 Extra-Ordinary Life is the realization of a dream by Founder, Stacie Scott Turner. Placed in foster care as a baby and subsequently adopted by a loving family, Stacie launched XOL to provide hope and opportunity to foster girls that have not yet been blessed with a permanent home and family.
Extra-Ordinary Life operates as a program within the PURSUIT OF DREAMS FOUNDATION (POD), an established 501(c)3 that provides intervention resources, guidance and motivation to youth and athletes. Pursuit of Dreams was founded in 2004 by Beverly Kearney; the legendary University of Texas Track and Cross Country coach who is a living example that greatness is possible despite extreme obstacles.
The XOL program is a natural extension of the work of the Pursuit of Dreams Foundation—as both seek to inspire youth to dream big and achieve. Beverly Kearney has a passion and gift for coaching and mentoring youth to achieve greatness—and will be an inspiration to our girls.
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STACIE SCOTT TURNER
Founder, Extra-Ordinary Life
Stacie Turner, the visionary and leader of Extra-Ordinary Life, was born into foster care in Washington DC. She was fortunate to be adopted at an early age by loving parents who provided a nurturing childhood, a stable home life and exposure to people, places and experiences that built her positive image of self, and an all important drive to achieve. Her first gift, “the foundation of family”, as Stacie calls it, kindled a deep desire to positively impact the lives of adolescent foster children, and help them forge a path towards achievement despite obstacles; to lead an extra-ordinary life.
The first in her family to graduate from college, Stacie obtained her undergraduate degree in Finance from Howard University, and ultimately a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business (HBS). Prior to HBS, she began her corporate career in Brand Management at Procter & Gamble. Later, she worked at Sprint managing the global prepaid card business and at BET Networks as Vice President of Marketing launching BET.com. Following a longtime desire to be an entrepreneur, Stacie formed a strategic marketing consulting firm, the Turner Group, attaining an extensive client roster across a variety of industries.
In 2001, Stacie’s primary life focus shifted to family with the birth of her first child. Capitalizing on the rising real estate market in the city; she started a real estate sales and development firm, Brickstone Ventures and became a top producing residential sales agent.
While Stacie has enjoyed substantial success in business, she has always maintained a passionate civic interest in the lives of children in her community. She served as a board member of Metro Teen-AIDS and the Board of Trustees for Southeastern University and Mayoral appointee to the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC). Stacie is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and Jack and Jill of America.
Through Extra-Ordinary Life, Stacie is driven to make dreams a reality for some of the least fortunate in Washington, DC – specifically teen girls.
 PURSUIT OF DREAMS FOUNDATION – OUR PARENT
PURSUIT OF DREAMS FOUNDATION
Pursuit of Dreams (POD) is a 501(c)3 non-profit service foundation based in Austin, Texas. POD helps youth, young adults and athletes pursue and accomplish their dreams utilizing sports-based coaching techniques and by mentorship and access to resources. They encourage and promote the empowerment of the individual and the development of their confidence in place of dependency and complacency.
POD’s goal is to motivate and empower individuals to live a successful, independent, and an inspired life through the combined effort of the, corporate, sport and entertainment communities. Individuals are equipped with practical knowledge and the insight to align their pursuits with their passions and desires which provides them with the continuous momentum needed to succeed.
A large number of POD programs center around youth athletes and assisting them in their transition from athletics to the professional world, both in and out of sports. POD sponsors a series of symposiums called “Intimate Conversations with Greatness” that features successful people from all walks of life (i.e. athletics, corporate, entertainment, and government) to harness the wisdom and power of these influential voices to teach, encourage and inspire others to succeed. Further, the various events serve as a launch pad for creating healthy peer networks and mentoring programs—thereby promoting unity, connectivity, collectiveness, synergy and healing.
www.bevkearneypursuitofdreams.com
BEVERLY KEARNEY
FOUNDER, Pursuit of Dreams Foundation
HEAD COACH, WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD TEAM, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
Beverly Kearney, affectionately known as Bev, is one of those rare stars. Her passion and gift for coaching and mentoring has inspired some of the finest athletes to achieve their greatest successes. This includes fourteen Olympians winning nine Olympic medals, four of which were gold. Recognized as one of the most successful coaches in the history of track and field, Bev was inducted into the prestigious International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. Her record of seven national championships is the highest among African-American coaches in collegiate sports, and second among women coaches. Bev has been the Head Coach of the University of Texas Women’s Track and Field for fourteen years. She also served as Head Coach at University of Florida and University of Toledo and Assistant Coach at University of Tennessee. The women she has coached throughout her 26-year career stand out as America’s best Athletes with over a 95% graduation rate and a total of 230 All-American’s calling her their coach. Bev’s many titles do little justice for Bev’s ability to motivate, empower and realize matchless goals repeatedly and consistently.
 High expectations and uncompromising faith in her athletes could result in her being viewed as a tough coach. But Beverly believes in love first, both tough love and self- love. Her mantra is “believe it, speak it, do it”. She believes intensely that one must commit to, and become fully invested in, one’s own dreams and the realization of one’s personal, spiritual and physical goals.
In 2006, the Buoniconti Foundation honored Bev as a Great Sports Legend. She joins other alumni legends like Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali. Bev has shared her winning principles nationally and internationally as a speaker on all of the major television networks including HBO and ESPN. She has been featured repeatedly in magazines and journals including People, USA Today and Women’s Health. Bev has also been an honored guest at The White House. Her incredible life story has been optioned for a movie and has a book deal pending.
Beyond her work as a UT Head Coach, Beverly founded Pursuit of Dreams, a non-profit organization providing intervention resources, motivation, and guidance. This has allowed Beverly to draw on her philosophy and use her skills to expand beyond the athletic arena. The organization recently launched a successful motivational mentoring program called “Conversations with Greatness”. The program utilizes trailblazers in athletics, business, and the entertainment community to help people, especially those in transition, achieve nothing less than greatness.
Bev herself is no stranger to transition and crisis. In her senior year of high school, she lost her mother and was homeless by the age of 17. However, she never let circumstances deter her as she forged on through Beverly believes passionately that everybody can be successful. She lives this model every day through wins and losses, triumphing gracefully through obstacles of all kinds. To call Bev a survivor would be a gross understatement in describing the woman who triumphed over a near fatal automobile accident in 2002. The accident left her in a wheelchair with repeated diagnoses that she would never walk again. Beverly persisted with the spirit of a lioness in pursuit. She continued to coach from a wheelchair, ultimately adding two more national championships to her record.
 Beverly is a living example that greatness is still possible despite extreme obstacles. Through the sheer power of faith, she has come to realize that a positive spirit can outweigh and outlive the most impossible physical circumstances.
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