Meet Our Founder & President

Darthena Sanders (Culpepper)

Founder & President of Her Journey Hope and Healing Foundation

A Journey of Pain, Faith, Healing, and Purpose

My name is Darthena Sanders (Culpepper), and I am the Founder and President of  this Nonprofit Organization Her Journey Hope and Healing Foundation establishedin 2021.

My heart for serving women is rooted in my life experiences, my faith in God, my passion for helping others, and my obedience to the calling I believe God has placed on my life.

My journey has not been an easy one. As a young preteen, I experienced physical and sexual abuse in my household. During that time, I also witness my mother endure physical abuse by the same person (Her Husband). At just 16 years old, I became a mother to my beautiful daughter, moved out at 18 and began navigating the challenges of education, employment, and motherhood as a teenage single parent. By the age of 25, I was a single mother of four children—three daughters and one son. At 29, I married and became a mother of five, with four daughters and one son.

Throughout my life, I faced challenges that tested my strength, identity, and faith. I endured a long-term relationship marked by physical, emotional, mental, and financial abuse. Over time, the pain and trauma changed me into someone I hardly recognized. I know what it feels like to lose pieces of yourself while trying to survive. I also know how difficult it can be to find your way back to the woman you were created to be.

Then, in 2018, my life changed forever. While my family and I were vacationing in Myrtle Beach, my beloved 20-year-old son was struck by a car. Losing my son brought a grief unlike anything I had ever known. It challenged me in ways I could never have imagined and changed my life forever.

Yet, even in the midst of profound pain, God was still working in my life.

Through my healing journey, I began to understand that the experiences I had endured could become a source of compassion, understanding, and hope for other women. My story was not simply about what I had survived; it was also about what I could offer another woman who was struggling to find her way.

Today, I stand in a place of healing, wholeness, renewed faith, and love. I am remarried, and I am grateful for my family—my four living children, my bonus daughter, my son who lives forever in my heart and spirit, and my husband, who has stood beside me as a source of love, support, and encouragement. My family has supported this vision, and willingly given their time and heart to help bring it to life.

Why Her Journey Exists

Her Journey Hope and Healing Foundation was born from the belief that no woman or teen should have to face life's hardest seasons without compassion, support, or hope.

From helping grieving mothers navigate the unimaginable loss of a child, to creating opportunities for women to pursue recovery, heal from domestic violence, and rebuild their lives, my vision is also to encourage and support teens as they navigate trauma, grief, abuse, self-worth, life transitions, and the challenges of growing into who they are meant to be.

I want teens to know that their circumstances do not define them, their voices matter, and they do not have to face difficult seasons alone. Through "Her Rise" mentorship, encouragement, education, and supportive resources, I hope to help young people recognize their value, make healthy choices, build resilience, and believe that their future can be brighter than their past.

I do not serve because I have lived a perfect life. I serve because I know what it means to struggle, to hurt, to lose yourself, to grieve, and to fight your way toward healing. I serve because I believe God can bring purpose from pain and use our experiences to help someone else find hope.

My greatest desire is to take what I have overcome and extend a helping hand to women and teen girls who are still finding their way.

Her Journey is more than a foundation. It is a reflection of my faith, my life, my love for women and young people, and my commitment to helping others recognize that their past does not have to define their future.

I believe every woman and every teen girl deserves to feel safe, valued, supported, and worthy of a new beginning. If sharing my story helps even one woman or teen discover their strength, reclaim their voice, or believe in their future again, then every step of my journey has a purpose.

With God at the center, I will continue to turn pain into purpose, experiences into understanding, and hope into a helping hand.

This is my journey. This is my calling. And this is why Her Journey exists.

With love, faith, and purpose,

Darthena Sanders (Culpepper)
Founder & President
Her Journey Hope and Healing Foundation

Turning pain into purpose. Turning grief into connection, healing, and hope. Helping women discover the strength to begin again.