August 18, 2025

Michele Dudley, Founder of BraveWorks, on Seeing Others Through Generosity (Ep. 152)

57 minutes

Michele Dudley is the founder of BraveWorks and Restoration Residences, where she has poured her heart into making a Kingdom impact among those who are often overlooked. After starting her career as a CPA, a life-changing mission trip to Burundi opened her eyes to the needs of the global church and set her on a new path of generosity and solidarity with those facing deep suffering.

Michele is an avid learner and her deep curiosity has led her into many creative opportunities for giving. Through BraveWorks and Restoration Residences, Michele has impacted the lives of many trafficked, abused, and incarcerated women, as well as helped families in need transition out of homelessness. A self-identified connector and advocate, Michele is highly integrated in the generosity community and has a passion for helping others give well and invest with a generous heart.

Major Topics Include:

Finding creative opportunities to give

Stories of serving and empowering women through BraveWorks

Being a generous connector

Committing to community in the generosity space

Approaching investing from a heart of generosity

Stewarding investment and philanthropy dollars

Practical advice to get started in impact investing

Navigating various levels of engagement and responsibility in generosity

Encouragement for women to engage in the generosity community

Trusting God in the messiness of generosity

Hearing from God in stewardship decision-making

Quotes to Remember

“I felt like I had basically lived my life ignoring the plight of the suffering.”

“It’s so important for us to become proximate to people who have different lived experiences than we do.”

“Whether it’s somewhere across the world or across town, we can have really transformative experiences, even in our own community, but we have to be willing to be uncomfortable and humble and put on a willingness to learn from others.”

“A lot of times, I had no intentions of starting anything. I just took the next step that the Lord showed me.”

“There’s something that’s healing when you recognize the struggle people have been through.”

“It’s really inspiring to be in these spaces where people do have resources but they’re taking the humble perspective of ‘I’ve been entrusted with this, I really want to honor God.’”

“If I wasn’t in this space where I was continually being challenged, I think it would be easy to just fall into the culture and the ways of the world.”

“Too often, we only focus on our philanthropy and we don’t think about what we’re doing with our investment dollars, and oftentimes, the investment dollars are undoing the very things that we’re trying to do with our philanthropy. God calls us to steward all of what He’s entrusted to us in a way that honors Him.”

Links from the Show

BraveWorks (formerly Fashion and Compassion)

Restoration Residences

Cru

Compassion International

ALARM – African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries

Julie Wilson, President of Women Doing Well (see our past interview here)

Generous Giving (see our interviews with cofounders Todd Harper and David Wills and CEO, April Chapman)

Faith Driven Entrepreneur

Faith Driven Investor

Faith Driven Foundation Course

Praxis

Praxis Capital Fellowship

The Gathering

Stewards Not Owners by Dana and Bill Wichterman (see our past interview here)

Impact Foundation (see our interview with Founder, Aimee Minnich)

The Table (via Impact Foundation)

National Christian Foundation (see our interview with President Emeritus, David Wills)

Infinite Giving

The Finish Line Community Facebook Group

The Finish Line Community LinkedIn Group

We Want to Hear from You!

If you have a thought about something you heard, or a story to share, please reach out! You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also contact us directly from our contact page. If you want to engage with the Finish Line Community, check out our groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.

...more

View all episodes

By The Finish Line Team

4848 ratings