Dear Friends,
I have a big vision. My vision is a world where women can speak and be heard. A world where it is safe to communicate, where it is safe to be in relationships, where it is safe to love. That’s why I founded Leap to Success. We are an empowerment and leadership organization working with women who have not been empowered, and have not yet been leaders in their own lives.
Domestic violence robs women of their voices and their power. Abusers isolate their victims. Often, they force them to cut their ties with family and friends. They tell victims that they are worthless, dumb, stupid, and that nobody else would want them. They whittle down their self-esteem and make them think that they are lucky to have them.
Imagine the feeling of being in a room full of women where you feel safe. A room where you can speak about what you’ve experienced without judgment and without shame. Can you imagine how free and healing that experience would be? That is what the women in our programs experience. We help women heal, release shame, and be able to share their stories with courage to become beacons of hope for others. Since 2008, we’ve empowered more than 4,000 women to transform their lives.
What has been most important to me is building a community of women who know that they are empowered and can help to inspire and uplift others. Helping women transform horrible life experiences where they felt powerless and watching them realize that their past is something they can now learn from and refuse to repeat gives me hope.
All women should be able to live abuse-free in healthy relationships empowered to reach their greatest potential. We are making that vision a reality, one woman at a time.
Dana Bristol-Smith
