校友的声音|
3月9日
迈克尔·唐斯
推动女神
An alum’s journey to becoming the embodiment of a goddess
罗伯·霍尔
“你是美丽的. 你会变得很重要. 你会产生影响的. 你将成为女王!”
During this nightly bedtime routine in the Finley family, 罗伯特·芬利 would look in the mirror with his young daughter, Sharina琼斯, SBA的03, 然后对她说很多肯定的话. The routine hadn’t changed much since Jones had an incident that left her in a wheelchair; her parents made sure of it.
她喜欢父亲这样做, but queen wasn’t a high enough standard for Jones, 甚至在她小时候也没有. 她会盯着镜子，看着自己的眼睛说:“我想成为一名推女神.”
“People could choose to not like queens,” explains Jones. 但是女神? 人人都爱女神.”
推女神/推gäd /
名词
克服一切的感觉，明白自己有力量克服生活中的障碍，仍然快乐. To project love and to be open enough to receive it back.
的程度
高中刚毕业, 在进入365英国上市官网工商管理学院之前，琼斯在莫特社区学院获得了副学士学位. Her motivation wasn’t to become her best self or focus on becoming a Goddess; the focus had shifted.
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“很多人成长的环境教导他们在上大学时要专注于找到一份好工作,琼斯说。. “我也有同样的想法，但在创业的过程中，我种下了创业的种子.”
在开放大学期间，琼斯参加了由马克·西蒙博士领导的自由企业学生项目(SIFE).D. 通过与医生交谈. Simon and other students in the program, Jones’ confidence skyrocketed. 她开始梦想经营自己的企业，但她觉得自己首先必须获得学位，并在该领域积累一些经验.
“While working for other organizations, it kind of hit me,琼斯说。. “I have the tools; I could be doing more. I didn't want to just do financial forecasting. I knew there was so much more out there for me. So, when the opportunity came up with the nonprofit, I took it.”
非营利组织
琼斯被命名为. 2011年的轮椅密歇根. For that whole year she would spend time in hospitals, 与那些刚刚受伤的人一起工作，适应他们作为轮椅使用者的新生活. That’s when an unfavorable trend caught her eye.
| 罗伯特·芬利 Jones’ father enjoyed running basketball camps. 在她出事后, 他会得到轮椅，这样所有邻居的孩子都可以玩轮椅篮球，这样琼斯就有了一个公平的竞争环境. 琼斯14岁时，罗伯特·芬利去世了. “他是个了不起的人，”她说. |
琼斯说:“医院把严重残疾的人送进养老院。. “这是我想要防止的事情. I wanted to let them know that, no, you can live on your own. You can have the nurses come to your house. There are things you can do to become independent.”
琼斯开始 思考椅子之外的问题, an organization that offers social activities and events, as well as supports and advocates for those with disabilities. 思考椅子之外的问题 is deeply rooted in Michigan, working closely with the Rehab Institute of Michigan, 赫尔利医疗中心, 大学 of Michigan’s Children Hospital and St. Joes. But she’s expanded nationwide, with contacts as far as India. 所有这些都在遵循她父母为她设定的标准:推动自己超越自己的极限，为自己的独立而战.
“People in these situations don’t need to be coddled,琼斯说。. “他们需要支持。. They need someone to be honest with them, even if it’s brutally honest. Having a person take care of everything for you isn’t helpful; it’s you being lazy. 需要拿点东西? 让我们学习使用抓手. 需要做好准备? 让我们想个办法让你做这件事! Why not learn how to live the best life you can?”
琼斯解释了残酷的现实:有一天，那个人可能不会在你身边照顾你. 如果发生这种情况, 你需要做好准备，并配备好资源和知识来照顾好自己.
该公司
2015年，思考椅子之外的问题为依赖社会保障或收入有限的残疾个人和家庭启动了一个圣诞项目. 琼斯和她的非营利组织将为他们提供节日盛宴，其中包括一只火鸡, 火腿, 配菜和甜点，以及为残疾人士及其家人准备的礼物.
“The first year, we had five families participate,琼斯说。. “The second year, we doubled and kept growing until we had over 40 families.”
Jones’ company was spending between $300 and $500 per family, but with how quickly the program was growing, they were desperately looking for new ways to find funding. “我联系了我的一个医疗供应商，看他们是否愿意为这个项目捐款，因为其中一些参与者是他们的客户,琼斯解释道. “当他们说不的时候，我惊呆了.”
Jones informed them that she would no longer be buying their supplies and hung up. 她立即打电话给她的律师，弄清楚她需要做些什么来创办自己的医疗用品公司. After some paperwork, GNS Medical Supplies was born.
“I started with five patients, myself included,琼斯说。. “我的想法是, ‘If you get your medical supplies through us, 我们把一部分钱捐回给“超越椅子”组织，用它来支付像圣诞节这样的项目.’”
在短短几年内, Jones' client base had skyrocketed to over 900 clients, 直到她最终在2021年卖掉它.
“我从365英国上市官网的创业课程中学到的技能确实帮助我建立了这家公司,琼斯说。. “It provided for not only my family but also for our nonprofit, which was able to create new programs as well as keep the others afloat.”
GNS医疗用品公司的新老板仍然会捐赠一部分利润给琼斯的非营利组织.
这些书
对琼斯来说，写作是一种帮助他应对现实的方式，因为他不仅是一个年轻的枪击幸存者, but spending the rest of her life as a wheelchair-able individual. 在她意识到之前, those writings had taken shape into the form of the book, 《365英国上市官网》.”
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“我写这本书是为了帮助我治愈自己. I didn’t write it for anyone else,” Jones says.
Jones had a friend who was dating a book publisher, who heard about the book and asked to be able to read it. “He said, ‘this has to be published,’” Jones recalls. “But I was hesitant since it was so personal. He explained that people needed to hear it; that it was too important not to get out into the world.” After a year and a half of thinking it over, Jones finally decided to get the ball rolling on publishing her book.
琼斯的下一本书, “不是所有的女神都一样,尚未公布, but it’s a children’s book she decided to write after an interaction with a Little Ms. 轮椅. 当时她才11岁,琼斯说。, 她一直告诉我，她太害怕了，不敢去这个她被邀请去的营地.”
The premise of the book is a wheelchair-able girl going to camp. 当她穿过森林的时候, 她遇到了一只猫头鹰，猫头鹰安慰她，并解释说营地里的每个人都会不一样, 但是没有理由害怕.
今天, 琼斯正在伯顿创办一家名为re水合物的新企业，这是一家静脉注射和健康诊所, Michigan — as well as day trading and spending more time with her husband of 12 years, 格洛弗·克利夫兰·琼斯三世, 还有他们7岁的儿子, 格罗弗·克利夫兰·琼斯四世. 她仍然将大量时间投入到她的非营利组织中，并一直在寻找新的方式来影响她所能影响的地方.
