Amelia Broadnax

Amelia Broadnax attributes her success first to her faith in her Heavenly Father and to an unwavering determination to keep moving forward, even when the path is uncertain. Her leadership is shaped by lived experience, but she has never allowed her past to become the ceiling for her future. Instead, she has learned to turn adversity into insight, ideas into action, and obstacles into opportunities to build differently. As Founder and CEO of GLM House Inc., Broadnax has also learned that vision alone is not enough; success requires being teachable, surrounding yourself with people who know more than you do, listening to constructive criticism, and having the courage to adjust without abandoning your purpose. She credits her growth to persistence, resourcefulness, relationship building, and her willingness to show up consistently, even when resources are limited or the answer is “no.” Above all, Broadnax believes her success comes from remaining authentic to who she is. She does not believe leadership requires perfection, but it does require transparency, accountability, humility, and the courage to stand behind your convictions. For Broadnax, success is not measured solely by what she has accomplished; it is measured by what she continues to build, who is able to rise because of it, and whether she remains faithful to the purpose that started the journey.

The best career advice Amelia Broadnax has received is, “Trust yourself enough to move forward.” For years, she believed that experience, education, or a seat at someone else’s table would determine when she was ready. Over time, she learned that some of the greatest opportunities come from recognizing what is already working, identifying where gaps remain, and being willing to have the conversations necessary to refine and strengthen existing ideas. Broadnax has also learned that not every vision has to be fully understood by everyone in the beginning; sometimes the work needs room to develop before the results can speak for themselves. She values advice, mentorship, and collaboration, while also recognizing that leadership eventually requires confidence in your own judgment. Her career has taught her to pay attention to actions, remain open to guidance, and understand that alignment matters just as much as access. Today, her advice to women is simple: learn everything you can, stay observant, trust your instincts, and when you see an opportunity to improve what already exists, be willing to speak up, contribute, and help move it forward.

While Amelia Broadnax especially wants young women to recognize their potential in leadership, her advice extends to anyone entering homeless services and housing: learn the people before trying to change the system. This work cannot be fully understood from a textbook, policy manual, conference room, or spreadsheet. Spend time with the people being served and understand what it actually feels like to navigate the systems we create. Listen before assuming you know what someone needs. Learn how housing, behavioral health, employment, funding, policy, and basic needs intersect, and pay attention to the gaps between them. Broadnax also believes compassion must be accompanied by competency. Learn the business side of the work: budgets, contracts, documentation, outcomes, boundaries, and accountability. Most importantly, enter this field with humility and respect for the people you serve. They bring their own voices, strengths, experiences, and goals to the table. Our role is not to define their journey for them, but to help create access, reduce unnecessary barriers, offer meaningful options, and support people as they determine what stability and progress look like in their own lives.

One of Amelia Broadnax’s biggest challenges has been confronting the gap between serving people and truly helping them move forward. Through both lived experience and leadership, she has seen how easily homeless services can become focused on contacts, referrals, and short-term assistance without enough attention to what happens next. For Broadnax, that has been difficult to accept because she knows firsthand that stability requires more than a single service or temporary placement. That challenge has shaped the way she leads GLM House Inc. She believes housing must be connected to employment, transportation, healthcare, education, behavioral support, and income development if people are going to have a real opportunity to sustain progress. She also believes smaller community-based organizations and people with lived experience need a stronger voice in shaping solutions because they often recognize gaps that larger systems miss. Broadnax’s challenge has not simply been working within an imperfect system; it has been learning how to push for better outcomes without losing compassion, patience, or credibility along the way. Her goal is not to add more programs for the sake of activity, but to strengthen the connections between existing resources and remain accountable for whether people are actually moving toward greater stability, independence, and opportunity.

For Amelia Broadnax, the values that matter most are integrity, accountability, loyalty, compassion, and reciprocity. She believes your character should remain consistent whether you are sitting at a decision-making table, working directly in the community, or simply navigating everyday life. Broadnax places tremendous value on keeping her word and being intentional about how she treats people, particularly when there is nothing to gain in return. She believes accountability also means being able to look at yourself, acknowledge when you got something wrong, apologize when necessary, and do better—not just say better. Loyalty, for her, does not mean blindly agreeing; it means being dependable, truthful, and willing to have difficult conversations rather than changing your behavior when the room changes. Broadnax also believes strongly in reciprocity: relationships should not exist only when someone needs something. Whether personally or professionally, she pays attention to who shows up, who follows through, and whether actions match words. At this stage of her life and leadership, she values peace over access, substance over appearances, and genuine relationships over transactional ones.