CONVERSATIONS with FRIENDS Danny McFarland

Dr. Brenda Jefferson Found Her ‘Life After Love’. Music icon, Cher, once posed a question in a hit song, “Do you believe in life after love?” For many women in toxic relationships, the answer is “no, I don’t believe there’s more life to live outside of the current ‘love’ connection I’m involved in.” It’s this unfortunate truth is what keeps many women bound in abusive relationships far past “love’s” expiration date. According to the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), there are four main reasons why women stay in abusive relationships:

Victims can struggle to see the severity of the abuse or the danger they are in

The victim lacks family, community, and church support

Leaving is the most dangerous time for a woman

Leaving abuse is extremely difficult and costly

Youth leader, author, songwriter, and pastor, Dr. Brenda Jefferson experienced all of the above symptoms in her first marriage, and can boldly say after leaving, “You will love again!”

In her most recently released book, “Praise Him While You Wait” Dr. Brenda Jefferson shares key insights on how praise anchors you in turbulent waters, restores your hope, and grants peace in the midst of any storm. This applies to relationships, friendships, businesses, dreams and more! While writing the book, Dr. Jefferson found herself waiting on a big business deal herself.

In recent news there has been an increase of mass shootings that involve youth: both as the victim and the aggressor (Robb Elementary shooter, Salvador Ramos was 18yrs old). This unfortunate truth prompted Dr. Brenda Jefferson and her husband, Bishop MB Jefferson to do something to help Tampa’s local youth.

They are currently renovating one of Tampa’s landmark churches and converting it to a youth center in order to help keep kids off the street and provide a space for safe recreation called, “Living in Victory Youth Center”. The building, once called Deeper Life Bible Church on 3300 N Nebraska Ave., was built in 1898 - over 100 years old! Now the couple is taking this historic landmark and revitalizing new energy in order to engage and protect Tampa’s youth.

At Living In Victory Youth Center Dr. Brenda has already hosted free dance workshops for the community and aims to host music lessons, computer labs for students, mentorship programs, tutoring and more!

Aside from the youth club Dr. Brenda also hosts anti-drug campaigns with her husband each year and hosts a weekly Bible Study for girls ages 17-30years old in order to be a resource center for women looking for emotional, spiritual, and/or financial help.

In the areas of love and philanthropy has found “life after love” and is encouraging other women that they can too!

Schenika Quattlebaum - Founder/CEO of wildly popular Natalia Me'Gan Hair & Beauty, and recent winner of "She Is Monumental" award. Schenika's life took a huge turn for the worse when he mother unexpectedly died when she was only 16 years old. She began acting out, and it was much later she began having children as a young teenager. As challenges continued to mount, it wasn't long until she found herself in a life threatening domestic violence relationship. Hear how her struggles lead her to the awakening that catapulted into the amazing relationship she is in today, plus a widely successful global hair & beauty company in just 4 years!

Tamarra Lewis Johnson exemplifies what it means to be a superwoman. After becoming pregnant at age 16 and then later narrowly escaping an abusive relationship and with two children in tow. Tamarra fought through bouts of depression, and budding addiction to pain pills, before finding refuge through spirituality. Soon Tamarra was putting her natural entrepreneurial skills to work, and co-founded successful childcare centers.

Brandee Joyner grow up being shamed for her weight and skin color. Brandee was a victim of domestic violence, sexual, emotional and verbal abuse as an adult. Brandee J used her life challenges as a resource for self empowerment. Brandee is now the host of "The Brandee J" show and the Founder and CEO of "Luxe Kurves Magazine", she has transformed her tumultuous past into her present POWER!

Her violent past began in her youth when she was mocked by her peers and her father for being overweight. At the age of 10, Brandy's father, who referred to her as "Ms. Piggy," forced her to start dieting because he wanted Brandy to lose weight. Because of her father's verbal and emotional abuse, Brandy developed eating disorders and attempted suicide twice. Finally, at the age of 16, Brandy developed a positive body image and began to love herself as she was.

Tara Lynn Townes suffered from debilitating pain from a disk injury, chronic fatigue, and fibromyalgia for 14 years. The birth of her disabled son became the catalyst for changing the way she was relating to herself and her injuries. She quickly began healing herself, which launched her into an entirely new trajectory in life, one with more purpose, peace, and love.

Tara became a certified life coach and developmental therapist. She trains and coaches others to live above their circumstances and to use their breakdown to unleash the giant within and to create what they want on the outside using what they have on the inside.

As a result of her disabled son, or as she likes to say "Beautifully Diverse" son, being bullied. Tara has now created an amazing app called "Bullying Buddy" which effectively protects our children in moments of distress. Not only does it record the situations, it immediately calls for help, as well as many other awesome features. Bullying Buddy is being implemented world-wide.

Gina M. Garcia is the 1%. Ninety-nine percent of all children abducted by a stranger are murdered within the first 24 hours. At the tender age of eight, Gina saved herself by jumping out of a moving car half-naked, after being brutally raped, sodomized, and assaulted at knife point, at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, Florida on October 12, 1981. Gina was taken by the same person that abducted and murdered Adam Walsh, (son of John Walsh, the host and creator of America’s Most Wanted). After Gina’s innocence was stolen, she experienced decades of self-destructive behavior including dropping out of high school and college.

In 2006, Gina was once again victimized when her business was burglarized in an apparent hate crime, thus triggering suppressed memories of that horrific day twenty-five years earlier. She began to feel like she was losing her mind and sought out mental health treatment from the Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital, where she was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). There she learned the necessary tools to not only live with PTSD, but to excavate and heal much of childhood trauma.

With Gina’s deep understanding of the journey of healing, from the long-term effects of sexual trauma, she was inspired to write a script with hopes of helping other survivors. During an award ceremony for a film project she had helped produce, Gina bumped into award-winning writer/director Patty Jenkins, whom she admired for her work on ‘Monster.’ She believed Ms. Jenkins was the only one who could direct her story and asked her, but was told “No Gina-- you have to tell your story.” Gina stated she wasn’t a director, but Ms. Jenkins response was “you will be when you are done”.

Never in her wildest dreams did Gina imagine that the director of ‘Monster’ would teach her how to be her own ‘Wonder Woman!’ With Patty Jenkins as mentor, Gina wrote, produced and directed her life story in her directorial debut “Untold: This is My Story” which she self-funded, adapted into a book called “Untold: I am the 1%” and launched a charity called the “The Untold Project” where survivors of sexual assault have a safe space to tell their own stories. Gina believes that when it comes to trauma, no story should go UNTOLD!