Alison Rapping and Brandy Smith with Arouet E5
Arouet Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Arizona nonprofit corporation whose mission is to provide education assistance, workforce development and job training to women who have been involved in the justice system. In 2011, Arouet was formed to take over these activities to ensure we were reaching a broader group of women.
Arouet has proven that recidivism can be substantially reduced by more than 75%, with programs that emphasize education, job skills, and post-release work opportunities. Arouet has a goal of putting more people to work, and thereby reducing the recidivism rates. Arouet currently has a recidivism rate of under 7%.
Alison Rapping is CEO of the Arouet Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting, mentoring, and training women involved in the justice system. She is also President of Alison Rapping and Associates, a strategy consulting firm that provides consultancy to community benefit organizations in the United States and Africa.
A recognized leader in the nonprofit community, she brings more than 25 years of nonprofit experience to her work. She supports nonprofits and community collaborations to be effective, innovative and well-resourced, and specializes in board development, fund development, advocacy, nonprofit management and program design and implementation.
Ms. Rapping served as CEO of the Alliance for Arizona Nonprofits, where she oversaw the successful launch of this new statewide organization focused on promoting, supporting, and serving Arizona’s nonprofit community.
She invested thirteen years of her professional career with HandsOn Greater Phoenix, a nonprofit dedicated to mobilizing volunteers and developing and managing innovative community programs. While at HOGP, she served on the National Board of Directors for HandsOn Network.
On behalf of Hands-on Network, Alison traveled to Zimbabwe, South Africa, Korea, and the Gulf Coast to support and provide organizational development and fundraising training to organizations interested in creating HandsOn Network models of service.
Ms. Rapping served as the Vice Chair for the City of Phoenix Commission on Housing and Neighborhoods and has been a member of the City of Phoenix Bond Committee, the Chair of the City of Phoenix CDGB review panel; she has also served on the board of directors for numerous community organizations.
She was named one of The Business Journal’s ‘40 Under 40’ emerging leaders. and is a graduate of Valley Leadership. Ms. Rapping received her MPA from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Brandy Smith is a 51-year-old California native but has lived in Arizona for almost 35 years. A lifelong, untreated substance abuse problem and a list of white-collar offenses led her to 3 terms of incarceration for 15 years. She was released in 2017 and in January of 2019 finally ended a 17-year cycle caught in the criminal justice system.
Her passion for second chances and reentry make her a perfect fit to be the program and outreach manager at Arouet. She is now responsible for a comprehensive reentry program for incarcerated women to have a fighting chance to reunite with their families and communities and stop the cycle of recidivism.
As a vocal advocate for recovery (she’s celebrating 11 years clean) and sentencing reform, when she isn’t out trying to change the world, she enjoys spending time with her husband on their new boat handing out with her dogs binge watching shows on her favorite streaming sites.
Follow Arouet on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
ABOUT Deep Impact Leadership The Art of the Connected Conversation
Negativity, sabotage, self doubt, and more are a part of cyclical thinking, leading to cyclical results. The National Science Foundation summarized a study on human thoughts per day. It is said that the average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those thousands of thoughts, 80% are negative, and 95% are the very 
same repetitive thoughts as the day before.
If our minds are prone to negative and cyclical thinking, how do we move beyond this mundane programming to achieve professional and organizational success and significance?
We must master our intrapersonal and interpersonal communication. Impactful leadership requires effective communication within ourselves and with others.
This radio show and podcast is dedicated to exploring the magic in “connected conversations”. Listen in as these pros share the tips, tricks, strategies and disciplines that keep them at the top of their game day-in and day-out serving their industries at the highest levels.
About Your Host
Success. It is like a puzzle. You must have the puzzle box lid to see the big picture and know what your life, influence, income, and reach should be.
No matter if we are talking about:
- How to take your skillset and grow it into a multi-million dollar business.
- How to take your business brilliance and build it into lifelong influence and buying customers.
- How to overcome those moments of overwhelm and self-sabotage (all together or at least a heck of a lot faster), so you can hit those next levels of success sooner and stronger.
Karen Nowicki has you covered.
The ultimate problem solver and solution finder, Karen’s natural perspective is understanding what you want, need, and how to make it a reality.
With advanced training and certifications in several modalities and disciplinary specialization, including: Facilitative Leadership, Organizational Development, Strategic Planning, Trauma Integration & Shadow Integration, Karen knows the business of business as well as the business of people. She will nudge you, walk alongside you, and guide you along the way.
No matter if you are building your industry influence, client relationships, or working on how to grow, scale, or accelerate your business to the next level, Karen is dedicated to helping you build your success puzzle while showing you the hidden opportunities that await.
