The Transcript

Karthika: Welcome Nancy, thank you for joining me on CulturallyOurs. I am so excited to have you on the podcast and I cannot wait to chat and get to know you a little better.

Nancy:  Thank you. I’m so excited to be chatting with you.

Karthika: Absolutely. So, before we begin, could you perhaps tell us a little bit about who you are, and where you’re from-just to help set the stage a little bit, if you will?

Nancy: Yes, absolutely. I live here in Chicago outside of the city and my background is in high end jewelry sales. I used to work for Cartier, and I started having children when I was there. And I have five sons, ranging from 23 down to 12. Before I started Watts of Love, I say that I was serving the top 1% of the world and now I am serving the bottom 1% of the world.

Karthika: Now tell us a little bit about what Watts of Love is.

Nancy: So, Watts of love is a global non-for-profit and we bring solar lights to people living in the darkest, most remote places of the world and really we use this solar powered light as a tool so that they can raise themselves out of poverty and not burn kerosene.

Karthika: Wow. Okay. This sounds like an interesting journey. What led you to move from Cartier sales? Like you said, the top 1% to Watts of Love, which is serving, like you said the bottom 1%. Why did you make that transition?

Nancy: Yes. So, in 2009, I was a stay at home mom with my five sons. I was obviously busy taking care of them and my husband had a business trip to the Philippines, and he invited me on this trip, and I was just really curious about how other people in different countries were living and really what did poverty look like in the Philippines. So, when I was there, I went on a feeding program and there were young students like in preschool and there, I saw a young girl whose face was burnt, and the teachers were putting toothpaste on her face. And I asked, well, what happened to her? And they’re like, oh, this happens all of the time. Two children, they have no light and they use kerosene and it spills or falls over and they are burnt. So, it was just really kind of an awakening, too, a global problem that I was unfamiliar with living here in the United States. And after that trip, I just really felt like my heart and my mind had had just a complete transformation. And I came back and said to my husband, I think I’m supposed to bring solar lights to people and you know, looking at that young girl’s face and as a mother just imagining yep. Trauma and not having any other options every single night. Putting your child who’s face had been burned every single night, putting her in front of that kerosene again. So, I was really imagining that situation. What happens if your baby’s throwing up and how do you change diapers and what happens when someone comes into your house?

Karthika: Wow. That’s pretty intense. Now, why solar lights? I mean, yes, the kerosene issue is there, but what made you-I’m just trying to understand the thought process, right? What made you decide that you will going to focus on solar panels, solar-lights and that sort of technology versus other types of technology?

Nancy: Sure. So, when I was looking at the people that I came across and the homes that I was seeing in the Philippines, they were smaller. They call them like, kind of like a nepa hut. It’s a very small, almost one room house with fache roofs. So just looking at what’s available on today’s market and what is it that they need? And having something portable, right. Because they may not have a door, they may not be able to keep a larger system safe. They’re looking at something that’s small and portable that fits their lifestyle. So, if they’re farmers or the mother has to walk to get water that they can actually take this solar light with them.

Karthika: I love it because then you’re not solving the problem as to what you think is the solution, but what they actually need. Right?

Nancy: Yes. And from that experience and seeing kind of the needs and, you know, our lights have evolved over the last few years. Actually, a year and a half ago we designed and patented our own light to find, when I call the hidden poor. Outside of the community up in mountains that really nobody is going to find them was a challenge. And then looking at what is going to last the longest for those people. Like with a solar light, we want it to be waterproof. We want it to be dustproof. So, we designed our own light where it has a battery that is actually stronger than an iPhone eight has. It’s water resistant. It’s shockproof, it’s dust proof, and it’s actually wearable. So like as a mother she can hide it inside of her shirt or you can put it in the pocket. So that solves some of the problems in the field. But really it’s giving people the longest amount of time they can start saving their kerosene money, reinvesting it into their family. And this new patented light, we are expecting it to last at least 10 years.

Karthika: Okay. Wow. So now they are basically not just having a light, but also being able to get themselves out of that poverty cycle by saving up and doing other things with the money. Right?

Nancy: Yes. And that is when Watts of Love goes into a community. We don’t just hand out lights to all of the families there. It’s actually the education and teaching people what this opportunity is. A lot of the people that we serve may not be able to count or read or write. Showing them through picture to this teaching process that we have is showing them pictures. Okay, you’ve eliminated kerosene, which is a flame. You have a new light, which means you’re can save money every day. And then we talk about educating your children. We talk about opportunity, what can you do with your extended workday? So the very first person that I gave a light to was a mother of seven children. And the next morning I ran down there and said, Emily, how was your night with your New Light? And she said, it was amazing. I stayed up and I made 1000 bamboo barbecue sticks. So, I’m like, oh my gosh. Wow. You instantly became like a business, a woman in the first 12 hours you saved 20 pesos by not buying kerosene. You now have these bamboo barbecue sticks that you can sell on the mainland for an additional 20 pesos. And it was really the people that received the lights is how I learned what was needed and the impact.

Karthika: Oh, that’s fabulous. What an amazing experience. Now, since starting Watts of love, you’ve traveled to sort of many different places, right? And you’ve shared Emily’s story. Can you share some other sort of experiences and more importantly, like people who’ve really made an impact on, on your life today and your lifestyle and I guess more importantly, your mindset.

Nancy: Absolutely. So, there’s a young woman, her name is Daisy, and she lives in the center of Haiti. And the first time I met her-three and a half years ago-she was hired as our translator. And so, when I met her, she just knew hello and thank you in English and that was about it. She was not really an amazing translator. She had a very poor attitude. She was kind of lazy and detached and we were not very happy after that trip. So, a year later I go back, and my local partner says Nancy, guess what? Daisy is your translator again. I’m like, oh great. I’m paying for bad attitude. But Daisy walked up to me and she says, oh, hello. I love you, and I’m like, okay, I love you too, Daisy. And then she said, you asked me can I get up and share with the women? And obviously I had a translator to translate for her to me. And she said, can I get up and share what has happened to me in the last year? And I thought, okay, that’s fine. And she got up in front of these other women and she held herself a little differently. And she said, I was just like you last year. I couldn’t feed my children. I couldn’t pay for school. I didn’t understand really what they were telling me, but I listened to what they said. You know about saving up, seeing buy a chicken, that whole pathway out of poverty said, I did it. And I started to listen, and she says, and now she holds her shoulders back and her head higher and she says, and now I have chickens. I haven’t seen her business. I have, she has complete abundance. And later that day I went back to her house and she literally handed two live chickens as an offering to say thank you. And I’m like, oh my gosh daisy, this is amazing. I love you. My whole heart shifted and I was so excited to see how she really didn’t understand what we were saying but because she just trusted enough to believe and we gave her the tools, the solar light, we gave her the education in these pictures of start saving up, saying buy a chicken, buy a goat, buy a pig. You ended this pathway. And she trusted us enough to start doing it and now her father came over and he sent it. Thank you for allowing my daughter to be the lighthouse to this community. It’s just incredible. She’s paying herself for her children to go to school. She doesn’t need any subsidy, which is beautiful. And I just have to share another story about daisy because I went back a year later and what was incredible is I went to her home. She had a beautiful cow. I mean, absolutely amazing. And you know, in America we may not think that’s incredible, but it is for daisy, because the fact that she followed this path and now was able to save enough money, so her chickens create business and livelihood for herself. This cow cannot be sold when at a time and all of her children can go to college. So, it is so significant in her life, you know, and she just really has been an example to me and really a role model of what is possible. And I share her story of really how she started off and where she is today.

Karthika: Oh my God, that’s amazing. I’m sure you have tons of other stories, but Nancy, what motivates you to do this? I mean, I know obviously Daisy’s story and all these other stories, but what from your own personal life and lifestyle perspective. I’m really curious because I think it’s absolutely amazing and to get into that mindset is something else. So, what drives you apart from stories like Daisy?

Nancy: Well, absolutely. I mean that is really my motivation because I see solar lights as a global solution for poverty. Really some of the things that personally motivate me in such a broken world, I feel that we are so afraid to get out of our own camp and to go into another camp because we think oh I may be associated with something different or that they think differently than me, or, they believe something different and there really can’t be unity and peace unless we’re willing to be uncomfortable stepping into other situations. And, you know, I don’t want to live in fear. And stepping outside of our limits and pushing forward regardless of people’s opinions. So that’s really what motivates me personally.

Karthika: No, that’s so true. Because you are going to all these other places in the world that are so different from the states, from what we are used to. And you are also interacting with people who don’t think like you, don’t look like you, don’t dress like you. I think sometimes the fear of the unknown sort of holds us back. But we need to let go of that and open ourselves to experience all the beauty in little things. I mean like meeting Daisy or even the other lady that you talked about who in 12 hours did something that she never has done before because of an experience. Right?

Nancy: Absolutely. And you know, my motivation is all the people we meet and serve. I never think that just because we think differently, we cannot partner with them because they think differently. It’s just not being limited by other people’s beliefs. If they can help us get lights to the poorest people in the world with love and integrity and light shines on all equally. And so, looking beyond I would never leave Downers Grove if I had to agree with every person that I’ve worked with. It’s just putting all those things aside and saying we have a solution and sometimes our partners look different globally and embracing that.

Karthika: I love what you said. Light falls equally on everybody. That’s so true. Now, how do you balance all these things in your life? I mean, you talked earlier about having five boys, very different ages. You have a family obviously, and then you have lots of love. How do you balance all these things?

Nancy: Well, some days good, and some days not so good. It’s obviously whatever we do in life, there’s always a balance and a challenge and really it is where do you put your value? Personally, as a family, we always valued people and not so much on travel sports while my kids were growing up. Did my boys play sports? Absolutely. I had two college athletes, so, you know, we are for sure into sports, but it did it take over our lifestyle with the travel sports and we invested in them and having experiences like joining me in the field in Haiti, that was a family decision to expose our children. And really from my passion at Watts of Love, my children have seen their mother having a big dream. And you know, I also believe in equipping my sons with skills like making dinner, taking care of things around the house and not that mom does everything for you. There are times when I have gone away and they have had cereal for three night in a row, and that’s okay.

Karthika: They survived. Putting the value on people and believing in big dreams is also important. It is always a challenge juggling so many things. But you do the best you can right? Don’t get overwhelmed with everything. Now if you’re open to sharing with us, just because I feel like sometimes when people hear the personal stories, they can connect a little bit better. So, whatever you’re comfortable sharing what has been some of your life’s most beautiful seasons? And on the flip side, what has been some of the hardest seasons?

Nancy: Well! First and foremost I am a mother and that is my absolute passion. And obviously Watts Of Love has come at a cost to my family for sure. There was a time when I was in central region of Haiti and my oldest son was there with me and we were giving lights to handicapped people. The elderly and handicapped who receive no services. So, imagine being handicapped, living in darkness, they just needed help. And it was a little chaotic in this particular distribution. But I looked up in the midst of organized chaos. I see my oldest son carrying a handicapped woman across the room to get her to get her light. Wow. And I thought, wow, like the character and the passion of my son and that experience in the field, has just translated into his life. So, he wants to become a doctor. So that has just been really one of the best things, seeing my children step into their destiny and allowing them to step into it through my own journey and my own path has been really a highlight for sure.

Karthika: And what about some of hardest seasons that you’ve experience?

Nancy: Well, you know, I’ll be really honest with you. Watts of love was birthed out of the most challenging moment in my life, the journey of my life. It was the downturn in the economy and my husband was in real estate and we’ve really suffered tremendously from that. And you know, I believe it’s when you are at those places where you’ve lost everything and things truly look dark and scary and believing in yourself and really, for me, I had this vision of Watts of Love and I think people could look at me at that time in my life and say, how are you going to help people? You actually need help because it was hard. It wasn’t like, oh, I have all this money and I’m going to just start a non-for-profit. Like I said, I always in terrible pain and riddled with fear, for myself, for my children, for many things. But knowing that this desire that was placed in my heart and that I really didn’t know how but believing in it and taking the steps from that darkest place I found the biggest light.

Karthika: I love how everything that’s you say, comes back to this concept of light and not just like in the physical sense. But even like on a basic internal, spiritual sense.

Nancy: And I think it does and I think we need to look at our lives, no matter what, there are always connections and we have an opportunity to believe that this desire was placed inside of you for a greater purpose. I could have very easily gone back after my experience and said, I’m too busy to start a non for profit because I have five children and I need to care for them. And the world would have said, you go Nancy, you need to take care of them. And that would have been okay. That would’ve been great. But there was another path and I think we all have different paths. Not that one’s right or one’s wrong just different ways of getting through.

Karthika: Yes. And this leads very well to my next question. What advice would you give others who kind of want to move into a more impact driven or purposeful kind of path in their own lives? And how can they make that transition effectively?

Nancy: I think most importantly for themselves and for others, not just let me check a box and say, okay, I’m doing this to feel good, do good, but actually make it more meaningful. I believe in big dreams and I think to have a larger vision that kind of scares you a little bit, that’s okay. But it’s not the big vision that’s going to get you there. It’s those small steps that you have to do. You have to be willing to take things on and so when I had this big vision of lighting the world I asked myself well how do you start this? I had no experience in non for profit. I had no experience in solar anything. How am I going to find people who need this technology? I could have really not moved forward because I didn’t have any of the answers. But it’s looking at your circumstance and saying, okay, what can I do? I can registered the business, come up with a name, a vision and slowly move forward. And it is all of those practical small steps that matter as well as knowing where are your big dream is and just being willing to take the risk.

Karthika: Yes, for sure.

Nancy: It’s like a baby right. They crawl, they kind of go on their belly. They don’t just get up and start walking and running. So why do we feel like everything in life has to be done yesterday. Give yourself patience during the process because it doesn’t happen overnight. And really I think one of the biggest luck, biggest lessons I had to teach myself was I would meet with people. Six years ago, I’m a mom, you know, with this idea and not really knowing the outcome of bringing solar lights. And if I would share my story with somebody who would say no, not interested, I would not take that personally. I would always walk away and say, okay, they are not ready for that right now. Instead of saying, oh my idea was bad.

Karthika: Yes. One of my very good friends, she told me this a while back and it’s just stayed with me – No doesn’t always mean never. It means just not now. So don’t give up. This is amazing. So, a few more questions and then we can start kind of wrapping it up. What do you do for fun, Nancy? How do you unwind? After a long day?

Nancy: I really enjoy hosting people at my home, spending time with my family. I go for walks with really beautiful friends that challenged me to think differently. I love to laugh and spending time with people who I enjoy, and with my sons. I have probably a little bit of an adventurous spirit, so we will go fly fishing or go on ATV rides. So I love doing things with them that brings us together.

Karthika: Now what advice or life lesson would you teach with the younger Nancy?

Nancy: The younger Nancy. The younger Nancy had absolutely horrific fear of public speaking, putting myself in situations like that. So it’s just having more confidence in yourself. And really some of your biggest fears can be used as your greatest asset.

Karthika: Yes, absolutely. So would you say that has been your, sort of biggest ‘aha’ moment in life? Or do you have any other sort of sort of light bulb moments? forgive the Pun.

Nancy: Yeah. I would say having confidence in yourself and getting out there and realizing that for me it was my fear of public speaking, but it could really be used in a good way. I don’t have to conform or look like other people. It’s okay. When I do speak to be Nancy, even though that might be different than other people.

Karthika: A quick rapid fire round so we can get to know you a little bit better. Just whatever comes to mind.

• Coffee, tea or something stronger – Oh, coffee.
• Favorite flavor of ice cream – Oh, I will have a little bit of hot cookie dough, then I like pure vanilla ice cream. Otherwise, if I don’t have that cookie dough, then I like maybe chocolate and peanut butter.
• Horror Movies or action and adventure? – Action.
• Favorite season? Spring. Summer, fall or winter? – Summer.
• What was your childhood dream job? – Ever since I was a young girl, I always wanted to be a mom. It wasn’t like I I would say I’m going to have five boys. But I love children, so I always wanted to have kids and be a mother.
• Beach or mountains? – Beach always
• Tacos or pizza? Tacos.
• Marvel or DC? Marvel.
• Favorite country in the world? – Favorite country. Oh my gosh. Wow. I have to go back to the Philippines, yeah, I’d have to say the Philippines, and there’s so many countries, that I love. And what’s so funny is I don’t feel called to one place. Every country I go to, I see beauty. I love the people. So it’s so hard for me to say so I will say the world.

Karthika: Hey, the world is a good answer. So, Nancy, what lies ahead for you? Are you sort of fully live living your dream or sort of what are your dreams for the future?

Nancy: Yes and No. I absolutely have a bigger dream and I have seen that solar lights can radically transform villages and I believe that in the next three to five years that we are going to start scaling, I believe that we are going to start lighting villages, towns, regions, and nations. It’s not just giving somebody a light and saying, okay, go do what you need to. It’s actually showing them how the light can make a difference in their lives.

Karthika: That’s beautiful. Nancy, thank you so much. This has been amazing, and I just love chatting with you and thank you so much for coming and sharing your story.

Nancy: Thank you. I love to share it, and one of these days you are going to have to start lighting some nations together.

Karthika: Yes, absolutely. Let’s do it.

Nancy: Okay. We will.