Crumbling marriages, unforseen injuries, economic uncertainty and the mourning of dreams deferred: no matter who we are or where we come from, fate can inflict the harshest of aftershocks that send us reeling and shakes the firmest of foundations to the core. Anyone can stay mired in misery and what
might have been, but some decide instead to pick up the pieces, recreate a new brand of normal and share those lessons with others.

Pat Smith, CEO of the local nonprofit Treasure You, lives this philosophy, and she’s honoring women who have triumphed in Saturday’s event “Celebrating Second Chances for Overcomers” at Hyatt Regency Dallas.
The event features Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts, Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis, The Potter House’s Sarah Jakes and community activist Sybrina Fulton (mother of the late Trayvon Martin). Three local women with winning inspirational essays also will be commended.

“I had it in my heart to do a free event for local women where they could just come and be treasured,” Smith said recently interview at her Dallas office. “Two years ago, I met Robin Roberts when [my husband] Emmitt and I were all being honored in California,” she adds. “After seeing how graciously she handled her illness, I thought that she could offer so much to women with her testimony.

Smith, 43, was watching Robert’s newscast one morning and saw Mandisa of American Idol and the video for her song “Overcomers.” “I said ‘Wow, that’s it.’ The hope is Robin and the other ladies will share their wisdom about their unique battles, but overcoming could be about the loss of someone, a marriage, a job, becoming an empty nester, even an injury or illness. We want to celebrate the possibilities of new beginnings.”

It would be all too easy to see Smith’s present standing as a glamorous wife of a Hall of Famer football champion and think that she knows little about suffering, but the pain that she experienced after her mother’s death and an abusive first marriage (to actor and comedian Martin Lawrence) is what sparked Pat & Emmitt Smith Charities and fuels her advocacy for millions of women and children.

“When I lost my mother at a young age [to cancer], people in my community supported me,” she said. “I’ve been through divorce. I’ve left the house in the middle of the night with my baby daughter, scared and not knowing where to go. That’s why I love helping women who need emergency help.

When she first came to Dallas, she told her pastor’s wife, “I have it in my heart to give, but I don’t know what area I’m supposed to serve.” Serita Jakes told her: “Your misery will become your ministry.” Years later, when she started going through more trials, she got it.

“My husband would be comfortable with me being a full-time homemaker, but he knows that there’s something that pushes me because I’ve been though a lot,” she said. “All the areas of my life that I was hurting in, I’m now ministering in, and I wake up so excited to do it.”

“Celebrating…” will be livestreamed at treasureyou.org live on Sat., Jan. 18 from 1-3 pm. Viewers can also tweet live during the event with Robin Roberts using the hashtag #TYSC.