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I don’t know if you know this about me, but before all of this, before OC Black Moms, before the app, before the conferences and the conversations I was a pediatric nurse with a Master’s in Business Administration, specializing in Healthcare Management. Yes, very much a plot twist.

I started that degree before I had children, back when life felt a little more… linear. My job paid for it, it made sense on paper, and like many nurses, I was expected to follow a certain path nurse practitioner, educator, something predictable. But I chose leadership. Not fully knowing what that would mean at the time, just knowing I wanted to understand systems, not just work inside of them.

And then life did what life does. I got pregnant and had a preterm baby. I was in the middle of my practicum, building a business with a team and suddenly everything slowed down. I had to drop the class, retake the course, and figure out how to be both a new mother and a woman finishing something she started. There was no grand graduation moment, no walk across a stage. Just a quiet celebration in my kitchen with my husband and a newborn nearby. December 2018. Done.

At the time, I honestly didn’t think I would ever use that degree. It felt like something I did to check a box, maybe make my dad proud, maybe prove something to myself. And yet, here we are, years later and that education is quietly holding up everything I am building now.

So when it came time to decide how to structure Held & Rooted, I didn’t guess. I studied. I looked at every option, sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation, all of it. And while there are many businesses designed to generate profit (as they should be, you gotta make a living), I had to ask a different question:

What structure actually protects the people I am building for?

Because when you are working with mothers, real women, real families, real vulnerability, trust is not optional. It is the foundation. And the only model that built trust into its structure, not just its branding, was a nonprofit public benefit corporation.

Not because it’s glamorous. Not because it’s easy. And certainly not because it makes anyone rich.

But because it introduces something most people are not used to seeing: oversight.

A board.

Accountability.

Shared responsibility.

And if I’m being honest, that part felt deeply personal.

Because when I looked back over the past five years of building community, I realized something—I was never doing this alone. There were always women around me. Advisors, co-leaders, quiet supporters, truth-tellers. The ones who challenged me, supported me, and helped me see what I couldn’t see on my own.

So choosing a nonprofit structure wasn’t just a business decision.

It was a declaration.

That I am no longer carrying the weight of building something important by myself.

That I am choosing to build with people who are responsible with me.

That this work is bigger than me and deserves to be held that way.

Now let’s also clear something up, because I think this is where people get confused.

A nonprofit is not a charity case. It is not a hobby. It is not something that magically runs on passion and good intentions.

It is a structure.

And structures require resources.

Money, systems, governance, operations everything you would expect from a “real” business, just with a different outcome. The goal is not personal wealth. The goal is sustainability of the mission.

And that is where I need people to shift their thinking.

Because what I am building is not free to create, and it is not free to maintain. The app, the events, the infrastructure, the moderation, the partnerships, none of it exists without investment. Not from one person. From a community.

That is the part we are all still learning.

That community is not something you join and observe.

It is something you participate in.

Something you contribute to.

Something you help sustain if you want it to exist tomorrow.

And that is exactly why a nonprofit structure makes sense for Held & Rooted.

Because this was never about me getting rich.

It was about making sure something meaningful doesn’t disappear because one woman got tired of holding it all together.

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Six Honest Truths (Take this with You)

1. A nonprofit is not free to run it requires real money, real systems, and real people behind it.
2. No one is getting rich, any revenue goes back into sustaining and building the work.
   Passion alone is not enough, you still need funding, structure, and support.
3. Community does not build itself, it requires participation, not just presence.
   Support is action showing up, contributing, investing, and engaging consistently.
4. A nonprofit is not owned, it is stewarded, with a board ensuring it lasts beyond one person.
5. A board is not there to control, it is there to protect, guide, and strengthen the mission.
6. And most importantly, if it matters to you, it should be something you are willing to sustain, not just consume.

Always Have, Always Will ~ Kalie