The Beauty of Brokenness ft. Strings For Hope CEO, Emily Winters

She's in the City by NaSHEville

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and we are so grateful to have the CEO of local Nashville social enterprise company, Strings for Hope, to share their mission with us. Strings for Hope repurposes secondhand musical strings to make beautiful jewelry, all made by survivors of addiction, domestic violence, and human trafficking with the mission to empower and employ women in recovery. Emily Winters took over the company as CEO at just 21 years-old and has since brought tremendous growth and expansion, with retail partners carrying Strings for Hope products all across the US.

In spite of her lack of experience at the time, Emily fell in love with the survivors SFH employs and set out to build the company as one that could continue to support part- and full-time employees in recovery. Even at a young age, she realized “if I let this fail, I could get another job, but many of these women couldn’t.” Her whole focus became about them, and it remains about them even as the company grows.

“I felt like I saw opportunities for the broken strings [and women] that a lot of people couldn’t see. What we do is provide these women a choice and an opportunity with work. I’m just happy I can play that role [in their lives] with my business.”

Not only has she thrived as the leader of this gives-back company, she has also found remarkable beauty from the brokenness of her own story. As a survivor of domestic and sexual abuse by her alcoholic step-father, Emily has personally discovered the power that comes when we allow our own pain and trauma to become tools to empower and encourage others.

“My story allows me to bring a sense of safety to these women and be an ally to them. As a young leader who ultimately doesn’t have a background in business or working with survivors, the pain of my past has made me feel worthy of being in this place.”

No matter how isolated we feel or what shame surrounds our past, none of us are ever truly alone in our pain, are we? Past traumas and wounds don’t make us weak. As Emily attests, they can become tools for us to be better, more compassionate leaders. There truly is beauty in brokenness if we have the courage to uncover it.

How do we support, follow, and shop SFH?

• www.stringsforhope.com
• *Retail partners & pop-ups all across US