Hope's Landing welcomes new executive director

TIFFIN --- On March 10, Hope's Landing will officially welcome new Executive Director, Marrisa Orzechowski. March 10 will also be the two-year mark of Hope's Landing becoming a reality, according to CEO and founder of the organization, Leah Cordy. Hope's Landing is a nonprofit social enterprise that employs survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence in Ohio and sells handmade items with 100% of profits going back into the organization to fund the survivor's wages and material costs. Orzechowski has a master's degree in criminal justice and has been working with survivors for around five years now. In 2018, she began volunteering at The Cocoon in Bowling Green, has worked with Open Arms in Findlay and has also worked with Sisters in Shelter, which is how she got to know Cordy and familiarized herself with Hope's Landing. "As soon as I started working with survivors, I wanted them to know that they're not defined by their trauma," Orzechowski said. "We want to be able to help them grow as employees and grow personally because when these women don't have any experience with employment, it's harder for them to grow through employment and grow as a person." As the executive director, Orzechowski will be in charge of everyday operations, oversee the survivors and help them grow both within employment and their personal lives. Cordy has been the founder, CEO and executive director of Hope's Landing up until this point. "Having to manage both the business side and the nonprofit side has been a lot for me, especially because I also have another full-time job," Cordy explained. "So, I didn't feel like it was fair to the organization, the survivors and their needs to not be able to be here and be as involved in the nonprofit side of things as I wanted to be. Going forward, I'm just going to be CEO, so Marrisa will be managing the day-to-day (operations.) She has a background that is perfect for managing, she has lots of great experience to set her up for success." Cordy said by the end of the year her goal is for Hope's Landing to have its products in 100 stores and 30 states across the nation. Currently, they are in around 65 stores throughout 20 states. In five years, Cordy said she wants their products to be available all over the country and is aiming to improve their programs for survivors to be more beneficial to their needs. She also plans to grow the Hope's Landing team and continue to employ survivors. "Marrisa has just been such a great partner for us for so long," Cordy explained. "She's been a volunteer, she's helped out during the holidays, she's always been willing to help in any way that she can. I immediately saw something in her that I saw in myself, like when I started the organization I gave everything I possibly could to it, and it didn't matter what my schedule looked like…and that's how Marrisa is too. I've always really appreciated that." "If there's one person that I really trust with this position, it's her," Cordy said of Orzechowski, noting that she is proud to have her as part of their growing team.