Heidi Minx began her working life with a career in marketing, but it wasn’t until a trip to Haiti when she discovered what she really wanted to do. She wanted to be more hands on, to use her expertise to help the less fortunate, instead of selling products that people may or may not need. On a trip to India, Minx saw firsthand how small nonprofits and NGOs were struggling, and decided to take action. In 2008, she founded Built on Respect as a vehicle to help her help others.
The phrase “built on respect,” has always been a sort of mantra for Minx. It was the tagline for her clothing line Franky & Minx, and she says it means that every business decision is based on integrity, much to the dismay of every agent she’s worked with in the past.
Since her first trip to India, Minx has returned to Dharamsala every three months or so, and continued to help the community grow. While in Dharamsala, Minx takes part of in a number of different projects. Initially, she was just teaching English and computers at a small rural school, but then began volunteering in the afternoons in the Tibetan community. Minx soon started working with the Hope Center, an education center founded by two Tibetans with the goal of educating their community and teaching them English so they could be one step closer to reaching their goals. At the beginning, Minx taught conversation classes to the students at the center, but when girls from the class started asking her simple things like how to attach a photo to an e-mail, she began sharing her computer knowledge as well. In addition to the students, Minx taught the teachers so that they would be better prepared in the future.
Every time Minx visits Dharamsala, she finds more people she wants to help, and she gives them the little things that they need to be successful. Whether it’s setting them up with a website and covering their web hosting, teaching them how to use YouTube to upload videos, or using her experience in Marketing to help them form a plan to increase site traffic, Minx does all that she can.
Back in the States, Minx is known as an alternative culture icon. She writes for Inked Magazine and other publications, and blogs for Huffington Post Impact. Last year, Minx’s book Home Rockanomics hit bookstore shelves, putting into print the online cult phenomenon Punk Rock Domestics. Her friends in the music business lend a hand by recording PSAs and spreading the word through songs and merchandise. Later this month, Minx will head off to Dharamsala once again to continue what she started, showing through her own example that one person can change the world.
Support Minx and Built on Respect by visiting the BOR page on Social Vibe. Check out the organizations that Heidi works with in Dharamsala:
Connect with BOR on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter!
