← Nonprofit Leadership Podcast
Nonprofit Leadership Podcast
From Heartbreak to Impact: Channeling Loss Into a Movement for Positive Change
00:40:11
Loading summary
Transcript25 lines
- [00:03]
Michelle Dubisky
My nephews and nieces went out and put a poster sized picture of Madison Frame on that fence line with a single bow with a hashtag peepbows for Madison organically and very swiftly traveled across Houston. And when I say Houston, people were putting out a pink bow with the hashtag pinkbows from Madison and then would send it to social media or post it, you know, in different forums. And people were lighting up their homes in pink. November, early December, as this was organically traveling, buildings were lighting up, pink overpass was pink. She's on marquee. In a time that we just were shook and devastated and just felt like we were dying ourselves. Then it swiftly started traveling across Texas, across the US and eventually was international.
- [00:50]
Rob Harder
This is Dr. Rob Harder with the nonprofit leadership podcast Making youg World Better. What does it take to be an effective nonprofit leader today? What are the biggest challenges? What are the biggest obstacles? How should nonprofits fundraise in an economy that is constantly changing? All of these reasons combined led me to start this show and it's my hope that through this series people can learn not only what it takes to be an effective nonprofit organization, but to hear from effective leaders who are successfully making a positive impact in their communities. We hope you enjoy the show as together we hear how they are making their world better. Most of you probably remember watching the news story about the tragedy at the AstroWorld Festival that was held in Houston, Texas on November 5, 2021. It was a music festival that quickly turned into a tragedy when a massive crowd surged during Travis Scott's performance, which eventually resulted in 10 deaths and hundreds of injuries. If you remember, many news stories ran these pictures of these panicked concert goers crushing the stage as Travis Scott would perform. Now, we're not going to go so much into the event itself, but out of that tragedy, one of the victim's family has fiercely and bravely turned that heartache into a movement that is helping ensure that a tragedy like the one at the astroworld will never happen again. So today on the show I have two guests we one is Michelle Dubisky, which is the mother of Madison Dubisky, who tragically died at that AstroWorld festival. Michelle's going to talk a little bit about Madison and what prompted them as a family to start the Pink Bows Foundation. And joining Michelle on the show is Steve Allen. Now, Steve is an event management and security expert and he's going to share how he's now joined forces with this foundation. And it's really become his mission in life now to work alongside the foundation to help spread this special, unique training for all kinds of events all over the world. This is an exceptionally powerful story that I know will inspire you. So thanks as always for tuning in. Now onto my interview with Michelle and Steve.
- [03:01]
Michelle Dubisky
Welcome to the Nonprofit Leadership Podcast with Rob harder. I'm Lena LaRue, based currently in Mexico, and I'm a listener just like you who. Who cares about the nonprofit world and the people leading it. If you're looking to learn and grow as a nonprofit leader, you're in the right place. Thanks for listening. Now, here's Rob.
- [03:22]
Rob Harder
This podcast is sponsored by DonorBox, helping you help others with the best donation forms in the business. Well, welcome back to the Nonprofit Leadership Podcast. I have two very special guests today, Steve Allen and Michelle Dubisky. This is a powerful story you're going to hear about today. And I thought we'll start. Michelle, thanks to your recommendation, your suggestion, give us the background of this, what is now called the Pink Bows Foundation. And I think the best way to start with that is to talk about Madison. Tell us a bit about the story of your daughter and then what led then to starting this foundation.
- [03:56]
Michelle Dubisky
Thanks for having us. I appreciate it. Madison. Wow. Where do I start? She was electric, absolutely passionate, and everything she did dedicated and everything that she did in life. Lived your life with a very servant heart, always putting others before herself. She'll be the first person to call you if it's your birthday, if you're going on a job interview or trying out for a team, et cetera. And she'll be the first to congratulate you if any of the above happen. She loved to make people laugh, loved to make them smile. If you met her for the first time, you would be the most important person in the room. She built others up, uplifted them always, and just had a pure heart of gold. She was loved by everybody.
- [04:39]
Rob Harder
Some people will, of course, my listeners will hear about the story and read all about the background, but tell us a little bit more about what then led to the Pink Bows Foundation. And now, of course, there's been a lot of things that have happened from that. Share whatever you feel comfortable with about what got that started and what it's meant to your family.
- [04:56]
Michelle Dubisky
Absolutely. Madison and my son and three others attended the astral tragedy on November 5. They didn't go early. They went later in the afternoon and early evening. And it's just tragic. The whole. The whole evening was tragic throughout the night. I had been at a funeral actually out of town, and I called her on My way back in, I had a two hour drive and you know, she's like, oh my word, you know, it's getting colder outside, whatever. But they were all excited, all excited about going. She loved music. Her brother had flown in from University of Arkansas to join them. Supposed to be 10 of them that night and five of them actually were sick and couldn't go night one and so they were going to try to go night two. So I find that actually to be a blessing because it was five of her very best friends. And so anyway, they went to the concert and we're having a great time and went to one of the offset performers and pivoted into South Sim, which is the middle of where most of the deaths and majority of the major injuries happened. From there, tragic. I mean, it was tragic. We received the call from a friend that said Madison's been hurt. Not sure how she found that out, but from there it was just chaos. I mean, people calling emergency rooms, et cetera, trying to figure out where they're at. Us, you know, the boys were trying to go from medical tent to medical tent being pushed out. It was just complete chaos. And so anyway, from there, you know, obviously went to the ER and it's just tragic. And so after the tragedy, you know, we were all just completely, just shatter to the court. There's no other words that you can fit it as a parent. You don't expect after you spend your whole life protecting your babies, for you to send them to a concert and one of them not come home. It was devastating to the community. It was devastating to anybody that ever had the opportunity of meeting her once. Just fell in love with her and just nobody could believe it was real. And then on top of that, it was just all over media and just what people had gone through and there was a lot of uncertainty of what actually took place and how it could have taken place and a lot of questions and we didn't even know our, our own selves as a family. So basically, as far as the foundation is concerned, the most beautiful thing happened in the aftermath, which is the day after the tragedy. They had a makeshift memorial on the gates outside of the teal lot, which is where the concert took place or the festival took place. And that started the night of people putting tennis shoes out there and just things that were left and et cetera. My nephews and nieces went out and put a poster size picture of Madison framed on that fence line with a single bow with a hashtag, pink bows for Madison. That organically and very swiftly Traveled across Houston. And when I say Houston, people were putting out a pink bow with the hashtag pink bows from Madison, and then would more or less send it to social media or post it, you know, in different forums. And people were lighting up their homes in pink, their Christmas lights in pink. Now into, you know, late November, early December, as this was organically traveling, buildings were lighting up pink overpasses, pink. She's on marquees. In a time that we just were shook and devastated and just felt like we were dying ourselves. Then it swiftly started traveling across Texas, across the US and eventually was international. We were just in awe and shook and absolutely just blown away with the incredible love and support and dedication that people showed our family and the other victims of the tragedy, and not just the people that passed that night, but the people that were there and endured what they did. We knew we would start a foundation. Like I said, she ended up in naval bases and monuments. And it's just something that's just unreal, honestly, even today. I mean, as a four or five years later, you know, here we are going into the fifth year. It's unbelievable to me that people would be so kind in a time of a tragedy to do one little act of kindness, which actually ended up being a lot bigger when they're lighting their homes up and their Christmas trees and they were doing pink bow projects and churches and classrooms, and it was just unreal, the amount of love. So we knew that we would be starting a foundation for her immediately. Like I said, Madison's graduated high school with 500 volunteer hours, with 25 different charities lifetime. And like I said, she. She had a passion for charities. And so we knew we were going to go that direction. And then we decided to name our foundation Pink Bows foundation as our way of thanking the world for their incredible acts of kindness in a time of tragedy.
- [10:14]
Rob Harder
Wow. Well, first of all, thank you for sharing so vulnerably. And, I mean, it's the nightmare of any parent to get that kind of call. And so thanks for sharing a bit about that again with us today. Tell us a little bit more about this foundation. Obviously, the. Just the pink bows hashtag took off. You started this foundation. Did you have a sense of what this would turn into right away, or was it. Is it kind of morphed over time? Tell us a little bit about the genesis of, like, now we're going to get into what you're doing now. But I was curious at the beginning. I'm sure you had so many questions about what this foundation could turn into. Tell me about that process. And then again, what has it meant for the rest of your family as you've been able to grow this and expand the foundation?
- [10:56]
Michelle Dubisky
It's been incredibly powerful every single minute of each day. Were in awe, honestly, of, like I said, the, our, our. I mean, just the communities, everybody wrapping their arms around a tragedy and not forgetting one of the big things that we did in the very beginning, that makeshift memorial. We as a family continued to basically have all of the victims, all of them framed. And then we continue to basically enrich that and, and change out the decor every quarter, more or less. And it's really interesting. We knew at that point that the world, and I say this, especially Houstonians, I mean, the minute you go to try to even change out the frames or, you know, change out the decor, they're. No, don't, don't touch that. I mean, it's like, don't even, you know, they don't even know that we're the parents that are doing it. But that's been very special. So I knew, we knew at that point that people were not forgetting these victims, and they're not forgetting, not just the victims, but the people that are survivors that have to get up every day and figure out how to put one foot in front of the other. And so we started out in a time that we were still in litigation and et cetera. And so we knew we were going to eventually do something to create change so no other family has to go through what we. And so in the beginning, we enriched, we raised money to enrich Madison's charities that she was very fond of, like special needs and pediatric cancer, et cetera. And so we raised quite a bit of money to give back to the community and to those charities that we knew would make a difference in her honor and legacy. From there, during that interim, we were getting a lot of information that now after the tragedy, people are going to festivals or even just live events. Doesn't have to be concerts or festivals. It was just any live event. And if there was any sort of compacted areas or whatnot, people were flooding and inundating the ERs or the, you know, the medical tents, I should say, wouldn't. Medical emergencies. And we realized at that point there's a lot of anxiety coming off the tragedy and now people are getting scared and, you know, for various reasons or whatnot, we decided to be the frontier of creating a very large 20 by 30 climate controlled tent basically that would be alongside the med tents, but it would be something obviously bright Pink that people would know where they could go to where they could just cool off, you know, reset, calm down. It's got our volunteers, our Pink Bows foundation volunteers, as well as licensed professionals that are in there. So we know the difference between a medical emergency, obviously, and, you know, what's anxiety. But, you know, they can come in and actually just calm down and be on some comfy furniture and some AC and give them a handheld fan and, you know, some sunscreen and they can go back and enjoy the concert. And it's not, you know, a true medical emergency, but it's just they need to reset. We're super proud. We started this a few years ago and today we've had, I think, 30 plus festivals that we've been at and large events. And then, yeah, over 250,000 people have come through. And so we're super proud of that. And so, you know, along the way, there's one other thing that I definitely need to say. When our family, and it was several months after the tragedy were able to go into Madison's high rise, something that really drove us and still drives our entire team every single second is you walked in and it still had the blocks, you know, that said November 5th that were above her stove and, you know, still had Halloween decor and the boo decor and everything that was out there, just like she left that night, things as is. But there was a really beautiful, beautiful note for whatever reason, and I feel like it was a godsend that we needed to see it and definitely her, but it was in her handwriting and it, it was just a little note, this at the top it said, just saying on the notepad, but in her writing, in a Sharpie, it said, for those who do well, must also do good. And then in caps, always give back. And it's in quotes. And she was very powerful about, you know, building people up and making people feel special. And that was just. It was innate in her. And so we knew it was there for us to see and we knew we needed to carry that through her legacy. And so it drives our team every single day through long hours, as Steve said earlier, and long days to continue to honor that, to honor her legacy.
- [15:39]
Rob Harder
Wow, what a powerful story. And congratulations again. Just to already the success you've experienced. And naturally it's a great segue. Steve Allen is here with us as well. And as I understand, that's what prompted you eventually to hire Steve. Because of Steve, your extensive experience in fire management, I understand, and crowd control, security, you've been doing this for years and years. To talk about a little bit your involvement with the Pink Bows foundation and some of the work that you do and give us a sense of. Yeah. What you've seen so far.
- [16:08]
Steve Allen
I'd like to start by saying it's an honor, genuinely. And I was an expert witness in the AstroWorld case, so I was full time on that for two and a half years. And so once the case had finished, to receive a phone call from the family within a month after the case was a little bit, you know, what's happening here? Who is this? I recognize the name. Hold on a minute, let me just speak to my lawyers. I said, look, I'm under a federal protective order here. I can't just be speaking to anyone. It was a bit of a side shuffle. I called the lawyers and they just reiterated, look, no problems at all speaking to anyone, but just remind yourself you are under a federal protective order. Anything you've seen which isn't disclosed, you cannot disclose. And otherwise, you know, good luck. And so that was the caveat, and that's how we started. And I genuinely said, look, what's your goals? Tell me genuinely, obviously with sentiment involved here, tell me genuinely, what do you wish to achieve? Is this an overnight thought? And they were quite adamant that they wanted to make a legacy for their daughter. And I found it exceptionally moving. And we started, the initial conversations were around, we'd like to do some training, we'd love to do a crowd management or a security course. And I'd said, look, there's hundreds of these different types of courses out there. Each state has different laws. And what there is missing, in my opinion is a showstop procedure course. And there was no formal training in showstop procedure. Well, I pioneered that course. Well, I pioneered showstop procedure back in the late 1990s with Oasis and that was very successful. And to me it was the missing, or a missing component, if you like, within crowd safety management. And so I presented this to the family and the foundation, the rationale behind it, spoke to some peers that I respect who all supported it, and then the foundation said, great, that's it. I then went off on a family vacation and spent the whole vacation writing the course. So, yeah, much. But you know, it was, it was important to me, you know, because we, we're on something now and let's get it away in multiple drafts, got it put through and it was key for us to get the course accredited, early stages, you know, to give it some third party review. And we went to a robust appreciation and they checked the grammar and they Checked everything else and the display out structure, everything you can think of, lesson plans, the content, how it was going to be delivered, everything. And we plowed all of our expertise into that. And we plowed our years and years of experience combined with the 32 showstops that I've implemented and combined further with the expert witness cases that we've been involved with. So we looked at it from a practical standpoint as well as what would an expert witness look at if something went wrong in future. So we combined the both with that and we had it peer reviewed. And then we started the very first course in Houston. Obviously the inaugural course had to be in CUSIM. And since then we've delivered over 30 courses worldwide, as far away as Sydney, Australia, to the Middle East, Europe, Canada, us, uk, major organizations, Wembley Stadium, the Metropolitan Police, Event Command Team. And the course is just building massive momentum worldwide. And I think one thing that really stood out to me with the family, they said they didn't want to have a just a US Standard. This had to be a global standard, because the concert industry is global. And what you can't have is one system over in the uk, which is different to the US if we have a global standard, everyone is familiar with their roles and responsibilities and ultimately everyone's going for a good time. And that includes the organizers, event organizers. No one wakes up in the morning and rubs their hands and says, right, let's have a tragedy tonight. They take safety seriously. But even with the best planning in place, undesirable occurrences can still happen. And this is what showstop procedure is all about. Reducing system failure, reducing incident response time, and reducing risk for the audience.
- [20:47]
Rob Harder
Well, it's such a fascinating story because you've got this terrible tragedy and then you have this just rallying around the pink bows hashtag first of all. And then the foundation in honor of Madison and all the people that passed away. And now you come and get involved, Steve, and you bring all this expertise when it comes to crowd management and big events and how to create safety and really lay it out in a very clear procedural way. And now you've got this combination where I've read that you've worked with iconic artists like Oasis, Eminem, Red Hot Chili Peppers, you are now working with the top in the industry. And like you said, it's not just an American context, this is the international context. Now with concerts, maybe for my listeners who I think from like a nonprofit point of view and growing, you know, being part of movements that grow and organizations that grow, talk about how you Work through how you dealt with the success in a sense, because you're still growing. How did you manage it? How are, how do you make decisions? Is this something where the foundation is still asking, you know, raising money in a sense for these big causes like. Tell me a little bit more on the inside. Some of the internal workings led then to this external success.
- [21:57]
Michelle Dubisky
You know, we have these three different sectors, you know, pillars, I guess, of our foundation. So we have certain individuals within our organization that really focus on each one of those. Steve and Dr. Hamilton obviously are 1000% full throttle and showstop. Such a complex but yet absolutely needed entity. And it's not just. And I think this is something we kind of have to drive home all the time. We don't do what we do just for festivals or concerts. This is for any live event. I mean, we've got people coming up and we've got a lot of, you know, NFL games and different things that are, you know, just huge, that anything could happen. And if there's not a procedure in place. And I, I oftentimes we live by this is that, you know, had we have known that all protocols and procedures were not completely checked off, you know, spend your whole life protecting your children and then send them to something that one of those may not be checked off and there could be potential harm. Right. And so I think that's kind of what drives us on both our safe space and especially our show stop. Because I think the world honestly feels as though all these things are already in place. Like this is kind of a no brainer. But it's, but they're not, they're not oftentimes. And sometimes it depends on money, depends on, you know, just everybody thinks they've got it covered and they may not and et cetera. It's just such a giant need on such a bigger level than just concerts and festivals. And so I think that's kind of the catalyst, I guess, of making us continue to like leverage up and leverage up and different events and different arenas and different industries. And we say it all the time, we don't look at anybody as the enemy. We want to collaborate with everybody across the board and we're willing to do that and we want to do that. And we do invite everybody across the board to every one of our Stop training courses, don't we Steve? And certainly we warrant that. You know, I mean that's, that's ultimately what our goal is. And so internally as a foundation, sure, we all have different hats and that's what makes it grow. I mean, you've got the right people in the right place and each one of those entities is absolutely important to Madison's legacy and you know, and growing this to make change. And that's what we are driven about, is making change again. So nobody else has to go through what we've gone through. So you know, there's so much more room for growth. And if people want to get involved first and foremost, I mean, go to our website, learn more about what we do, learn about the incredible movement and accolades and all the beautiful things award wise that we're doing in just a short period of time. People wait a long time to even get considered for some of these awards and we come on in a year and are winning them. And that very much is attributed. Oh, it's very much attributed to Steve and Dr. Mark Hamilton. So, and our team that's involved in that. So we're very proud of our team. We spent a long time basically making sure we have the right people in the right places to build and grow each one of those pillars. So whether it's foundation and philanthropic work and giving back and enriching the charities that were important in Madison, we've got the right people in place to build those. And same thing with our safe space and again with this. And so I think that's important. And if people want to know more about it, go on our website again foundation.org you'll find a plethora of information on there about everything. And then obviously follow our, our, our social media and LinkedIn and you know, I think you'll find out everything that we're doing real quick if you're following, you know, our social media. So, and to get involved, we love volunteers, we would love corporate sponsorships. I mean we're, we're focusing a lot on that now. Steve can tell you a little bit more about that. But you know, everybody's kind of waking up and going wow, there is a gigantic need for this. And they're realizing that those protocols and are simply not there at some of the events and now they're wanting more from them, from the course and they're walking out going wow. Now they're, they're calling and wanting to implement it in real time, which is to us the ultimate goal is to teach but then to see them implement it is a power for us internally and, and so kudos to our team because they are, they're just moving mountains.
- [26:31]
Rob Harder
We'll be right back. Are you looking for an easy and effective way to boost your nonprofit's donations well, look no further than Donorbox, the online fundraising platform that streamlines your fundraising efforts, maximizes donations, and simplifies giving for your supporters. With Donorbox, you can create beautiful donation forms, accept digital wallet payments, track donations, and send auto receipts. And the best part, there are no setup or monthly fees and no long term contracts required. So what are you waiting for? Visit donorbox.org today to get started. That is www.donorbox.org. Well, it's clear you've built a really strong team around you. And maybe again, I'm thinking for my listeners to think about how you've grown this movement, you've grown this organization, and now it really is reaching international audiences. Talk about the decision of investing and getting Steve Allen and Dr. Mark Hamilton on the team. How did that really help scale your mission and scale this movement? Obviously they have this great expertise and specialty when it comes to crowd management and event management. But talk more about. I am sure it was more than that. So talk a little bit more about how, how that has really helped you scale.
- [27:45]
Michelle Dubisky
I mean, when you've got the top experts in the entire globe and they've been, you know, basically studying and preparing this and doing everything for decades. Okay. And just with their own personal experience and what they've done with Showstop and the success that they've had, we knew that they were the ones that we would want and at whatever cost and however we could get them, we wanted them to be a part of this. Because with the tragedy when there's 10 deaths and so many injured and just, and I say this often and I need to really drive this point home, we don't do all of this just because of Madison or because of the other nine victims that passed that night. We do it for everybody. And there's a lot of people that come out with a lot of mental health issues that maybe weren't injured, but they have mental health anxiety and PTSD to a very, very, very large degree that they have to fight through every day to try to figure out how to function after the tragedy. And so we fight for everybody that was there and any other, you know, tragedy that's happened. This is why, why we want the best of the best to be backing us and to go out there and make a difference. And so it, it was just not even a thought. And the minute that we thought we could have them on our team, we would have done anything to have had them. We're very proud.
- [29:08]
Rob Harder
Sounds like it. Well, Steve, obviously you made a huge impact very quickly as you think about your time so far. And I know you're, you've got a lot more to go and you want to grow this even more. But what has been probably the most rewarding thing so far about being involved specifically with the Pink Bows Foundation?
- [29:23]
Steve Allen
Well, it's the first time I've ever actually been engaged full time with a not for profit. So I've worked, I've done a number of projects for other charities in the UK and I'm a charitable person myself. So charity means a lot to me. And I love the saying which Madison gave, always give back. That resonates with me. You know, it's not all about taking, it's about giving back as well. That's what human nature should be, I believe. But standout points to me really. I'm a person about delivering talk is cheap. You know, everyone talks. We can do this, we can do that. Are not this family. This foundation believed in Dr. Mark Hamilton and myself and it's about delivering, deliver on what you say you're going to deliver on. And we were very, very lucky with our network of contacts that we accrued very quickly. Support the United Kingdom Crowd Management association were the very first ones. They came on board. Event Safety Alliance, Event Safety Alliance Canada Global Crowd Management Alliance. All these people came together, unified with the foundation and that's testament because then we had collaboration which was very key to me and Mark. We had to ensure that the industry, which can be very, let's be straight, very ego focused, you know, it's me, it's my idea, it's this, that and the other. Collaborate with everyone. And that's one thing which the family wanted to do. They didn't want to point fingers. What's happened has happened. Move forward, let's collaborate and let's work together. And if there's a better idea out there, let's adopt that, let's use this. And that's been very rewarding for me. It's been very rewarding seeing the satisfaction of the family. I recently went to an event which the foundation placed in Houston. Very moving. A room full of joy and gratitude in what the foundation are doing in the community. And that really resonates with me because it's easy to be in Sydney, Australia or Toronto or the Middle east and see what's happening. And the feedback on these courses, when they're saying, oh, light bulb moments, we hadn't considered that. And this has reduced our incident response time. But to see what it's doing in the US is meaningful. And now we're getting inundated by organizations, stadiums, law enforcement. We want to find out more about what you're doing. We're hearing the word. And I think coming back to Michel's point earlier on, this really is a team effort. Someone said to me, no man's an island and you're only as strong as your weakest link. And I think the DNA within those that are involved with the foundation is so strong, they're there for the right reasons and certainly all the other subject matter experts, which we know, we know the ones with the right DNA, and every one of those want to be involved with the foundation. They want to come up with some other great ideas. And I suppose Mark, and my role is to filter out the good, the bad and the ugly. And we feel that we've. Now there's a, there's a lot of good things that's going to be coming up shortly and some very exciting news down the line, but we've got some very, very credible other individuals that are going to be involved. I want to take this even further.
- [32:43]
Rob Harder
Oh, that's very exciting. Well, again, congratulations to your good work and love, your heart and desire to be part of something like this. Like you said, you chose to be a part of the foundation and I'm so glad to hear how rewarding it's been for you. And back to either one of you. But maybe, Michelle, you can initially respond to this. You know, you've now reached over 230,000 people. What's driving that level of impact as you think through? You've obviously got a great team, you have a great cause, you already had this ground level of support. But as you think about what's gotten you to where you are and then where do you see yourself going? What has been the secret of your success, so to speak? What is driving you to this new level levels where you're getting these top acts and I think you Even said even Mr. Paul or Sir Paul McCartney, now we have to say is now getting involved even. So talk about what have you done to really push it to that level?
- [33:34]
Michelle Dubisky
No, I, I think it's, I think first and foremost, I think it resonates with everybody. I mean, this could have been anybody's daughter, sister. It's not like it's a one off or, you know, you're somewhere that only a select few people could go. I mean, this is coming off Covid and it's, you know, 50,000 plus people there could happen to anybody. But I think the fact that also people are understanding it's not just what I said before. About a concert or a festival. It could happen at any live event. And, you know, even during the courses that we give on Showstop, I mean, shows a lot of those instances where it's not necessarily. It's just any live event has the potential for failure. And if you don't have the right protocols and procedures in place and they're, you know, it's not just about taking the course, like I said earlier, it's about implementing what you've learned and making the change. And yes, that's going to cost some money. And different people don't like change a lot of times. And so it's going to have to take people accepting that change and trying that change and realizing that it does work and it does save lives. And we always say seconds matter when it comes to something like this. And you've got to be prepared. You can't wait two or three or four seconds later or you've lost somebody or somebody's severely injured as a result. And so I think now, I think what is catapulting things, and I think what people are realizing is once they go take the course and they actually finish the course, they're like, wow, we really do need this. And it's catching on. And it's catching on like wildfire. So for us, it's huge. And it's not just that. I mean, mental health is such a, you know, huge topic nowadays. People are not afraid to talk about it as much. Today I have my master's in social work and psychology as well. And I know back in the day it was kind of like a hidden secret if you had any sort of anxiety or any other offset. Now today everybody talks about it and everybody's wanting to implement it. And so in addition to that, just like I said, our safe space tents are really taking off. And we just finished south by Southwest, which is a gigantic festival. And you're already contacting us about other larger, larger festivals which, see, like I said, I mean, just huge accolades and awards. And I think everybody's really understanding there's just a gigantic need for this and that this is a family that is fierce. And we protect her legacy and we protect the others that were there at the tragedy and we know we're in direction.
- [36:07]
Steve Allen
I think, if I can also add, they really do take safety seriously. And of course, there's reputations to consider as well. They always want to evolve. If there's anything new that's going to improve their safety and the public safety, they're willing to listen as long as it's got credibility. If it lacks credibility and it's just on the back of a bit of paper, that's no good. So this is internationally accredited, it's got cpd, it's a multi award winning course, it's been judged by relevant people within the industry. And I think that credibility starts to build momentum and people look at it and say, do you know what, let's have a look at this, let's see if it is going to improve our safety. And as Michelle said, that's what's happening. It's catching on. It's not just some passing idea that, oh, that could work. This is, this provides the competency framework for a safety critical role that could actually be the difference between a positive or a tragic outcome. And that's what I think these reputable organizers and venues and individuals worldwide are cottoning onto. They go, yeah, we can see the benefit of this. And that's the key point. There's got to be a benefit and there is a benefit to them, their organization, but that extends to the city, the state, the country, you know, and ultimately we're all here to have a good time and we should be able to go to events and come home.
- [37:31]
Rob Harder
Well, it's such an inspiring story and it's really an impressive record what you're building. And as you said, the best is yet to come. I mean you're continuing to grow so we're catching you at a time where you're scaling and growing and expanding even more. Thank you for taking time to be on the show. For my listeners who want to find out a little bit more about Pink Bows foundation or about the two of you, where would you send them? Where's the best place for them to go? You mentioned the website. Maybe answer that again. But is there any other way to connect with you and the foundation?
- [37:57]
Michelle Dubisky
You can certainly go to infoinkbosefoundation.org to email. But then again, just going on our website, it's got all of our contact information, et cetera, our bios and kind of who's who and if they're wanting to go in a certain direction, this is who you would contact. Again, the bios are on there and you'll know who they, the perfect people are. But it's pinkbosefoundation.org and then again we're on Facebook and LinkedIn and Instagram, et cetera. So we would love again for any organization or individuals or, you know, anybody, promoters, etc, if they're interested, you know, certainly contact us. We'd love to work with everybody.
- [38:38]
Rob Harder
Well, again, I love what you said, Michelle, that you're a fierce family and that shows very clearly that you are not letting up. You're moving forward and you're out there not just for the 10 people that passed away, including your daughter, but all the people to prevent future tragedies. I think that's just a wonderful calling. And again, kudos and congratulations to your great success. And thanks again for taking time to share a little bit of your success and your story with us today.
- [39:01]
Michelle Dubisky
We appreciate you. Thank you.
- [39:03]
Rob Harder
And to my listeners, again, I encourage you to check out. There's going to be some great notes in our show. Notes and some links that send you right to the webpage, tell you a little bit more about the story. It is a powerful story. And again, what an interesting foundation and what is doing really transforming events around the world. I encourage you to check it out. And as always, thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next week. Hey, friends. Well, I wanted you to know that this podcast can be found on itunes, Spotify, Amazon, Google podcasts and wherever you listen to other podcasts. I also want to encourage you to like subscribe and share this podcast with others. This will actually help us get this great content out to more nonprofit leaders just just like you. You can also join the nonprofit leadership podcast community, find other resources and interviews of past guests, all on my website, nonprofitleadershippodcast.org well, thanks again for listening and until next time, keep making your world better. This podcast is sponsored by DonorBox, DonorBox, helping you help others with the best donation forms in the business.