Kathy Izard | The Grit and Grace Project

Kathy Izard

Kathy Izard is an award-winning author and speaker who helped bring transformation to Charlotte, NC in homelessness, housing and mental health. After a twenty-year career in advertising, Kathy made an unexpected mid-life change to begin housing those experiencing homelessness. Since 2008, she has helped lead community efforts to raise over $75 million to build housing including Moore Place, and a mental health treatment center, HopeWay. Through writing, speaking and coaching, Kathy draws upon her own path to purpose to help others find what is calling them. As an author, Kathy writes inspirational nonfiction for adults including, The Hundred Story Home which received a 2017 Christopher Award and a new release, The Last Ordinary Hour: Living Life Now That Nothing Will Ever Be the Same. Her illustrated children’s book A Good Night for Mr. Coleman helps kids understand the complex issue of homelessness and the idea that one person can make a difference. Kathy’s work has been featured on the Today Show and NPR inspiring people to be changemakers in their communities. Learn more www.kathyizard.com

The Northern Lights Weren’t What I Expected…

By Kathy Izard / Faith

Last month, I checked off an impossible adventure on my lifetime bucket list: seeing the Northern Lights. It was absolutely more wondrous than I imagined and not at all what I expected—kind of like faith. I had traveled 3150 miles to meet ten friends for a hiking adventure in Iceland. We had planned the trip for the summer of 2020 before we knew the world would close to tourism. It was already an epic feat to get ten women with busy lives and families to align calendars but then, we had to rework it all over again for the summer of 2022. As we set off from six separate cities to meet in Reykjavik, some of us couldn’t even remember why we […]

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5 Ways to Hold Onto Hope in Radical Uncertainty

By Kathy Izard / Life & Culture

My husband, Charlie, used to laugh when I called him Eeyore. While I could always find the upside of any situation, he was always looking out for the potential risks and further dangers. He generally held the half-empty philosophy, and I was the half-full perspective. Together, we always made the glass seem full. When we met in Charlotte in 1985, Charlie and I did not know that we complemented each other in this way. In fact, we barely knew each other at all. It was a love-at-first sight meeting at a backyard party, and it only took 42 more days for Charlie to propose. Within a year of meeting each other, we had wrapped up our whirlwind romance with a wedding. Throughout

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Are You Missing the Magic in Your Everyday?

By Kathy Izard / Purpose

My husband, Charlie, and I celebrated our 35th anniversary this month with a weeklong trip to our favorite place in Wyoming. Typically we only visit in the summer for epic hiking in the national parks or fly-fishing on legendary rivers. I like to think I am always fully present to the spectacular scenery there but sometimes, I forget to be awed. I know the extraordinary becomes ordinary if you forget to truly see. The Magic Of The Morning Whether I am in Wyoming or at home in North Carolina, the best part of my day happens in the morning. I always try to wake early both to write and to catch the early light show. This is when the sun rises after

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