learned, because, in the beginning, I really thought it was like like about me, right? Like I was, I was, oh, no, I was kind of like I was not taking but like, I’m asking for something. Yeah. The big shift for me, Rick was I now understand, that when I invite people to give, I’m giving them the opportunity to change their lives. And the unstoppable foundation is simply a vehicle to do that. And I mean that sincerely. So I never get attached to, you know, I feel like I’m an ambassador of giving. So give to us, just, you know, give to somebody else. But if you want your life to be blessed, there is no better way to live than living as the law of circulation, right, a center of distribution. And when you live like that, you have amazing friends, people who said, how can you attract all of these great people, they’re all givers. Yeah, they’re all I can’t out, give my friends you know, Bob Proctor, Mary Morrissey, they were some of my best friends. And I couldn’t, I’ll give them I’ve tried. But it’s just that’s where they come from. And when you when you start adopting that way of living, you attract people, that or just like that. And it’s a beautiful way to live.

 

Rick Jordan  

I love this because you’re hitting on something that I had going through my head, as you’re, you know, how you’re obviously giving is one of your passions, but you’re giving the opportunity for others. And what’s cool about this is that you’re also a conduit as you’re talking like the unstoppable foundation really is that vehicle, in your exact words. And in order to become I’ve learned this lesson too, in order to become an even bigger giver, like an even greater giver to have that amplifier in your life, you actually have to become a greater receiver. That’s right. Because absolutely the resources that you have to be able to give have come from somewhere, someone something else, and you have to be able to like you’re saying, saying, Hey, you want to jump on this crazy train with me, I’ve got a vehicle, but I need your help. I am asking you for help. I am putting myself in the humble position of receiving so that you can also have the opportunity to give.

 

Cynthia Kersey  

That’s brilliant. And it is really important. And it took me a while to realize that to be a good good giver, you have to receive and it’s like, it’s just it’s like I’m a center of distribution. Again, going back to I’m giving, I’m receiving, I’m able to give more, I’m able to receive more. And if you stop the receiving, oh, no, I’m not worthy. You can’t you know, all of that stuff. It’s like it’s it stops the flow. So you have I mean, I’ve received many, many things in my life. And it’s very humbling. And I always graciously received. That’s what Bob says, You generously give, graciously receive. And it’s that energetic, right? It just keeps it coming. And the more I get, the more I can give and it’s just the most amazing way to live.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s awesome. You know, what else is amazing? Is that organically our conversation, I mean, from your PR team that sent over the questions and everything? It’s like we covered naturally in organic in the conversation. I know, right? So now I want to ask you about your second book I seen unstoppable women. And I’m gonna preface it with this because my, like the podcast, it’s great, right? It’s top 2% in the world, which I’m grateful for. I told you it was number one in Kenya for a while. You know, I love what I do. On the personal brand side, I have a business called Reach Out Technology. That’s a cybersecurity company that’s in the process of going public. And it’s a very male-dominated industry. And I tried to intentionally place more women in it, right? Because it’s just something that I’ve always felt is that and a lot of our even level one helpdesk technicians right are 80% female, you know, and I just love that the ability for women to be able to lift up really where men are not right, and this isn’t anything about masculinity or whatever, because I think toxic masculinity is a stupid phrase in our society, because men have to be masculine. Right in order to have that balance back and forth with everything that your book Unstoppable Women, please tell me what that is about.

 

Cynthia Kersey  

Well, I just focused on the first book was, you know, stories of perseverance and triumph for people just like you. So it’s people who had a goal, a dream, and overcame all of these obstacles to achieve that, dream and I personally think those kinds of stories are more inspiring because it’s all about overcoming. And what I’ve learned is to be an unstoppable person or woman, which we’ll talk about in a second. Second, it’s like you have this dream and you’re not willing to let somebody else your circumstance or yourself, stop you from doing something that’s important and every time you take a step forward, you create an unstoppable moment. And to live an unstoppable life to be an unstoppable woman or man is creating a series of these moments. So I wrote Unstoppable Women because the first book was like, how do you find your purpose? How do you find the seven qualities of an unstoppable person? But then I did this unstoppable challenge and was like, okay, now I know I want to write a book, how do I do that? And I broke it down into, you know, basic every single day, what is that action step you’re going to take every day. And the reason that I did women, it’s funny, you know, I wrote my first book, 25 years ago, wow. And 25 years ago, I had to really look for stories about women, it was mostly about men. Then I wrote Unstoppable Women in 2005. So that’s about a little more than 20, a little less than 20 years ago. But there were more stories about women. And what I can say about women is that women need the encouragement. And I’m not saying men don’t either, but women need the encouragement. And when you look at what women do in the world, when you go to Kenya, Rick, and you see the strong, I went to this conference, that’s what got me interested in Kenya. And I went, I was invited to this conference in rural Kenya. And the only thing that I knew about it was that women were coming to share their stories. And for some reason, I thought I needed to be there. And I go over there, and there are women who, you know, like they are looking for solutions. And we have never had the terror of how to find the next meal for my child. And I’m not going to eat? How many days? Can I go without food? before? You know, we’re out of food for the kids as well. So it’s like, how do you know, their children will get malaria and die from malaria, from the price of a cup of coffee could help solve it and treat it. And it’s like, you know, and again, it’s like they are the strongest women I’ve ever seen. What it takes to live and to take care of your family is so much more challenging than anything that I’ve ever experienced. And what I found is when you support women, women, especially in developing countries, support 80%, when they make money, almost 80% of that goes back to the family. Wow. When men make money, very small percentage, and it’s across the board. It’s not a stereotype. So when you’re helping women lift themselves up, you’re helping entire families.

 

Rick Jordan  

Intriguing, you’re standing there is very interesting to me because I’m grasping on to this, as you’re, as you’re saying it the thought goes through my head, it’s like women’s income. Is it still typically considered supplemental in most families?

 

Cynthia Kersey  

Well, you know, when you look at Kenyan, I don’t think in the US, that’s the case. Because to women, you gotta have to ensure when you deal with developing countries, you know, in the beginning, when we go into these communities, and we’re doing the five pillars, the right education, clean water, health care, nutritious food and training for the parents. In the beginning, we’re totally focused on the women. And because the men kind of poopoo the whole idea, and then they start seeing their women rise up, and they’re earning money. I mean, we have these village savings and low where women have saved money. You know, they bought it started, like buying shoes, for their kids are very basic things. Now they’re saving money, they bought their son a motorbike, or they bought a home that they could rent out. I mean, I was hearing things I never heard before. And these are very developed groups of women and very vulnerable populations that have figured it out. Like they put money into pulling people, you know, loan money, they borrow money, and then they pay it back. And they are supporting each other, to create a better life for themselves and their families.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s incredible. I can see what you’re saying about how it differs very much in the US versus developing countries as far as that goes. Right. And nowadays, I mean, we know in the US is that most families, at least in the middle class or dual-income households, you know, just because it has to be right. That’s it’s kind of where things are at, especially in today’s economy with where things are. It’s, I hope that changes very, very soon. That’s interesting because let’s go back to Unstoppable Foundation and finish it off there because I want people to know how they can get involved. I’m a big supporter. I mean, even the events that we’re looking at doing with our dinners, we’re featuring Unstoppable as a benefactor. You know, it’s just exciting to me. And I want everyone to know how to get involved. Just grab everybody’s hearts here.

 

Cynthia Kersey  

All right. Well, thank you. So you know, I went to that women’s conference. And I learned, you know, that women, for example, learned about all of these challenges that they were experiencing. And at first, I felt such empathy and then I just got pissed off. It’s like, how is it? Okay? That just by virtue of where you’re born, women are dealing with these children are dying. The girls are fetching water, the girls are staying home, and they can’t get an education. It’s like this cycle of poverty continues. And so what I, I, you know, I, when I was leaving, they kind of joined me, we were dancing, I literally fell in love, I fell in love. I felt like I was in heaven, and that nothing was missing. And as we were leaving, they started chanting. And I said to the interpreter, what are they saying? And she said they’re saying, please, don’t forget us. Yeah. And I thought, Who am I like, this problem is bigger than me. It’s been going on for longer than I’ve been on this planet, what can I do? So I decided to do one thing, I was turning 50. And I thought I was going to turn my birthday into a fundraiser. And Bob Proctor was there and Debbie Ford, and you know, all sorts of people. And we came together at a restaurant, kind of like what you’re doing with your events. And I literally invited them to give we raised $80,000. That helped fund schools in Kenya, and people were thanking me for the opportunity to give. And that was the beginning that I thought, what can I do that’s meaningful? And I started to do research. And I learned that well, intended organizations are building schools and developing countries and in Kenya, and in five years, they’re empty. And I’m looking at why are they empty, and it’s like, they’re empty. Because if you’re not providing clean water, little girls aren’t in school, they’re fetching water. If you don’t provide access to nutritious food, kids are sick, they’re hungry, they’re malnourished, they can’t concentrate. If you don’t provide access to health care, kids get sick. Again, they’re not in school. And if you don’t provide a way for parents to generate an income, it will never be sustainable. So I thought great, not only do we, you know, need to build a school, but we’ve got to do all these other four things. So I found a partner in Kenya, we came together, and we created a model called Sponsor a Village. And over the last 15 years, we’re impacting over half of a million men, women, and children, they’re getting the tools to lift themselves out of poverty forever. So it’s literally I was just in the Masai Mara, two weeks ago, we are in 17 communities that have completely transitioned on their own, they don’t need help from outside anymore. And that’s part of that income pillar, right? That’s part of what we’re providing so that parents can continue to support their kids to stay in school. And so what keeps me up at night, and why I continue to speak is while we’ve impacted nearly half a million over half a million people, there’s still 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of children that are waiting. Yeah. And they’re waiting to go to school. And while they’re waiting for, you know, nutritious food and access to health care, children die. So it’s like we’ve got a provable model. All we need is to find people like you who want to give and who want to make a difference, and they can see the results. So that’s what we do. That’s, you know, as I talked about helping take the next community off the waiting list or building these enrichment centers, which is what you’re a part of, we’re helping create a sustainable solution. So they never need charity. Again,

 

Rick Jordan  

wow. I’m blown away, where can everyone join up, to join this fight with you to give to have the opportunity to be along this ride with you?

 

Cynthia Kersey  

Thank you, well, they can go to unstoppable foundation.org. And they can learn more about it. You know, they can certainly email me Cynthia at unstoppable foundation.org. You know, people like you, you have events, there’s so many ways that you can help and you don’t have to do it yourself. Like, I wasn’t like a multimillionaire, but I used my voice. I use my platform. And I’ve raised, you know, millions and millions of dollars, so everybody can do something. And if we all know, when you think about there are 56 million children around around the world that still don’t have access to an education, it is a solvable problem. If enough people come together and do just a little bit. So I would invite them, you know, to go to unstoppable foundation.org $1 A day supports an entire family, a child, and a family for an entire year with all five pillars. Certainly, you can invite them to come to your events. You know, email me, but I feel like as you look to how can I give everybody something to do If that is meaningful, and as you give I love this scripture, I love it. It’s like as I give the promise is, see if I will not open up the heavens, at the gates of heaven, and pour upon you such a blessing. You cannot even contain it. That’s the promise. When we give our life changes and the lives we touch change, incredible.

 

Rick Jordan  

It’s not even just a spiritual, lots of natural law. Cynthia. It’s right, from pain to purpose. I absolutely love it. You’re amazing. Thank you for coming on sharing your heart with everybody, and even more. So thanks for going all in.

 

Cynthia Kersey  

Thank you. I appreciate it. And you too. Thank you for being on this journey with me. I so appreciate you and your voice and your stamp of pleasure.