Welcome back to another great episode of the Dear BLK CEO Podcast.

When your passion becomes your mission, it’s impossible not to show up as your best self every day! It’s with this attitude that Irish Burch became the President & CEO at the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center. Irish, who has 27 years of experience working with child abuse victims, came into DCAC after serving as an investigator with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Since then, she’s worked tirelessly to build strong, positive, and collaborative relationships with agencies and communities throughout Dallas. In this episode, we’re going to unpack how she overcame self-elimination, cultivated her passion, and translated it into an incredible resource serving over 8,000 children within the last year alone! 

Let’s dive in and get empowered by Irish’s story to learn how to translate passion into a resource to serve others. 

Translate Your Passion into a Resource to Serve:

[00:01 – 06:23] Opening Segment 

• I welcome Irish Burch to the show
• • Bio 
• Irish talks about her background and experience 
• • Daughter to a social worker mother 
  • Irish’s “Aha Moment” 
  • Pursuing psychology and counseling 
  • “How do you show up every day?” How do you not? 
  • The honor of earning trust 

[06:24 – 17:18] Building Trust Through Collaboration

• The process of gaining trust with a child 
• • Abuse thrives in secrecy 
  • Building collaborative relationships
  • Understand the state the other person is coming in
  • Setting up the system in a holistic way
• We all have a responsibility to the children in our community
• • Be aware and get educated 
  • Perpetrators look like all of us 
• Signs everyone should be aware of and what to do 
• • Be intentional about your surroundings
  • Notice changes in behavior 

[17:19 – 28:02] Translate Your Passion into a Resource to Serve 

• Irish talks about her journey into becoming a CEO of the organization
• • It was never the starting intention 
  • The journey up the ladder 
  • Realizing the gift of bringing together diverse people 
  • Creating Irish’s role to build a successful model 
  • Leaving the agency to pursue something else 
  • Going full circle again in faith 
  • Facing and overcoming self-elimination 
• The acceptance vs. the assignment 
• • The assignment does not end after the acceptance 
• Book your free consultation at The Kas Company

[28:03 – 38:47] Impacting Entire Households Nationwide 

• Irish’s encouragement to kids facing painful situations 
• • You are not alone 
  • There is a way out 
  • There are people who CAN and WILL help 
• How adults can overcome abuse they faced as kids 
• • Awareness of the importance of mental health is rising
  • Taking care of your mental well-being 
  • You are not alone and it is not embarrassing 
• I talk about my journey of facing my trauma
• How Irish’s work impacts the entire household 
• • Receiving resources and comforts 
  • How people who can get involved or donate 
  • Overseeing the DE&I process 
  • Ensuring the best service for children 
  • Becoming a national leader 

[38:48 – 42:42] Closing Segment 

• How to connect with Irish and the Agency
• • Links below 
  • Make a difference and get involved
• Irish’s recommendation to come to the show 
• Advice for people to keep pursuing their dreams
• • You are worthy 
  • It is YOUR assignment 
• One negative stereotype that needs to be done away with
• • The negative connotation of seeking mental help 
  • It is a sign of strength not weakness
• Final words 

Tweetable Quotes:

“Every child deserves to be safe in their own home.” - Irish Burch

“It’s not a dream that I knew I had… I literally went into this field saying, ‘I want to do right by these kids,’ and I never thought about what my journey would be.” - Irish Burch

“You can find someone more qualified than me on paper… What you can’t find is somebody who loves this agency more than I do, and you can’t find someone who can’t just walk away if it messes up.” - Irish Burch

Resources Mentioned: 

• DCAC Get Involved
• Diary of an Insecure CEO

Want to connect with Irish? You can connect on LinkedIn, or email her directly at [email protected]. Help save the lives of children facing abuse by going to https://dcac.org/. 

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Let’s connect! Find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or check out my website http://karlsona.com/. And The Kas Company to find out more about my coaching program.

You don’t have to be anyone other than who you are to be a world-class CEO!