Gwen Cassady speaks like she works: In many directions, all at once. She’s built her a professional life around countless nonprofit and for-profit projects, and she’s overcome much to get there.
Abused and trafficked by her mother and others as a child, and later driven into homelessness multiple times, Cassady spoke with C-VILLE in early 2020 just weeks before she visited the United Nations to detail her experiences on the street. Two years later, she tells 434 she’s still pushing causes at a torrid pace.
434: What’s the latest for Gwen Cassady?
Gwen Cassady: When I went to the U.N. and presented, they were trying to determine two resolutions pertaining to the global homelessness pandemic. The first was for a measurement system to count the world’s homeless population. The second was to create a definition of homelessness. They were unable to come to terms with the definition, but they have started to count the homeless utilizing a new measurement system and metrics. It was the first intergovernmental dialogue that the U.N. has ever had on homelessness.
You’re also working on a housing project as you pursue a masters
in global development practice at Harvard.
Yes, the Cville Villas. It will be the first net zero small-home community in Virginia, and it will be located in Albemarle County. Currently, we are not able to do everything we want to because of zoning; it will not be totally off the grid. It will have four quads, one for homeless veterans, one for foster kids, a third for domestic violence survivors, and the fourth will be for vacation rentals to raise revenue. Residents will have unique skillsets so everyone can live and work together. I have started to make some headway in terms of meeting the right local officials. We have a strong team we are collaborating with.
Why is homelessness so important to you?
Everybody would say homelessness is important to me because I have been homeless four times, starting at the age of 14, but it is much deeper than that. It is so personal. I was forced to endure situations as a child that were beyond deplorable. That is the underlying reason.
You haven’t offered many details about the abuse you suffered in the past.
It’s coming out soon, so it is important to go ahead and lay the groundwork. I don’t want to scare people, though. I had to go through some heavy shit, and I didn’t have my memories surface until I was in my 40s. I had a specialist help me walk through the more detrimental and disturbing things, and I was able to uncover so much. It was a truly cathartic process.
Where exactly will your full story be coming out?
We are turning the short documentary If It Could Happen to Me, It Could Happen to You into a full-length feature. It premiered at the U.N. I am hoping that by the time this goes out, we will be close to finishing the full-length.
Tell me about some of your other projects.
Through Managing Love, we are working with a delegate in northern Virginia on a new anti-trafficking law to fight it at the systemic level. The first time I spoke with Delegate Delaney, I bawled my eyes out. It was powerful and cathartic to be taking that baby step toward something good. There has to be goodness in the world that comes out of what I had to endure as a child.
What is Managing Love’s relationship with Earth Day?
We just had our second Love Mother Earth festival—this is really cool. We are a partner with the international Earth Day Network. They nominated me as one of seven out of 6,000 global volunteers to be recognized. Essentially, it’s promoting Earth Day and the Earth Day organization and all the work they are doing globally.
I know you also do some for-profit work to support Managing Love. How do you find time for it all?
What keeps me going is the love and appreciation that I receive from individuals we are helping. It is each individual, unique person that really drives me. It is being an advocate for causes and social injustices and for those that don’t have a voice. This is going to make me cry—it’s okay, I love it—but it’s all for that little inner child, that 4-year-old inside of me who couldn’t do anything about my situation even when I tried my hardest. There are some scars that will never truly heal, but that is what keeps me going.