Meet the founder
Dishambra McQueen
Dishambra McQueen is a native of Dallas, TX. She is a versatile, fearless, ambitious, and vibrant motivational speaker and entrepreneur who is no stranger to the everyday struggles of life. As a child, she was diagnosed with server dyslexia and a speech impediment, which caused her to face numerous difficulties growing up that carried over into her adulthood. Not being able to read or count money caused her great anxiety and embarrassment. As a result, she developed a low self-esteem and an extreme fear of speaking in public. Refusing to spend the rest of her life feeling defeated she used her short comings as motivation to overcome them. Dishambra began with studying Youtube videos to teach herself how to improve her reading and to speak more clearly.
By the age of 28, she found herself facing adversity once again as she was now homeless. At the time she was working for a family member who lost their business causing her to lose everything as well. It wasn’t long before she found herself sleeping in her truck in a Walmart parking lot and in vacant houses. On hot summer nights when it’d become too difficult to rest she would occasionally be able to seek shelter at the homes of family and friends when they had space available. Many days her only source of food was the items she stole from a local Walmart. She eventually got to a point where she was able to purchase a $10.00 gym membership at Planet Fitness so that she could take showers on a regular basis.
Shortly after this she landed a warehouse job with UPS making $125.00 a week. Although she was now working it didn’t ease the stress of her situation. Feeling frustrated and angry at her circumstances she cried many days trying to understand how her life ended up where it was. She reached her final breaking point one hot summers day when she frantically searched for enough change get from the Walmart she was living at to her job. After spending what seemed like hours searching, she was able to scrounge up enough pennies for a gallon of gas and drove to the nearest gas station. Once it was her turn in line she gave the cashier all the money she had left only for them to be thrown back at her. He yelled, “THESE PENNIES ARE TO DIRTY, I’m not taking these dirty pennies!” Mortified, hurt and in disbelief she replied, “I’ll go clean them, where’s the restroom?” She knew that at the end of the day in her hands sat everything she had, and she needed to get to work by any means necessary. In the restroom she broke down in tears letting out a deeply rooted cry as she scrubbed her pennies. As her tears fell so did some of her pennies down the drain. Though she tried her best to recover them she was only able to save a few. With her sadness now turning into anger she took what she had back to the cashier, threw them at him and told him to put them on the pump as she walked out.
As she sat in truck she began to cry once more. This time she began talking to God saying,
“God, I’m so tired of living this way. Can you please help me? I’m not looking for a fancy home, or to live downtown. All I want to be able to do is to lay my head down on a pillow in my own place. If you bless me, I promise to tell my story around the world, help people just like me, and I will minister for you.”
A week later she received a phone from a lady named Dawn telling her she saw her resume on indeed and wanted to see if she was available to meet with the HR Coordinator at that very moment. Though she was walking into her current job at the time she quickly did an about face and told Dawn she was on her way. From the parking lot she called into work, went to the interview, and was hired on the spot. With her first check she kept her promise to God. As soon as she was able to take care of herself, she immediately began helping other people enduring the same hardship.
In 2015 Dishambra formed the McQueen Foundation. A nonprofit organization establish to treat every homeless individual with the dignity and respect that they deserve by building honest and meaningful relationships, showing empathy, patience, and love, hosting events in their honor and treating them with integrity. All while creating memories with them that will last a lifetime. In 2019 Dishambra launched the Keeping My Promise Tour. On this tour Dishambra, her staff and a host of volunteers travel the world hosting uplifting and inspirational events where they treat the homeless like royalty and make them feel human again. Thus far they have conducted events in Washington, DC, Las Angeles, California, Houston, Austin, Fort Worth and Dallas, TX, and Atlanta, GA. This year they will be travelling to Las Vegas, Nevada, North and South Carolina, San Francisco, CA, and Chicago, IL. To date the McQueen foundation has served over 10,000 homeless individuals, help house close to 30 individuals, and has grown to become the largest travelling foundation assisting the homeless in Texas.
Over the years Dishambra’s inspirational journey of homelessness has allowed others to gain hope in the midst of their despair by hearing her story. In between doing all that she can to serve the homeless and those with disabilities she also speaks publicly throughout the DFW Metroplex encouraging and inspiring others. Letting them know that no matter how difficult the journey, they too can accomplish anything they put their minds to. It’s because of those adversities that she refuses to allow anything to stop her from dreaming big and reaching her goals. She is a firm believer that through a combination of hard work and faith in God anything is achievable. She is also a published author of the book The McQueen Foundation Beginner’s Guide for Helping the Homeless and she hosts various training classes teaching people how to make their dreams a reality. Never losing sight of her promise to God she strives to impact people on a daily basis no matter what she’s doing. Dishambra McQueen is a true example that no matter how high the odds are stacked against you, you can achieve anything your heart desires.