Nonprofit offers help and hope to abuse survivors through career training

A woman whose youth was spent in the "crossfire" of domestic abuse created a nonprofit dedicated to helping other abuse survivors.

Antoria Gillon, of Dallas, founded an organization called From Ordinary to Extraordinary in 2013. Under her direction, the nonprofit has opened several centers in Dallas and other parts of Texas, offering free training designed to teach marketable skills to abuse survivors and others whose lives were impacted by abuse.

In September 2023, Gillon opened a similar center, this time in Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma program offers free training to help students obtain certification and licensing for careers in fields including cosmetology and phlebotomy. Gillon said 313 Oklahomans participated in the programs in June.

Gillon said she launched From Ordinary to Extraordinary, often called FOTE, to empower abuse survivors by helping them gain confidence and employment through hands-on programs that provide emotional, physical and financial support. The nonprofit's partnerships with clinics and salons provide job opportunities for students upon completion of programs.

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She said she knows how much the trauma from domestic violence affects people, whether they are directly or indirectly living in circumstances where such violence is prevalent.

“I come from a family where there was much dysfunction, where a lot of abuse took place,” Gillon said.

She said she saw her father abuse women, and she also witnessed and experienced other trauma as a child, including being run over by a car driven by an abusive man who was aiming his vehicle at her grandmother, who was attempting to flee his abuse.

"He hit me, broke both of my hips, both of my knees, both of my ankles — I was in a full body cast," she said.

"I had to learn how to walk and eat and talk all over again and I was on a breathing machine for six weeks. I was just always in the crossfire of abuse."

Finding purpose in helping other survivors regain their identities and independence

Gillon said she eventually found purpose in volunteering at domestic violence shelters, where she helped other women overcome their abuser mindset and regain their identity through beauty makeovers. She said she often told her personal story of overcoming trauma to those survivors. Gillon realized that she wanted to help these women become self-sufficient because she noticed that some of them returned to their abusers.

She said her organization's overarching mission is to help victims of abuse become financially independent, which helps them become more confident.

From Ordinary to Extraordinary programs are funded through state and federal grants, as well as donations from sponsors and partners.

The organization's cosmetology classes are popular but so are the medical training centers. Gillon said Oklahomans have signed up for classes for training in phlebotomy, medical assistance, digital assistance/pharmacy tech and medical billing coding. She said the nonprofit has partnerships with various employers that often hire the newly trained students.

"We also have salons and med spas that our students work in," she said.

"They're able to do those programs, finish and then become employed."

Gillon said the nonprofit also helps pregnant women and women with young children. FOTE has a maternity home in Texas that offers free housing for pregnant women between ages 18 and 24, and women with children age 3 and younger.

"They live there for between three to six months," she said of maternity home residents. "We help them get their own apartments, fully furnished and we pay up the rent for almost a year."

She said she knows how much abuse affects children because of her own childhood.

"I was traumatized because of those (abusive) events and the way that I navigate through life was very much affected because of what I experienced," she said.

Gillon said that's why From Ordinary to Extraordinary aims to help people who have been impacted by various forms of abuse, be it financial, physical or emotional, at any time in their lives.

She said she is working toward opening a similar maternity home in Oklahoma.

Oklahomans receive training

Melissa and Vernezeia are two Oklahomans who are receiving cosmetology training. The Oklahoman is not including the women’s last names to protect their privacy.

Melissa said she joined the program to become a hairstylist.

She said she ended an abusive relationship with the father of her children and realized she needed help. She said it has taken some time to recover from the physical and mental abuse perpetrated by her abuser, a drug addict who died after she fled.

Melissa said she had been braiding her own hair for years and practicing braiding techniques on her nieces’ hair. She’s hoping to open her own salon one day.

Like Melissa, Vernezeia said she had been already been interested in cosmetology and knew quite a bit about hair braiding, but she’s discovering that there is more to learn in the classes offered by From Ordinary to Extraordinary.

“It helps me expand my craft,” she said.

Vernezeia said she would ultimately like to create a mentorship program for high school girls to help prevent them from entering into abusive relationships.

How to Help

For more information about Ordinary to Extraordinary or to donate to the nonprofit, go to https://www.iamfote.org/ .

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Nonprofit offers help and hope to abuse survivors through career training