Today we’d like to introduce you to Kerri Hupp
Hi Kerri, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Over the past 7 years, my corporate work has taken a hard left turn towards the nonprofit world. My experience adopting my son from foster care stirred something in me to serve underprivileged and exploited children in some way. I’ve worked alongside foster care support organizations, sex trafficking safehouses, and now, Eternal Smiles Foundation, a nonprofit that grants orthodontic braces to children of single parents in need. My joining the ESF team was somewhat serendipitous, as I was actually interviewing with the founder for a completely different job within his law business. In that conversation, he shared the mission of ESF and my son was in the process of applying for a different orthodontic grant program. The founder awarded the orthodontic grant to my son on the spot. Fast forward about a year later, and he needed help fully getting ESF off the ground. Within just over a month, we’d received our tax-exempt designation and started fundraising, and two months later, initiated our pilot launch and began reviewing grant applications. It’s been an absolute honor to see our founder’s life mission take shape, and to continue serving underprivileged kids.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There’s been nothing smooth about my path to ESF, but I can clearly see that what seemed like detours at the time were strategic stepping stones. It was my inability to conceive a child naturally that led to adoption through foster care. It was that experience that opened my eyes to the greater need to support foster care programs. Within that timeframe, I learned how many children who are commercially sexually exploited spent time in foster care. Through serving at the sex trafficking safehouse, I was connected to that founder’s neighbor, the now founder of ESF. Each one of those professional opportunities ended naturally, and always led to the next step. And each of the leaders within those organizations are still in my life. My network of those who serve children in need is growing, with new opportunities to collaborate and achieve more than we ever could have alone.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As of today, I am the Executive Director for Eternal Smiles Foundation, a nonprofit granting orthodontic braces to children of single parents in need. I am known for building and launching programs, with excellence and attention to longevity and scalability. My skillset has been to follow breadcrumbs as personal passions lead me, initiate conversations, and offer my existing skillsets. Entering the nonprofit world is definitely a new ballgame, particularly around governmental requirements and fundraising. But what I can offer hasn’t changed, and that’s what I manage well; systems, processes, and implementation with a beautiful, creative touch. I’ve found that I am introduced to new opportunities at just the right time, when they need exactly what I have to offer. I’m proud of the bravery that it has taken to jump into unknown waters, but stand confidently on what I know I am made to do. There are so many people in the world with big hearts who want to make an impact, but they don’t know how and often don’t ever get started. I work with what I have, right where I am.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Providence has been a touchstone for me. It’s important to be aware of what season you are in, and when it’s time to stop one thing and start another. I’m always careful to make note of the people who are coming into my life, and what role they may play in my next step, or I in theirs. I rarely pass up a chance to connect when someone says ‘you should meet so-and-so.’ It almost always leads somewhere. And if not, it’s a learning experience or an opportunity to pour into them. I am a very hard worker (some might say a perfectionist) and do believe that certainly has landed me many opportunities personally and professionally, but so much of my journey has been knowing my purpose, being vigilant to watch what’s happening around me, and being brave enough to take that next step.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://eternalsmiles.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eternal.smiles.foundation/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EternalSmilesFoundation/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eternal-smiles-foundation/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@eternal.smiles
