Today we’d like to introduce you to Lori Hoff.
Hi Lori, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born to a father that was Bipolar and Schizophrenic so I dealt with a lot of abuse and my grandmother helped raised me and she was killed in a car accident in my teenage years, so it is safe to say I experienced trauma, depression, and anger in my younger years. In fact, my last year of high school I was living out of my car and washing up in the sink at school. Those were definitely tough years. But I let my pain propel my purpose and I started OMI my nonprofit after our first outreach in July 1, 2000, where we reached thousands of people with food and a message of HOPE, we were healing our present environment HOPE. I then spent several years getting my education so I could help young people like me. I now have my master’s in child and adolescent therapy and went from being homeless to a home giver. Fast forward to 2015 and I almost died from 284 blood clots in my legs during my recovery time I discovered we didn’t have a National Youth Week in our country so we launched one. We centered it around four pillars Community Service, Innovation, Achievement, and Teamwork it is June 13-19 because that is the ages of our youth. Through our Innovation banner we started a survey called case measuring where young people where they are with Conflict, Anger, and Self Esteem aka “State your CASE” after we completed the survey, we saw that there was a need for a program to teach our youth conflict resolution, anger management, and how to improve self-esteem. We believe this lack of coping skills is leading to Homicide and Suicide so we are teaching these skills to have healthy relationships and build stronger communities. The unique thing about our organization is we are all volunteer and 80 % are youth and young adults we are helping them discover the power of their purpose and saving lives. Our young people have been taught by social media to look ok, I encourage everyone to ask their youth ” Are you ok” just this year alone we have had over 6600 suicides and 151 homicides just in our youth and we have over 41 million in our country we know we have a great work to accomplish and we can’t do it alone that is the purpose of National youth week to come together to support our youth this year we have partnered with 12 org to teach our youth how to deal with violence and Achieve over self-hatred.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The struggles are that no one wants to admit we have a problem in December the CDC and Attorney general declared youth mental health a state of emergency and where are the instructions. When we have a snowstorm and a state of emergency is declared there are instructions don’t get on the road or you will be fined etc. We provide instructions to support our youth mental health.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a CEO of a youth organization by night and a Manager at AT&T by day. I specialize in reaching youth with the truth I use my past and experiences to be vulnerable with the youth I reach and then I encourage them to change the negative narrative that is molding our young people’s experience. I specialize in being an international motivational speaker, counselor, and author. I am most proud of saving lives and seeing each of our youth turn their lives around and become productive members of society. What sets my apart I have experience, education, anointing, and the ability to empower others. This is what I was born to do I lead with solutions and don’t focus on problem. I believe in working together and be collaborative with like-minded people.
What makes you happy?
My life, time, passion, and energy is dedicated to the youth what makes me happy is to see them free. Free from Anger, Depression, Anxiety, etc. I have an adorable Bichon who is my fur baby Zacki and when he greets me every day with an amazing tag wail and smile, my heart is happy. I love my family, friends, and faith. Traveling makes me happy I like to experience different cultures and make great memories
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nywusa.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nywusa/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nywusa17
- Twitter: nywusa
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeOVDgRRiDB79n1W-ijjgzA
- Other: www.omicommunity.com
