A mentee once asked me a disarming question: “Grace, what do you believe your purpose is on this earth?” The question carried a kind of existential weight—one that required not just an answer, but an honest reckoning. After pausing and letting the question settle, I responded:

“I believe God placed me on this earth to accompany others toward the fulfillment of their destiny— to help them faithfully bring to completion the work their lives were uniquely fashioned to achieve.”

SWLI was born from this conviction— that my life’s work is to walk with leaders as they uncover the depths of who they are and rise into who they were always meant to become.

My purpose is not anchored in the pursuit of awards, public approval, profit margins, or earthly honor—though none of these are inherently wrong. Rather, I resist anything material that threatens to grip my heart so tightly that it becomes an idol—something I must preserve in order to preserve my dignity. At the end of my life, I hope my legacy is not measured in accolades but engraved on the souls of those I was privileged to walk alongside.

I long for the moment when my final breath under the sun meets my first breath above it, and I hear the words: “Well done, my good and faithful daughter.” For me, the evidence of a life well-lived is the earthly mark that secures my heavenly joy.

I stand on the shoulders of people who carried an incalculable weight—shoulders that endured suffering, denial, and the pressures of survival. Their strength became the invisible scaffolding that lifted me into rooms I could not have entered otherwise. So when I heard the divine whisper—and when trusted counsel affirmed it—that it was time to build SWLI, I knew the journey would stretch me in ways I had never been stretched before.

Over the past nine months, this work has felt like a gestation—an unseen labor that prepared the ground for what now stands before us. There were days when tears became the mortar beneath the concrete of difficulty. But those tears were not wasted. They were the promise that the foundation being laid would one day carry the weight of transformation—transforming leaders, families, communities, and futures.

Some stories must be allowed to die before they can resurrect as wisdom—held quietly, not hidden, but entrusted to time. I have worked across nations, earned the degrees, collected the accolades, and built the expertise. But none of these solidify my identity. It is my faith. Faith, for me, is not an accessory to leadership—it is the architecture of it. It is the unshakeable truth that dignity is inherent—given, not earned—and cannot be stripped by circumstance or human opinion. I am, in many ways, tough as nails, and yet, by grace, profoundly gentle.

When SWLI launched a few weeks ago, I stood in awe. Awe of the faces present, the voices cheering, and the calls from those who wanted to place their blessing on this movement. The launch felt like the birth of something sacred— a moment akin to a mother beholding her child for the first time, or a bride stepping into a room filled with the faces who carried her to that moment. It is a feeling that cannot be replicated or dismissed.

Throughout these months of building—with a remarkable team and wise counsel—each moment of difficulty held within it the seed of transformation. We knew that the lives we were preparing to serve would be changed—and that such change was a sacred trust.

This is SWLI. An institution devoted to forming leaders from the inside out. A place committed to building stronger families, more compassionate communities, and intrinsically motivated leaders whose private excellence becomes the wellspring of their public brilliance.

And as we move forward, we hold fast to this conviction: SWLI must be a place where everyday leaders—those who influence and are influenced—can confront their realities without condemnation. A place where honesty becomes liberation, where confrontation becomes clarity, and where the journey toward integrity and wholeness is stewarded with dignity, courage, and grace.

This is the work before us: to form leaders whose lives bear the weight of integrity, the clarity of purpose, and the courage to become fully themselves.

Selah,

Grace