Talk That Transforms with Kim Davis

I had an experience that reminded me of something we don’t talk about enough:
Sometimes the people and organizations who claim to stand for “all people”… don’t act like it when the pressure hits.

For months, I serviced a nonprofit with excellence. I showed up, went above and beyond, and fulfilled every task with integrity. Everything flowed smoothly—until suddenly, my email was hacked. A hacker sent fraudulent payment instructions to several of my clients. Thankfully, one of them alerted me in time, and I immediately notified everyone and changed my account information.

But there was one client who didn’t forward my updated email to the person responsible for paying their invoice… and they sent the money straight to the hacker.

That alone was stressful enough. But what happened after?
That’s where the lesson came in.

Instead of taking accountability for their part, I was questioned—hard.
They wanted timestamps, email logs, explanations, proof of when and who I notified.
And then… they told me I would need to “take the loss.”
Over $1,000.

I went to the bank, tried everything I could to resolve it, only to be dismissed because they “donate to the organization.” Even though I’m a member too, it suddenly felt like none of that mattered.

Then came the most shocking moment.

Their CPA called me and accused me of working with the hackers.
Accused me—after all the work and integrity I had shown.

And then he said the words that revealed everything:

“I don’t know why they work with you people.”
“We’re a multimillion-dollar organization. Why would we hire a small company like yours?”

That was the moment I realized the slogan on the wall does not always match the spirit in the building.

Under pressure, people reveal what they really think.
Big organizations sometimes think they’re too big to honor small businesses.
And sometimes “for the people” doesn’t actually include all people.

After accusing me, they paused my services “until they figured things out”… which really meant letting me go. And to make it worse? They never even signed the contract. They kept passing it around, and I—trying to help them before their grand opening—continued to work without the signature.

I learned a lot.

Not every member of an organization lives up to the mission on the website.
Not every leader understands professionalism or humility.
And not every client deserves the excellence you bring.

For a while, the situation hurt.
It was a good contract, and I know I delivered.
Sometimes I still drive by the building and wonder if they ever found “better.”

And honestly?
I’ve wondered more than once if they ever reaped what they did to me.
But knowing my heart, if they did, I’d probably feel bad for them.
It’s funny how we want people to feel what they put us through…
but at the same time, we really don’t want that for them either.
That conflict is human. That tension is real

But then I remind myself:

Once you’ve worked with my company, you will always remember the difference—even if you never admit it.

And that realization helped me do something important:

I apologized to myself.

I apologized for the way I was treated.
I apologized for the unnecessary stress.
I apologized for blaming myself when I did nothing wrong.

Some of us need to learn this:
You can apologize to yourself for what others didn’t have the maturity, character, or courage to acknowledge.

And the beautiful thing?
Once you apologize to yourself, the pain loses its sting.
The random thoughts pop up less and less.
Forgiveness becomes release.
And release becomes peace.

It wasn’t a loss for me.
It was a loss for them.

Because integrity can’t be hacked.
And excellence can’t be replaced. 💛