Today my guest is Kathy Nunnally Anemogiannis, a friend and client. Kathy owns a boutique recruiting firm specializing in industrial manufacturing distribution and has a small, fully remote team. She’s also the chair of a nonprofit called Eleos Foundation, which provides sports bras, underwear, and hygiene products to women surviving homelessness, human trafficking, and domestic violence.

Kathy founded this nonprofit in memory of her daughter, Athena, who passed away July 20th, 2021. Athena did quiet acts of kindness and was always thinking of others even while she struggled with health issues. Athena and her friends handed out hygiene products to women in need, and this was how Eleos Foundation was born. In ancient Greek mythology, Eleos is the goddess of mercy and compassion and a friend to Athena.

Working in Eleos Foundation was “a way for us to channel our grief because it was a profound loss and very unexpected” to lose their daughter, Kathy says. The modest effort of handing out bags to women on the streets expanded into serving 38 women’s shelters across Georgia, in two years.

In this episode Kathy and I discuss:

• How the universe unfolds and people show up at the right time with the right resources or answers

   

• Letters and notes received by domestic violence shelters, saying what a difference a new pair of underwear makes in these women’s lives

   

• How donating products that serve a baseline need helps shelters devote more of their resources towards programs like counseling, job training, temporary housing, etc.

   

• How difficult it is for women to get better if they have to worry about their own hygiene every day—because the basics of life aren’t there for them

   

• My own profound experiences observing the homeless as a teenager in Chicago—and observing how people react to the homeless

   

• How Kathy attended three “Art of Success” Summits before enrolling in The Elite Mind program, and how she overcame limiting beliefs passed down from her family of educators

   

• How she believed that “having a team would be more trouble than they’re worth”—yet once she hired and delegated, her business expanded and multiplied

Kathy also shares how liberating it’s been to let go of the idea of competition in business and focus solely on striving for excellence and being of service in her niche.