Podcast appearances and mentions of stephanie giddens

Many of us feel disturbed by the violence we see in the news. We should be. Today's conversation is about women who leave their homelands to find safety and security in ours. There is anguish and pain in these women's stories but also beauty and courage.Vickery Trading

Nat chats with Stephanie and Bo Giddens, parents to 5 boys: 5-month-old twins, two teenagers, and a two-year-old! They share details on how they managed the newborn stage with twins, and what their lives look like now at 5 months with twins.Twins Tale is sponsored by Zoe Strollers. Be sure to check out their awesome twin strollers here.Bo and Stephanie Giddens started their lives together 5 years ago. Both had a son from previous marriages that ended. The 4 of them grew to love each other and enjoyed their time as a family. Bo and Stephanie decided that they wanted to have a baby together to complete their little family. Harley was born in 2017. They thought their family was complete with 3 boys. Two short years later they found out they were expecting again. They found out at around 9 weeks pregnant that they’d be expecting two babies! That was the longest doctor's appointment!! Mom was considered advanced maternal age because she would be delivering these two at 35 years old. Bo and Stephanie found out they would be adding two boys to their family! Mama was able to carry the boys to 37 weeks and delivered healthy babies! What a blessing! You can find them on Facebook.SUBSCRIBEMake sure to SUBSCRIBE to A Twins Tale for more awesome stories of twins at ages and stages from birth to college, from the creators of Twiniversity.If you liked this podcast, check out the Twiniversity Podcast with Natalie Diaz!MEMBERSHIPSign up today for a Twiniversity Membership! Choose from 2 levels starting at $6.99/month to connect with other parents of twins in a monthly Zoom twin club, build your twin parenting community in our private Facebook group, and expand your twin parent knowledge with our video learner library. Click here for details.FIRST YEAR WITH TWINSAre your twins in their first year? Check out our free First Year with Twins resource to learn tips, advice, and ideas for getting through your first year with twins!CONTACT USVISIT Twiniversity.com for tons of free twin tips!FOLLOW us on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Twitter.SUBSCRIBE to our email newsletter!

Stephanie Giddens, founder of Vickery Trading Company in Dallas, TX, shares aspects of her experience in the formation and model of Vickery Trading Company, highlighting trust, faithfulness, humility, and obedience as fundamental for relationships and ministry. The post An Empowering Model for Ministry appeared first on DTS Voice.

Stephanie Giddens, founder of Vickery Trading Company in Dallas, TX, shares aspects of her experience in the formation and model of Vickery Trading Company, highlighting trust, faithfulness, humility, and obedience as fundamental for relationships and ministry. The post An Empowering Model for Ministry appeared first on DTS Voice.

There is an ongoing refugee crisis in our country and in our world. Millions of men, women, and children are making the incredibly difficult and impossible journey to a country they don’t know, with a language they don’t speak, to seek refuge and a better life for themselves and their families. The stories are heartbreaking, yet there are glimmers of hope in the darkness. Often these families come and we think that they need our charity. But what they really need is an opportunity--a chance. Charity doesn’t change lives in families, business does. A job does. Sustainable employment does. My guest this week is Stephanie Giddens, founder of Vickery Trading Co.--a children’s clothing company with a bigger mission--to equip refugee women with long-term success through vocational training, personal development, and fair wages. This is an absolutely incredible conversation about a topic that I’m incredibly passionate about, and I know that you’re going to be encouraged. AN UNCONVENTIONAL PATH Stephanie graduated college with a community health degree and went on to get her master’s degree in theology. She now works for a fashion company. While this may not seem like your typical career path, the pieces fit perfectly together for Stephanie. Her fashion company is not like most, and she spends her days working with refugees--allowing her to draw on her community health knowledge. Vickery Trading Co. is a non-profit social business that equips refugee women for long-term success through vocational training, personal development, and fair wages. They hire refugee women, train them to sew at a professional level, and they produce clothing (mostly for little girls). This unique company spends an hour of each and every day assisting their partner refugees with personal development and cultural assimilation through English as a second-language, handwriting, and typing classes. This allows the refugees that they work with to become valuable, employable residents of the United States. SEWING AS AN OPPORTUNITY Stephanie decided to use sewing as a teachable skill and a tool to help these refugee women assimilate. It is a uniquely social skill in that it allows for community and relationship-building. These women are all sitting in a room together working and learning, which helps them build both trust and English skills. The company was built upon this foundation.  In terms of product, Stephanie saw a lot of companies making jewelry and handbags, and not as many folks doing clothes--especially children’s clothes. Stephanie saw a hole in the social business arena for people who want to do good when dressing their children. From that point of choosing their niche, Vickery Trading Co. moved on to running focus groups for mothers, allowing the team to develop their product ideas even further. A HEART FOR HELPING Stephanie’s first experience with the refugee community came when she was dropping off a donation box and was invited into a woman’s home. The woman told her that what she needed and wanted the most was a stable job. While the culture gap can be challenging, Stephanie has long had a heart for helping refugees. She has found the refugee populations she works with to be incredibly hard-working and industrious--always wanting to do their absolute best to create a better life for themselves and their families. At our very cores, despite our differences, Stephanie believes that we are all similarly humans with the capacity to form relationships and love one another. About Stephanie Giddens, Founder & President of Vickery Trading Co.: In the summer of 2000, Stephanie met poverty face-to-face in the slums of Calcutta. She will never forget the eyes of children whose daily reality was far different from hers. She returned to the U.S. confused and guilt-ridden about the luxuries she had but never appreciated. In 2008, she took her first trip to East Africa. While wandering through a market in Kampala, Uganda, she bought a handmade paper necklace from a local artisan. In the artisan’s eyes, Stephanie saw something different than what she’d seen in Calcutta. The woman’s physical circumstances weren’t any better, but Stephanie’s purchasing her handiwork allowed dignity in a way that charity never could. In 2011, Stephanie helped to develop a project that partnered businesswomen in Dallas with like-minded women in Rwanda. She raised money for leadership training and microfinance lending to launch Rwandan businesses. Many thrived. Later in 2011, she was confronted and horrified by the proliferation of human exploitation, so she organized a panel to address human trafficking. Stephanie recognized again what she’d seen in Uganda – the unbelievable redemption and freedom that dignified work affords the human soul. In the last five years, she’s studied social business and learned how work empowers the vulnerable. Stephanie and her husband seriously looked for social business opportunities in East Africa. Their plans to move to Rwanda in the summer 2013 fell through at the last minute – heartbreaking to the two of them and many who supported them. They found themselves settling back into Dallas and though their plans changed, they knew they’d still been called to help. Their church began to engage refugees that lived in a neighborhood near their home called Vickery Meadows. Stephanie realized that she didn’t need a passport, or to live 8 time zones ahead to empower the vulnerable. She decided that if she couldn’t go to Rwanda, she would help women right there in Dallas. CONNECT WITH STEPHANIE Website: https://vickerytrading.org/ Facebook: /vickerytradingcompany Instagram: @vickerytradingcompany Email: Vickery Trading Company Special thanks to Cultivate What Matters for sponsoring this week’s Business with Purpose podcast. Visit http://www.stillbeingmolly.com/cultivate to shop! Join my Purchase with Purpose Facebook group and let’s continue the conversation! https://www.facebook.com/groups/purchasewithpurpose/ Subscribe to the Business with Purpose podcast (and I’d love it if you left a review** on iTunes!) Subscribe on iTunes** Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Radio Public Subscribe via Podcast RSS Feed **Want to know how to leave a review of the Business with Purpose Podcast on iTunes from your iPhone or iPad? Launch Apple’s Podcast app. Tap the Search tab. Enter “Business with Purpose“ Tap the blue Search key at the bottom right. Tap the Blue album art for the podcast. Tap the Reviews tab. Tap Write a Review at the bottom. Enter your iTunes password to login. Tap the Stars to leave a rating. Enter title text and content to leave a review. Tap Send.  

This week we welcome Stephanie Giddens to Woven as we continue along in our Stewardship series. Stephanie is the founder and president of Vickery Trading Co., a non-profit online retailer that sells clothing made by refugee woman in Dallas. The women are paid fairly and offered training, as well as mentoring, educational programs, counseling and job placement services.  Unfortunately, this type of situation is rare for the majority of those who make our clothing and consumer goods worldwide. On today's episode, we talk with Stephanie about the realities of the current state of our clothing and consumer goods, as well as her own journey from being a traditional shopper to now supporting ethical fashion practices. We define what ethical fashion means, how it's actually pretty approachable and affordable if you put a little thought into it, and discuss why we should all care about this topic. The current abundance of cheaply made clothing is something we need some guidance with in order to steward well, and we hope this episode will do just that.    Links mentioned:    Vickery Trading Co. (15% off for Woven listeners with code WOVEN15)   True Cost    ThredUp 

It’s painful when our dreams fall apart. Stephanie Giddens shares how although her family’s dream to move to Africa didn’t work out, God gave her an even bigger dream for the refugee community in her own city. The God assigned her the privilege of building Vickery Trading Company. A company that provides for families, empowers refugee women and bridges cultural divides.  The GREAT news is you can be a part of empowering women by purchasing any of the sewn items! The BEST news is, they not only have adorable dresses for little girls, for a limited time they have holiday lounge pants for men, women and children!!! (Check them out here) What we chat about: The surprising twists and turns in Stephanie’s family’s story. Grieving over the death a dream and not understanding the “why” behind bad circumstances. We as believers get the privilege of being a part of God’s story. How Stephanie is helping refugees in Dallas with her children’s clothing company, Vickery Trading Co. The struggle that refugees face when they come to America. Stories of hope God has orchestrated with the refugees Stephanie works with Building community among people of different cultures by focusing on the commonalities we all have as people. English is one of the biggest barriers for refugees. How focusing on what is going well and on encouragement can make a big difference in your outlook on life. Links Mentioned: Vickery Trading Company  –special coupon code for GCM listeners: GCM15 for 15% off!!

In episode 13 we hear from Stephanie Giddens at our March 2017 Polished Dallas luncheon. Stephanie has a passion for empowering women. In 2009, she co-founded Polished to address the need she saw for young professional women to connect faith with real life. Over time, her passion for social justice grew, and she and her husband planned to move to East Africa to pursue business as missions in order to empower marginalized women. In a heartbreaking turn of events, the move fell through, but it inspired the work that she does today. She is founder and president of Vickery Trading Company, a children’s clothing line that renews hope to refugee women in Dallas. She is a proud graduate of Texas A&M and holds a Master of Theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary. Stephanie lives in Dallas with her husband Brad and their three young children.This episode is sponsored by Vickery Trading Company. Vickery Trading Company is sewing hope by operating a children’s clothing company that renews hope for refugee women. You'll definitely want to check them out at vickerytrading.org.