Meet Darla Cozzarelli of Refining Purpose

Today we’d like to introduce you to Darla Cozzarelli.

So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
From volunteering at my local church to dedicating four years of my youth to the Los Angeles Police Department’s Cadet Leadership program, I’ve always had a heart to serve my community. I started recording music to give others an outlet to manage their struggles and experiences. My desire to help others became more evident when joining the LAPD Reserve Corps at 18 years old. As a Reserve Police Officer, I sang the National Anthem for many community events, dignitaries and charities. I also worked the front desk of police stations taking crime reports and helping community members in solving problems and worked alongside police personnel performing police-related functions. My experiences with law enforcement motivated me to do even more for the community. After graduating Cal State LA’s School of Criminal Justice, I was accepted to the University of Southern California’s Master of Social Work Program, where I currently study social change and innovation.

Throughout my graduate studies, I observed the gaps in literature surrounding adoption and the foster care system and the lack of awareness on these topics within institutions. This was surprising and rather, ironic to me, given the countless children separated from their families and in the foster care system, and considering how the notorious employer of social workers is the Department of Children and Family Services. My first year of graduate school has been incredibly difficult because it was also the time I decided to search for my biological family and unravel my adoption story. I experienced a lot of stress, anxiety and depression, and realized that I needed to practice more self-care. Given the need to support adoptees, foster youth and students, at 21 years old, I decided to create Refining Purpose, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering individuals impacted by the foster care system and students experiencing chronic stress to embrace self-sufficient, productive lives.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Running a nonprofit as a young woman and while in graduate school, searching for my adopted siblings, and working on music, has definitely been a challenging journey. From lacking the corporate and logistical experience, finances, to finding individuals who believed in my mission and ability to thrive in this endeavor, these were frustrating and difficult times. I remember going to an organization dedicated to foster youth and adoptees and having my thoughts bluntly dismissed by the head staff member of the event because of my age, gender and image. This was not the only time where people were prejudice towards me and my organization simply because as the Founder, I’m a young Hispanic woman. In addition to the negativity, managing my time to ensure the effective launch of our organization was hard given all of my other responsibilities as a student. I pulled countless all-nighters to complete school papers while also meeting administrative deadlines for the organization. Things have definitely been far from easy.

Refining Purpose – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Refining Purpose is unique in that the organization not only focuses on the adoptee and foster youth population, but on any student, regardless of socio economic status, who is dealing with stress. We also use our online platform and content to shine a light on the stories of our clients and to bring awareness to important social issues impacting our community. We also provide a virtual program called RP’s Digital Power Chats that consist of professional development workshops, story-telling, practicing stress management and career advice.

A lot of our clients feel empowered to pursue their passions after working with us. Community members and professionals value our unique implementation of services because we motivate students to pursue their goals and cultivate a strong level of commonality amongst the adoptee and foster care community and students. Another unique aspect of Refining Purpose is the diversity of our team. The majority of our board are woman and most of our volunteers are young college students. We have a licensed clinical social worker, record producer, corporate lawyer and forensic psychologist on our board. Essentially, we value diverse professional backgrounds because it provides a unique lens to our work and strengthens our ability to relate to our diverse population and their interests.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Being a first-generation college student accepted to USC is one of my proudest moments. My mother told me it was her dream for me to attend this prestigious university.

Contact Info:

• Website: refiningpurpose.org
• Phone: 213-375-4117
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/refiningpurpose/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/refiningpurpose
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/refiningpurpose
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwXgzwDVBreI-ZdikYSai3A

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