About
Onwards & Upwards, Inc. is a 501 (c) 3 organization. Founded in 2018, we provide mental health awareness and relationship building skills to under-resourced communities.
Mission
Onwards and Upwards, Inc. is dedicated to creating social impact in underserved communities by delivering mental health awareness programs. Our initiatives aim to enhance emotional and social skills, empowering individuals to build and maintain healthy relationships with themselves and others, ultimately strengthening and building more resilient communities.
Vision
Our Vision at Onwards and Upwards is to create a world where everyone has access to mental health awareness and relationship-building programs that empower individuals and communities to achieve optimum emotional and social well-being.
Meet the Team
Our Founder
Kim Wilson is a psychotherapist, podcaster and author. She holds over 18 years of experience in counseling and coaching individuals from all walks of life. She started the first part of her career working with youth and families in the foster care system. While visiting various group homes and foster homes, she observed a pattern of behaviors in the foster care community. One of the notable observations were children moving their belongings in trash bags. Some children moved often.
The other pattern was the resistance that many youths had to participating in therapy. She wanted to create engaging workshops that offered psychoeducation without the feel of a court mandated task. In 2013, Kim opened Wilson Professional Counseling & Consulting, a private counseling practice, to deliver dynamics workshops. By 2018, she founded Onwards & Upwards, Inc. as another vehicle to address mental health in foster care youth, black women giving birth and black families dealing with dysfunctional relationships.
Executive Vice President
Sharon is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), a Naturopathic Doctor (ND), a divorce mediator, a human resource professional (PHR), and a family business consultant.
She has received numerous awards and honors, including being competitively selected to the National Society of Leadership and Success, and being named Who’s Who Among Executive and Professional Women in the Field of Counseling and Development.
Director of Marketing
Temeka Hayes, Consultant in the mobility industry began her career at Verizon in 2001 as a Technical Analyst in the IT Finance Department. She managed the IT Capital Budgets and also led the retail property swaps between AT&T and Verizon Wireless as part of the Alltel acquisition.
When Temeka is not working, you can find her in Manhattan participating in local activities or the rural areas of Georgia with her mom and 4 dogs.
Public Relations Manager
Melanie Hogan, a Georgia native and alumni of Alabama State University provides news content to more than 16 counties in Alabama at WVAS 90.7 FM.
As the News Director she manages content online and on air, produces a weekly talk show, trains intern students and represents WVAS an ambassador of the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce.
