Today we raise our fists high and put our hands together in celebration of our Feature Girl Warrior, Alberta based philanthropist, entrepreneur, international best selling author, Brenda Hammon, a big dreamer with a mission in life to create positive change for women and end abuse. In 2004 Brenda became a full time entrepreneur and over the next 13 years built companies that fit her passion for helping others achieve their dreams. She is currently CEO of 2 companies, Spirit Creek Financial, and Sacred Hearts Rising. She is an award winning author of 5 books, an International speaker, and a vocal advocate for helping women and men overcome traumatic pasts. Brenda fully believes that when we share their stories and stand together we can change the world to be a better place for all. To that end, she launched two Sacred Hearts Rising books; Breaking the Silence One Story at a Time and Finding Your Wings, the books are a compilation of stories from women and men who have overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. She in the middle of compiling stories for the third Sacred Hearts Rising book called Sparks of Light. Every year she hosts the annual event called Sacred Hearts Rising Summit: It’s Time which honors all of our spoken and unspoken stories and inspires women and men to lead a better life. And to that we say YES!
What makes you a Girl Warrior?
For me a Girl Warrior is someone who is creating a positive change for all women by leading by example.
You’re an advocate for helping women overcome traumatic pasts. How did that come about?
I wanted to change all the negative that I had experienced in my past into something positive so that I could help others. So I shared my story hoping that I could reach at least one other woman like me and to show her that there can be a better life after abuse.
Why did you start Sacred Hearts Rising?
I started Sacred Hearts because I wanted to honour my granddaughter who had passed away at 7 days old, but since I could not write a book about it, I thought that maybe I could write a chapter and maybe other people would also want to share their own personal stories.
In your best-selling book “Sacred Hearts Rising: Finding Your Wings”, what was it about the stories that inspired you and gave you hope?
What inspired me about the book is the sharing by men and women who are taking a stand and sharing their own personal stories, they are breaking the silence about their own trauma in the hopes that they would reach another person and change their lives for the better. Seeing the strength, resilience and determination for those sharing is empowering.
How did Create the Change come into being and how can our Girl Warrior Tribe be a part of that?
Create the Change came to be because we have to take a hard stand against sexual, domestic, emotional and mental abuse. We have to change the laws on how it is viewed by police, courts and society. Abuse is a worldwide epidemic and only awareness and sharing our stories will change it. Knowledge is key, and sharing our stories brings knowledge forward, and with that brings change.
What’s the biggest decision you ever made?
To share my stories publicly.
What have been the biggest challenges or obstacles that you’ve overcome – personally and/or professionally?
The biggest obstacles for me was accepting and embracing my past and then moving forward from it. It is too easy to stay in the space you know then to move outside of it into the big unknown.
What do we need to know “for sure” about overcoming the trauma of abuse?
That you can leave it behind you for good, where it never raises its ugly head unless you want it to. That you have all the power to live the life of your dreams, if you chose to.
What would you say to your younger Girl Warrior?
The truth about what has happened to you can set you free, your life is yours to live and whatever you have been told about yourself or who you are is not necessary the truth.
Especially if you have been abused in anyway, your abusers want to maintain control over your thoughts and actions to safe guard themselves from discovery. You have the power to change that and to be free from their harmful actions and words.
What would you say to future Girl Warriors looking for inspiration?
Seek out individuals that inspire you to be better. Select role models that you look up to and do as they do. Live your life looking at the glass as half full instead of half empty.
Who is/are your Girl Warrior hero(s) and why?
I really don’t have a Girl warrior that I look up to. I take bits and pieces of different people and try to learn from their own mistakes and triumphs.
Blue Sky it. No boundaries here, just limitless opportunities. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I see Sacred Hearts Rising as an International Global movement of people sharing their own stories and creating the change they seek in their own communities. I see where Sacred Hearts Rising can help change laws in other countries and I see women from around the world owing their own power and leading the charge to change how so many women are viewed in third world countries.
What makes you laugh uncontrollably? Cry out all the tears?
Sitting with friends that get me and know who I truly am under all the layers that I possess. With them I can laugh until tears are rolling down my face. The loss of the innocent makes me cry, whether it is an animal or a person.
What has been your biggest disappointment/triumph?
My family (siblings and parents) has been my biggest disappointment and my biggest triumph has been having people trust me with their stories.
If a bioflic were written about your life, what would it be called?
One of my mottos is “How hard can it be?”
To learn more about Brenda and Sacred Heart Rising head over to these websites at:
www.brendahammon.com and www.sacredheartsrising.com
Follow Brenda on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/brenda.hammon.9
and https://www.facebook.com/groups/670331796494430/
Twitter @HammonBrenda: https://twitter.com/HammonBrenda
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brenda.hammon/
LinkedIn: https://www.instagram.com/brenda.hammon/
