Jennifer Austin has formed a company that creates bracelets and bow ties to symbolize safe and successful transitions out of homelessness. Her company, Show Your Colors by Jennifer, earmarks 12 percent of profits for organizations working to end homelessness in Atlanta, Georgia. Her expressions of creative giving are shaped by her personal journey through homelessness.

“Sometimes things just pile up and you find yourself with nowhere to go, no place to call home,” explains Jennifer Austin, owner of Show Your Colors by Jennifer. The small company creates bracelets and bow ties that represent safe and successful transitions out of homelessness. She earmarks 12 percent of her proceeds to support organizations working to end homelessness.

Her dedication to the cause comes from personal experience. “Before I became homeless, I thought homelessness was a result of something a person had done wrong. I never looked past all of the negative stereotypes about homeless people.” But after a difficult marriage came to an end, Jennifer found herself with a 2-year old, another baby on the way, and no place to call home. She went to bed one night thinking everything was fine. The next morning she was told she had to leave her home. She was homeless for nine and a half months.

“I remember dragging my 2-year old from house to house and couch to couch. I remember the humiliation of receiving government assistance to be able to feed my son.”  She struggled with daily questions from her son asking where they would sleep that night, or if there was enough gas to get their destination. “My son would eat mustard sandwiches so he didn’t suffer from hunger pains.” People she met did not understand why she was homeless. “If you would just get a job, you wouldn’t be here,” she was told.

Eventually Jennifer obtained subsidized housing. Yet when she went back to work after the birth of her second child, she no longer qualified for a housing subsidy. She was still unable to meet all of her expenses. When laws changed in 1994, she was able to go back to work and afford housing with the subsidy.

“Thirteen years ago, I walked into an optics office to apply for a job. I asked the young man in that office to take a chance on me. I explained that I would do whatever was required of me.” Jennifer has now been working in optics for thirteen years and is the office’s general manager.

Today, in addition to her full-time job, Jennifer is giving back. Her new husband came home one day and asked her if she could make a bracelet. “When I started making them, they were just for us, but eventually people started asking where they could get one,” says Jennifer. “We decided that these bracelets would be a way for us to give back to people who were living as we had once lived.”

The bracelets seek to promote awareness about homelessness. “The black is to represent the darkness of homelessness and the purple represents the royalty you feel when you come out of homelessness and find your place.” In addition to black and purple, Jennifer also makes customized bracelets in any color with beads for personalization.

The bracelets are made from para cord. Para cord was initially used in the suspension of parachutes during World War II and by astronauts to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. The materials used in Jennifer’s bracelets represent history, strength, determination, and perseverance, qualities necessary for change and a safe transition to a new way of life.

Jennifer and her husband, Jay, donate 12 percent of their profits to organizations working to end homelessness in their community. Past beneficiaries are the Task Force For the Homeless and Crossroads Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia. They are currently searching for their next recipient. They visit with local organizations and spend a day with the program to make sure that the majority of funds are used to provide direct services to people experiencing homelessness.