Episode overview

In this episode of Livestream Podcast, Sydney Johnson talks with Vanessa Lindsey about building a nonprofit from the ground up, starting with a clear purpose and staying consistent through years of challenges.

Vannessa Lindsey shares how she started her first nonprofit at 21 to provide services for youth, learned grant writing before the internet made research easy, built partnerships with the California National Guard, and grew the organization to more than $40 million in funding over time.

## Key takeaways

- Start with the problem you’re committed to solving. Vanessa Lindsey began because she saw that young people were being pushed into adult services without programs designed specifically for them [07:54](/timestamps/474).

- Don’t overpromise. Vanessa Lindsey advises new founders to “pick one thing and stick with that one thing” while they’re working, raising a family, and building their organization [18:32](/timestamps/1112).

- Consistency builds trust. By offering services one evening a week and showing up reliably, Vanessa Lindsey gradually earned referrals and expanded into her own office [18:51](/timestamps/1131).

- Treat the nonprofit as a business. Vanessa Lindsey argues that nonprofits should be run like businesses, with funders viewed as partners working toward shared missions [31:18](/timestamps/1878).

- Partnerships can provide the support a small organization lacks. The California National Guard supplied resources, coordination, and a full-time staff member who worked with Vanessa Lindsey’s organization [25:04](/timestamps/1504).

- Funding follows preparation and persistence. After ranking 20th and missing funding in her first state application, Vanessa Lindsey revised her proposal and later ranked number two in the state [33:42](/timestamps/2022).

- Community trust takes time. When Vanessa Lindsey moved from Oakland to Sacramento, local organizations questioned whether she belonged in the community. She responded by continuing to show up [13:16](/timestamps/796).

- AI can assist with grant writing, but it can’t replace the human judgment, communication, and strategy required to build a strong proposal [35:26](/timestamps/2126).

- Mentorship matters. After wishing she had a mentor during her early years, Vanessa Lindsey created the Nonprofit Transformer community to help others start and strengthen nonprofits [38:01](/timestamps/2281).

- A nonprofit can create impact through aligned partnerships. The Drug Demand Reduction program and Vanessa Lindsey’s organization shared a mission to reduce substance use in the community [25:45](/timestamps/1545).

## Notable moments

- Vanessa Lindsey explains how her experience caring for her younger sister shaped her determination to create services for youth [06:50](/timestamps/410).

- Vanessa Lindsey recalls filling out nonprofit paperwork without knowing exactly what she was doing, then earning nonprofit status through “blood, sweat, and tears” [08:46](/timestamps/526).

- A grant-writing workshop, made possible through a partial scholarship, gave Vanessa Lindsey the foundation she needed to pursue future funding [31:57](/timestamps/1917).

- Vanessa Lindsey shares the blunt feedback that transformed her grant writing: it sometimes looked like she had “reached behind your butt and pulled out some stuff and threw it on the paper” [33:26](/timestamps/2006).

- Sydney Johnson and Vanessa Lindsey discuss how nonprofits and churches could partner to bring behavioral health, youth, and family services into places where community members already gather [42:29](/timestamps/2549).

- Vanessa Lindsey closes with a call to “pick up the phone” and answer the purpose within you [50:06](/timestamps/3006).

## Resources and programs mentioned

- Nonprofit Transformer

- Four-week, hands-on nonprofit startup program

- Three-day intensive grant-writing course

- Grant-writing retreat

- Community-based prevention, intervention, treatment, and education services.

#LivestreamPodcast #FearlessFriday #NonprofitLeadership #NonprofitFounder #StartANonprofit #GrantWriting #GrantWriter #CommunitySupport #YouthServices #BehavioralHealth #MentalHealthAwareness #CommunityPartnerships #FaithBasedOrganizations #NonprofitMentorship #SocialImpact #AnswerYourCalling #KeepBeingFearless

Peace, healing, and courage require more than positive words. In this episode, Vannessa Lindsey and Sydney Johnson welcome Vanessa Mitchell, co-founder of Flow Authentically, for a conversation about breathwork, yoga, self-esteem, grief, surrender, and doing the work of becoming whole.

In this episode

- Vanessa Mitchell explains why identity goes deeper than titles, careers, and responsibilities. She describes herself as a woman who values peace, truth, growth, meaningful connection, compassion, and integrity at [03:03](/timestamps/183).

- The conversation explores why peace comes from within, and why healing the mind, body, and spirit can make peace feel like “the new normal” at [04:00](/timestamps/240).

- Vanessa Mitchell leads the hosts and listeners through box breathing, using four-count inhales, holds, exhales, and pauses. The practice is designed to bring attention back to the present moment at [06:24](/timestamps/384).

- Proper breathing matters. Vanessa Mitchell explains the role of diaphragmatic breathing and encourages listeners to notice the belly rising on the inhale and falling on the exhale at [08:48](/timestamps/528).

- FLOW stands for Faith, Love, Oneness, and Wellness. Vanessa Mitchell breaks down how each principle supports trust, compassion, connection, wholeness, and authentic living at [15:38](/timestamps/938).

- The hosts discuss Soul Searching Saturday Conversations, a virtual gathering held Saturday mornings at 6:00 AM where participants ask difficult questions, discuss personal growth, and pursue “the very best versions of ourselves” at [14:43](/timestamps/883).

- Surrender is not the same as giving up. Vanessa Mitchell says surrender requires strength, stillness, trust, and discernment, while giving up closes the door to possibility at [20:50](/timestamps/1250).

- Vanessa Mitchell shares how confronting childhood trauma, grief, and past experiences helped her choose healing instead of continuing to live from the past. She speaks openly about losing her son at age 29 at [54:28](/timestamps/3268).

- Yoga is presented as a practice of staying on your own mat, respecting your range, and resisting comparison. Vanessa Mitchell explains that movement, breath, alignment, concentration, and stillness can support physical and mental wellness at [32:07](/timestamps/1927).

- FLOW’s 21-Day Mind, Body, Spirit Detox combines yoga, meditation, breathwork, nutrition, and daily intention-setting during 30-minute Zoom sessions at 5:00 AM at [40:00](/timestamps/2400).

- Vanessa Mitchell discusses community, self-worth, and the six pillars of self-esteem. She emphasizes that self-esteem grows from understanding your value, not simply repeating affirmations at [01:04:48](/timestamps/3888).

- The episode closes with a direct challenge: courage does not mean the absence of fear. As Vanessa Mitchell explains, “Courage is recognizing the fear and choosing to move anyway” at [01:07:42](/timestamps/4062).

Explore Flow Authentically

Visit flowauthentically.com or follow @flowauthentically on Instagram for upcoming events, Soul Searching Saturday Conversations, Flow Circle community access, 21-day detoxes, yoga, meditation, breathwork, and wellness gatherings.