Factual Friday: Venae and We "R" Listening

    Ladies, have you ever wondered how We “R” Listening came to be? Or how it operates or who exactly works for this organization? And also...what even is a non-profit? How do you start one? I’m about to take you behind the scenes to answer all of these questions because today’s edition of Factual Friday is all about Venae and WRL.

    Let’s start with the woman, the myth, the legend, herself: Venae Fowler. Venae is the CEO and founder of WRL as well as a mom, a former model and one of the warmest and kindest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. When I asked Venae about her motivations behind starting We “R” Listening, she explained, “One day I was listening to...meditations and they asked, who are you? I thought, ‘I’m Venae Fowler, I modeled for over 20 years, I have a masters,’ and I was just thinking about who I am...Then it went deeper to ask not just who are you on the outside, but who are you on the inside and how have you given back? What have you done to make an impact on other people’s lives? And I really couldn’t answer that question.” Venae then went on to explain that that meditation was the beginning of her desire to start We “R” Listening, as it made her realize how important it was to her to give back. Specifically, she wanted to capitalize on her abilities to connect with young people, thus, We “R” Listening was born. 

WRL is a non-profit organization, as opposed to being a for profit organization. A for profit organization, is a company whose main objective is to make money; an example of this would be Amazon. A non-profit organization is an organization whose main objective is something besides making money, ie. WRL. Other examples of non-profits are universities and colleges, hospitals and animal shelters, to name a few. So how does one start a non-profit? Venae explained that the first step is designing a business plan in which you detail your mission and goals. The second step of the process is to select a board of people who believe in the mission and are willing to support you and your goals. The third step is to get the articles of incorporation, or, incorporate your non-profit organization. Incorporating your non-profit means to file a legal document with the secretary of state which legitimizes an organization. Then, the last step is, “researching filings for your state. So whatever state you’re opening your non-profit in, you want to research all the filings that you have to do to stay relevant in the non-profit industry and make your filings annually” (Venae). 

Once the non-profit is officially formed, how do you run it? According to Venae, the team has daily, weekly, monthly and yearly tasks. They meet at least once a week, or sometimes twice a week, depending on what they are working on. They create a task list with target dates to ensure everything gets done in a timely manner. The team as a whole decides who does what task, based on everyone’s personal strengths. The team consists of Venae Fowler, as the CEO and founder, Antoinette Prescott as a director and co-founder, Cassandra James as a director and Diesha Parker as a director. When I asked Venae about how they accomplish all that they do, she told me that in addition to being organized and having a dedicated team, they use all of the technology at their disposal. Laptops, smart phones, the We “R” Listening website and all of the popular social media apps are utilized. To plan the timing of our social media posts, HootSuite is also a commonly used tool.

Where do you see We “R” Listening in 3 years, 5 years and beyond, I asked Venae. “I see us continuing to thrive. I see us getting bigger and growing in the next three years. We’ve invested in our strategic planner that’s going to help us take We “R” Listening to the next level. We’re very enthusiastic about the prospects of where We “R” Listening is going, even this year in 2021. The changes we’ve made and incorporated into our organization make me see us thriving and becoming bigger over the next few years. Five years and a decade, I just want us to be a household name” (Venae). 

What Venae finds most rewarding about running a non-profit organization is getting to impact other people’s lives and getting to be a community resource. “When we leave our community events and the young ladies are smiling, and they put together a self esteem board, and (are excited about) pursu(ing) this goal and that goal, that’s what puts a smile on my face” (Venae).

I can personally attest to the fact that WRL is a wonderful organization to work for. All of the ladies on the team are so welcoming and kind and very receptive to my ideas. That’s what makes WRL so unique, even though I’m an intern, they’ve made me feel empowered and important and have given me a lot of creative freedom. I feel very fortunate to work for this organization and to work with a team of passionate and caring people.

And with that, I wish you a Factual Friday and a fun weekend!

Xoxo,

Zoe